it all by saddling yourself with a business you don’t really need. The money would always have been yours.’
‘Precisely why I need to attend to it.’
‘You had no interest in the business and no interest in the woman you tied yourself to.’
‘A necessary evil,’ I interject, brushing the topic aside.
‘Those are her middle names, right?’ He sits straight, bulldozing on. ‘And next, you discover you might have a sister before finding out she’s probably some girl your dad has—’
‘Ta gueule,’ I reply in a thoroughly bored tone. Shut up. Delivered without a hint of malice and received by his mocking salute.
‘But then . . . instead of steering clear, you decide to fuck her. Then bring her here.’
‘The first was a mistake, yes. And the second . . . a case of mistaken identity. But I regret nothing.’
‘Je ne regrette rien?’
‘If you start singing, I will murder you and feed your corpse to the fish.’ I pick up my glass and bring it to my lips.
‘You don’t regret anything because you’re in the middle of winning her fucking back.’
‘You say that as though it were a bad thing.’
‘Isn’t it? You really don’t want to know who she is?’
‘I no longer care.’ And that’s the truth. But I will have her.
‘Lord deliver me from lovesick fools.’
‘You’ll manage,’ I murmur, turning my attention to my plate. ‘Besides, there won’t be much romance at the start.’ Battles, yes. Verbal combat. Stolen kisses and vicious skirmishes if last night was anything to go by.
And I look forward to it all because as every seasoned campaigner knows, to the victor go the spoils.
28
Remy
I need you to leave me alone.
It isn’t the first time she’d said these words to me, but never were words uttered with such meaning. Not that I’m deterred, though for the last few days, I haven’t sought her out. I haven’t turned up in her apartment, and not out of fear that she’ll start throwing things again, and I haven’t used the concierge app. Yet. At least, not since I’d requested her as my permanent contact, not that she’s aware, though engaged the services of one of her colleagues for a few days. Following, no one else will see to my concierge needs; no one but her.
But up until now, I’ve left her alone, as she asked. And quite frankly, it’s killing me. To know that she’s so close, yet out of reach is torturous. I can barely think, let alone run a business. Things can’t go on this way much longer. In fact, they won’t if things go to plan.
I want you to leave me alone.
And I want to take her words and twist them into something pretty.
I never want to you to leave me alone.
‘Mademoiselle Ryan pour toi.’ My assistant’s voice drifts from the intercom, bringing my musings to an instant halt. My stomach twists, and my heart thunders.
‘Ask her to wait, please.’ My response is terse, not because I mean it to be but because I need her here with me. Need but cannot yet have.
I switch the intercom to video mode. It’s a new system that was installed just last week, along with a new lock for my office door. Some mistakes you just don’t want to repeat. In the reception area, Rose frowns, hearing my response. Exactly what I was aiming for. She turns to the couch, she trips on the edge of the area rug, glaring back at it as though it had done so on purpose. She drops a multitude of wrapped packages and shopping bags to the cushions and, if I’m not wrong, suppresses a small growl before turning swiftly once again.
‘Excuse me, but do you know how long he’ll be?’ She smiles tightly, her hands balled into fists by her sides before she slides them behind her back.
‘Non.’ Paulette’s attention doesn’t deviate from the screen. She’s already expressed her displeasure, but as she was also my father’s assistant, I think she has seen much less worthy appointments.
‘It’s just, I have other appointments today.’ Paulette doesn’t answer. ‘Does he have someone in with him?’
Fishing, ma Rose?
‘Monsieur Durrand is always busy,’ comes a very professional non-answer. ‘Very busy.’
I find myself smiling as Rose makes her way back, dropping to the couch with a huff. I’m still smiling as I turn from the screen to open the concealed bar behind my desk to pour myself a drink. An odd sense of satisfaction settles around me, a buzz of anticipation tightening the muscles in my stomach. I