Public Scandal, Private Mistress

Quicksilver delight darted through her body as she put her hands against his crisp shirt-front. ‘At the moment? That doesn’t give us very long, does it?’

‘A lifetime of moments,’ he corrected himself, deepening the kiss to one of ravishing intimacy, his warm arms sliding under her jacket. ‘I’ve worked day and night to free up enough time to come down here and convince you that you can trust me every moment of the rest of your life,’ he said, nibbling along her jaw. ‘I knew damned well you were never going to make the first approach…I sent you those santons as an advance guard, but I never heard a peep from you.’

‘I was too ashamed,’ she admitted, resting her forehead against his hard cheek. ‘I thought being without you was my punishment for doubting your integrity. Deep down I don’t think I did believe those things, but being in love was so overwhelming and all in only two weeks…I just got scared that I didn’t know myself any more, let alone you…’

‘Well, it’s been a lot more

than two weeks now, and if we’re going to work out a deal I warn you I’m going to be a ruthless…’ one hand slid up to cup her soft breast ‘…negotiator.’

She ached at his remembered touch. ‘It’s been so long…’

She felt his smile against her skin, warming her from the inside out. ‘Have you forgotten how?’ he teased.

She pulled her mouth away from his, for the sheer pleasure of pouting at him. ‘To negotiate? I’m a businesswoman—it’s what I do.’

To her disappointment he didn’t immediately pull her back into his kiss.

‘Then perhaps this will sweeten the deal.’ He took the diamond ring she had worn so briefly from his pocket, holding it between his thumb and forefinger. ‘Will you marry me, Veronica?’ he said, with a formal sincerity that made the words sing in her heart.

She touched the rim of white fire. ‘You want us to be boring and respectable, then?’ she said, reminding him of his words in Avignon.

‘Respectable, at least. Melanie would never forgive me if her grandchildren weren’t legitimate, and Sophie said she won’t let me come to her birthday party unless I bring you. Of course, Karen’s not so hot on the idea of being my sister-in-law, but since she’s going off on her modelling kick and I know a few people in the fashion industry she’s decided there may be some advantages.’

She melted. ‘You told them all…about us?’

He slid the ring on her slender finger with an expression of fierce satisfaction as he watched it settle home.

‘I don’t want any more secrets between us.’

‘But I still have one,’ she confessed gravely, looking at her hand in his, and the blaze of diamonds symbolising their new pact. She raised her eyes to his and his sudden tension eased as he saw they were laughing. ‘You were right to be suspicious of me. I think I started falling in love with you the very first time I looked out of my window in Paris and saw you in that little café across the street. I spied on you for days, weaving dreams and plotting how to meet you, before I got up enough courage to actually do it.’

She tugged his red tie undone, stripping it from his collar and flinging it recklessly over the back of the couch. ‘So you see, it wasn’t fate, or coincidence, or your fantastic genius that brought us together. It was me!’

Her teasing laughter was smothered with kisses as he rose beautifully to the challenge.

‘Then I suppose I should make one more confession, too.’ He took out his wallet and extracted a folded blue square of paper, much creased. ‘I was curious, so I picked your pocket in my bedroom at St Romain,’ he disclosed shamelessly.

He carefully unfolded the square, but Veronica was already blushing at what she knew they would see.

‘Even though you weren’t ready to acknowledge it, you were for me. After you ran, it was my only proof.’

‘Veronica Ryder’ she had written several times in a soft, loopy signature with his beautiful sterling silver pen.

‘I like the way it looks, don’t you? But it sounds and tastes even better…’ he murmured in her ear, taking her in his arms and settling down for a long, lazy loving with his heart’s desire.