“You know,” Ninette said, “Gabe’s a photographer, too. Takes the pictures and then does all kinds of killer stuff to ’em after she’s done. You two should totally talk shop at the after-party.”

“You do?” Cassie said to Gabe.

Gabe blushed, but nodded. “Yeah. Nowhere near as advanced as the stuff you do, but I enjoy it.”

Cassie glanced at Kir who’d meandered up beside her, but couldn’t glean any clarification from his smug expression. “You’ve seen my stuff?” she said to Gabe.

A few of the women cleared their throats and avoided eye contact, but Darya beamed a huge smile. “Oh, yes,” she said, her Russian accent nowhere nearly as thick as Kir’s. “Evette told me she sold some of your work at a charity event, so I asked her to send us copies.” She motioned to Jace and Vivienne. “Jace has many connections in the art world, and Vivienne does a lot of their event planning, so they passed them on to a few contemporary galleries.”

“My pictures are in galleries?”

“Well,” Vivienne said. “A few of them are. I made a few calls on the flight here, and all but two have sold.”

Jace grinned at Kir and twirled the toothpick wedged in the corner of his mouth. “Supply and demand, brother. Better stop hogging your woman and give her time to get more work in.”

Holy crap.

Her pictures were selling.

Like real art.

How freaking crazy was that?

She turned to Kir. “You knew?”

His smile deepened and his voice dropped to that husky pitch she loved. “Of course, I knew. I have a vested interest in my woman being happy in her new career.”

“Now there’s a sign of a smart man,” Ninette said, looking around the room like she’d lost a stray duckling. “I’d introduce you to Sylvie, but I don’t know where in the hell she ran off to.”

“She’s giving the New Orleans crew a tour,” Natalie said. “Though, if you want to know the truth, I think she and Frieda were comparing notes on which of the men on the stage crew had the most potential.”

As if they’d staged their arrival for just that moment, the door swung open and Evette’s, Frieda’s and Sylvie’s laughter rolled into the room ahead of them.

Evette locked eyes with Cassie almost instantly. She rushed forward and wrapped her up in a hug as everyone else strolled in. “You made it!”

“You sold more of my pictures!” Timing wise, it probably wasn’t the right response, but Cassie couldn’t help it. Her insides were still reeling from the news and doing their darnedest to keep up.

Evette leaned back, eyes wide with mock chagrin. “Oops?”

Laughter filled the room, and Sergei aimed an amused yet adoring look on his wife. He rested one hand on his son’s shoulder and shifted his attention to Cassie. “It’s what family does. You will forgive her, yes?”

“Well, of course. But I hadn’t printed any new ones since the last set you asked for. How’d you get them?”