Silver Linings, стр. 59
Hugh grinned. “Appreciate it.”
“Consider it a wedding present.”
“I'll do that.” Hugh stood up. “You want the rest of that bug juice?”
“No, thank you. I'm afraid you're going to have to finish it all by yourself.”
“I was afraid of that.” Hugh reached for the bottle and headed for the door.
“By the way, Hugh,” Charlotte said behind him.
“Yeah?” He turned, one hand on the doorknob.
“How is Vailcourt's master security plan coming along?”
“Be finished with it in another couple of weeks or so at the outside.”
“And then what?”
“Then, with any luck, I'll be on my way to St. Gabe with Mattie.”
“I'm afraid you've still got some convincing to do in that department.”
“It'll work out.”
Charlotte absently tapped a gold pen on the desk. “I hope so. I honestly think she would be happy with you if she lets herself.”
“Damn right,” Hugh said forcefully. “I'll make her happy, Charlotte. I swear it.”
“None of us can actually make someone else happy, not really. We each have to find our own happiness within ourselves. We have to work at it. It takes courage.”
“She's got guts,” Hugh said. “She'll be all right. She just needs a little time to get used to the idea of being with me on a permanent basis.”
“I hope you're willing to give her the time, Hugh,” Charlotte said with a meaningful look. “I hope you won't try to push her too fast. You do tend to operate rather quickly, you know.”
“Well, I can't hang around here forever. I've got a business to run and a house to build. And I'm not getting any younger.”
“You really think she's just going to toss it all away for you, don't you? Her business, her lifestyle, her friends. Isn't that somewhat arrogant on your part, Hugh?”
He scowled. “I'll take care of her.”
“She doesn't need to be taken care of. She's perfectly capable of taking care of herself. Lord knows, she's had to do it for years. No one in the family knew how to take care of her. She wasn't like the rest of them. Her needs were different. Her talents were different. No one knew quite what to do with her when they found out she wasn't going to fall into the same mold as the rest of them.”
“You seem to understand her.”
Charlotte smiled. “Probably because I left the artistic world many years ago and went into the business world. When I found myself at the reins of Vailcourt, I learned a great deal about an area of life I had previously ignored. The experience has taught me to recognize and respect people such as you and Mattie. You're both entrepreneurs at heart. You both are inclined to take risks.”
“You think Mattie is a risk taker?”
“Certainly, although she doesn't think of herself that way. She takes risks frequently. She took a major one when she started Sharpe Reaction. Ariel and the rest of the family had a fit because she went for the commercial market. They didn't support her at all, and believe me, in the beginning it would have helped a great deal if she had been allowed to hang some of her mother's work or a few of Ariel's paintings.”
“They didn't want her to succeed.”
“No, not because they didn't love her. They simply didn't approve of what she was doing. The Sharpe clan is very elitist when it comes to art.”
“Except for you.”
Charlotte smiled. “As I said, running Vailcourt has broadened my horizons. But my point about Mattie is that she is quite capable of taking risks. Heaven knows she does it every time she discovers a previously unknown artist and features his work in her gallery. Her reputation rides on the quality of the artists she hangs, you know. She can't afford to make many mistakes. And like any good businesswoman she makes it a practice to learn from her mistakes.”
Hugh got the point. He felt himself turning a dull red. “She didn't make a mistake with me. It was just a case of bad timing. Sooner or later she'll get that through her head.”
Charlotte considered that. “I suppose it's a good sign that she's starting to get very curious about your past. We talked about it while we had our massage this morning, you know. She had a lot of questions.”
“Shit.” Hugh felt his insides tighten. “My past has nothing to do with my present or my future. I've told Mattie that. She doesn't need to know anything more than she already does.”
“Women, especially women who have learned from experience to be prudent when it comes to men, sometimes take a slightly different view.”
“Shit,” Hugh said again as he went through the door and slammed it behind himself.
“Enjoy your bug juice,” Charlotte called after him.
CHAPTERTwelve
“What do you think about putting the lagoon series on the right-hand wall and the paintings of the town itself on the left-hand wall?” Mattie stood in the center of her gallery, studying the blank white walls. She'd been puzzling over Silk Taggert's work all afternoon. She had deliberately waited until after closing time to hang the paintings in order to create an air of expectation and curiosity in the local art community. She wanted to surprise everyone. She had all the placements carefully planned out and all she had to do was hang the work in its prepared locations. But time was getting short and she was in a hurry.
It was proving difficult to concentrate on the design of the display, however, because her sister was pacing furiously up and down the room. Ariel's fluttering black skirts and voluminous black silk top made her look like an exotic black butterfly as she flitted from one end of the gallery to the other.
Mattie automatically glanced down at the tailored little navy blue suit, white blouse, gold chain necklace, and black pumps she, herself, was wearing and