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She looked at him. ‘She was talking about you as if you’re not even human. How could you have ever been with her? She’s awful.’
Luc felt disgust move through him. ‘We were never lovers, even though she did everything in her power to seduce me. She’s Leo Fouret’s wife. I found her naked in my bed one night and she threatened to accuse me of rape if I refused to sleep with her. That’s why I had to leave the stables. Leo Fouret knew what she was like and he offered to pay me off to leave and say nothing. I refused his money but I did take a horse.’
And why the hell had he just let all of that slip out? He didn’t owe Nessa any explanations.
Nessa said slowly, ‘That’s why you reacted the way you did when you found me in your room.’
She continued, ‘I’m sorry I opened my mouth but I couldn’t help myself. You’re not just some object.’
No one had ever jumped to Luc’s defence before. A disturbing warmth curled through his gut. His anger was draining away. He said, ‘In the end she actually did me a favour. If I hadn’t had to leave Fouret’s stables I might still be working there. That horse became my fortune.’
Nessa shook her head. ‘I don’t think so. I think you would have always made your fortune.’
Luc looked at her intently. ‘You’re like a fierce tigress.’
Nessa’s cheeks got hot. She didn’t know how to respond to that. She regretted letting that woman get to her, but the relief she felt to know that he hadn’t been intimate with Celeste was almost overwhelming.
A thousand more questions were on Nessa’s lips but then Luc said, ‘You did well this evening.’
Nessa shrugged slightly, embarrassed. ‘I felt like a bit of a fraud, to be honest. A couple of well-run races does not merit all that attention.’
Luc shook his head. ‘You have a natural ability that anyone can see from a million miles away, and you’re a beautiful young woman. It’s quite a combination.’
She smiled wryly. ‘I’ve been riding in races for a few years now and no one has ever commented before. I think the fact that I’m riding for you is the key. People are fascinated by whatever you do.’
Luc’s jaw tightened. ‘Fascinated in that way that drivers are when they pass a crash and have to look at the carnage.’
Nessa instinctively wanted to deny that but she knew he wasn’t saying it for effect or sympathy. She’d seen how the guests had looked at him all evening. And no wonder, with that woman in their midst. It had to be exhausting, constantly having to prove himself.
Afraid he might see too much on her face, Nessa looked out of the window. They were driving along the Seine and Nessa noticed all the amorous couples. It tugged on a yearning inside her.
She couldn’t imagine Luc stopping the car and taking her by the hand to walk along the Seine, and it shook her to realise she’d even thought of that. Whatever was between them wasn’t about romance or emotions or love. But even as Nessa thought of that word, love, her heart pounded unevenly and she felt cold and clammy. Sick.
Oh, God. She was falling for him.
‘Have you ever been to Paris before?’
Nessa jumped at his question and looked at him. She wasn’t in love with him. She couldn’t be. She forced down the panic she was feeling, assuring herself that the romance of Paris had infected her brain momentarily.
She said, ‘Only once, a long time ago, on a school trip. I always wanted to come back some day—I’ve never seen anywhere more beautiful.’
Luc’s gaze narrowed on Nessa’s face. She’d been a million miles away just now, gazing wistfully out of the window.
His body was in an agony of sexual frustration after an evening standing by her side as countless people, mainly men, he’d noticed, had come and stared as if they’d never seen a woman before. He’d had to control the urge to snarl at everyone so he could pull Nessa into a quiet corner and muss up that far too tidy chignon and peel that dress from her luscious body.
And even though all he wanted right now was to drive straight to his apartment so he could do just that, he found himself leaning forward and instructing his driver to take a small detour.
Nessa looked at him when they came to a stop a few minutes later, after climbing the winding narrow streets as far as they could go in the car. ‘Where are we?’ she asked.
Luc was already regretting the impetuous decision even as he said, ‘Montmartre. Come on, I want to show you something.’
He got out of the car and came around to help her out. Her hand slipped into his, and he had to grit his jaw at the surge of desire even that small, chaste touch provoked.
They walked the small distance up towards Sacre Coeur cathedral. It was late but there were still small knots of people milling around. Luc opened his bow tie and the top button of his shirt. He noticed Nessa shiver slightly in the cool evening air. He took off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders and she looked at him. ‘Oh, thank you.’
They came around a corner and the full majesty of the iconic cathedral was revealed. Nessa stopped in her tracks. ‘Wow. I’d forgotten this existed. It’s so beautiful.’
‘You came here on your trip?’
