“It is quite fine to feel a little shocked and excited when you gaze upon such things. It shows you have a youthful spirit.” He smiled and gestured for his wife to move to the velvet rope. “We will open the gallery, and in one hour we will present our latest addition to our collection. It will only be on display at the Met for one week before it’s moving to its permanent home in the garden of our house in Connecticut. So please, enjoy!” With that, Prisha opened the rope, and the gallery was open.
As the guests moved forward, Rajeem and Prisha greeted them. Ben’s group was one of the last to pass by the couple. Lawrence took the opportunity to chat with Hannah and Gabriella as they slowly moved forward and the ladies were quite enjoying themselves. Their delight increased when Ron Leopold arrived and invited himself to join them.
“Mr. Shepherd! How surprising to bump into you here!” Ron said.
“Did your agent send you an invite as well?” Ben asked, glancing at the slight annoyance on Lawrence’s face.
The Australian sighed. “He’s trying to get me to join his next superhero movie.”
Ron feigned shock. “Whatever do you mean? I’m here as an art lover!”
Then it was their turn to greet their hosts. The two art collectors looked up at Ben and shock appeared on their faces. They seemed frozen, so Ben made the intros.
“Hi, I’m Ben Shepherd, and this is Gabriella Wallace, Hannah Cooper, and Sergeant Killcade.” He gestured to the two actors waiting their turn. “These two probably need no introduction…” Ben stopped as he realized the Singh’s hadn’t stopped staring at him. “Do I have something on my face?” he asked quietly.
“Scars!” Prisha gasped, and Ben looked at her in surprise.
“A perfect match to the bronze!” Rajeem sighed.
Ben frowned. It was that damn Bronze Man statue once more. An eternal curse! Of course, these collectors would know about it.
His frown flared the scar bisecting his face, and this seemed to make the couple aware of their staring.
“My apologies Mr. Shepherd for our rude stares. We were not expecting to be graced by your presence at the unveiling,” Rajeem gushed.
“You are most welcome! We are so thrilled to have you join us!” Prisha exclaimed and reached out to seize her husband’s hand.
Ben settled down and smiled at the couple. “Thank you.” With a nod, he moved into the room with the ladies following. Gabriella gave Hannah a troubled look, and Evelyn picked up this tension and looked to the brunette with a raised eyebrow. Gabriella just shook her head as she couldn’t identify the source of her unease. The Sergeant slipped away to case the room.
The paintings were quite lovely, numerous, and as they’d been informed, most were of couples enjoying sex in various ways. The guests milled around talking about their favorite paintings but the bulk of the conversation centered on the large curtain at one corner of the room. There was a velvet rope at that location blocking the guests from getting close. Two museum guards also stood nearby to keep an eye on the guests.
After the hour had passed Ben found himself facing the Singhs once more.
“Would you do us the honor of standing up front with us for the unveiling?” Rajeem asked.
Ben was beginning to feel a little weird, but he followed them through the gathered people with Hannah and Gabriella at his heels. The Sergeant moved to the side of the room to keep an eye on the exits. She’d already evaluated all guests as non-hostiles.
Ben, the ladies, and the hosts stood off to the right side of the curtain as the museum curator returned with the microphone. She was listening to her earpiece, and a broad relieved smile came to her face. She looked over to the Singhs and nodded. The two grinned back at her. She turned to the gathering audience.
“Hello! Thank you again for attending tonight’s event, and we hope you’ve enjoyed the works of art in this hall. We’re about to do the unveiling of the centerpiece for the exhibition, but before we do, I’ve just been informed that the artists responsible for this creation have arrived in the building and are being guided up to join us momentarily. When the Singh’s commissioned this piece, they offered to bring the artists to New York for its grand unveiling. Naturally, their flight was delayed.” The audience chuckled.
There was a parting of the crowd at the entrance of the room as a distinguished looking gentleman with short hair and a close shaved beard guided a lovely blond woman forward.
“May I introduce Stephanie Murino and Richard Garrison!” the woman announced as the artists reached the front of the crowd and turned to bow to the group.
“Stephanie?” Gabriella gasped.
The blond woman’s head turned in the direction of her cousin’s voice, and she smiled. “Gabriella, is that you?”
The woman running the exhibition gave them an annoyed glance for interrupting.
Ben was frozen in confusion. He looked to Richard’s surprised expression and saw something else there. Was it… guilt? Fear? He glanced to Stephanie, but she wasn’t reacting as she didn’t know he was there.
The woman in charge of the exhibition continued. “These wonderful artists are solely responsible for the piece about to be unveiled. Rajeem, Prasha, would you do the honors please?”
Ben looked to the excited expressions on the collector’s faces, and something clicked in his memory about how they were so surprised to see his facial scars. He suddenly realized they weren’t comparing them to the Bronze Man sculpture at Stephanie’s B&B- The curtain dropped and his head whipped around.