Page 18 of Dragon Charmed

No doubt. She probably had to beat them off with a stick. But he wasn’t going to voice his thoughts on that.

They both hunched over their stacks of papers and started to read. Mia’s professional life was impressive. She had gone to all the right schools and received both a master’s and PhD in art history. Tessa had already told him that she taught at Vanderbilt, but he hadn’t realized that they had a top-level art history program. She had several awards and had written numerous papers as well.

Ben sat back and rubbed his neck. Why would he have a piece of paper with an art history professor’s name on it from over a year ago? And what did John Baker have to do with anything? Had John been looking for her since before Ben was attacked? He glanced over at Tessa, who was mumbling to herself as she continued to read her stack.

After a few seconds she glanced up at him through her eyelashes. “What?”

“I should have asked this earlier. Why is John trying to find Mia?”

Tessa bit her lip before responding. “John’s family has a number of art pieces that Mia would be able to help him authenticate.”

He frowned. “Enough for him to hire a PI to find her?”

“They’re worth a lot of money if they can prove provenance.”

None of this was making sense. Before he could respond, she hurried on. “I know. You’re thinking why would someone with a lot of money live in a cabin in the woods, right? Well, John is the quintessential rich recluse.”

Ben stopped himself from calling bullshit, especially since he was lying about who he was right now. Of course she had approached him and the misunderstanding was hers, but he hadn’t corrected her, which was a lie just the same.

“And why do you want to help find her?”

“Because I can. I don’t like to be underestimated or dismissed.”

The stubborn glint in her eyes let him know she was telling the truth to a certain degree—something from her past, maybe. “I get that.”

Her expression tightened as if she was waiting for a punch line.

“Why don’t we both talk through what we’ve read so far.”

Her eyes widened for a second before she could school her features. She would be an awful poker player. He went first, telling her about Mia’s professional accomplishments. Tessa listened intently while he read some of the items he’d highlighted.

“Yeah,” Tessa agreed as she handed him a page with Mia’s picture on it. “She sounds like a prodigy. From what I just read, she got a full-ride scholarship and then completed her master’s and PhD to work at Vanderbilt.”

“Family?” he asked as he studied Mia’s face.

“She was a foster kid and moved to several homes over the years, which makes her accomplishments even more impressive. Her husband was a sociology professor.”

“Was?”

Tessa sighed. “Yeah. He was killed in some sort of accident. The obituary is the last thing I could locate online referencing her name. Shortly after he died, Mia dropped off the grid.”

“Why would she leave everything she had built behind?” he asked.

Tessa set down the papers. “Grief maybe?”

“Possibly.” But it didn’t feel right to him. “And you really want to find her because of some art?”

She hesitated and he leaned forward again, invading her space the tiniest bit.

“Someone close to me used to work with Mia, and she’s worried about her. Wants to find her and see if she’s okay. So that’s an added incentive to find her.”

She wasn’t telling him everything, but he wasn’t going to push too much or she might back off. Eventually he wanted to find out the real reason they were looking for Mia White and if that truth would lead him to who he was.

“Where do we go first?” Tessa asked.

“I think we should go to the university and talk to people who know her.”

Tessa nodded before rifling through her stack of papers. “I was thinking the same thing, but she left four years ago. I don’t know that there would be students we can talk to.”