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With relief, she excused herself from Sylvain and hurried away—but not before she caught a look similar to Damion’s assessing one crossing his face.
‘What’s going on?’
Sabine fluttered agitated fingers. ‘One of the models hasn’t turned up. The agency said she was on her way but she’s not here, and the show starts in ten minutes. With only six models, the show won’t run to time, and the fireworks are set on a timer, so they can’t be delayed.’
Reiko tried not to panic. Sabine was distressed enough for both of them. ‘Where the bloody hell am I going to conjure up a model at the eleventh hour?’ she muttered under her breath.
The stylist approached them, speaking rapidly into his phone. She gazed hopefully at him. When he shook his head, her heart dropped.
‘We could ask one of the guests? Madame Baptiste, perhaps?’ Sabine suggested.
‘No!’
‘No …’
The stylist’s endorsement of her rejection pleased her. Irrational though it might be, Reiko wanted Damion’s ex-lover nowhere near the production she’d poured her soul into.
Her heart stuttered at the speculative look in the stylist’s eyes. ‘What?’
‘I think we’ve found our solution,’ he said.
Relief poured through her. ‘Excellent. Who is it?’
‘ You.’
‘Me? Are you insane?’
‘You’ll be perfect.’
‘Sure—in the land of Lilliput. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m five-foot-two. Even with three-inch heels, I’d still look ridiculous alongside the models.’
‘You’ll be perfect,’ he insisted.
Sabine clapped in delightful agreement. ‘Your make-up is impeccable, but you’ll have to wear your hair up—we don’t want that lovely mane competing with the Fortier gems. I’ll send an assistant to help.’
‘Help with what?’
Damion’s deep voice sounded just over her shoulder. Heart in her throat, she whirled to face him. How long had he been standing there?
‘We had a logistics problem,’ she murmured, feeling faint. ‘But it looks like it’s been resolved.’
‘You don’t sound sure.’
Of course she wasn’t sure. What she was contemplating frightened her. She’d bared herself more in the past two weeks than she had in the past two years. The thought of baring herself to the scrutiny of some of the world’s most stunning women and influential men made her blood run cold.
But slowly her heart hammered with determination.
‘I am now. I’m sure.’ Unable to help herself, her gaze drifted over him. In his exquisitely cut tuxedo, he knocked the breath clean out of her lungs. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘I wanted to find out what was keeping you.’ His gaze probed hers. ‘We need to talk, Reiko.’
‘I’m not sure what good that’ll do.’ Seeing him with Isadora and her children had driven home what she could never give him. No amount of talking would resolve that.
‘You know me well enough to know I won’t take no for an answer.’
She opened her mouth to refute him but Sabine re-entered, flanked by two burly bodyguards carrying glass cases containing the Fortier jewellery.
Damion looked from the pieces to the models, then back at her. ‘You’re missing a model?’ he asked.
