Read Online Loving Grace by Eve Asbury - Free Book Online

some much worn and paint
spattered converse running shoes.
    She sat under his gaze awhile. He hadn’t
spoken as she came in. “Want to reschedule?” She finally broke the
silence.
    He placed the mug down between his feet and
sat back, ruffling his hair, mussing curls as he did so and
confessing, “I’m having an off day.”
    “Everyone does.” She slid her boots back on,
then sat back a moment. “Maybe you should get out? Walk, do
something that doesn’t involve art.”
    “Maybe.”
    Grace eyed his pensive face. “Personal or
professional problems?”
    “Neither... that is, I don’t think so. I’m
just not adjusting to the business side of things.”
    “You have people handling that?”
    “Elise, my fiancée, and Bryce who pretty much
manages the gallery.”
    “So you just paint? I assume you set your
price too?”
    “I am glad to have the gallery. I’m happy
people embrace my art.” His eyes were smiling now. “I’m just bored
in meetings with accountants and...Business.”
    “Mmm, sounds like my brother.”
    “What does he do?”
    She lied. “He’s a reporter. Social stuff.
Nothing deep.” She winced, mentally apologizing to Seth. She asked,
“So, Elise and Bryce, is it? They run the business end?”
    “Yes.”
    “You trust them?”
    “Of course.” He nodded, staring at nothing.
“I’m amazed at how fast my paintings are selling.”
    “They’re very good.”
    His gaze flickered to hers. “Half the gallery
has sold out.”
    “You must be very rich then.” She smiled.
    He shrugged. “That’s what they tell me.”
    “It’s an artist’s dream, to have his work
selling, and to have people to handle the details, so that he can
focus on painting.”
    “Pretty much. That’s what I want, to be able
to live off my art. To paint, to have people react to it, and draw
something from it. I’m not painting for an audience, but I think,
deep down, there’s a need to make a connection, to make people
understand what I see. At the same time, I want them to see more in
themselves, beyond the skin, maybe even the mind.”
    Grace thought that was a beautiful concept,
also, spoken by an exquisite voice. “But something bothers
you?”
    He shrugged slightly.
    She tried a different angle. “Did you fall in
love with Elise right away?”
    He stared at her a long time. “No. It
happened...as I painted her.”
    “Sounds rational. How do you know, by the
way, how does any artist, what’s a temporary muse or an attraction
that becomes more?”
    “I suppose, when the feeling remains after
the painting is done.”
    “So you’re attracted to them all, in a sense,
that is. I understand that they inspire you. The instinct part and
everything. But... you are on some level—”
    He cut her off softly, “Not all. But it has
happened. Not since, I became engaged. No affairs. But a healthy
sort of attraction that facilitates my technique.”
    “Will you marry her?”
    He nodded slowly, thoughtfully. “Likely.”
    Grace felt horrible for him. She really did.
However, she smiled and said lightly, “You make a striking couple.
It’s the perfect sort of partnership too, I suppose, since she sees
to the business end.”
    “Have you a lover?”
    Grace waited a beat, using the time to slow
her heart rate. “No.”
    He was scanning her face. His voice dropped a
notch. “You’ve had a lover?”
    “This is getting too personal.”
    “It helps,” he murmured, “to see beneath the
surface, to know more of the subject.”
    “Subject. Not woman?” Grace, Grace, what are
you doing!
    “Yes. I didn’t mean that in a cold way.
Merely that some things stay hidden and add to the mystique, while
knowing others helps me understand.” He shrugged, leaving that
hanging.
    “I had a lover.” She said it flat,
unemotional.
    His gaze skimmed her. “How long ago?”
    She sighed and looked away. “Eight
years.”
    “None since?”
    She shook her head. “No.”
    “Why is that?”
    Grace glance flickered his way.