28. A Conversation in the Dark
CHAPTER 28
A CONVERSATION IN THE DARK
A half-hour later
Diana sighed and set aside her palette and brush. “I’ll do the temple some other time,” she murmured, wiping the brush on a cotton rag from the box before dipping it in the oil again. She wrapped it in the rag and used another to clean off the palette.
Realizing it had been some time since Randy had said anything, she glanced over to discover his gaze was still directed to where the sun had disappeared.
“Magical, isn’t it?” she asked, grinning.
He finally turned his attention to her. “Indeed. But I do believe your version is better,” he said, waving to the painting.
“Why, thank you,” she said, closing up the paint box. “Will you help me with the easel?”
Randy nodded. “Of course. I do hope someone thought to bring a lantern,” he said, glancing around to discover that darkness was quickly descending. The others, including Marcus, had already made their way off the temple floor and were heading toward the road to the hotel, his aunt and uncle leading the way.
He grunted his displeasure at seeing Diana’s brother escorting Jane whilst David, Tom, and Antonio walked together behind them.
“What is it?” Diana asked as she slid her sketchbook into her satchel.
“Your brother. He seems to have forgotten about you again.”
Diana shrugged. “I don’t mind. Truly,” she said. “Besides, it appears he’s finally gained Miss Jane’s approval.”
“But you knew that already,” Randy accused, dismantling the easel into its separate sections.
Stiffening at hearing the censure in his voice, Diana dipped her head. “He was a topic of discussion in our coach today,” she admitted. “Although Miss Jane likes Lord Penton very much, I do not believe she would ever feel the sort of affection for him she has developed for my brother.”
Randy nodded, tucking the paint box under his arm. “David is too young to marry, but whomever he does take to wife will learn he’s a true gentleman,” he said, as if defending his cousin’s honor. “Despite his tendency to fall in love easily, I expect he will be a loyal husband.”
“And you? Will you be a loyal husband when you finally decide to marry?” Diana asked, lifting the flap of the satchel to close it.
Tempted to tease her—was she asking him to marry her?—Randy opted to remain serious. “It’s certainly my intention,” he replied. He pointed to the canvas. “Can you manage it?” he asked as he watched her pull the strap of her satchel over her head and settle it on her hip.
“I can,” she acknowledged, reaching for the painting. She held the canvas so that the painted side was out, one of the wooden stretcher bars gripped in her fist. Before she dared to take a step forward, though,—the twilight made everything appear in dark shades of gray—she waited until Randy was next to her.
“Hold onto me,” he said quietly. “That way, if one of us goes down, we both will,” he teased.
“How is it you can joke about such a thing?” she asked. Although she might have been scolding him, her words didn’t sound as sharp as they might.
“Well, we can’t both be serious all the time,” he countered.
She inhaled sharply, and not only because one of her half-booted feet slipped on a slick stone. Randy paused to be sure she wasn’t hurt before he resumed his careful steps. “I am not serious all the time,” she argued.
“I rarely see you display humor,” he said when they finally reached the road, the more even surface making it easier to walk.
“That’s because there is rarely anything to amuse me,” she argued.
“Not even me?” Randy asked, grinning. The faint conversations of the rest of the group reached his ears, and he realized they had fallen far behind the others in their trek back to the hotel.
“How is it you are always able to display such a happy countenance?” she asked in dismay. “Your brother and David as well?”
Randy shrugged. “I have no complaints, I suppose. Other than I’m rather hungry at the moment.” When she seemed ready to stop to retrieve the linen-wrapped food from her satchel, he added, “We’ll be having dinner shortly. I can wait.”
“If you’re sure.” She didn’t make it a question.
They walked in silence down the steep slope for a moment before Randy asked, “What does make you happy?”
He heard her soft scoff. “Finding something I’ve been searching for,” she replied. “Discovering something I didn’t expect to find.”
“Painting?” he offered.
It was her turn to shrug. “I enjoy it,” she admitted.
“You appeared rather content whilst you were doing it, although I sensed you felt rushed. As if you wanted more time?—”
“I did want more time,” she affirmed. “When I’m painting the mosaics for Father’s publications, I can take all the time I need. Sometimes the light changes, but the tiles never move about as I’m trying to capture their shape and color.”
“Like the setting sun did?” he murmured.
“The sky changed, yes, but so did the color of the columns,” she explained.
“So... which color will you choose when you paint them?” he asked. “That yellowish white, or?—”
“The color of chocolate with a hint of red bleeding around the edges,” she said. “I’ll paint them in silhouette, at least, that’s what I remember when the top quarter of the sun was above the horizon. Only a few of the details were still visible in the columns. Very little of the fluting, of course, but there were places near the column tops and at the base where it was nearly black.”
Randy glanced over to discover she was grinning. Despite the darkness, his eyes had adjusted enough that he could make out her features. When they lightened even more, he gave a start and realized why. The bobbing light of a lantern appeared directly ahead of them.
“ Kalispéra ,” their coach driver called out.
“ Kalispéra ,” Randy said with relief. Farther ahead and almost to the hotel, he could see his uncle Will was now carrying a lantern in front of him. The driver joined Randy and Diana for the rest of the trip down the hill, and for a moment, he held his lantern so it illuminated Diana’s painting.
“Ah, you are an artist?” he asked.
“She is,” Randy said, before Diana could answer. “But she has more to do on it before it will be finished.”
“The sunset always goes by too fast. I saw it while I helped Elena and the girls,” he said. “With the table for dinner.”
“Oh?” Randy and Diana exchanged a quick glance. “I didn’t see a table in the hotel that looked large enough to accommodate all of us,” Randy said.
“That’s because it is outside. Elena has your dinner all ready for you,” he said in his heavily-accented English. “Drinks, too. You will eat on the beach.”
“The beach? Like a picnic?” Diana asked.
The driver shook his head. “At the table, and there are chairs for you to sit,” he said. “I cleaned them all so you will not mess your gowns.
Diana grinned. “I appreciate that,” she murmured. She glanced over to discover Randy watching her, his lips quirked. “What are you finding so humorous now?”
“Not humorous,” he replied. “I’m feeling rather happy at the thought of dinner. Remember, I’m starving.”
For the firsts time since he had met her, Diana giggled as they made their way into the hotel.