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The next day, Marco took a call from a German banker. As luck would have it, he, too, was in Paris and he had some business to discuss.
They met him for lunch.
The banker was tall and handsome. He gave Emily his very best smile, kissed her hand and rattled off something in German.
Emily laughed and rattled something in return.
Marco hung back a little as they were shown to their table.
“You didn’t mention that you spoke German,” he said softly.
“Well, I don’t. I mean, not very well. Just a few words, really.”
She spoke more than a few words. By the end of the meal, the banker had agreed to all Marco’s terms for acquiring a property the bank owned and why wouldn’t he, when the man’s major interest was clearly Emily?
Ridiculous.
This was business. The banker would not let his interest in a woman get in the way of that.
The banker said something to Emily that made her smile. The banker didn’t just smile, he grinned.
Enough, Marco thought. He reached for her hand, threaded their fingers together and kept their joined hands on top of the linen-covered table.
Emily was startled. She was with him as his assistant, just as she had been last night.
Her eyes flashed a question. What are you doing?
His flashed an answer. I am claiming you as exclusively mine.
It was not very professional… but it made her heart soar.
The German looked from Emily to Marco. Then he gave a dramatic sigh.
“I am too late,” he said ruefully.
“Much too late,” Marco said, and brought Emily’s hand to his lips.
******
She confronted him that night.
They were sitting on the terrace, drinking brandy.
She thought of a dozen ways to say it. In the end, what had been in her head for days was what she told him.
“I’m not Jessalyn,” she said.
He looked at her as if she’d lost her mind.
“Why would you tell me that?”
“Because—because I won’t be your mistress.”
His eyes narrowed. “Have I asked you to be my mistress?” he said, his voice cold, his words clipped. And why did those words hurt?
“Good,” she said. “Because I won’t be. Not ever. I don’t believe in that whole thing. You need to know that before—”
“I have no wish for you to be my mistress.”
