Country Roads(103)

As the door swung shut behind him, Belle looked at Lester and then at her artistic arrangement. “What did I do wrong?”

Lester just shook his head knowingly. “A man and his hog. It’s not something you’d understand.”





Chapter 27




MR. CASTILLO, IT’S a pleasure to see you again.” Claire greeted them as they came through the front door of the gallery, her hand held out, a serene smile on her beautiful face. Julia envied her such composure in the presence of Carlos.

Her uncle shook Claire’s hand. “The pleasure is mine, Mrs. Arbuckle,” he said. “I understand you are helping my niece introduce her new work to the art world.”

“Yes, her Night Mares are extraordinarily powerful, so I’m excited about seeing their impact on our patrons. We have several influential critics attending the exhibition as well.”

“Paxton Hayes. You are brave women, both of you, to solicit his opinion.” Carlos smiled as he said it, and Julia let out her breath. She should have known he would be civil to Claire. After all, this was business, and Carlos was a businessman through and through.

Except when it came to protecting her. She was beginning to comprehend the depth of his commitment to her well-being, even if she didn’t agree with the results.

“I wanted my uncle to see how you’re going to display the paintings,” Julia said, feeling she needed to assert her presence in the exchange. “It plays up the strengths of the Night Mares.”

“Thank you,” Claire said, looking as pleased as if she’d never heard Julia’s approval before. She turned to stand beside Carlos, gesturing as she set the scene. “It will be evening, of course, so the illumination from the windows will be minimal. All the other paintings will be removed from the walls and the lights will be concentrated on Julia’s art. Our guests will enter where you did and be directed into the circle of paintings. I want their experience to be immediate and undiluted by other people’s comments.” She smiled and gestured toward the entrance between the panels. “Shall we?”

Julia stepped forward with her uncle. She wanted to see his reaction to Claire’s display. As they came into the space, a Night Mare charged directly toward her. She ignored it and slid her gaze to her uncle’s face. He walked to the center of the arrangement and pivoted slowly. After a complete circle, he nodded once. “I understand your vision now. This will be a success.”

Julia wanted to know whose vision he understood, hers or Claire’s. However, he was already asking how the paintings would be priced. She had to settle for the satisfaction of hearing Carlos say the exhibit would be successful.

As her gaze skittered around the display, one painting caught her attention, the one Paul had admired. She’d offered it to him in payment for rescuing her and he’d turned it down. “Claire,” she said, interrupting the conversation, “I don’t want to sell this one. I’ll get one of the others shipped up here to replace it.”

“I can facilitate that,” Carlos surprised her by saying.

Claire’s eyes lit up. “How many more do you have?”

“Worthy of a public exhibit? Maybe three.”

“That’s marvelous. We can add all of them to the show.”

“You can return home with me to choose the ones you want,” Carlos said to Julia.

He thought he had set a neat trap, but she wasn’t falling into it. She shook her head. “There are things I need to finish up here. If you photograph the remaining Night Mares and e-mail me the images, I can tell you which ones I want.”

Her uncle bowed his head in agreement and a subtle acknowledgment that she had won that round.

“Now it’s time for my riding lesson,” Julia said.



Julia took Carlos back to the inn so she could change. She left him talking to Lyle about the antique rifle while she ran upstairs to throw on jeans and a white cotton blouse. As she walked to the door, she noticed the Civil War sword she’d bought for her uncle, wrapped in brown paper and propped up beside the mantel in her suite’s sitting room. Maybe this was a good time to give it to him, as a sort of peace offering. She smiled at the irony and picked up the weapon. Remembering Paul’s comment about the blade’s symbolism, she rummaged around in her purse for a penny and slipped it into her jeans pocket.

She found her uncle in the now-empty dining room with Lyle, inspecting a print of a battle fought near Sanctuary. The innkeeper smiled and excused himself when he saw Julia approaching. She hid the package behind her back with one hand and held out the penny to Carlos with the other. “I have something for you, but you have to buy it from me.”