Free A Bid For Love by Michelle Houston

A BID FOR LOVE
     
     
    Erika couldn't take her eyes off the
painting. The imagery was intoxicating. The way the shadows folded
over the couple entwined in the bed, the leaves along the edge of
the window that hinted at a forbidden tryst. The way the vines
crept over the glass in strategic places kept it from being tawdry
and gave it a dreamy quality.
    She had been trying for almost two years to
track down all of her grandmother's work, and finally she was about
to bid on the last piece—what was probably the best work she had
ever done. Her uncle, may he rot in Hell, had sold off the family
legacy to pay his gambling debts. She and her mother had been doing
all they could to find the paintings and purchase them. Some had
slipped through their fingers, held in a private collection, but a
few months ago they had come back into the market with the owner's
death.
    This last painting, created for a former
lover of her grandmother's almost fifty years before, was being
sold at auction by his estate. She had been hesitant to approach
the aging gentleman about purchasing the painting, since it was one
of the few that had been given, not sold away. All the others given
away had been returned to her grandmother or her family upon the
owner's death, save this one.
    It was frustrating waiting on the bidding for
the last piece to be auctioned off before her grandmother's
painting was up on the block. Although most of the works being sold
weren't by a well known artist, the quality of them was evident.
Finally, the auctioneer banged his gavel and issued the final
declaration "Sold!"
    Flicking her gaze around the room, she tried
to gauge who was interested in the next painting when the sight of
a familiar gray suit caught her attention. Looking up the owner's
body, her gaze met laughing blue eyes, lips curled in a mocking
smile. Ryan Carstairs.
    "This next painting is by Virginia Gleeson, a
local artist, somewhat renowned as being an eccentric lady. She was
married young, widowed after only three years, and chose to remain
alone, while raising her two young children. She loved life, which
is evident in the vibrancy of her works. She also had a passionate
nature, which is captured by her subject material. Almost all of
her later works are of couples forever locked in each other's
embrace."
    Erika knew the material of her grandmother's
paintings quite well; she owned one of the very last paintings
she'd completed. Her grandmother had surprised her with it on her
birthday. Unfortunately, she was no longer with the man in it, and
it only served to bring back bad memories of a time she would
rather forget.
    But she held on to it, and it held a place of
honor on her wall, with a black sheet carefully draped over it. She
hoped one day to be able to look at it without feeling her heart
breaking for what had been.
    "For this painting, we'll start the bidding
at five hundred. Do I have five hundred?"
    Erika waited a moment to see how the bidding
would progress. She didn't want to jump in too early and start a
bidding war with anyone, but after five bids, when the price
reached seven-fifty Ryan jumped in, bumping it to a thousand.
    Heart heavy, she looked at him and raised her
paddle as the auctioneer asked if anyone would go eleven hundred.
At that point the last holdout dropped out, and Erika waited,
hoping Ryan would just let it go. There was no way he didn't know
he was bidding on her grandmother's painting; he had helped her
track down a few of the missing works. She suspected that was
precisely why he was there, because of her grandmother's
painting.
    She recalled how quickly love had turned into
something else, removing all affection and leaving only painful
memories. Once they had been so in love they couldn't stand to be
apart for more than a few hours. Now, he was raising his paddle
with a derisive twist to his lips and a nod in her direction.
    Meeting the challenge in his gaze, she raised
the bid again.
    As the price climbed, Erika felt