Page 90 of After Indigo Irish Nights
Bets couldn’t imagine ever wanting to leave this place.
“Linc!”
She turned her head as a woman came running down the steps. Her straight brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and Bets caught a flash of green eyes over a beaming smile.
Linc opened his arms and she rushed in, hugging him with a familiarity Bets hadn’t expected. She headed in their direction, Eoghan’s footsteps sounding on the gravel behind her.
“You’ve been working on your tan,” Linc teased.
“Please.” The brown-haired woman rolled her eyes and shot Bets a smile. “You step out of your house and get a tan here. You must be Betsy O’Hanlon. I’m Sophie. Linc has told me so much about you. I love what you’re doing in Caisleán.”
“She loves a woman of vision,” another woman said in what Bets could only call a sultry accent, French to her ears. She appeared at the edge of the garden in a stunning blue sheath. “We both do. Hello, Linc.”
“Hello, Brigitte,” Linc drawled. “Ain’t this a surprise.”
Bets tried not to stare as the woman walked over. She’d never seen someone prowl like a feline before. The woman’s hands were dripping with rings—diamonds and sapphires and a yellow stone Bets imagined was a yellow diamond. Her perfume reached them before she did, floral with a hint of musk. Everything about her bespoke of money and elegance and confidence, from her dress to her coiffed white-blond hair. Then Bets realized she wasn’t wearing a bra. Well…
“Mother arrived this morning out of the blue,” Sophie said, making a face.
This was Sophie’s famous painter mother? God, some people had all the luck.
“She swore it was to see Greta,” Sophie drew out almost sarcastically, “but I know better.”
“I had to meet the woman who’d lured Linc to the wilds of Ireland, didn’t I?”
Of course, she didn’t look in Bets’ direction once, but the way her eyes slid over Linc… Whew! Brigitte wanted to lap him up like a cat did milk. Hadtheybeen lovers? If not, Brigitte still had Linc on her bucket list.
Bets didn’t think Sorcha would approve. She knewshedidn’t. Something told her this woman was a lot like Linc’s three ex-wives.
Brigitte turned her cheek like she was a flower in the sun, and Linc kissed it obediently with an amused grin. “Those wilds have a lot to recommend them,” he said, glancing toward Bets with a gleam in his eye. “Including this woman of vision, as you said, and the oldest artist at the center. Eoghan, come meet Sophie and Brigitte.”
He greeted them with a flush of his weathered cheeks and a firm handshake, God love him. “It’s a pleasure to meet such beautiful women and renowned artists.”
“What kind of artist are you, Eoghan?” Sophie asked.
“I’ve fallen in love with clay and stained glass,” he said, “and at the age of ninety-three, I’m only just beginning. With the sunlight here, the stained glass must be amazing.”
“It is,” Sophie said, smiling. “Mother, imagine working as an artist until ninety-three.”
Her rose-painted mouth twisted. “A nightmare, for sure.”
Bets didn’t know what to make of that. Sophie only chuckled. “Mother is having a creative crisis. She’s riddled with doubts over whether to use oil or acrylic in her upcoming showing in Milan. She just needs some new inspiration, like we all do from time to time.”
“Which is why Ireland might be the perfect place for you, Sophie,” Linc said, taking her arm. “Where’s Greta?”
“She’s watching us from behind the fountain. Pretend you don’t see her. She likes that.”
Bets glanced over and caught a curly blond head before it disappeared. “She’s six, right? One of my boys was shy at that age, and he hid in trees.”
“She likes the sound of water,” Sophie said.
“Which is why I think you should encourage her to take up watercolor, darling,” Brigitte said. “She has an untapped gift, I think. Her drawing is already well beyond what yours was at the same age.”
Sophie’s mouth thinned. “Greta gets to choose what she wants to do. You know that, Mother.”
“Linc, she hides my gifts for my own grandchild.” Brigitte took Linc’s other arm as they walked to the front of the villa. “What do you think of that?”
Bets thought the woman was being clingy, that’s what.
