I read a book back in the late 80's early 90's that told the story of a young woman who came from another place to live in this world. She could change into a calico cat and lived as a cat in this world for a while. She even had a kitten but it died. She fell in love with a painter who she posed for. He ends up unknowingly painting the hidden image of a cat in every painting he did of her.
Later, at the end of the book, you find out that she is like royalty because she is a calico cat and that she must fight some big battle back in her world to save her people.She is helped by her boyfriend the painter, who paints images of the powerful cat goddess in order to drain her powers and defeat her.
Does anybody know the title or author of this book? I have wanted to reread it for so long and see if the author had any more books.