"Not at all. I'll take it easy on you, and afterward we can take a dip in the river."

She faced him with a hand on one hip, which hiked the shirt higher on her thigh. "There are two problems with that idea. First, in case you haven't noticed, this body is not meant to sweat."

"I don't know." He grinned at her over the rim of the mug. "We worked up a pretty good sweat last night, and I didn't hear you complaining."

"And second," she continued, "I don't have time. I'm supposed to meet with Sylvia at the gallery this morning."

"Oh? Are you taking her more art?" He frowned as he realized he hadn't seen her work on any art all week.

"No." She turned to put the cream away. "The prints of Sunrise Canyon arrived a couple days ago. They need me to sign them."

He lowered his mug. "You didn't tell me that."

"I didn't?" She straightened. "Oh. I thought I did."

"You must be excited to see them."

"I am." She let out a nervous gust of air. "Although it feels really weird too, dashing off to spend the day signing prints of my work."

"It's not pretentious, Maddy. It's just part of the business."

"I suppose."

Since the subject made her uneasy, something he would never understand, he decided to shift the topic.

The time had come to move into Phase Two of his campaign: get Maddy to move to Santa Fe. His stomach tensed. "You know, I've been thinking…" There, that sounded good. Nice and casual. No big deal. Just knocking ideas around in my head.

"About what?" She leaned against the counter as well, sipping from her own mug.

"Plans for the boot camp are coming along so great, we should be ready to open this winter."

"Oh, I definitely think you could do that. You just need to get the word out and start signing people up."

"Yeah." The tension moved up into his throat. "So." He took a swallow of coffee to burn the knot away. "What I was thinking is, you're so good with promotion…" Just spit it out, coward. He swallowed more coffee. "What would you think about staying on a bit after summer camp ends to help Derrick and me get things going?"

She coughed into her mug, then gasped for air.

"Are you okay?" Alarmed, he rubbed her back.

"I'm fine." She didn't look fine. She looked scared.

Oh, crap! She was going to say no. He'd miscalculated somewhere. Read the signals wrong.

"How-" She pressed a hand to her chest. "How long would you want me to stay?"

Forever! "It, um, depends. I know you have a life back in Austin that you probably want to get back to, so it wouldn't have to be too long. Just… a few weeks?"

Her eyes watered from her coughing fit. "I can manage a few weeks."

"Really?" Relief swamped him so fast his knees went weak. "That would be… great."

"So…" When she turned away to put her mug in the sink, he saw her hands shake. Was she crying? Why would she be crying? "I, um, I guess I better shower and get dressed if I'm going into town."

"Hang on." He slipped a hand around her arm as she started toward the bedroom.

Before he could ask her what was wrong, or even get a good look at her face, she slipped her arms around his neck, went up on her toes and was kissing him so deeply that tiny explosions went off in his head. Adjusting quickly, he wrapped his arms around her and tilted his head for a better angle. Her hands were in his hair as her tongue danced with his. He ran his own hands down her back, then up under the shirt-where he found her bottom bare.

Ho-yeah! Coming up for air, he stared down at her in wonder. "Wow."

She grinned back at him, her whole face glowing.

He cleared his throat and tried to form a coherent thought. "So, um, you need any help with that shower?"

"That depends." Her smile grew even broader. "Do I get to scrub your back?"

Absolutely ho-yeah! "Only if I get to scrub yours."

"You got a deal, soldier." She turned and sashayed ahead of him into the bedroom.


* * *

Maddy sang with the radio all the way to the gallery, then breezed in with a cheerful hello for Juanita. "Is Sylvia here?"

"She's in the back getting things ready for you. I'll let her know you're here."

While Juanita picked up the phone, Maddy wandered back into the alcove that held her work. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw all the blank spots. Three of them she'd expected, from the sales made the night of the show, but apparently they'd sold two more of her originals: a large piece titled Rushing River and a small close-up of a cactus blossom.

"Sylvia's on her way," Juanita said, coming up behind her. "Do you need help getting anything out of your car?"

"What?"

"I can't wait to see what you've done since the show. As you can see, we really need some new pieces."

"Yes, I… see." She stared at the blank spots, feeling off kilter since she hadn't brought any more work. Her whole week had been taken up helping Joe. "I'll bring more pieces in next time."

"Maddy!" Sylvia sailed toward her, smiling broadly. "My new favorite person! Juanita told me about the show in Taos. And a party at Dale's resort." She slapped a hand over her heart.

"Oh, well." Maddy shrugged the words off. "That wasn't serious."

"Of course it was," Sylvia insisted. "I've been on the phone with Rick all week. They're very excited to have you come stay with them before the show."

"They are?" Maddy nearly stuttered in surprise.

"They're going to close the resort for three days, invite all their friends. Then end the party with a show at Rick's gallery. You're going to. have a ball."

"Sylvia…" The air left her lungs. "I can't dash off to Taos for a party that lasts three days."

Sylvia's face went blank. "Excuse me?"

"I'm working at Camp Enchantment."

"Oh, that." She waved a hand. "Not to worry. Dale's too much of a businessman to close his resort during the summer tourist season. He's looking at early fall, in the lull before ski season starts."

"Yes, but-" Maddy started to explain that she'd just promised Joe to help him with his boot camp, but Sylvia grabbed her arm.

"Now come in the back and have a look at your prints."

Ah yes, the prints!

Maddy's pulse picked up as the woman led her into the noisy frame shop. An easel had been set up next to one of the worktables. Her gaze moved past it, then zipped back as she recognized Sunrise Canyon.

"Ohmygod." She pressed both hands to her mouth as wonder blossomed inside her. The image was smaller and not as vibrant as the original, but it was hers. "I can't believe this! I have prints."

Several of the framers paused in their work to watch her reaction. She realized this must be fun for them too-working with artists, framing and selling prints, building careers. And now she was one of those artists. How had that happened?

"The printer did an amazing job." Sylvia beamed until she got a look at Maddy's face. "Are you going to cry?"

"I may." Her vision blurred for the second time that day. Why did happiness make her so weepy? "I know we've been talking about this for weeks, but it didn't seem real… until now."

"Here, have a seat." Sylvia guided her to a bar-stool next to the worktable.

They'd created a little island of clean amid the mess for her to sign the prints. Bottled water sat beside a plate of fruit and cheese. Three sharpened pencils lay in a neat row. All this had been done for her.

"You just sit here and admire your print for a few minutes," Sylvia insisted. "I need to fetch my calendar. Mark, Todd?" She motioned two of the framers over, then turned back to Maddy. "Don't let these guys work you too hard. Take as many breaks as you need."

"Of course." Maddy felt like a pampered princess as the men brought the first stack of prints to be signed. Mark, the frame shop manager, used a magnifying glass to inspect the first few.

"Now, don't freak," he said in warning, then promptly tore the top five prints in half and tossed them on the floor.

Maddy gasped in horror. "What are you doing?"

"Culling out the rejects." When he had a small stack of acceptable prints, he numbered them in pencil, then passed them to her for her signature.

Sylvia returned carrying an appointment book. She hopped onto a barstool across from Maddy and laid the book on the table. "Okay, let's talk dates."

"Dates?" Maddy signed another print and Todd whisked it away.

"Show dates." Slipping on her reading glasses, Sylvia flipped through the calendar pages. "Rick's show will come first, which will be a fun way to kick things off. Then we'll get down to real business with the Professional Picture Framers Association Trade Show in L.A. followed by Market in Dallas. We'll try to fill in the gaps with gallery shows, but those will be slow at first, until we build up your name recognition. Are there any weeks this fall you're not available to travel?"

"What?" The floor tilted suddenly, and Maddy prayed she wouldn't fall off the barstool. "You want me to travel? This fall?"

"Of course."

The whole conversation with Joe flashed through her mind. He'd said a few weeks, but she hoped to stretch that into more. "I-I can't travel."

"Don't worry." Sylvia waved her words away. "We pay all your expenses."

"But-" Her heart beat painfully fast. "Can't you simply send my work?"

"Once you're established, you can skip the trade shows and just do gallery appearances, but at this stage we want you out there meeting the gallery owners so they can see you're the total package."

"Total package?" Another stack of prints was placed in front of her. She stared at them blankly.