“Why have you come here?” he asked.
“Because I don’t want you to make the same mistake that I did.” His dad pulled out a folded piece of paper and handed it to him. “Your scarred beauty is holding an auction for her art work at the gallery just a few blocks from here.”
The paper was the one of them at the French restaurant. Folding the paper in two he handed it back.
“So? There is nothing going on between us.”
“No? Then tell me why you’re looking at her as if she’s the best thing in the world, and you want a piece of it?”
“It is amazing what they can do with air brushing these days.”
His dad held up his hand. “Don’t, son. There is a woman a few blocks from here who is clearly in love with you. Do not do what I did. I cared for your mother, but I love the woman I’m with. You may not like me, but I’ve got a woman who will open her arms to me when I go home. What have you got?” He passed him the paper and walked out of the office.
Isaac opened the paper and stared at the woman who plagued his thoughts day and night.
Running a thumb over her face on the paper he pictured her in his arms. He remembered the smooth soft skin of her body, the easy response as she came apart in his grasp. He stared at the paper where the woman who held his heart sat.
Throwing the paper down, he called down for a ride.
He was going to win his woman.
****
“This is a very special portrait of the painter herself. Miss Noelle Evans is the distinguished artist. Her self-portrait, titled Scarred Beauty, is a rare item. I would like to start the bidding at ten thousand dollars,” the auctioneer said to the crowd.
I’m pregnant. I’m going to give birth to Isaac Welch’s baby.
Stop thinking or panicking, and stare at the work being sold. This is good business. The baby can wait.
Only nine months.
Long enough.
Noelle stood back, tears in her eyes as she looked at the painting she’d done of herself after her time with Isaac. That man had made her feel like the most beautiful woman in the world. Closing her eyes she tried to block out the pain. The auction was turning into a huge success, better than anything she could have ever imagined.
The prices escalated for her self portrait. She guessed the reason for her increase in popularity was down to her relationship with Isaac Welch. Not Isaac the man she knew but Isaac the successful business man. When she thought of the betrayal Brad and Isaac had put her through, her heart ached, and she felt filled with humiliation. Her best friend had asked his older brother to play an escort. Was everything she felt in his arms a lie? The inner turmoil of that had happened over the last few weeks shocked her.
“Ten million dollars.” Gasps echoed round the small room. She looked inside the room. Isaac stood in the doorway his hair drenched from the rain outside, his eyes blazing with passion. She stared at him with the comfort of the curtain between them. This was the first time she’d seen him since the episode in the loft over her leaving.
“Does anyone want to increase the bid?” the auctioneer asked.
Biting her lip, Noelle stepped from behind the curtain. “His bid does not count. No sale,” she said.
He moved down the aisle, and she couldn’t tear her gaze away from him even if she wanted to. He captured her attention like the first time she had met him.
“I want that painting.”
“You’re not getting it.”
He stood at the bottom of the stage staring up at her. She moved down the steps so she was the same height. Looking down on him felt wrong.
“You’re going to give me that painting, Elle. It’s mine. You’re my scarred beauty. No one else has a right to that picture. I watched you paint that portrait.”
The vision he brought into her mind had her weak at the knees. There was a point at which she painted where he’d sat on a chair in front of her painting, parted her thighs and sunk deep inside her. She’d painted part of the portrait while he was making love to her. The sensuality of the painting captured the feelings he evoked.
She gazed out at the audience, her blonde hair wrapped off her face for once. No one looked away from her in disgust. They all starred at her with rapt attention. How had her life changed so much?
Tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear, she turned back to the man who’d crushed her heart.
“Take the painting. I have no use for it.” She held her head high and walked past him. Down the aisle she walked not daring to look anywhere but straight in front.
“You will always be my girl, Noelle.”
She stopped at the last row of chairs, her back straight. He’d never in all the time they’d been together called her by her full name. The only time she’d heard her name from his lips had been in the media coverage of their relationship. Without thinking, she turned back to face him. He stood in the same spot.