Sculpting Grace: A Light Romance Novel (Art of Grace Book 2) Read Free Page B

St. James," Preston said.
    "What, all of that at the same time?" I asked, scribbling the name down. Carter had risen up from his seat and moved closer, leaning in over my shoulder so he could read what I wrote down on the notepad. I tried to wave him off, but he just raised his eyebrows at me and smirked.
    "Yep. Comes from quite the distinguished family, in fact. Makes very evocative art."
    "Um, what type of art? Exactly?" I asked, thinking of the last "popular artist" that Preston bragged to me about. Onyx was certainly the kind of artist who could be described as evocative... but that didn't mean that I wanted another artist displaying sculptures of genitalia in the gallery.
    "He makes sculptures," Preston said diffidently, adding fuel to the fire of my concern. "Very abstract pieces, but he mixes in paint as well, gives them brilliant splashes of color. I don't even pretend to understand it, but all the media magazines loved him last year. He's kind of dropped off the radar for a bit, but if we can announce him signing on with our gallery, we'll bring in a ton of publicity." He paused for a moment. "And a lot more sales, too," he added, an addition that didn't escape me.
    More sales meant more commission, which meant more money in my pocket. That was exactly what I wanted - although I still wasn't sure how I'd go about trying to convince this artist to sign on with our gallery. What could we offer him? We certainly didn't have the same renown as a national gallery, but I decided that it was still worth a shot. Besides, if he'd dropped off the national radar, maybe I had a chance...
    After all, the worst that he could say was no.
    "So? We got a deal? You'll go try and recruit de St. James to sign on with the Halesford Gallery?"
    "I'll have to think about it," I stalled for time. "I mean, I'm pretty busy running the gallery right now, just about on my own." Carter made sure that I saw him roll his eyes as he held out one hand, as if to take in the totally empty interior of the art gallery. "I can't just leave the place unattended to go off and talk with this artist-"
    "Not to worry!" Preston interrupted. "I've already worked out a solution for you."
    "Oh. Great." I paused for a minute. "What's the solution, exactly?"
    "An assistant! I've already found her and hired her on. She'll be able to fill in part time, letting you take off and go hunt down this artist. She'll be starting up bright and early tomorrow morning!"
    I tried to find another way to buy myself some time to do a bit of research into this Dean Benjamin de St. James fellow, but I didn't have any other excuses. "Well, I guess it'll all work out, then," I finally said, rather weakly.
    "Perfect! Oh, this will be so exciting for you." Uncle Preston really did sound like he meant the words, but then again, he also thought that I was having the time of my life running his mostly deserted gallery for him, dealing with the occasional customer who wandered inside. My uncle had a low threshold for excitement, I'd decided.
    "Well, I'll leave you to it!" Preston stated, as I tried to think of what else I needed to ask about this de St. James guy. "After all, I can't stand around gabbing to you on the phone forever - I've got lots to do today!"
    "Wait, I still don't know exactly-" I started, but my words came too late.
    I had more questions, but a half second later, I heard a click come from the other end of the line. Preston, it seemed, had delivered his assignment to me, and no longer needed to stay on the phone.
    I lowered the receiver, wondering what other activities he was rushing off to do. With me running his gallery for him, Preston was essentially retired, and as far as I could tell, he spent most of his time lounging in swimming trunks next to the senior center pool, furtively checking out some of the female senior citizens as they participated in their aquatic aerobics classes.
    Maybe one of those classes was about to start, and he didn't want to miss the show, I