She shook her head. ‘I won’t do it, Luc. Before my mother died my parents had a blissfully happy marriage. I won’t settle for anything less. I’m very pleased for you that you’ve figured out what you want, but I’m not it. Go and choose one of the women who understand your rules. I’m sure one of them can give you everything you need.’
His words mocked her. This isn’t about love. But it was. For her. And now that she’d broken her own rules and fallen in love, she knew she couldn’t settle for anything less than what her parents had had and what she saw in her sister and brother-in-law’s relationship. True selfless devotion. Trust.
Surely that was worth the fear of losing the one you loved? Even knowing that for a short time?
‘Nessa—’
‘I’m sorry, sir, you’ll have to leave. She needs to rest now. Her blood pressure is going up.’ A nurse had come in and neither of them had noticed.
Suddenly Nessa felt very weary. ‘Luc, just go. And please don’t come back. I can’t give you what you’ve decided you need.’
For a long moment she thought he was going to refuse to leave. He looked as if he was about to pluck her from the bed. But then he lifted his hands up in a gesture of surrender. It was a very un-Luc gesture. ‘I’ll go, for now. But this conversation isn’t over, Nessa.’
Yes, it is, she vowed silently as she watched him walk out.
The nurse came over and fussed around Nessa, checking her stats. She winked at Nessa and said, ‘If you can’t give him what he needs, just send him my way.’
Nessa forced a weak smile and laid her head back on the pillow. It was throbbing with everything Luc had just proposed. Luc had just proposed. But he hadn’t. It wasn’t a real proposal. He’d proposed a business merger. No doubt he saw the benefits of being related in marriage to Sheikh Nadim; it would place Luc in an untouchable place. Finally he would have all the respect and social acceptance he craved. And Nessa would be a side benefit of that. His wife, the jockey, who could be trotted out at social events as a star attraction. For as long as she won those races, of course.
And then bear his children, who he’d suddenly decided would be a convenient vehicle to carry on his name.
In a way she envied Luc—that he could be so coolly calculating and detached. She wanted to be detached. Not in love.
The nurse left the room. Just then Nessa’s phone rang on the bedside table and she picked it up, expecting it to be Paddy. But it was Iseult, calling from Merkazad. She sounded frantic. ‘Ness, what on earth happened? Are you okay?’
Nessa forced it all out of her head and told her sister everything. Everything, except how she’d fallen stupidly in love with Luc Barbier and lost his child.
* * *
It had been a week since Luc had seen Nessa in Paris and he’d since returned to the stables in Ireland.
He’d gone back to the hospital the day after their conversation to find her room empty and ready for the next patient. She’d already left for Ireland, with her brother. He’d since found out that her brother-in-law had arranged a private jet for them to go back to Kildare.
The image of Nessa being taken back into the bosom of her protective family was all too vivid for Luc’s liking. He hadn’t liked the spiking of panic and the feeling of being very, very out of control.
He had to admit now that he’d had it all so very wrong. Paddy hadn’t been a thief, and Nessa hadn’t been an accessory. They were just a close-knit family.
Luc hadn’t pursued her since then because she needed to recuperate, and he knew she also needed time to go over his proposal.
But there was no way that she was refusing his proposal the next time. D
amn the woman anyway. From the very first moment he’d laid eyes on her she’d challenged him, thwarted him and generally behaved in exactly the opposite manner to which he expected. His blood thrummed even now as he looked out over the gallops and expected to see a head of dark red hair glinting in the sunshine.
It was inconceivable that he wouldn’t see her here again, that she would turn him down. The chemistry between them was still as strong as ever. He would seduce her, and convince her to agree to his proposal. The alternative was not an option.
* * *
‘What do you mean she’s not at home?’
Luc glared at Paddy, who gulped. Luc had summoned the young man to his office to ask for directions to the O’Sullivan farm. It was time to bring Nessa back.
‘She’s gone to Merkazad. Iseult needed some help with the new baby. It’s due any day now.’
Luc’s blood pressure was reaching boiling point. ‘But she’s injured!’
Paddy looked sheepish. ‘She said she felt much better already.’
He could imagine that all too well. Her sister said she needed her, and Nessa jumped, without a thought for herself.