Loe raamatut: «Claimed by the Millionaire: The Wealthy Frenchman's Proposition»

Acknowledgements

I have to acknowledge my children Courtney and Lucas who were wonderful while I was writing this book during their summer break. They were extremely understanding in letting me plan events for them around my writing schedule. I know that every mother says she has the best kids in the world—but I really do!

One

“Bonjour, Sheri. Did the interoffice pouch arrive yet? I have sent something special in it for you!”

Sheri Donnelly smiled into the phone at Lucille Dumont’s greeting. She loved her job at the Sabina Group. She’d been unsure what the future would hold six months earlier, when the small magazine company she worked for had been purchased by the large French conglomerate. But the change was working out beautifully.

Lucille was Sheri’s counterpart at the publishing company’s Paris office. Though they’d never met, Sheri always pictured Lucille as a chic Parisian. Partly because of the way she sounded over the phone and partly because their boss, publisher Tristan Sabina, had said that Lucille was nothing like her when she’d asked what his other assistant looked like.

“No, why?”

“I sent you the latest copy of Le Figaro.” Lucille was a devoted reader of all tabloid magazines. She often sent Sheri the French tabloids and loved to receive the gossip rags from the U.S.

“Tristan hates it when you do that.”

“He doesn’t have to know. And he’s on the cover with a gorgeous woman.”

“I might be interested in it,” Sheri said. Tristan had become kind of an obsession with her. Not anything unhealthy that bordered on stalking, but more of an unquenchable curiosity. She wanted to know all about him. So far, she’d learned that he was demanding but gave praise easily. Plus he was extremely cute. And a widower.

“I thought you would be.”

Sheri grimaced. Was she that transparent, even over the phone? “Was there anything else?”

“Yes. I want to know about the woman. She’s a blond American actress, Kate or Jennifer or something. Do you know if he is seeing her?”

An actress? She’d been jealous of the coffee girl from downstairs whom Tristan flirted with every morning. No way could she compete with a beautiful blond actress. Sheri personified plain and dowdy, two things she knew about herself but had never been able to change.

“I don’t have any details,” Sheri said, smiling at the office mail guy as he dropped off the pouch. Now she was curious to see exactly what was in there.

“See what you can find out when he gets in to the office. You have the inside scoop on this one.”

“I’m pretty sure that Tristan will fire me if I start gossiping about his personal life.”

“You are right about that.” The deep, velvety cadence of Tristan Sabina’s voice made her start guiltily.

She gulped and looked up into his steel-gray eyes. “I’ve got to go, Lucille.” She hurriedly said goodbye and hung up the phone, still holding Tristan’s gaze.

His thick brown hair was longer in the front than in the back and his face had the healthy glow that came from spending time outdoors and not on a tanning bed. This morning he wore a blue pin-striped shirt, open at the collar, and a tailored navy suit. The sight of him made her want to stare dreamily, which was so not like her.

“Talking about me again?”

“Lucille and I have to talk about you,” she said, trying for the cheeky tone she usually pulled off easily. “We’re your assistants.”

“True, but that did not sound like work.”

She shrugged, unable to stop her speculative thoughts. Was he dating a Hollywood starlet? And when had it happened?

“What was Lucille calling you about?” he asked as he reached for his messages, and began thumbing through them.

“Oh, you know how she is, always thinking there’s something exciting going on here in New York,” Sheri said, looking down at her computer screen and hoping he’d just go into his office. She couldn’t look at him and not tell him the truth.

“Ms. Donnelly?”

“Hmm…?” she said, still not looking up. Her computer screen was infinitely fascinating at this moment. Please let him go away.

“Look at me.” She finally did. “What did Lucille ask you about?”

“I told you,” she said, dropping her gaze to his open collar.

“Why will you not look me in the eye?” he asked, his accent very pronounced.

“Because I don’t want to lie to you.”

“Then do not lie to me.”

She shrugged again. The last thing she wanted to talk about was his personal life. Liar. “It was something she saw in Le Figaro.”

“About me and a woman?” he asked.

She nodded.

He didn’t say anything else, just stared down at her, and she started to feel really self-conscious. What if, somehow, he could read on her face that she was attracted to him? What if he picked up on that and it made working for him awkward? What if…?

“You have a conference call with Rene in fifteen minutes, and he just sent a lengthy e-mail that you should at least glance at before you talk to him,” she said, holding out a copy of the e-mail, which she’d printed out for him.

For a moment she didn’t think he was going to let her steer the conversation back to business.

“You are right, of course,” he said, taking the papers.

“I highlighted the topics for you and jotted down the information I had on each one.”

“Thank you, Ms. Donnelly. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

She flushed at the compliment. “You’re welcome.”

She watched until he walked into his office. She was going to kill Lucille. Not that the other woman could have known that Tristan would arrive while they were talking about him, but still….

She reached for the interoffice pouch and opened it. The magazine spilled out. The cover featured Tristan’s publicity shot but inset was another picture. The paparazzi hadn’t gotten a very good photo, but he looked very amorous, as did the woman wrapped around him. Sheri traced her finger over the line of his eyebrows, ignoring the headline and just concentrating on Tristan.

She was careful never to stare at him at work, that wouldn’t be appropriate, but—

“Ms. Donnelly?”

“Yes.”

“Put that magazine away.”

She blanched and opened her bottom desk drawer, tossing the tabloid in there. “Was there something you wanted?”

“I need the book for the Global Traveler.”

“Yes, sir. I think that Maurice has it down the hall,” she said, standing and leaving the office before he could say anything else to her.

Oh, man, this was so not good. Twice in less than ten minutes, he’d caught her slacking on the clock. One of his big no-nos. To be honest, she didn’t do a lot of it. But she had a feeling that wasn’t going to matter. If she wanted to move up the managerial ladder, perhaps someday become an associate publisher, she’d better not get fired.

She grabbed the book, the big mock-up binder of the issue they were currently working on for their Global Traveler magazine, and hurried back to Tristan’s office. He was on the speakerphone with his brother, Rene. The conversation was in French and she understood only about every third word they said. Tristan gestured for the book and she handed it to him before leaving the room.

She got back to her desk and saw an instant message from Lucille.

[L.Dumont] Did T walk in while we were talking?

[S.Donnelly] Yes.

[L.Dumont] Did you tell him what we were talking

about?

She thought about filling Lucille in but then decided better of it.

[S.Donnelly] I really can’t IM right now.

[L.Dumont] OK. Ping me when you can.

[S.Donnelly] Later.

Later, she thought. If she still had a job. She doubted that Tristan would fire her for talking on the phone, especially to Lucille, but she knew he wouldn’t hesitate if she gave him enough reason to believe she was more interested in his personal life than in her job.

“Do you need anything else before I go, Mr. Sabina?” Sheri asked right at five o’clock. Not that she had anything really interesting to go home to. But she’d made it a point not to stay late since Tristan had become her boss. She found she liked the office a little too much when only the two of them were still there.

Tristan glanced up from his phone, which he’d been staring at in…amazement? His bangs fell over his forehead, making him look devilishly handsome.

He looked at her assessingly, making her more nervous. “Actually I do have one more thing to discuss with you, something that has just come to my attention. Please come in and shut the door.”

Sheri tried to school her features as she entered the office but guessed she’d failed when he gave her another odd look. Was the tabloid conversation going to come up again?

She walked across the Italian marble floor to the thick Arabian carpet that lined the area in front of his desk. The Sabina Group was a first-class outfit all the way. No cheaply made faux-wood desks or cubicles for their offices. And Tristan’s office was a lush as they came. She took a seat on one of the leather wingback chairs that he had for guests.

“Before you say anything, let me apologize for looking at that magazine earlier. Sorry about that. I couldn’t resist seeing what Lucille was talking about.”

He shook his head. “No need` to apologize. I think I let my temper slip a bit when I saw what you were reading.”

“Why?”

“The paparazzi are always following me around. They can be a real nuisance,” he said.

He sounded almost bored, an air she knew he used to hide his anger. “You’ve been making the headlines a lot, lately,” she said.

“Our family always has. My grandmother was a famous actress in France, and my grandfather was a director. My family always generates a lot of interest.”

“I’m sorry. I wish there was something I could do.”

“Well, actually, there is.”

“What?” She hoped he wasn’t going to ask her to be some kind of paparazzi lookout. “I’m not sure the celebrity photographers who follow you are going to disappear if I ask them to.”

“No?” He arched one eyebrow at her in a totally arrogant way, giving her a half smile that melted her brain.

“Maybe you should stop partying,” she said before she thought better of it.

His lips twitched and he shrugged one of his shoulders in a very Gallic way. “Unfortunately it is too late for that.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I have a proposition for you, Ms. Donnelly.”

“And that is?”

“A personal one.”

“How personal?”

“Pretty personal.”

“I thought it was important to you to keep things strictly business among everyone at the office,” she said.

“Well, this is personal business. What would you say to an all-expenses-paid trip to the island of Mykonos in Greece?”

Her breath caught. “Tell me more,” she said.

“One of my best friends is getting married there next week.”

She stared at him, confused. “Do you want me to go in your stead?”

“No. I’m asking you to come with me and be part of the bridal party.”

Come. With. Him. Oh, God, she wanted to jump up, say yes and leave before he changed his mind. Maybe he had noticed the real Sheri beneath the plain clothing. But she wasn’t that naive. There had to be more to this than any kind of latent attraction.

“Why me?”

“The bride, Ava Monroe, is American.”

“You know other Americans,” she said, thinking of the actress.

“It’s short notice and I want to bring someone I am comfortable with. Someone who won’t be nosing around in Christos’s business.”

This wasn’t the most flattering invitation she’d ever had. It reinforced something she knew but hated to face. That she wasn’t a forever kind of girl. That men moved on, always leaving her behind. Starting with her father, the pattern had repeated again and again over the course of her life. She tried not to dwell on it or mope around, but sometimes she forgot and hoped…hoped that those little-girl dreams of a white knight would become reality.

She still wanted to say yes.

“Christos Theakis?”

“Yes. Do you know him?”

“Only what I’ve read about Christos and the Theakis heir in the papers.” The Greek shipping tycoon had recently come to America and been photographed with a lovely woman and a young boy. The tabloids had speculated that the child was his secret son.

“What did the scandal rags say?”

“Not too much,” she said, taken aback by the vehemence in his tone. She should change the subject. “What exactly does this proposition entail?”

He pushed to his feet and walked around his desk. He leaned back against the polished walnut surface, crossing his legs at the ankle.

“I want you to be my date for the week during the wedding activities. They need a few women to round out the bridal party. The bride has one close friend she has asked, and she and Christos would like the groomsmen to invite the other attendants.”

She stared at him for a minute, unsure she’d heard him right. She shook her head and opened her mouth, but no words came out. Then she closed her eyes. “Okay, did you say date?”

“That is correct.”

Her eyes popped open. “Are you crazy?”

“Maybe. But I am serious about this.”

“Serious about taking me to Greece for a week.” She crossed her arms over her chest and settled back into the chair.

“Actually, ten days. And I already told Christos that you will be there.”

“Shouldn’t you have asked me before you started announcing that?” she asked, not even trying to keep the surprise from her voice.

He lifted one eyebrow at her. “I apologize. There wasn’t time to discuss it with you. Christos just called to ask me and wanted a name to include in the wedding program. As my assistant, you were the first suitable woman to come to mind.”

“Mr. Sabina—”

“Call me Tristan.”

She stared at him. “Are you asking me because one of your lovers might get to thinking that marriage to you might be in the cards?”

He shrugged.

“Don’t you care for any of them?”

“I care for all of them, but that isn’t the point. I’ve had my once-in-a-lifetime love. Marriage is something I won’t share with anyone else.”

She’d heard through Lucille that he’d deeply loved his first wife, and that she’d died, but knew few other details. “Why not?”

“That’s irrelevant. The only fact that concerns you is that I’d like you to accompany me to Greece for this wedding. It is a proposition, Sheri,” he said in that low-toned voice of his. It was the first time he’d said her first name. He always addressed her as Ms. Donnelly.

“Like a business deal?” she asked.

“Yes, exactly. You do this for me and then I do something for you in return.”

“What kind of favor?” she asked.

“Any. Your choice.”

He seemed to have given this some thought. “I don’t know. I’m not really that good at social stuff.”

“I’ll show you. That will be part of my favor to you.”

“I’m still not sure… I can’t make a decision like this so quickly.”

“There is not much time. I’m leaving at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow on my jet.

“Sheri, I need you,” he said, walking over to her and putting his hands on the arms of the chair. He leaned in close, and she shut her eyes as she breathed in the delicious scent of his aftershave.

He needed her. Oh, man, there was no way she was going to say no. Ten days of just her and Tristan… She couldn’t resist the opportunity to get him to see her as more than just his assistant.

Two

The marriage of his best friend was a good reason to celebrate but, since Cecile’s death, weddings had become painful for Tristan. Still…on this day, with the sun shining brightly in the Greek sky and the champagne flowing freely, he wasn’t focused on the past.

In fact, as the reception progressed, he was becoming more and more obsessed with Sheri. He’d invited his assistant because he knew that bringing a real date to a wedding always made the woman start looking at him like he had the potential to be a husband.

He wasn’t going down the aisle again.

Yet…there was something about Sheri that he found comforting. She was fun to work with, she was pleasing to look at it. Not a world-class beauty, but so unassuming about her looks that it was refreshing to be around her.

But today she looked exquisite. The pale bridesmaid’s dress made her skin glow and the subtle makeup that someone had applied to her face gave her an understated beauty that he couldn’t keep his eyes from. Seeing her move lithely through the stately, beautiful Theakis home and grounds where the wedding was being held had put her into a new light.

“You’re staring at your secretary,” Gui said as he came up behind Tristan.

“Am I?”

Gui arched one eyebrow at Tristan but said nothing more. Count Guillermo de Cuaron y Bautista de la Cruz was one of his two best friends, Christos Theakis, the groom, being the other member of their triad. They’d met at boarding school in Switzerland when they’d all been ten, three young hell-raisers who had nothing in common except being second sons, boys who’d grown up with no pressure or expectations.

In their twenties, they’d started a business called Seconds, a string of nightclubs in posh hot spots all over the world. The exclusive clubs were the place to see and be seen the world over, and every night the bouncers turned away more celebrities, wannabes and hangers on than they let in.

He heard the husky sound of Sheri’s laughter and Lucille’s familiar snort and smiled to himself. Lucille, who knew Christos well from working with Tristan for so long, had also flown up for the wedding, and the two women had hit it off in person. He wasn’t really surprised, because Sheri was one of those women that everyone got along with, and she and Lucille had already been friendly via the phone.

He didn’t examine too closely why he’d asked Sheri, and not Lucille, to be his companion for the wedding.

“You’re staring again…are you falling for her?”

“Falling for who?”

“Your secretary.”

“You know how I am. She’s pretty and available.”

“And that’s enough for tonight,” Gui said.

Tristan shrugged. He didn’t like to talk about his attitude toward women. He had two sisters and had been married to the love of his life. If he’d been a different man with a different sex drive, he would have lived the rest of his life as a celibate. A part of him had died with Cecile.

But he had never been able to turn off his attraction to the opposite sex. Six months after her death, he’d found himself starting a string of one-week affairs. Sex was the only thing he’d ever take from the women he became involved with.

He suspected that would not be enough for Sheri. She also worked for him, and that complicated things. He shook his head and signaled the waiter for another glass of wine. The vintage was a very nice one from his family’s vineyards.

“Tris?”

“Hmm?”

“She’s not like your other women—”

“I know that, Gui.”

Gui nodded. “I can’t believe that Christos is married.”

“It’s not the death sentence you think it is.” Though he’d never admit it, Tristan envied Gui his attitude. Gui had never been serious about one woman, and he moved through life with a kind of light charm that Tristan admired.

The music changed and a sweet, slow song came on. Couples filled the dance floor with Ava and Christos in the center. They seemed so… He shook his head, not willing to go there.

“I have to go,” Gui suddenly said.

“Why?”

“Those men are too old for Augustina,” Gui said, acting the protective older brother to his sister, who had been Gui’s companion in the wedding party. Tristan bit back a smile as he watched his friend wedge his way between Augustina and her suitors.

He felt a small hand on his arm and glanced down at Sheri. “Having fun?” he asked.

“Yes. I can’t believe I was reluctant to come,” she said. Her breath smelled faintly of champagne. She held a half-empty glass in her right hand. She tucked her left hand between his arm and body.

She closed her eyes and swayed to the music. Just a little movement and humming under her breath.

“Are you enjoying the reception?” he asked.

“Yes, I am. Ava’s so sweet. Thank you for inviting me to join you this week.”

“You’re welcome. I believe I owe you something.”

“What do you owe me, Tristan?”

There was a dreamy quality to her voice. From the first it had been obvious to him that she was attracted to him. But she was careful to keep that attraction to herself and had put a barrier between them. Put him into a box, so it seemed. But tonight…tonight, with the trio playing romantic music and the wine flowing freely, none of that mattered.

“Dance with me, ma douce?”

She smiled up at him. “I’d love to.”

He had never seen that exact look in her eyes before. “You seem different.”

“Maybe that’s because we’re not in the office.”

“No, we are not. What difference does that make to you, Sheri?”

“It makes all the difference in the world, Tristan.”

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and leaned up on tiptoe, brushing her lips against his neck. “This is so nice.”

Tristan knew he should pull away and let her go but instead he leaned down, put his hand under her chin and tipped her head up toward his. His lips found hers easily and she sighed into his mouth as their lips met.

The wedding that she’d been nervous about participating in had taken on a certain dreamlike state. The champagne was good. Very good. There really was a difference between that stuff she bought in the grocery store and fine French champagne.

The music was chic and sexy and, as Sheri leaned closer to Tristan, she realized that he was, too. His cologne was one of a kind and smelled delicious. She’d never get enough of it. Even at work the scent lingered in his office when he was away.

She knew it was partly the alcohol she’d drunk that gave the evening the magical quality that it was taking on as she danced with Tristan, but just this once she felt as if she was woman enough for him.

The right kind of woman for Tristan Sabina, international playboy, her boss and the sexiest man she’d ever danced with.

“What are you thinking?” he asked, his French accent nearly as appealing as the strong line of his jaw.

“About you.”

“Really?”

“Um…yes. What are you thinking?”

“That maybe I should pull you closer,” he said, suiting action to words.

She rubbed her cheek against his shoulder and closed her eyes. She knew this was another part of the wonderful dreamland she’d been in for the last week. Being on Mykonos was like being in a fantasy world.

Tristan and his friends were wealthy in every sense of the word and, when she was with them, she was living a life that was far removed from ev erything she’d ever known.

“Okay?”

“Yes,” she said, her words a sigh. “Though I thought we’d decided that…um, we’d just have a professional relationship.”

“Did we? I think we can both be forgiven for making the most of this moment, on a night like tonight.”

She looked up at him, trying to judge if he was sincere, and she saw something in his eyes. Something she’d never seen in them before.

Lust.

Everything feminine in her clenched at that expression. Here was what she’d dreamed of. And how sad was it that she wanted to accept whatever he had to offer?

“For just this night?” she asked, to make sure she understood what he was offering.

“That’s all I have in me,” he said, but in his eyes she saw the hint of something more.

Some kind of emotion that intimated that he did feel more, but why did she care? Being in Tristan’s arms was enough for her. This moment dancing together was better than she’d ever imagined it could be. She kept breathing deeply, trying to imprint the scent of him in her soul. She ran her hands down his shoulders and back, feeling the strength of his body under her touch.

If she were braver she’d press her body closer to his so she’d have the imprint of him against her to recall when she was back in the office and they were simply employer and employee again.

His finger under her chin startled her into opening her eyes and when he tipped her head back and their eyes met, she realized that there was more happening here than just a dance. She saw something else in Tristan’s gaze. There was such sadness there, she thought. A kind of pain that she recognized all the way to her lonely soul.

Tristan Sabina, lonely?

The thought was ludicrous.

She shook her head. What the hell was she doing? This was her boss. She pulled back, put a respectable few inches between them, and he let her.

She got the message loud and clear. There wasn’t more to this than Tristan feeling lonely at the reception and wanting…what exactly?

She tipped her head to the side as he brushed his finger along the line of her jaw. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I never realized how beautiful your eyes are.”

She caught her breath. She wasn’t beautiful and she knew it. Her eyes were brown. Not the kind of luscious chocolaty color that poets wrote about, just plain brown. She shook her head.

“Yes, gorgeous. I could get lost in them.”

“Tristan—”

He rubbed his thumb over her lower lip and her thoughts dissolved. She felt a tingling from that contact that spread down her neck and shoulders. And she realized that the safe little way in which she’d been obsessed with Tristan had turned into a dangerous and exciting attraction.

She knew that he wasn’t himself tonight. That Monday morning, when they were back at work, they would return to the relationship they’d always had.

A sane person would turn around, walk off the dance floor and go back to her room.

But she’d been alone in her room for much of her life. In a box of her own making where she was safely insulated from pain. From the men who always left her.

She looked up at Tristan. He stared at her lips. His own parted as he stroked hers. And she wondered if knowing he was leaving, figuratively speaking, after one night would somehow lessen the pain of being left once again.

And she didn’t kid herself that it wasn’t going to be painful when he left. It was always painful, but being with Tristan…being in his arms and experiencing the things she’d dreamed of since the first time he’d walked into her office…well, that might be worth it.

Wouldn’t it?

She didn’t know and didn’t want to analyze it. For once she wanted to forget that she was a plain-Jane kind of woman. That she was the kind of girl who usually went back to her room alone. For tonight, she was the woman that Tristan Sabina was looking at with lust in his eyes.

He and Sheri danced together for the rest of the evening and once Christos and his bride left, Tristan thought of leaving, too. But he glanced over at Sheri and was unable to walk away.

He drew her back out onto the dance floor, moving their bodies together. Feeling the rightness of the way she fit in his arms and against his body.

If she pulled back, of course he’d let her walk away. He had never had to coax a woman into his bed. But with Sheri, he was tempted. He was tempted to ply her with champagne and kisses.

Kisses.

He’d tasted her lips once, and now that was all he wanted to do. Stroke his tongue over the seam between her lips until she sighed and opened her mouth. Let his tongue sweep into the softness of her mouth. She would taste sweet…of champagne and something else that was uniquely Sheri.

He could not resist. He lowered his head, and she rose to meet him. She moaned into his mouth, wrapping her arms around his neck and leaning up on her tiptoes to keep their mouths together. He held her waist, lifting her against him. He felt the impact of her breasts against his chest and wanted to groan out loud. How could he ever have missed the fact that Sheri was a damned attractive woman?