FOUR WORDS WOULD CHANGE HER LIFE... Precious Rafferty is an American antiques dealer living in Paris. Though Precious--known as Preshy--lives in the world's most romantic city, she keeps her feet firmly on the ground. No man will ever sweep her off her feet. Until she meets Bennett James. He's perfect in every way. Is he too good to be true? Granted, she doesn't know much about his business or personal life in Shanghai, but isn't it time to stop being so jaded about romance? And then her long-lost cousin Lily Song sends her an urgent message about Preshy's new love. "Meet me in Venice" are Lily's cryptic words. ONE MAN MIGHT POSSIBLY END IT... Lily lives in Shanghai and knows the antiques underworld there--and she has a secret important enough to draw her to Venice to meet Preshy for the first time, face-to-face. Ruggedly handsome, world-weary writer Sam Knight senses there's a story afoot. Precious senses he's getting closer and closer to her and enmeshed in this tangled web of danger and desire. But is Sam also not all he seems to be? Does he have a terrible secret he's keeping from Preshy? In Venice, Precious will have to weave through a maze of betrayers and seducers to discover who she can trust with her heart...and with her life. Page-turning, lushly descriptive, and intelligent, Meet Me in Venice is a cat-and-mouse game with plenty of twists and wonderful characters you'll never forget. It is Elizabeth Adler at her storytelling best. “Adler remains as adept as ever at making her various locales come to life and doesn't disappoint in keeping the mystery ... swirling.” ― Publishers Weekly “This fast-moving tale contains all the right elements for a perfect summer read: romance, exotic locales and mysterious characters.... Wonderful escapist fare.” ― RT Book Reviews “Adler's romantic suspense novels aim to please. And please this one does.” ― Booklist ELIZABETH ADLER is the internationally acclaimed author of more than twenty novels, including The Charmers and One Way or Another . She lives in Palm Springs, CA. Meet Me in Venice By Adler, Elizabeth St. Martin's Griffin Copyright © 2008 Adler, Elizabeth All right reserved. ISBN: 9780312364489   Chapter One Shanghai Six Months Later Lily Song was eating breakfast at the Happybird Tea House, an open-fronted place in an alley off the Renmin Road, named for the tiny birds, the pets of the customers that accompanied them in their little bamboo cages, singing their morning songs. She ate there every morning at exactly the same time—eight o’clock—and she always had exactly the same thing: shrimp dim sum with vegetables and green tea with semolina grains that swelled up like miniature cannonballs in the hot tea and tasted like slippery bird shot. Her fellow breakfasters were all men but that did not bother her and anyway they were all too immersed in their newspapers and noodles to notice her, even though she was an attractive woman. She was small and very slender, with a shoulder-length swing of glossy black hair and eyes so dark a brown they looked almost black too. She had the fair skin of her European mother and the delicate bridgeless nose of her Chinese father, and she wore either conservative Western clothes bought at the better boutiques on the Nanking Road, or the traditional brocade dress, the quipao in jewel tones, tailored specifically to her directions by an expert in his tiny storefront shop near the Bubbling Well Road. Either way, though she was not beautiful, she gave the impression of an attractive, successful woman. Which, in a sense, she was. This morning, however, she was wearing narrow black pants with a black linen top. Her hair was pulled back and large sunglasses hid her eyes. She could have passed unnoticed in any Shanghai crowd. She glanced up as a man entered, then stood looking around him. He was a foreigner, older, smart in a lightweight beige business suit and he carried a leather document case. Lily lifted her hand, beckoning him over. He came and sat in the chair opposite. With a gruff “good morning” he placed the document case on the table in front of him. A soft-footed server hovered nearby and Lily ordered plain green tea for her guest. She asked if he would like to eat and with a faint look of disgust he said he would not. He was Swiss and conservative and he did not like Chinese food. The teahouse was not a place he would have chosen to do business but this was Lily’s call. “My client is interested in anything you can show him,” he said without wasting any time. “Provided it can be authenticated, that is.” Lily had done business with him before. His client’s identity was preserved under a cloak of strict anonymity, which suited her just fine. That way she didn’t have to deal with tricky, rich, artistic personalities who thought they knew more than she did. Antiques and, in particular, stolen antiques were what she had dealt in since she was sixteen and she knew what she was talking about. “I have