Prologue
He's been speaking at the opening of an art exhibition for which he has been the major patron -- it's an exhibition of some of Gustav Klimt's lesser known works -- drawings, mostly. She is there because her tutor had suggested it would be an interesting and relevant show for her research, and because she has promised herself to attend at least one event per fortnight, in a determined effort to move her life on from the rut its been in for the last 8 months. The months since her split with Neil.
She is slightly embarrassed by the works -- she hasn't seen them before, only knowing the more mainstream paintings. They are disturbingly direct in their eroticism, and she is a little shocked by the immediacy of her own (disturbingly sexual) response to them -- especially as they are almost all of women.
But she is now much more interested in him than in the paintings, although she doesn't know why, exactly. She has heard his name before -- he's some property billionaire, but also an amateur art historian, and funds a highbrow art criticism magazine that she has read -- but that's not it. It was just something about the way he spoke, how he carries himself. He is much older than her -- old enough to be her father, she realises, shocked at herself, but she nevertheless has a strong sexual attraction to him.
Not that he's looking at her. He's accompanied by a young woman assistant -- very beautiful, very demurely dressed -- obviously an employee -- he speaks to her quite directly but not often. He has a remarkable air of focus about him -- at every moment, it is clear that he is entirely aware of what it is that he is concerned with, and fully engaged with it -- whether it is inspecting the pictures, talking to various important looking people, or staring abstractedly into the middle distance -- obviously thinking deeply, after which he often turns to his assistant and delivers some terse statement, which she diligently notes into a large phone.
At last, after finding herself staring at him often enough to become embarrassed about it, she is convinced that he hasn't looked at her once with the slightest interest. She forces herself back to the art, swallowing her renewed shock at how directly erotic in intent they are, and engages her professional judgement, forcing herself to apply the analytical techniques she is developing for her PhD thesis, making scribbles in her little notebook.
So that she is completely surprised to find herself face to face with him -- almost bumping into him as she turns away from a particularly erotic drawing.
"Oh!" She is immediately in turmoil, flushing red, feeling a little panicky. She's been an emotional disaster area since Neil left, paralysingly unsure of herself, and while she was happy to watch this most intriguing man from across the room, while he was unaware, it is entirely another thing to experience the the dry warmth coming from his body, to see him look from the -- frankly pornographic -- picture and back to her with a softly ironic twitch of his brow; she is suddenly frightened, eager to escape, mouth dry.
"May I ask what you wrote about this one? I've been impressed with your apparent -- objectivity, shall we call it? -- in the face of all this -- determined -- lewdness."
She is even more flustered by this, uncomfortably aware of the calm attentiveness of the assistant off to one side. She's briefly not sure that she can manage to speak, horrified at how shaming this would be, and desperately invents the need to cough, in the hope of kick-starting her vocal cords.
And it works -- except that she is fairly sure from his tolerant expression that he knows exactly what is going on with her (his gaze is unsettlingly direct, but not in the slightest aggressive; his smile hard, but not cruel) -- which is mortifying, but simultaneously somehow incredibly welcome;
"Ah-hem! Excuse Me! You... you mean my... my notes?"
He doesn't dignify that attempt at deflection with anything other than a slight intensification of his tolerance, and she immediately crumbles, feeling ridiculous;
"Of... of course you do... um..."
She is blushing uncontrollably, she knows;
"Actually, I was trying to set down just... just how the line quality is... is put to the service of the erm... ah erotic intent of the... the drawing..."
She is gabbling, but he doesn't laugh. Indeed, the amusement fades a little -- he's actually listening -- taking her seriously! She feels her heart swell and curses herself for being a fool. He is looking at the picture now, and she experiences mixed relief that the force of his calm but relentless gaze is no longer directed at her, coupled with a strong sense of the loss of his attention.
"It's an interesting point. It's certainly true that in his treatment of the face, for instance, the line is enormously stylised, while the treatment of the hand, the conveyance of the bulk of the thighs, is far more carefully naturalistic. Tell me, how do you come to make such subtle analysis?"
He is looking at her again, and she has forgotten to breathe -- he's really, truly taking notice of her -- interested in what she has to say! She smiles desperately, helplessly, feeling unutterably foolish, but the calm seriousness of his expression -- all amusement, all irony gone now, calms her enough that she can speak;
"I... it's a... a part of the, um, analytical technique that... that I'm applying to... to a wide range of artists of the period -- for my PhD. I... I'm looking for ways to relate... er... aspects of technique to the... um... freeing of art from, from the need for realism. By... by the advent of photography."
She's babbling again, she knows. And blushing. Her throat is terribly dry. Looking at her with what she is stunned to realise is an expression of interested approval, he turns a little toward the assistant;
"Some drinks, Nadia. Champagne, I think. Get a good bottle."
Can this really be happening? She is flooded with pleasure and gratitude at this impressive, fascinating man being so nice to her.