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“Really?”
“Yes.” He kissed her. “I’ll let you have a breather, then what do you say about some more experimenting?”
“What makes you think I need a breather?”
George laughed and kissed her hard. “You asked for it.”
She grinned, kissing him back.
The questions could wait. Nothing good would come from digging up the past. This was much more enjoyable here with George. Right now, his past didn’t matter. Only now, having fun and re-connecting after so long apart and making up for lost time was what mattered.
Chapter 8
“Time for a break.”
Vickie looked up from her easel. Time had gone quickly this morning. She was refreshed but tired after the long and most pleasurable night with George. Had that been what she’d been thinking about? She paused to look at her painting. It wasn’t at all like the bowl of fruit in the middle of the table in the room with the dozen or so students surrounding it. She’d been relieved that it hadn’t been a naked model. She might’ve had a gloriously sexy night with George, but there were social standings to uphold in public.
The art teacher, Ms. Silver, an older single woman, slender and sharp-looking, took no nonsense, yet based on the male model from the last series of classes, knew exactly what she was doing when choosing a male model to paint. Harry had kept Ruby company, she was sure, more so than a bowl of fruit could. Ruby had looked so disappointed when they walked in this morning. More disheartened than she already was, which was saying something. It concerned Vickie that Ruby wasn’t at all her normal bubbly self. It appeared whatever had upset her last night continued to plague her today. Yet, Ruby refused to say anything about it. The only thing to do was to paint the bowl of fruit.
Ms. Silver clapped her hands. “Break time, come over here and have a cup of tea. You’ve all been concentrating and need to take a break.”
Vickie put her brush down, stepped back from her easel with dismay, and looked over at Ruby’s painting.
“That’s great,” said Vickie, admiring the accurate proportions of the banana, apples, and oranges in the bowl and the balance of color throughout.
Ruby shrugged. She was wearing a long, dark green skirt, high in the back and over her knees in the front, an inch of cream lace suggestively poking from a light petticoat. She wore a low-cut light cream shirt with billowing sleeves, married with a full black corset. Her hair was a mess of curls loose around her shoulders with a red rose clipping on one side of her hair away from her face. She looked her usual confident, sexy self, but Vickie knew deep down that wasn’t the case. What she wasn’t overly sure of was if it was because of what happened last night or not? It was easy to assume that was the case, but as a private investigator, she wasn’t about to jump to conclusions.
Vickie came closer to her best friend. “Disappointed there wasn’t a male model to paint today?”
Ruby smiled a little. “No.”
“Now, I know you must be out of sorts. We should go shopping after this.” Vickie was encouraged that at least Ruby had smiled. That was something. It worried Vickie that Ruby had so willingly given away her money. Sure, she had plenty, and it was hers to do with as she pleased, but it just didn’t sit well with Vickie.
“Come on, let’s go have a cup of tea.” Vickie linked arms with Ruby, and they went over to the bay window area of the room where the morning tea had been set up.
Large windows looked out into a particularly well-kept garden of rich green lawn and clipped bushes. It was nearly winter, and there were a few autumn leaves still hanging on the trees, holding on to the very end.
“Don’t you have clients you should be helping?” asked Ruby abruptly.
“I do, but I thought I’d make some time to see you. I can catch up well enough this afternoon.” It was true. Besides, her friend needed her, and that was more important. Ruby had, after all, put her life in danger when trying to help Vickie solve crimes and mysteries. Vickie wasn’t about to leave her without at least trying to lift her spirits.
Vickie took a cup of tea from a servant and selected a pink and a green macaroon from the tower of delights before settling on a bench seat to one side where she could get a lovely view of the garden and forget about the terrible painting she’d been attempting. She crossed her legs, glad she’d opted to wear her leather pants with a short ruffle overlay around her waist, along with a shirt and her private- investigator leather vest that was full of handy pockets. It might not be the thing to be wearing pants like this, but it was what she was comfortable in, and she was surrounded by people who were very open-minded. This was also Ruby’s non-conservative influence on her. If it were one of George’s doctor events, then she would’ve dressed more conservatively.
“Room for me?” asked Ruby, who had a cup and saucer in one hand and a well-loaded plate of desserts in the other.
“Always.” Vickie patted the wooden bench seat. “Hungry?”
“Painting is hard work,” she said while sitting down, then set the plate of sweets by her before taking a sip of tea.
“These are delicious,” said Vickie with a full mouthful of macaroon. “Strawberry cream… hmm. My new favorite.”
“The tea could do with a bit of a kick,” mused Ruby.
Vickie frowned. The tea was fine as it was.
Ruby held up a small hip flask and tipped a splash of liquid into her cup and then Vickie’s.
Vickie looked at Ruby, shocked. So much for keeping up appearances. She glanced around hoping no one had seen.
