Latin Lovers: Seductive Frenchman. Эбби Грин

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СКАЧАТЬ then at her.

      ‘What are you talking about, dear?’

      Jane mentally crossed her fingers and took poetic licence with her recent conversation with Xavier. ‘Xavier has asked me to marry him … and I am going to say … yes.’

      She could hear a splutter of tea come from his corner of the room. Then she was enveloped in hugs and tears and congratulations. Xavier joined in and answered questions vaguely. She was very aware of his sharp, assessing eyes on her all the time.

      She knew she had done the right thing, however, when she saw the badly disguised relief on their faces at the prospect that their dream would be fulfilled after all.

      Finally, after what seemed an age, they were gone. She went back into the sitting room to find Xavier standing at the window. He turned around and fixed her with hard eyes.

      ‘I gather that little charade was for the benefit of persuading your mother that she and her husband could emigrate after all?’

      ‘Well, it’s not going to be a charade unless you won’t marry me.’

      He approached her softly, coming dangerously close. ‘If you were trying to call my bluff then it didn’t work. We will be getting married. I suppose I should have thanked your mother for helping you to come to your decision …’ He gave a short harsh laugh. ‘You couldn’t have made it clearer that it’s the last thing you’d be doing otherwise.’

      ‘You’re right. I hate you for this.’ Her chest felt tight and restricted, her hands clammy.

      A savage intensity flashed over his face so briefly that she might have imagined it before it was gone, and he drawled, ‘That hate will just fuel our passion … because it is still there.’

      She vowed there and then that there would be no passion. If he so much as touched her, she wasn’t sure that she could contain her feelings—and if he guessed for a second … her life would be hell.

      He left with a promise to return and discuss things in the morning, and after the door shut behind him Jane sagged against it, the stuffing knocked out of her.

      Despite everything that had just transpired, somewhere within herself she felt curiously at peace. Was she so straight that once she had agreed to doing ‘the right thing’ she felt good? It couldn’t be. What was more likely, she feared, was that she was such a masochist that even though being married to Xavier spelt certain heartbreak, it also meant she got to be with him … and seeing him again had proved how completely he held her heart in his hands.

      The baby. How could she deny this little person access to his or her father? To their birth heritage? Especially one so rich—and not just in monetary terms. She knew instinctively that Xavier would be a good father.

      Her mind went a more incendiary route. Would he be faithful if she refused to sleep with him? A man as virile and highly sexed as Xavier would not stand for a celibate marriage. How could she hope to live side by side with him and resist him? All she knew was that she had to, for now. Her emotions were too raw … too close to the surface. Maybe in time, when they were more under control, she could … remain detached. As if there ever could be such a time.

      She went to bed with a heavy heart and slept fitfully.

      The next morning when she opened the door to admit Xavier he took in her pinched face and the dark smudges under her eyes. The pang that struck him when he realised that he was the one who was making her look this unhappy gripped him unawares. He quashed it ruthlessly.

      Jane eyed him warily with crossed arms as he effortlessly commanded her small flat again. He was dressed in a suit that hugged his frame, making him seem even more powerful, dynamic. He looked exotic and foreign, his tan standing out against the grimly grey backdrop outside. Stupendously gorgeous.

      ‘I’ve arranged for us to be married here in London in just over two weeks time at a register office. It’s the earliest I could arrange … Also it should be easier for your mother and Arthur to attend before they leave for South Africa. If there’s anyone else you want to witness it …’

      His efficiency and ability to make the powers that be fall into his plans stunned her—and his unexpected sensitivity to accommodate her mother.

      ‘Well, yes …’ She thought of Lisa. ‘There’s one or two people, maybe …’

      ‘Bien. I have to go to New York today, and will be gone until the day of the wedding, so I trust that will give you time to pack up here, tie up any loose ends and inform your work. Molly can arrange to have this place let or sold, whichever you prefer.’

      She spoke quickly. ‘Let … that is, I don’t want to sell it.’

      Somehow the thought of severing all ties was too much just now.

      He shrugged as if he didn’t care.

      ‘Fine. As you wish. I’ll let her know she can go ahead with arrangements and find a suitable agent?’

      Jane nodded dumbly.

      ‘After the wedding we will stop over in Paris for a short honeymoon. We can replenish your wardrobe there.’ He eyed her casual attire critically. ‘You’ll have a certain role to fulfil as my wife, and will need to be dressed suitably.’

      His bossy tone was too much.

      ‘I think I know how to dress myself, thank you very much … You don’t have to spend your money on me.’

      ‘Very commendable, darling, but somehow I don’t think you could afford even the price tags on the kind of clothes I’m talking about,’ he drawled, with infuriating arrogance.

      ‘Fine …’ She threw her hands up. ‘If you want to spend thousands on making me into something I will never be except on paper, then go ahead and be my guest.’

      He came and stood right in front of her. She could feel his breath warm on her face. Her heart lurched as he drifted a finger down one cheek and underneath to her neck, where her pulse was beating crazily against her skin.

      ‘Oh, but you will, Jane … you will. Trust me on that.’

      Chapter Nine

      TWO weeks later Jane was trying to contain herself as she felt an increasing sense of panic threaten to overwhelm her. Lisa and her mother fussed around her as she got ready to go to the register office, their chatter skimming over her head:

      ‘… and poor Dominic is heartbroken, but he happened to mention that Xavier is gorgeous …’

      ‘Oh, he is, dear—wait till you see him …’

      ‘And he really owns a whole island?’

      ‘That’s nothing … his hotel chain …’

      ‘Still waters, eh, Mrs V? Who would have thought our little Janey had it in her? And to think of all those holidays spent with him under my nose—the time I wasted on those waiters …’

      Jane cut in with wry exasperation. ‘You know, I am here, guys.’

      ‘Yes, dear, СКАЧАТЬ