Julia felt a twinge of guilt at the compliment, since she continued to hide an important part of her past from her new friend. However, relief also flowed through her; Carlos had not betrayed her secret.
“It was a pleasure speaking with you too, Paxton,” Julia said, forcing a smile because she’d always been told that people could hear it in your voice over the telephone. “I look forward to reading your blog.”
She pushed the disconnect button on the gallery’s fancy office phone, waited a couple of seconds, then picked up the receiver to make sure there was a dial tone. She didn’t want Paxton Hayes overhearing anything he shouldn’t.
Now she flopped back into the desk chair, sending it rolling backward as she stared at the ceiling. She half lay there with her legs stretched straight out in front of her and tried to remember if she’d said anything too embarrassing.
There’d been a couple of awkward moments where she’d stammered through an evasive answer, but she’d finally taken Claire’s advice and simply said she’d prefer not to respond to certain questions. Not that it stopped Hayes. He would drop the subject but circle back later in the interview, trying to elicit the same information by asking in a different way. He’d caught her the first time.
Maybe her uncle had been doing her a favor by handling all her interviews.
She hauled herself upright. She couldn’t let herself slip back into the cocoon she’d allowed her family to spin around her.
The office door swung open and Claire stuck her head in. “How’d it go?”
“Great! Paxton’s a charmer.”
One of Claire’s eyebrows arched. “You must have dialed the wrong number.”
“Okay, he’s a sneaky manipulator who tried to trap me into saying things I didn’t mean. And he succeeded a few times.”
“Now I know you got the right person.”
Julia grimaced. “The good news is you had almost every question he asked on your list.”
Paul followed Claire into the office. Julia’s heart did a little stutter step of surprised pleasure when he came straight to her and dropped a kiss on the top of her head. This was the Paul she understood and lusted after. If only she could forget last night’s glimpse of a darker side.
The thought shamed her. If she cared about Paul, she had to care about all of him, light and dark. As in her art, one required the other.
“Sorry I wasn’t here for the inquisition,” he said. Fine lines sketched exhaustion around his eyes, and she wanted to smooth them away. He pulled out a chair from the other side of the desk and flipped it around to face her. “How was it?”
“Exhausting. Exhilarating.” Now that the nervous tension had drained away, she realized she meant it. “I felt like we were two foosball players, probing for each other’s weaknesses.”
He smiled at the foosball analogy. “I’ll bet you got the upper hand.” He rolled his shoulders tiredly. “I just wanted to check in before I take Eric to the movies.”
“With pineapple pizza afterward?” Claire asked.
“It’s got all the food groups,” Paul said, unfolding himself from the chair.
Claire turned to Julia. “That’s why you should never go to Sunday dinner at Jimmy’s house.”
Julia dutifully laughed, but she would have eaten cardboard if it meant seeing Paul with his trouble-prone nephew.
Paul looked down at her, a shadow of longing crossing his face. “I have an obligation for tonight, but I want you to come to my office tomorrow morning at nine. With the show coming up, we need to discuss your situation with regard to your uncle.” He gave her a tired smile. “An office setting can sometimes make difficult matters seem less emotionally charged.”
She nodded, trying to hide how bereft she felt at the prospect of spending one of her precious remaining nights without Paul. “I’ll walk out with you,” she said. “I want to get a little work done on the auction donation before the light goes.”
Paul looked surprised, but Claire’s eyes lit up. She obviously didn’t know about Julia’s painter’s block here in Sanctuary. “What sort of thing are you working on?” Claire asked.
“Er, a close-up of Darkside.” She checked Paul’s face but it was unreadable.
“I can see the headline: Local Horse Models for World-Famous Artist,” Claire said. “Great publicity.”
Julia stood and preceded Paul out of Claire’s office.
“Glad to hear you’ve overcome your painter’s block,” he said, his voice low and so close she thought she could feel his breath stirring her hair.