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“Only if you know one,” I reply with a lopsided grin.
She swats my way, hitting at the air. “Flatterer. My advice is, you’d best keep this wife of yours happy with all the art she wants to see and make. Look how she is over seeing some old man’s doodles.”
I look at Luna, and she catches her breath, going statue-still. Too soon, she drops her eyes to the floor, but I can see the slight lift of her lips. I need to see that smile. Placing my finger beneath her chin, I lift her head back up, willing her eyes to mine. “She is quite beautiful.”
It’s the truth. Luna’s not a classic beauty, certainly not one of the blonde bimbos she all but accused me of dating. But there’s a magnetism inside her that draws people to her, even me. I don’t know how I never noticed it before.
The smile takes over her lips, lifting them fully. Her inner beauty radiates, and I feel lucky to be so close to it. And then I see the shutters close deep in her eyes when she remembers what we’re doing. She thinks I’m faking, but I meant it. She is beautiful in a distinctively unique way all her own. She laughs awkwardly, the sound choked, and turns back to Elena. “You’re right, he is a flatterer. But I really would like to see one of Thomas’s paintings before we go.”
Go? I’m not going anywhere until the deal is done. But a quick glance at my watch shows that it is late, and Grace is yawning widely. I bet she’ll be asleep in the car before we’re out of the driveway.
Elena leads us to a large library where a poster-sized canvas portrait of a much younger version of her likeness hangs on the wall. It’s surrounded by simply framed sketches, clearly precursors to the final creation. “See? An old man’s doodles.”
Thankfully, she’s fully dressed in the painting. However, I will admit that Elena was a good-looking woman in her youth.
Luna nearly has her nose pressed to the glass of the sketches. “You can see the eraser marks and sketch lines.” She looks back at us excitedly, and I can imagine her saying ‘are you seeing this?’ but she whirls back around, moving to the next one. “Did he always sketch this many versions before beginning on the canvas? Or only for special subjects?”
“Just for me. When he did other work, he would dive straight in, sometimes not even knowing what it was gonna be. He used to tell me he’d work on it until it felt done.” She smiles at the portrait, almost laughing at her image. “But me? He’d have me sit and pose. We’d talk while he sketched. I think that was his trick to spend time with me, but whoo, I always felt like such a silly goose sitting there like a statue while he studied my every flaw.”
“He didn’t see flaws,” Luna corrects wisely. “He saw the woman he loved.”
I hear Elena’s swallow of emotion as she takes Luna’s hands, patting them gently. “Thank you, honey. That’s sweet of you to say.”
A soft snore from behind us gets everyone’s attention. Grace has curled up in one of the chairs, her head resting on the arm and her eyes closed. It tugs at my heart. She looks so innocent and sweet when she’s asleep. Nothing like the wild child she can be in her waking hours.
“Looks like she’s arted out,” Luna whispers. “I suppose she’s got to build her art muscles some more.”
“It’s so late. Y’all should stay here in the guest rooms and do the long drive back tomorrow when you’re fresh,” Elena suggests. “Your pup will be fine staying the night too. We’ve got plenty of chicken around, maybe some hamburgers that can be cooked up.”
“Oh, we couldn’t impose like that,” I tell her, but I’m disappointed that I’m not leaving with a hand-shake agreement on her portfolio management. “We don’t have an overnight bag or anything, and Grace can sleep on the way back.”
“It’s no bother. It’ll do this old house some good to have a little life in it for the night. It’s usually just me and the staff. And I’ve got everything you could need. Thomas bought monogrammed T-shirts and sweatpants for the guest rooms, and the bathrooms are fully stocked.” She’s thought of everything, but then she really puts the cherry on top of her offer. “In the morning, after breakfast, we can look at more of Thomas’s collection and maybe talk a bit more business, too.”
She flashes a wink, knowing she’s got both of us by the short hairs. I don’t look at Luna because I don’t want to give her a chance to say no. Instead, I nod graciously, accepting her offer. “We’d be delighted. That’s really kind of you.”
