Page 89 of After Indigo Irish Nights
Dammit, she was going to France today. To meet a world-renowned artist, the kind she’d dreamed about working with someday. That was what she needed to concentrate on.
When Linc drove up with his Range Rover, Eoghan waved from the passenger seat and called out the open window, “Grand day for a journey, isn’t it? Not a cloud in the sky.”
When Linc exited the car, she made herself smile. “Ready, cowboy?”
“I’m always ready.” He reached out and gently lifted her chin, studying her. “Don’t take this wrong, but you look terrible. What happened?”
She shook her head and put on a brave face. “Nothing. Let me put my glass inside and lock the house up.”
“You and Donal get into it finally? He said he was coming over after installing the new safeguards for Kathleen’s shed to make you feel better.”
“No, we didn’t, and I don’t want to talk about it. I just want to focus on convincing Sophie to come to Ireland and have a good time while we’re doing it.”
“All right, sugar.” He took hold of her carry-on. “Let’s get a move on then.”
His private plane was exactly as she’d remembered it, all sleek cream leather stocked with champagne and bourbon and anything else you could imagine wanting.
Eoghan’s reaction to the luxury brought a smile to her lips at last. He cooed like a turtledove as he stroked the leather. “It’s the most beautiful thing these eyes have ever beheld. Linc Buchanan, if I die today, this will be a fine place to breathe my last.”
Linc snorted. “Don’t expire, Eoghan. I’d have to get a new plane. Can’t abide the thought of someone dying here. Now… What would you like to drink?”
“You have drink too?” He gave a dramatic sigh. “It’s better than any pub, and you know how I love the pub. Whiskey, of course.”
“Bourbon like our last time, Bets?” Linc asked with a cheeky wink.
God, what a trip that had been. She made a face at him for good measure, determined to get into the swing of things. “On the rocks, cowboy.” She stopped short of ordering a double.
Linc introduced them to the blond flight attendant and then gave her their orders.
Eoghan smiled like a schoolboy and sagged back in his seat. “You live a grand life, Linc.”
“It’s better with friends like you.” Linc kicked out his feet. “Time to buckle up. We’re taking off soon. Won’t be long before we’re in Nice.”
That certainly was true. By the time they landed, Bets had herself in hand and had gone over her pitch three more times. Man, she was so ready!
When they deplaned, Eoghan raised his arms to the sky. “To think, I’ve only been a few short hours away from a place with this much sun. It’s glorious. My bones feel as if I’m sitting inside a wood stove.”
Bets breathed in the heat. The contrast to Ireland with all its rain, damp, and cold couldn’t be greater and she loved every bit of it. She was going to do good here. She could feel it.
After they finished with Customs, Linc led them to the silver Range Rover waiting for them. “We’re about twenty minutes from Saint-Paul de Vence. Let me text Sophie we’re on our way.”
The road was windy and cut through mountains lined with dense green trees and gray stone peaks—the lower Alps, Linc said.
“I read that this town has been a magnet for famous artists for a long time,” Bets said from the back seat, trying for conversation.
“Yep. Picasso. Matisse. Hell, Marc Chagall is buried there. It was also a huge draw for French actors like Yves Montand and the like. We’ll visit Saint-Paul de Vence tomorrow if you’re game. Sophie lives in a villa in the valley.”
A villa? That was where they were staying tonight? He’d said Sophie had invited them to bunk at her house. Nerves surged. How could they compete with a villa?
When they arrived at the compound, Eoghan gave a squeak after Linc called through the box and was admitted. Bets could have squeaked herself. The villa was two stories of golden stone with a dozen gleaming windows. A fountain of two nude figures embracing was set in the middle of the circular gravel driveway. But it was the endless roses in the formal garden to the right that stole her breath.
“It’s paradise, it is,” Eoghan said with awe as he exited the car and wandered away.
Linc was no doubt used to places like this, but Bets had only seen them onLifestyles of the Rich and Famousa million years ago. She shot Linc a look. “Yeah, housing is definitely going to be an issue.”
He winked again, calming her nerves with that one action. “Let me do the talking.”
She opened the car door and pressed her hand to her heart as she inhaled the most luscious scent imaginable. Roses, and something else. She looked around. White blossoms trailed from the garden walls. Jasmine. Purple flowers flowed over another stone wall like a brilliant carpet. Tall cypress trees swayed in a gentle warm breeze.
