Weddings: The Proposals: The Brooding Frenchman's Proposal / Memo: The Billionaire's Proposal / The Playboy Firefighter's Proposal

Quick to respond, Raoul whispered against her ear, “Aren’t we fortunate it’s only across the street. Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

He put some bills on their table and guided them out of the bar. It had grown more crowded since they’d come in, but she hadn’t noticed. At the moment Raoul was her whole world. Laura couldn’t get alone with him fast enough.

She held on to him as they made their way back to the Auberge. The depth of her euphoria had caused her to be careless. Ted’s minions could be taking pictures, but suddenly it didn’t matter to her. Raoul, too, seemed heedless of those things that had been haunting him, making him so cruel to her earlier. Now all that had gone. Nothing registered except this sweet, unexplored heat building between them.

Once Raoul had let them into his room, he picked her up and carried her to the bed. She pulled him down beside her. In the dim light of one small lamp, his hair and skin, his features took on the cast of a dark prince whose black eyes burned with desire for her.

Before she gave in to the clamoring of her senses, she needed an answer to one question. “I haven’t asked before now because I didn’t think you and I would—” She hesitated, then started again. “I didn’t think we’d—”

“—become lovers?” He finished the thought in a silken voice.

Her face went hot. “Yes. I know so little about you. Are you single? Divorced? You’ve never said.”

He followed the line of her eyebrow with his thumb. “You really don’t know? Even after living in Guy’s home?”

“No,” she answered honestly. “The subject has never come up.”

“Why didn’t you ask me if I was married?”

She groaned inwardly. “I didn’t think it was necessary.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t believe you would be here with me like this if you were married. Despite the way you’ve treated me at times, my instincts tell me you’re an honorable man.”

His eyes grew veiled. “I’ve been divorced from my wife, Danielle, for a year, if that’s what you mean, but it doesn’t necessarily prove me to be honorable. Otherwise I wouldn’t be on the verge of making love to Mrs. Theodore Stillman would I?”

The enchantment of the night splintered into a thousand pieces.

Laura could move fast when she had to. Her job at the beach demanded it. She rolled off the other side of the bed and flew out his door with her tote bag. Within seconds she’d locked herself in the adjoining room. It didn’t take him long to knock on the door separating them.

“Open up, Laura,” sounded his deep voice. “It’s time for us to have a serious talk, I think.”

At this point she felt sick to her stomach and was so upset she was shaking. How long had he known her real name?

“Why didn’t you say you’d been in contact with my husband?”

“Not contact. I had you investigated.”

She threw her head back, absolutely stunned. “Why?”

“To protect my family.”

Her body shuddered. All along he’d seen her as a threat. “Finally some honesty from you Raoul. My father-in-law already had me thoroughly investigated before he allowed his son to marry me. You and he have a lot in common. I guess that’s what comes from having money and power for so many generations you’ve forgotten the human element.

“If you love Guy, I advise you not to tell him what you’ve done because in the end, it might come back to hurt you. He’s the kindest, most wonderful human being I know and in case you haven’t realized it yet, he loves you dearly. Good night, Raoul.”

Raoul passed a hand over his face. Was every woman a liar?

For the past little while he could have sworn the two of them were feeling something deep and real between them. Yet all Laura Stillman could think about was Guy.

His poor, beguiled brother was in love with a very married woman who had a wife’s access to her husband’s fortune. Louis had done his homework. That Fair Oaks address had the same kind of exclusivity as many of the places near Cap Ferrat.

What was she doing in Europe picking up rich men using her maiden name? She had a successful millionaire husband of her own in tow with looks like a younger Robert Redford. The woman obviously had no shame.

While he stood there trying to blot pictures of Laura and her husband making love from his mind, the hotel phone rang. Raoul grimaced. After being found out, she was too petrified to face him, so she’d resorted to the phone.

With his emotions exploding all over the place he walked to the bedside table and grabbed the receiver. Fighting for calm he answered, “Laura?”

“Who’s Laura?”

Danielle—

Another one of her desperate, attention-seeking phone calls. Perfect timing.

“Don’t hang up on me yet, mon amour. I remember a passionate night we once spent at the Citadel in Alpe d’Huez during the Tour de France. I thought you might be there for this year’s race. When they said you weren’t registered, I called several other places.

“What are you doing at the Auberge? Slumming with the riffraff doesn’t sound like you. Do you have any idea how much I miss you? I know I was wrong for what I did, but how can you throw away what we once had?”

“It’s too late, Danielle.”

“Of course it isn’t. Oh, Raoul, I love you still so much.” She pleaded. “Please let me show you how it can be again. Give us a second chance—”

For a moment he heard the old Danielle in her voice, but her repentant plea still didn’t move him. Five days ago something had happened to Raoul that had turned him into a different man. Someone new had entered the picture… .

He glanced at the door to the adjoining room, his pulse pounding while he waited for Laura to make a move.

“It’s too late.” Far too late. “Adieu, Danielle,” he murmured.

Raoul put the phone back on the hook, smothering her angry shout. Before she could call him again, he turned off the ringer.

He could go down to the bar, but no amount of alcohol would wipe out the sting of Laura’s lie. Even though her betrayal was against her husband and his brother, Raoul was the one reeling.

Laura cried so hard all night that when morning came, her eyes were swollen shut. When she left the room at 7:30 a.m. with her overnight bag, she was forced to cover them with her sunglasses.

She hadn’t seen or talked to Raoul since he’d dropped his bombshell outside the door last night. Because he’d brought her here to suit his no-longer-secret agenda, she didn’t feel obligated to discuss anything more with him. She’d see the day through and tough it out, but that was it. When they returned to Cap Ferrat, she’d stay out of Raoul’s way until she returned to the States.

The Auberge served a continental breakfast in the dining area off the foyer. Only a few people were eating. The rest had left to line the road while they waited for the bikers making the ascent. After choosing a baguette and some juice, she sat down at a table. Though she had no appetite, she knew she’d better eat something.

While she munched on the bread without enthusiasm, Raoul entered the dining room wearing his jeans and a navy sport shirt, unbuttoned at the neck where she could see a smattering of dark hair. She closed her eyes tightly to shut off the view, but it was too late to stop the warm rush that permeated her weakened body.

He reached for her bag and took both of them to the counter in the lobby to be held until later. Afterward he wandered over to the side bar for a cup of coffee and a baguette. When he returned, he took the seat opposite her and dunked his bread in the hot liquid before eating it with obvious enjoyment. There was clearly no problem with his appetite.

“When you’re ready, we’ll walk over to the road and watch what we came to see.” His voice sounded half an octave lower this morning. Even after everything that had transpired, she still ached for him.

There was a tiny cut at the side of his jaw where he must have hurt himself shaving. It was the only thing she could find that might indicate he wasn’t in total control. Somehow the thought was reassuring.

As she was finishing the last of her juice, he lifted her sunglasses from her face. His knuckle brushed the end of her nose. “I thought so,” he muttered before setting them back in place.