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“Rusty,” Keir said with a shake of his head. “I followed you up here after I heard you bullying Donna into bringing you.”
“You listened to my private calls?” Her indignation caused a burst of laughter from the other students. Keir just rolled his eyes.
“Gareth,” their tutor said. “You’re being swapped out this evening. Don’t worry, you won’t lose your money.” She turned to Duncan. “Do you want to do the honors?”
He swung the door open and a tiny, wrinkled old man sauntered in. “Meet your new model,” Duncan said.
A cheer went up at the sight of the popular model. There was nothing like the challenge of drawing someone who wasn’t perfect, someone with Stuart’s lines and wrinkles.
Unfortunately for her, Mairi wasn’t an artist. “Okay,” she said. “I’m done here.”
“Not so fast, Picasso,” Duncan said. “The art faculty want to encourage your new-found interest in life drawing, and we insist that you stay for the whole class. Isn’t that right, Rhonda?” He inclined his head toward the tutor.
“I can’t wait to see your drawings.” She gave Mairi a wide smile.
Mairi headed for the door. “I wouldn’t want to impose, and I should really spend time with my fiancé. It is Valentine’s Day, and he’s come all this way to see me.”
“Don’t worry,” Keir said as he blocked her escape. “We will be spending time together. Duncan gave me permission to attend class with you and make sure you got the full art-school experience.” He glanced at the old guy. “Which way are you facing? We want to make sure we’re right in front and close enough to see every hair on your chest.”
The old man cackled. “That’s up to the teacher, but I’m sure she won’t mind you taking the front row.”
“Not at all,” Rhonda said, clearly enjoying herself.
“Keir.” Mairi batted her eyelashes at her husband. “There’s been a misunderstanding. I was only here to support Donna.”
“Sure you were.”
“Donna,” she called, “tell him!”
“She can’t.” Duncan wrapped an arm around Donna and swept her through the door. “My wife has other plans for the evening.”
“I wasn’t flirting,” Mairi shouted.
“I know,” Keir said. “You don’t flirt. You were ogling. So, now you can ogle Stuart. He’s cool with it, aren’t you, Stuart?”
The old guy winked at Mairi.
The door shut behind them, blocking Mairi’s outrage and everyone else’s laughter. It was suddenly very quiet in the corridor. And much smaller than it had been when she’d walked along it to get to class. Donna wondered if that was because Duncan’s shoulders were unnaturally wide, or if he just grew in size when he was mad.
He cocked an eyebrow at her. “What did we agree?”
She shuffled uncomfortably as she shifted her sketchpad under her arm. “That if I felt I couldn’t say no to someone, if I felt cornered, I’d ask you for help.” She looked up at him. “But that wasn’t meant for my sisters.”
“Angel,” he said on a sigh. “It was definitely meant for your sisters.”
“Oh.” She studied her feet. “Did I break an art school rule taking her to class?” She pressed a hand to her stomach, sick at the thought.
“No, but we like to keep the classes for art students, not for folk after a cheap thrill.”
Her stomach tightened further. “Do you think the other students are going to be mad at me?” An even worse thought occurred to her, and she felt the blood drain from her face. “Will I be reprimanded for turning Gareth into a sexual object for my sister? Is that assault? Will I be arrested?”
Duncan raised his head and looked over her shoulder. “Gareth?” he called.
Donna almost sank into the floor when she realized the model was behind her. She hadn’t even heard the studio door open.
“Do you feel like a sexual object?” he asked the student.
“Not nearly often enough,” Gareth said with a grin, before sauntering off.
