Katie was too shocked to say anything as he slipped away. She immediately scanned the paintings, but she didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.
The crowd was quickly thickening, and as she walked down the gallery and around the curve, she was stopped several times. Her curiosity was burning inside her, but she also took time to double-check the artists to make sure that they were behaving themselves. Liyah and Mila had done an excellent job. They were well-dressed, polite, and all smiles.
When she turned the corner, thinking she’d reached the exhibit’s end, she saw her two friends standing with their husbands around a space that she hadn’t needed. They weren’t alone. At least ten other people were crowded around.
“It’s her,” someone whispered, stepping away.
Immediately, heads turned to stare at her. Feeling her cheeks growing warm, she rubbed suddenly sweaty palms over her dress as the crowd parted, giving her a view of what all the fuss was about.
Khalid stood next to a painting of his own. It was a portrait.
Of her.
It depicted the night she had stood on his balcony. The city was laid out below, lights glimmering, fading into the distance in the background, but the focus was on the woman in the painting.
Khalid was talented. He’d captured her physical appearance perfectly, but he had gone deeper. She had an ethereal glow about her, a soft smile, and nothing but love in her eyes.
Khalid cleared his throat nervously. “I know that most of you only know me as the gallery owner, but there was a time when I myself was an artist. I stopped painting when life got in the way, but recently I was drawn once again to beauty. My painting will not be a part of the auction, but I thought it would be fitting to include it in our theme of beauty and love.”
He met her gaze. “I call it Taming the Beast because that is the face that calms the storm. It is the love that starts fires and melts ice. It is the muse who makes a man believe in himself again. I couldn’t keep her, but I’m better for having met her.”
A hush fell over the crowd, but Katie could only see him. Licking her lips, she spoke, her voice barely over a whisper. “What would you do if she stayed?”
“I’d want desperately to continue working with her until she might decide to give me another chance, but I’d ask her what she wanted from me.”
“The truth.”
His reply was instant. “Love. I’d spend the rest of our days showing you how I feel. Proving to you what I’ve wasted all this time denying. That I love you. If you still love me, or if you even thought that you could learn to love me again, I’d ask you to marry me.”
Tears filled her eyes, and she pressed her fingers to her trembling lips.
He turned to indicate the woman in the painting, an oddly vulnerable gesture. “And if she didn’t find love in her heart for me, then I’d let her go because she deserves to be free.” He faced Katie again and smiled, but she could see the pain in his eyes.
“Yes.” The word slipped out before she could really even think about it, but she already knew what was in her heart. She’d never stopped loving him. She never would stop loving him.
Khalid faltered. “Yes? You want to be free?”
Walking toward him, she lifted her hands and rested them on his chest. “Yes, I still love you. Yes, I want to spend the rest of my days with you. Yes, I will marry you.”
There was a look of desperation on his face, and his voice was raspy as he spoke. “Katie, before you agree, I need you to know that I didn’t allow you to curate this just so that I could propose. I just knew that I would regret it for the rest of my life if I didn’t show you how I felt. I wasn’t trying to manipulate you or . . .”
Immediately, she pressed a finger to his lips. “I know, Khalid. All I wanted was to prove myself to you and to know how you felt about me.”
“You don’t need to prove yourself to me, Katie—and—and I’ve always loved you.”
“I love your painting. You’re very talented. Will you continue painting?”
“Yes. I love you. Will you marry me?”
“I already answered that.”
“I just wanted to make sure.”
“Will you please kiss me now?”
He wasted no time in wrapping his arms around her and capturing her mouth.
The whole gallery erupted in cheers and applause, and Katie suddenly remembered that they weren’t alone. Giggling, she pulled back. “I think you just stole the spotlight away from my event.”