Web Fic
Chapter 274
Chapter 274
“Paint on me.” Her voice was s
soft tinged with a pouty defiance. Content © copyrighted by NôvelDrama.Org.
Howard’s breath hitched, his gaze darkened, “Are you sure?”
He hadn’t picked up a brush since he was ten.
“Of course!” Gwendolyn’s eyes brimmed with tears, her voice breaking as she spoke, “Is it only Selina you want to paint? I’ve seen it all
Tears streamed down her face, her weeping figure epitomizing sheer misery. With a crying tone, she accused, “Right here, you painted so many of her! She was naked! And she had Candy come over to collect them, just to embarrass mel Mr. Chadwick, I hate you.”
Howard’s eyes were a deep well of darkness, his voice icy, “I have never painted another woman’s nude.”
Clearly, Selina had done more than just sneak a camera into the bedroom to catch Gwendolyn changing into her lace slip dress. She had also planted something in the studio, scheming vile things behind closed doors.
“You’re lying! You did paint her, I want one too!”
Gwendolyn let her emotions run wild, weeping bitterly. She loved Howard, yet so many around them did not want to see them together.
Her grievances had piled up, and tonight they spilled forth.
She stripped off her tattered dress, pointing to her backside, “Paint here! Do it!”
Her willfulness was unyielding, her petulance unchecked. Yet Howard couldn’t bring himself to scold her, to him, she was endearing in her distress.
He reached out, taking her wrist, “Stop undressing. Any more and you’ll have nothing left
“Then I be naked!” she wanted to defy him, to challenge him.
“Gwendolyn, I have never painted anyone else,” Howard insisted, earnestly.
But then it struck him–after her drink–induced blackout, she wouldn’t remember a thing.
He might as well be speaking to the wind.
Gwendolyn thrust a thick, black marker pen into his hand, stubbomly insisting, “Paint! Right here!”
She pointed at her backside.
“Why there?” Howard glanced at the smooth, pale skin, questioning.
“Just do it.” Gwendolyn, nearly limp in his arms, was talking nonsense.
Howard looked down to see a vision of spring in full bloom.
If she remembered this night upon waking, she’d surely die of shame. To have bared herself, demanding a man to paint her skin.
This wasn’t like the prim and proper lady she was known to be
Howard uncapped the market tossing the lid aside, and the thick nib touched her lower back. The cool sensation made Gwendolyn shiver, a ticklish feeling
“Mr. Chadwick, did you really never paint Selina?” Her eyes were hazy with the fog of drink, but she clung to the question.
Howard’s voice was husky as he replied, “Never”
“Tell me again tomorrow, will you? I’ll forget,” she murmured, heavy with the scent of alcohol, leaning against his chest.
“You won’t forget.” He wouldn’t let her forget what happened this night.
Howard lifted her in his arms, the touch of her skin silky smooth, and it took everything in him not to devour her right then and there. This time, she had stripped bare by herself.
He carried her to the resting futon, laying her down gently.
Gwendolyn closed her eyes but mumbled, ‘Make it a good one.”
Howard obliged, drawing a circle on her pristine skin with the marker.
“Mr. Chadwick… Gwendolyn lay there, restless, “You… Merry…
Merry? It was the first time Howard really heard the name. Was it a man or a woman?
He didn’t know who it was that occupied her drunken thoughts so persistently.
She’d call out when sick, when drunk, sometimes even in her sleep, her voice a blurred echo in the night.