Page 85 of The Wedding Engagement

Liv swallowed. “Just a bit…confused.”

He gave her a soft look, then squeezed her hand. “You know, Sam kind of engineered this portrait thing to get us some time together.” He paused to assess her reaction. “He was thinking of commissioning it anyway, but it brought the whole idea forward.”

She raised an eyebrow, the corner of her mouth lifting too. “He did, did he?”

He smiled, leaning a little closer. “I totally jumped at the chance. To spend time with you, and also to paint you.”

Instinctively, she lifted a hand to stroke his face, absorbing the manner in which he shifted into her touch, closing his eyes for a moment. Then he opened them to look directly into hers. “Liv—”

Just then her phone sounded with the tones of Avicii’s “Hey Brother.”

Arran smiled weakly. “I take it that’s your ringtone for Sam?”

She nodded, unable to tear her eyes off him. “Just let it go to voice mail.”

The phone rang off, then immediately began to ring again. A heavy dread dragged in her stomach. Something was wrong. She exchanged a look of concern with Arran as she shifted away to pull her phone out of her pocket. “Sam?”

“Liv.” He sounded breathless. “I’m sorry to interrupt your sitting, but we’ve got a situation.”

A lead weight thudded in her chest. “What is it?”

“Dave’s here. He turned up at Mum and Angus’s and demanded to speak to me. I’m on my way there now.”

Spiky shards of ice infiltrated her veins. “Shit.”

Arran was looking at her with concern in his eyes.

“I’m coming too,” she told her brother.

“You don’t have to. I’ll handle it.”

She clenched her jaw. “There’s no way I’m leaving you and Mum with him, without me there.”

Arran raised his eyebrows, clearly putting two and two together.

“Angus is there. It’ll be fine.”

She tightened her grip on the phone. “I’m setting off now. I’ll be there ASAP.”

He sighed. “Okay. Drive carefully. Love you.”

“Love you too,” she said, hanging up and meeting Arran’s concerned eyes. “Dave has turned up at Mum’s. He wants to speak to Sam.”

“Shit,” Arran said, running a hand over his hair.

She bit her lip as she got to her feet, a million thoughts running through her mind, the most prominent of which beingI hope Mum is okay.

Arran got up too, grabbing her hand and leading her out of the studio and down the hallway, where he passed her her jacket and began pulling on his own.

Liv frowned as she shoved on her Converse. “What’re you doing?”

Arran looked up from where he was dealing with his own footwear, his jaw set. “If you think I’m letting you go there on your own, then you’re very mistaken.”

A warm feeling gathered in her stomach, starting to melt the lump of ice that Sam’s phone call had created. “You don’t have to do that.”

He took her hand as they exited the house and he guided her toward his car. “I know that. But I want to. And I’m driving.”

He opened his car and they climbed in. Liv didn’t try to protest about taking her car instead, because the way her mind was whizzing, she’d prefer not to have to concentrate on the road.

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