Silver Linings

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.

CHAPTER

Twelve

    “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 felt like a moth rather than a butterfly. She wished the suit were red instead of navy blue. Thoughts of the daring little red sarong that she had brought back with her from the islands danced in her head. It was neatly tucked away in the darkest corner of her closet.
    “Will you stop blathering on and on about those paintings? I'm trying to talk to you about something important.” Ariel waved her hands in a graceful gesture of total frustration, whirled, and strode back the other way.
    “These paintings are important. Right now they're more important than anything you've got to say to me, Ariel. You know I've got an opening scheduled for tonight.” Mattie bent over the stack of pictures leaning against the wall. She had just finished uncrating them and was anxious to see how they would look on the walls of her gallery.
    “Another opening for another one of your boring artists who paints pretty little pictures for people who like nice art?”
    Mattie was incensed on Silk's behalf. “There is nothing boring about Silk Taggert or his pictures.” She picked two at random out of the stack and put them up on the wall. “Take a look at these, Ariel. Take a good look, damn it, and tell me they're boring.”
    Ariel heaved a dramatic sigh and swept the pictures with a single cursory glance. One was an oddly disturbing harbor scene, the other a painting of the jungle that caught both a sense of primitive menace and the feeling of abundant life.
    “Island landscapes? Give me a break, Mattie. That's the sort of thing hotel chains hang in the rooms. You can buy them by the dozen anywhere. They all look