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ex-boyfriend’s hurtful comments still echoed in her ears, but Ian hadn’t expressed any disgust with her body. Stripping for him hadn’t made her feel any better about herself, but at least it hadn’t made her feel worse. The best thing to do would be to simply forget that it happened at all.
    She’d had mockups of the Madden paintings made so she could play with their arrangement on the gallery’s walls, but before she set Leroy to work tacking things up, she needed a plan. Sitting down cross-legged in the middle of the empty space, Violet picked up a legal pad and sketched a quick layout of the room, trying to determine the best way to organize the paintings.
    The two purple-tagged paintings should clearly go against the far wall, the rest of the exhibit building to that climax, but for the other fifteen, she was at a bit of a loss. There were so many possible arrangements that even roughing something into her sketch felt like too much of a commitment.
    “Just put something on paper,” she said aloud, but her hand refused to obey her. With a groan of frustration, Violet heaved herself off the floor and went to grab a candy bar from her desk, counting on the sugar to help her think. If that didn’t work, at least the chocolate would comfort her.
    It took most of a week, but she finally managed to put together an arrangement that she was satisfied with. As Leroy tacked the mockups into place, she called Xavier to arrange for Ian to give his final approval. Once he did, she could finish the promotional materials and start contacting journalists to preview the show. The museum didn’t have much of an advertising budget, but this was a Hunter Madden exhibit. Word of mouth would do most of the work for her if she planted seeds in the proper places.
    “Mr. Carlisle will meet you tomorrow morning at nine in the museum lobby,” Xavier told her, and Violet nearly dropped the phone.
    “He’s coming here?” she blurted. Somehow she’d assumed that all she’d have to do was e-mail him a few pictures. Instead, she was going to have to actually interact with the man knowing that he’d seen her naked.
    “Of course, Miss Fabre.” Xavier sounded puzzled by her surprise. “Mr. Carlisle is very invested in the exhibit’s success.”
    “Great,” she said weakly, hanging up as soon as possible. If Ian was coming here, she had a busy afternoon ahead of her. The museum had to look its absolute best so he would sign off on the exhibit.
    By the time she finished, it was nearly midnight and Leroy looked like he was planning to cut her brake lines, but every area of the museum that Ian could reasonably be expected to want to see was sparkling. Even the most shabby and out-of-date displays were neat as a pin, hopefully proving that she could be trusted with the Madden paintings.
    Exhausted, Violet hit the drive-through on her way home, barely able to finish her French fries before she collapsed into bed where she dreamed of running naked through the museum while someone chased her with the war club from the Penobscot display. She was almost grateful when her alarm went off.
    Frowning over the contents of her closet, she finally chose her most shapeless gray dress, pairing it with nude stockings and sensible black shoes. With her hair in a bun and next to no makeup, she looked severe and businesslike. One look at her would assure Ian that what happened in his gallery had been an anomaly that would not be repeated. The Violet in the mirror wasn’t interested in romance, only in putting on the best possible exhibit.
    After brushing her teeth to banish any evidence of the chocolate muffin she’d had for breakfast, she headed for the museum, relieved that Ian was nowhere in sight. It was still early, but she wouldn’t have been surprised to find him waiting for her just to throw her off. The museum wouldn’t open until noon, so she was the only one there, and Violet took a moment to just breathe and enjoy the silence as she