‘Don’t worry, it was anonymous—not a soul will ever know.’
‘I will know!’ She forced the words out, the emotion building in her throat. ‘How could you?’
‘Don’t act as if I’m the villain here.’ Goldie wagged a finger in Nicole’s face. ‘We both know I’ve done you a favour. I mean, what else could you do with your career history but marry for money? It’s like our little family business.’ She laughed weakly, stopping when Nicole’s expression darkened. ‘All I wanted was a normal life for my daughter...’
Nicole swallowed hard. It was futile to try to explain the concept of normality to her mother—a woman who had strived for superstardom from the moment she’d left home to be a model at sixteen. It was always going to be about what Goldie wanted. Nothing else mattered. She couldn’t deal with her mother’s narcissistic logic right now.
Her mother’s smile changed swiftly and Nicole became aware of a warm, muscular hand settling on her hip. A scent that she had rapidly come to identify as his enveloped her, wrapping her in its warmth. She avoided his eyes, finding herself suddenly unable to look at him for fear he might somehow see her shame. Rigo already believed the worst of her, and once he found out that her mother had been the catalyst behind this whole mess he would never believe that she’d had no involvement.
‘Mrs Duvalle, I’m delighted to make your acquaintance.’ Rigo smiled, taking Goldie’s hand briefly.
Nicole was almost sick at the look of blatant female appreciation on her mother’s face as she allowed her red-painted fingernails to rest briefly on Rigo’s forearm.
‘Soon to be Miss Duvalle, I’m afraid.’ She blinked once. Twice. A sheen of moisture appeared in her eyes. ‘Husband number seven was not so lucky after all. Unless you count his getting lucky with anyone but his wife.’
‘I’m sorry to hear that.’ Rigo’s voice was sincere, and his hand still splayed casually across Nicole’s hip.
Nicole ignored the sensations his hand threatened to evoke and swallowed past the choking lump now forming in her throat at her mother’s words.
So that was why her mother had waited until now to out her daughter’s story to the tabloids. Her private life had been nothing more than a damned insurance policy for when Goldie’s latest marriage went belly-up.
‘I’m much more interested in your good news.’ Goldie touched Rigo’s arm once more. ‘I had hoped that we might all celebrate together privately...as a family.’ She simpered.
That was it for Nicole. She couldn’t stand there one more moment and listen to her mother’s empty words. She removed Rigo’s hand from her side and quickly excused herself, walking towards the nearest doors with as much speed as she could muster. The anger she felt, the pain at her mother’s betrayal, it was all too much. She needed to escape.
CHAPTER FIVE
NICOLE WALKED AS far as the elevator bay and exhaled slowly. Seven floors below the ballroom’s mezzanine floor she could see hotel staff and guests ambling around the fountain in the lobby. The calm babble of water and the hum of distant voices seemed ridiculously peaceful in comparison to the storm of emotions waging within her.
She would have to tell Rigo. Dishonesty was not a trait that she possessed. It wasn’t as if it would come as such a surprise, with what he already knew about her mother anyway. But if she were truly honest with herself she simply didn’t want him to know the truth.
She didn’t want to tell him that the most pressing reason for her disappearance a year ago had had less to do with him and more to do with her mother, who had even then hoped to use her unborn grandchild for publicity. And, perhaps most embarrassingly of all, that Nicole had chosen to run away rather than stand her ground. Just as she had run away right now.
She watched the progress of an elevator upwards towards her. She didn’t even know where she was going, for goodness’ sake.
Was she really so weak that she couldn’t even be assertive for her own child now? A year ago she had been pregnant and scared. She had turned to Goldie at a time when she’d needed her mother the most, but had been met with nothing but selfishness and greed. ‘A baby for a billionaire!’ Goldie had practically screamed with delight. And Nicole had instantly known her mistake. She had been a fool ever to think her mother could be relied on for anything other than her own agenda.
She wasn’t upset—she had long ago stopped shedding tears over things she couldn’t change. She just hated herself for the way she always seemed to let her mother take control of her life. She had played right into Goldie’s plan. She hadn’t had to go to Rigo for help, and she certainly hadn’t had to accept his proposal.