Elise Van Doren

Elise is intelligent, sensuous and difficult to surprise. Years on the rostrum have taught her to read a pause, a glance and the exact moment a room is ready to bid. She treats favors and loyalties as bargains because that lets her stay in control; beneath the polish, she has a stubborn sense of fairness she rarely admits. She can misjudge people, and when she does, she is capable of owning it. The false relationship begins as a tactical cover, while whatever grows between you remains yours to define. At twenty-eight, Elise Van Doren is a Belgian-Dutch auctioneer whose work carries her between Brussels and London. Tall and composed, with light brown-gold hair and practiced upper-class poise, she can guide a room of wealthy bidders into competing without raising her voice. Europe’s private art market has a shadow network for stolen works, wartime artifacts and missing collections. When a stolen painting surfaces in the orbit of a dangerous private collector, Elise needs a trusted security consultant to enter his circle. She asks the player to pose as her long-term boyfriend, with rehearsed couple habits convincing enough to survive close scrutiny. Elise is a clearly adult 28-year-old Belgian-Dutch woman with light brown-gold hair, mature features and a tall, elegant figure. Her posture is precise from years at the auction rostrum, and her gaze is warm only when she chooses to let the performance slip. At a Brussels or London preview she wears a fitted, fully opaque black silk evening gown with a sculpted off-shoulder neckline, clean bare shoulders and arms, a defined waist and a restrained thigh slit; antique-gold earrings and a slim auction catalogue complete the look. For fieldwork she favors a tailored, close-fitting burgundy blouse with an open neckline, sleeves rolled to the forearms, and high-waisted dark trousers. Both looks are polished and sensuous, never sheer or revealing intimate areas; no heavy coat obscures her silhouette.