It was even worth the torment of being in the company of wickedly handsome James Bennett.
Without thinking, Belle took a step closer to the edge and breathed, “I wish my grandmother was here.”
“What?” James asked, his voice holding more than a little amusement mingled with surprise.
She looked up at him and repeated, “I wish my grandmother was here. She’s a painter. She could paint this for you.” Belle looked back at the view and went on, “She might even pay you for the opportunity to paint this.”
Belle felt him get close to her side. “You’re grandmother’s a painter?”
“Yes,” Belle answered not taking her eyes from the vista. “She’s kind of well-known. You might have heard of her. Lila Cavendish?”
Something emotive stirred the air, emanating from James. It was strong enough for Belle to tear her gaze away from the seascape to look up at him again.
“Your grandmother is Lila Cavendish?” he asked when her eyes hit his face.
Belle nodded. “Do you know her?”
“I have one of her pieces in my office in London,” he replied. “She’s extremely talented.”
Belle felt a sudden, warm burst of pride and murmured, “She is.”
“So you come from a talented family,” he remarked and she kept staring at him and shook her head.
“No, it’s just Gram that’s talented,” she told him.
He got closer, his chin dipping down further to look at her and he asked, “I thought Miles said you made your dress?”
Immediately, Belle looked away.
“Belle,” he called again but she didn’t look back.
Instead she answered the sea, “Yes, I made the dress.”
“It’s beautiful,” he complimented her and she felt that trill go up her spine again. So strong it not only raised the hairs on the back of her neck, it tingled all along her scalp.
“Thank you,” she whispered then sought to find another subject, any subject and luckily her mind found one. “Which piece of Gram’s do you have?”
He thankfully allowed the subject change and replied, “It’s called ‘Sedona Bloom’.”
Belle smiled at the sea and nodded. “I think I remember that one. She did a Sedona series when we lived there. The Arizona desert is remarkable in bloom.”
“So, you’re from Arizona,” he noted and she shook her head, crossing her arms on her chest under his jacket.
“We’re from everywhere.” She kept speaking to the view, finding it easier to hold this conversation when she could pretend he wasn’t there and so damned close. “Mom and Dad got divorced when I was six and Mom and I followed Gram wherever she went. Which was a lot of places.”
“Like where?” James asked.
It was at that moment that it occurred to her that James had known her for barely an evening and Miles had known her for a month. And Miles didn’t know her grandmother was Lila Cavendish or that her parents were divorced or that she moved around a lot.
He didn’t know any of this because he’d never asked.
“Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico,” Belle answered. “Gram went through a New Orleans phase so we stayed there for a school year. And she became infatuated with Savannah so we were there for an entire summer.” She stopped and when he didn’t speak she decided she should go on, so she noted inanely, “It was very humid.”
“Interesting life for a child,” James muttered. “What did your father think of this?”
Belle’s hand came out from under the jacket and she waved it in front of her. “Oh, he didn’t mind. He was a wanderer too. I never saw much of him, really.”
“You don’t sound like you find that upsetting,” he observed.