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Christian stepped back and gave her a lopsided smile. “Nor has my desire for you.”
“Yes...well.” She didn’t sound as if she believed him. “I’m sure you can find any number of women eager to distract you.”
“It’s not like that anymore.”
“The tabloids say otherwise.”
“The tabloids exaggerate. Any drama attributed to my love life is concocted to sell newspapers.”
“So how do you explain the twin models from Milan photographed topless on your hotel balcony in Cannes?”
“They needed a place to crash and I spent the night on the phone to Hong Kong.”
Noelle’s lips thinned as she nodded. “And the Spanish heiress who ran away from her wedding with you?”
“It was an arranged marriage and she was in love with an architect from Brussels who happened to be doing some work on my apartment in London.”
“You’re asking me to believe you’re in the habit of rescuing women these days?”
He understood her skepticism. Five years earlier his playboy reputation had been well earned. But the day he’d arranged for Noelle to study in Paris was the day he’d begun to change. She’d been the first woman he’d saved. And the only one who’d needed to be rescued from him.
“There’s a long list of women I’ve helped. I could put you in touch with some of them if it would help improve your perception of me.” She wasn’t going to take his pursuit seriously if she thought he hadn’t changed.
“I’m sure there are scads of women who would line up to sing your praises.”
“Have dinner with me.” He repeated his earlier invitation, determined to convince her this wasn’t a ploy or a scam. “We have a great deal to talk about.”
She shook her head. “The only thing that concerns me is your intentions for my son. We can talk about ground rules here or at your office. There’s no reason for us to become more than civil acquaintances.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. I can name several very good reasons why we should take our relationship to a close, personal level. Starting with the fact that I make you nervous.” He caught her chin and turned her face so he could snare her gaze. “I think that means you still have feelings for me. I know I have feelings for you. We belong together.”
“I’m with Geoff. Nothing you can say or do will change that.”
Christian slid his thumb across her lower lip and watched her pupils dilate. No doubt she was counting on her words and actions to effectively put him off, but there was no hiding her body’s reaction.
With a slow smile, his hand fell away. “We’ll see.”
Four
With her pulse hammering in her ears, Noelle spent a full minute staring at the empty hallway after Christian had gone. What had just happened? Knees shaking, she retreated to her desk and dropped into her comfortable chair with a hearty exhalation. To her dismay, her fingers trembled as she dialed a familiar number. When Geoff answered the phone, his deep voice acted like a sturdy net she could fall into and be safe.
“Geoff, thank goodness.”
“Noelle, are you okay? You sound upset.”
“I’ve just done a terrible, cowardly thing.” Such drama wasn’t like her, and she noticed that several beats passed while Geoff adjusted to her tumultuous state.
“I’m sure it’s not as bad as all that.”
She closed her eyes, and his steady tone calmed her. She’d met Geoff shortly after moving to Paris. He’d been at a party her boss was throwing and they’d hit it off immediately. Both had been grieving losses. Noelle was fresh from her breakup with Christian and Geoff had lost his wife of fifteen years to cancer six months earlier.
“It’s really bad. I made up a serious relationship between you and me.”
Amusement filled his voice as he asked, “Couldn’t you just have told the guy you weren’t interested? That’s worked for you up to this point.”
Normally Noelle blamed her lack of interest in men on the demands of her skyrocketing career and being focused on her son. The truth was she didn’t find anyone as interesting or attractive as Christian. In the darkest hours of the night when she couldn’t sleep and got up to sketch or visit her workshop, she suspected that the love she’d thought had died when Christian cast her aside was really only buried beneath a thick layer of pain and disappointment.
