Page 9 of Her Forbidden Bargain

She arched both eyebrows at him. “Really? I know you’re used to more sophisticated women.”

“How do you know that?” he asked. He never discussed his private life at the office.

“I searched you on Google. I read the Post. And Lucille sends me the French tabloids with pictures of you.”

“Why?” he asked, realizing that Sheri was a lot more talkative when she drank. Normally, she’d try to play off her interest in him, but not tonight.

“You’re my obsession,” she said, her tone airy and breathless.

“Obsession?” he asked.

She flushed and pushed out of his arms. Her hands came up to cover her face. “Oh, my God. I can’t believe I said that.”

Tristan cupped her elbow and led her from the dance floor. Sheri grabbed a glass of champagne from a passing waiter. Taking a delicate sip, she drew to a stop.

“Will you please forget I said that?”

Not in a million years, he thought. She was totally unique in a world of women who fawned over him. There was a freshness to her. An innocence that he’d never experienced. Not even with Cecile, who’d been ten years his senior.

“Tristan? Did you hear me?”

“Yes, I did.”

“And?”

“No, Sheri, I will not forget you said that.”

“Why not?”

“Because I like being your obsession. What have you obsessed about doing with me?”

She shook her head and he wondered if she’d back down now. Instead she took a sip of her champagne and smiled up at him. “I’m not sure you’re ready to know about that.”

“When do you think I will be?”

She shrugged. Her delicate shoulders moved underneath the pretty silk straps of the bridesmaid’s dress. “I’m not sure you’ll ever be ready.”

“Why not?”

“Because of what I said earlier.”

“And that was?”

“You’re not used to a woman like me.”

“Ma petite, that I may not be, but I’m definitely ready for a woman like you.”

Chapter Three

Sheri kept her hand in Tristan’s as they walked toward the front of the mansion, where the valet was stationed, to get his car. Suddenly she hesitated, realizing that this was going to change her life. She forced herself to look around and acknowledge that, if she kept walking, her life would change.

“Sheri?”

She bit her lower lip, wondering if she was going to pass up the chance of a lifetime. And the answer was…she had no idea. She was torn between what she wanted—the man she’d wanted for so long—and self-preservation.

“Yes?”

“Would you like to stay here?”