If You Love Me, I'm Yours

by Lizzie Chantree

  ‘I feel awful about how often I’ve been mean to Nate and all of the times when he’d tried to help us get together, even though we’re his best friend and sister.’ She looped her arms around Elliott’s waist and pressed her cheek to his chest, listening to his rapidly-beating heart as he kissed her shoulder. ‘I shouldn’t have kept Nate and Maud apart early in their relationship by telling Maud he was a womaniser.’ Elliott’s eyebrows shot up at this. Nate liked women, but after being so badly burnt emotionally and physically, he didn’t mess them around. He was so honest it was brutal sometimes. It wasn’t Nate’s fault that women regularly threw themselves at him.

  Dot was still thinking out loud. ‘Now maybe Maud is holding back in case he treats her the way Tom did?’ She reluctantly let go of Elliott and he stood back and whistled at her gown. He hadn’t noticed it earlier, but now he had, he wanted to kiss every inch of her beautiful body.

  ‘Maud’s just told me she’s not sure she should go to the exhibition,’ she said quietly, so Maud wouldn’t hear, even though the bedroom door was shut. ‘She’s got to go.’

  Elliott was confused now. ‘You shouldn’t make her go if she doesn’t want to. Nate is really grumpy and pacing around. If they’ve argued, then it’s better she stays away until later, as he’s just said that this is his most important exhibition to date. He’s worked like a demon for the last couple of weeks and Maud can’t ruin it for him.’

  Dot looked at him as if he was mad, and called Maud into the room. As the door opened and Elliott saw what she was wearing he went quiet and just stared, open-mouthed, until Dot gently pushed his jaw shut and gave him a knowing smile.

  Maud’s brow was creased and she started playing with her hair. She looked confused and asked them what the hell was going on. ‘What is it with everyone today and this dress?’ She absently ran her hands down the fabric and stood looking very uncomfortable all of a sudden.

  ‘You are going to the exhibition,’ said Elliott in a voice that had a finality in it, ‘even if it is the last thing I ever do and I have to carry you there myself. You’re going.’

  Chapter Fifty

  Dot, Maud and Elliott stood just by the main door and peeked inside. The gallery was buzzing and they could already hear people commenting that the paintings were the pinnacle of Nate’s career, even though they couldn’t see them from where they were hiding. Nate looked like he was getting agitated and, although he was thanking people for their kind words and nodding along with their conversation, he didn’t appear to be concentrating and the colour of his face suggested that his blood was boiling with anger. He grabbed his phone and rapped a text out before sliding his finger across the screen and sending it on its way.

  Elliott’s phone bleeped in his pocket and he drew it out for them all to see. Where are you? the message demanded from the screen. Maud guessed that Nate would have spent the last hour pacing in his flat above the gallery before making himself brush the nerves off and go downstairs. She started shaking at the thought of seeing him, but knew she would have to soon, as Nate obviously needed Elliott’s support tonight more than ever, for some reason. He was wearing a black pressed shirt and trousers and, although he outwardly appeared calm, Maud could feel the tension emanating from him from her place by the door. His hair was slicked back from running his hands through it in agitation so many times, and he really needed to calm down or have a drink.

  As if sensing her thoughts, he grabbed a glass of champagne from a passing waiter and stopped to speak to his parents, who were in a loud conversation about one of his artworks with a customer. They were in deep discussion about the meaning of the paintings and turned with glowing smiles, to ask Nate if they had been right.

  Elliott had evidently seen and heard enough, as he grabbed Dot’s hand and pushed Maud into the gallery ahead of them and a weird hush spread around like wildfire as soon as people began to notice their arrival. ‘What a way to make an entrance!’ joked Dot in Maud’s ear, as flash bulbs went off and she almost tripped over in surprise. Elliott steadied her, but Maud didn’t understand what was happening. Why would anyone take pictures of her at Nate’s show? They all knew they had been seeing each other. She understood the press were interested in her latest work, but she was far from properly famous yet, maybe a little notorious in her hometown, that was all.

  She slowly turned and stood frozen still for a moment. She couldn’t breathe and she felt like her heart might burst from her chest. Her head whirled around, taking in the scene before her in confusion. She drank in the sight of the art. Every piece was a masterpiece! They were so sensual to look at that you almost felt you could see inside the artist’s beating heart. Her own pulse began to race and she looked around in a blind panic for Dot, who had blended into the background and left her standing alone, like an idiot. She peered down at her dress with a frown and back up into Nate’s stormy eyes. He looked unsure for the first time in his life, but he was standing right before her.

  No one else had uttered a word and suddenly conversation began buzzing around again, but all she could do was stay rooted to the spot and stare at the art. There were landscapes of rambling shores and broken buildings, some had fire and some had water, but all had layers of under-painting. Each scene was dark and reached through the surface layers. There were red roses climbing everywhere you looked, they curled under the main images and swirled around every surface until you could look at nothing else. They were extraordinarily beautiful and full of passion, as if forces of nature were taking over and commanding the land, the way she had taken over his life and now commanded him, he seemed to be telling her.

  There was a sudden hush again and people turned as Nate stood before her and they waited to see what she would say. He held out his hand to her and she was astounded to see his black shirt was rolled up at the sleeves and his arms, scars and all, were there for anyone to see. He wasn’t hiding any more. She felt hot tears spring to her eyes and he leaned forward to gently brush them away with his thumb. He handed her a little black box, which she took and opened with the utmost care. She gasped as she picked up a sparkling diamond ring with a handwritten brown tag attached to it, in his distinctive slanted handwriting. On it, she read: ‘if you love me, I’m yours.’

  Everyone present practically climbed over each other and craned their necks to see what the woman who had enslaved such a famous artist would do. She looked into his eyes as tears fell from hers and she took his hand, drew him to her and everyone cheered as she slipped the ring onto her finger, leaned in and kissed him.

  ‘I love you,’ was all she needed to say as the room erupted into applause. Maud clasped the little brown tag to her heart, looked into the eyes of the man she loved, and whispered into his ear as she fell into his arms, ‘I’m yours.’

  Thank you for reading this Crooked Cat novel. If you have enjoyed it, we and the author would be grateful for a review. Thank you.

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