Page 87 of Dragon Charmed

Ben shook his head. “I’m with the decisive females in this equation.”

Marcus chuckled at his announcement, and Tessa awarded Ben with a brilliant smile. Good thing he was sitting down. She could bring him to his knees if she tried.

Tessa clapped her cookie-free hands together. “Excellent. Megs, I can be ready in a few minutes. I need to talk to Marilyn before we go.”

“Did you make a decision on the cookies?” Marcus asked with a smirk on his face.

“Not yet. With a serious decision like this, I’ll have to complete more testing first.”

Sienna chuckled. “Tessa. I’ve said this before. I love how you shake things up around here.”

Ben studied the denim-eyed minx. Tessa made it hard not to fall in love with her.

Chapter 34

Tessa turned off the ignition and unfastened her seat belt before turning to Megan to try to talk her down from the roof. “Megan. Everything is going to be fine. You worked with Connor when you were at the museum.”

“I know, but I get flustered when I lie.”

“But you aren’t really lying to him. We’re going to ask him questions about the Death of Magic painting.”

“What if he starts asking why?”

“Then that’s where I come in,” Tessa said. “I’ll come up with something. I can spitball it.”

“Why does that make me nervous?” Eric said from the back seat as he elbowed Ben. Was he trying to get Ben to join in? Maybe she should have fought harder for them both to stay home.

“Don’t need your advice, back-seat occupants. This is not Driving Miss Daisy or I guess in your cases, Driving Mr. Dragons.”

“Not sure why we had to sit in the back anyway,” Eric grumbled.

Tessa sighed. “Because the back has tinted windows, and since I parked to the side, no one in the gallery will see Ben, who is still technically dead, or you. Stick with the plan, which means stay in the car. We’ll be fine.” Before more grumbling came from Eric, Tessa continued. “You ready to go, Megs?”

Her friend swallowed and nodded before they climbed out of the SUV and headed inside. Tessa had been to numerous art events during her modeling years. The gallery was similar to most she had seen. Neutral walls and wide-open spaces to showcase paintings, sculptures, and whatnot.

A woman greeted them a few seconds after they walked inside. “Welcome. I’m Nadia. Can I help you with anything?”

Megan nodded. “We were wondering if Connor is available?”

The woman’s smile diminished slightly. “Can I ask what this is in reference to?”

“I’ve worked with Connor in the past. I have some questions for him.”

Nadia nodded. “Let me see if he’s available. Can I have your name please?”

“Megan Campbell.”

Tessa was proud of her friend. She had even thought to use her maiden name since Connor wouldn’t know her as Simonson. Tessa wandered over to the wall to look at some artwork so that Megan could have some space to talk to Connor while Tessa listened in on the conversation.

A few minutes later a tall, slender man came through a back door and walked toward them. He was dressed in that understated wealthy way that old money had, and she was glad she had a designer purse and shoes, especially if she needed to make up some sort of story. He didn’t need to know she’d bought them on a resale website.

“Hello, Megan. It’s so good to see you again.”

“Connor, thanks for meeting with me. Sorry to just pop in unannounced.”

He waved his hand. “Not a problem. Are you back working at the museum?”

“No. I’m…uhm…in the private sector now.”