Page 77 of This Heart Of Mine (Chicago Stars 5)

“What kind of fans?” he demanded.

“I’m fairly well known,” Lilly said.

“Oh.” He dismissed her celebrity. “If you insist on eating, could you hurry up about it?”

Lilly addressed Molly, but only to aggravate him, she was certain. “This unbelievably self-absorbed man is Liam Jenner. Mr. Jenner, this is Molly, my… nephew’s wife.”

For the second time in two days Molly found herself starstruck. “Mr. Jenner?” She gulped. “I can’t tell you what a pleasure this is. I’ve admired your work for years. I can’t believe you’re here! I just—You have long hair in that photograph they always print of you. I know it was taken years ago, but—I’m sorry. I’m babbling. It’s just that your work has meant a lot to me.”

Jenner glowered at Lilly. “If I’d wanted her to know my name, I’d have told her myself.”

“Lucky us,” Lilly said to Molly. “We finally have a winner for our Mr. Charm pageant.”

Molly tried to catch her breath. “That’s all right. I understand. I’m sure lots of people try to violate your privacy, but—”

“Maybe you could skip the adulation and just lead the way to those pancakes.”

She gulped some air. “Right this way. Sir.”

“Perhaps you should fix crab cakes instead,” Lilly said.

“I heard that,” he muttered.

In the kitchen Molly pulled herself together enough to direct Lilly and Liam Jenner to the round table that sat in the bay. She raced to rescue the scrambled eggs she’d abandoned and toss them on a plate.

Kevin came through the door and glanced toward Lilly and Jenner but apparently decided not to ask any questions. “Are those eggs ready yet?”

She handed him the plates. “They’re overdone. If Mrs. Pearson complains, charm her out of it. Would you bring in some coffee? We have kitchen guests. This is Liam Jenner.”

Kevin nodded at the artist. “I heard in town that you had a house on the lake.”

“And you’re Kevin Tucker.” For the first time Jenner smiled, and Molly was startled by the transformation of those craggy features. Very sexy indeed. Lilly noticed, too, although she didn’t seem as impressed as Molly.

He stood and extended his hand. “I should have recognized you right away. I’ve been following the Stars for years.”

As the two men shook, Molly watched the temperamental artist turn into a football fan. “You had a pretty good season.”

“Could have been better.”

“I guess you can’t win them all.”

As the conversation turned to the Stars, Molly gazed at the three of them. What an odd group of people to have come together in this isolated place. A football player, an artist, and a movie star.

Here on Gilligan’s Isle.

She smiled and took the plates from Kevin, who seemed to be enjoying the conversation, then plopped them on a tray and delivered them to the dining room. Luckily there were no complaints about the eggs. She filled two mugs from the coffee urn, picked up an extra cream and sugar, and carried it all back to the kitchen.

Kevin was leaning against the pantry door ignoring Lilly while he spoke to Jenner. “… heard in town that lots of people are visiting Wind Lake hoping to catch a glimpse of you. Apparently you’ve been a boon to local tourism.”

“Not by choice.” Jenner took the coffee Molly set in front of him and leaned back in his chair. He looked easy in his skin, she thought. Solidly built, a little grizzled, an artist disguised as a rugged outdoorsman. “As soon as word got around that I’d built a house here, all kinds of idiots started showing up.”

Lilly accepted the spoon Molly handed her and began stirring her coffee. “You don’t seem to think much of your admirers, Mr. Jenner.”

“They’re impressed by my fame, not my work. They start babbling about how they’re so honored to meet me, but three-quarters of them wouldn’t know one of my paintings if it bit ‘em on the ass.”

As one who’d babbled, Molly couldn’t let that pass. “Mamie in Earnest, painted in 1968, a very early watercolor.” She poured out the batter onto the griddle. “An emotionally complex work with a deceptive simplicity of line. Tokens, painted around 1971, a dry brush watercolor. The critics hated it, but they were wrong. From 1996 to 1998 you concentrated on acrylics with the Desert Series. Stylistically, those paintings are a pastiche—postmodern eclecticism, classicism, with a nod toward the Impressionists that only you could have pulled off.”

Kevin smiled. “Molly’s summa cum laude. Northwestern. She writes bunny books. My personal favorite of your paintings is a landscape—don’t have a clue when you painted it or what the critics had to say about it—but there’s this kid in the distance and I like it.”

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