Pride After Her Fall

His momentary hesitation gave way to the sudden surge of his body against her own and his hand spread possessively across the back of her head. She tasted him fully as he moved to take over the kiss, giving her a moment’s glimpse of exactly how overwhelming his sensual expertise could be.

Mon Dieu, this was what she was giving up...

But she was already pulling free, turning away, because she’d allowed herself to be seduced by the solidity and masculine certainty of this man when there was nothing here for her in the long run. All the while she was sitting here her problems were still out there, mounting up, waiting for her return, and now she had to deal once more with the chaos in her life.

She took off across the restaurant, as fast as her ridiculous heels would let her, knowing only one thing: she had to save the car. She wouldn’t be letting anyone take away the last damn thing she owned.

Lorelei was across the Place du Casino and about to cross the road when a heavy hand curled possessively over her shoulder. She swung around, hitting out reflexively with her handbag, eyes wild with anxiety.

‘Let me go. I’ve got to get to my car.’

Nash steadied her with both hands. ‘I want you to wait here. Are you listening, Lorelei? Let me handle it.’

Responding to the authority in his voice, she blinked up at him. He was going to help? There was a scraping of metal on asphalt and, confused, she whirled around to see what was happening across the road. She saw the tow truck backing up in front of her car and automatically stepped out onto the road.

Nash swore and reached to grab her.

Of all the suicidal...

She took off across two lanes of traffic.

He wouldn’t have believed it if he hadn’t seen it, yet somehow she made it across unharmed.

His heartbeat slowly resumed normal strength.

Amidst the blare of car horns her high-decibel wishes were being made very clear in vitriolic French.

‘Get away from my car!’ she shrieked. ‘What do you think you’re doing?’

Nash was not often left speechless, but at that moment he might still have been in the courtyard at the old villa this morning. The sophisticated, sexy woman he had pushed back a busy afternoon’s schedule for was gone. In her place was a reckless wild woman who was clearly out of control.

Adrenalin levels surging, he crossed the street more circumspectly, all the while watching as Lorelei stormed up to the guy supervising the removal of her car. She was waving her hands about as she remonstrated with him in typical Gallic fashion, but the guy was pretty much ignoring her.

Hell, for all he knew they were on a first-name basis and that car of hers was towed every day of the week...

Lorelei had her hands on her hips and was gathering quite a crowd. Ice-queen blondes losing their cool on a lazy afternoon in Monte Carlo had pulling power, and now Lorelei was... Was she taking off her shoes? She was taking off her goddamned shoes! What in the hell?

She slung first one and then the other stiletto heel at the guy. The first one missed but the second one caught him in the groin.

The bloke said something crude and headed for her, and Nash dropped amusement and swapped it for street-level aggression. He made a direct line for the problem, collared the ape so fast the guy didn’t see it coming and shoved him hard up against the side of the truck.

‘You want someone to lay into, mate,’ he said, low and with deadly menace, ‘try me.’

The man’s face fell, then turned an apoplectic red. Nash realised he had him in a chokehold. He eased off. But Lorelei was suddenly right up beside him, stabbing her slender index finger within inches of the guy’s face.

‘You listen to him and you listen to me. I want my car back. Pronto!’

Nash growled. ‘Hand in my back pocket.’

‘Quoi?’

‘Keys,’ he snarled.

Fumbling, Lorelei retrieved them.

‘Get in my car.’

‘But—’

‘Do it. Now.’

She backed up, limped a little to the roadside, spotted the red Veyron across the street. She could only see one of her shoes. The other one seemed to have rolled under the truck. The red haze had shifted and she was beginning to think clearly again. What on earth had she done?

People were standing on the pavement, watching.