She took a sip of wine and smiled. “My cook, Alicia, is the best there is. I never eat poorly. One of the indulgences I allow myself.”

Esme was looking down at her plate, and I recognized the posture from when we’d first met her. She was locked up, unable to get out of her own head with nerves.

“So tell me about yourselves,” Eleanor said. “Esme told me you are tattoo artists.”

“Yes,” I said. “We are. Ben, Rylan, and myself began as classically trained artists and moved into the field, while Kade and Luke started out in the trade.”

“Interesting. And what made you leave the traditional field?”

Ben took the dish from Kade and served Esme before serving himself. “That’s mainly my doing. We formed our pack at school, and after my parents passed, I got one in their honor. I fell in love with it and these guys followed me.”

“I’m sorry to hear they’ve passed.” Eleanor inclined her head.

“You might know them? Roy and Kelly Gray. I know my father was a huge fan of your late husband’s work, Mrs. Williams.”

She looked stunned for a moment. “Yes. I did know them. You’re their son? My, it’s been long enough I forgot they had children. A sister too?”

“Correct.”

Rylan finished his circuit of the table with the wine, and the food gradually made its way around. But no one spoke for a minute, and the silence was painful.

“Besides our occupation,” Kade finally broke the silence, “is there anything else you’d like to know about us? We’re incredibly happy to be courting your daughter, and we’re equally happy to answer any questions.”

Esme’s mother didn’t touch her food, but she took another sip of wine. “My other daughter, Eva, says you’re well known. Is it true?”

Kade nodded. “Yes, it’s true. I could be humble about it, but I won’t be now. Success is partly luck, but it’s also talent and hard work. The five of us are some of the best in the business, and just like Troisgros, our waiting list is months long.”

“I think it’s actually closer to a year now,” Luke said. “We might consider bringing in an artist who isn’t pack to help stem the tide. But it might not get better. Eva has an interesting idea for a possible show involving the studio, and we’re eager to see where it goes.”

“My Eva?”

Esme cleared her throat. “Yeah. Eva wants a tattoo from Ben. It’s how she tricked me into going to the studio to meet them. Set up an excuse to go get a consultation and shoved me in the door.”

Luke chuckled. “I don’t remember the shoving.”

“It was a mental shove.”

Her mother stared at her. “You had to be tricked into meeting them? I thought you were scent-sympathetic.”