Page 48 of Her Forbidden Bargain

“Okay, I’ll do this. Are you sure about this girl? You always swore love was no longer in the cards for you.”

“Oui, maman. I am more than sure. She’s reawakened a part of me I thought was dead.”

His mother smiled at him and then hugged him tightly. “I’m so glad to hear it. A part of me has long wept for that deadness inside you.”

After his family left for the restaurant, Tristan made several quick, demanding phone calls. Knowing the kind of romantic person Sheri was, with her secret dreams of how love should be, he arranged for flowers to fill the apartment. He ordered the finest French champagne sent up from his wine cellar and then called his favorite jeweler for a necklace. When the flowers arrived, he decked out the balcony to resemble the one at his villa that night in Mykonos. Now he had every detail he could think of in place—except for Sheri.

His mobile rang. A quick glance at the caller ID window showed him it was Gui. “What’s up, Gui?”

“Where are you?”

“My place. Why?”

“Because Sheri is at the restaurant turning heads, but she’s asking where you are. You need to get down here.”

“I’m on my way. Don’t let her leave.”

“I won’t.”

Tristan’s driver had him across town in no time at all. He walked into the restaurant and stopped in his tracks. Sheri wasn’t sitting quietly in a corner the way she had during many of the activities that week back on Mykonos. Instead, she was in the center of his family and friends, wearing a stylish dress and holding court. He couldn’t move as his heart skipped a beat.

This was what he’d been afraid to let himself see. That Sheri was the other half of his soul and he needed her more than he’d ever expected to need any woman. If she left him…God, he couldn’t even go there in hypothetical. He needed her.

How could he have thought he’d be able to survive without her in his life?

He walked up to her and all the words he’d rehearsed escaped him. He saw her flush as he looked at her. He wanted her and he was sure she knew the signs of his arousal well enough by now to tell that. But he wanted more than just her sexy little body. He also wanted the joy in her eyes, the witty, sassy mouth of hers. He wanted it all.

And he didn’t want to tell her in front of the world. She deserved to hear about how he felt for her the first time in private. Where he could do a proper job of it.

“Tristan?”

“Hmm?”

“Are you okay?”

He shook his head. “I’m tired.”

“Well, I’m sorry to hear that,” she said.

“Don’t you want to know why?”

She nibbled on her lower lip. “Okay, I’ll ask. Why are you tired?”

“Because I’ve been running for too long.”

“What have you been running from?”

“I’ve been running from you, ma petite, and that has to stop.” He reached out and snagged her wrist. “Please excuse us,” he said to his family.

“Not so fast. We want to hear more about this running you’ve been doing.”

“Forget it, Rene. My private life is supposed to be private. Isn’t that what you’ve been telling me?”

“Indeed,” Rene said.

Christos and Ava stepped in between Rene and Tristan to say hello. They looked wonderful together, smiling and happy and…loving. Tristan clapped his hand on his friend’s shoulder, thanking him for flying in and promising to see them the next day. Then he drew Sheri away from the crowd and toward the exit.

“Why are we leaving? You just arrived.”