The Bachelor's Cinderella: The Frenchman's Plain-Jane Project

“Well, now they have. I have. And you know that I don’t lie to you.”

They had backtracked and were on their way back to the car when the threat of rain became a reality. A light mist began to fall and quickly became harder.

Automatically it seemed, Etienne put his arm around Meg and pulled her under the shelter of an awning.

“Wait here,” he told her as he rushed back out into the rain, which was coming down harder now.

“Etienne, you’re getting soaked,” she yelled, but he paid her no mind. Instead he ducked into a nearby hotel. Through the glass doors, she could see him speaking to the doorman, gesturing to the man. Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. Within seconds he was running back to her carrying a large black umbrella. He flipped it open and when he reached the awning, he took her hand and pulled her under the umbrella with him.

“The man sold you one of the hotel’s guest umbrellas?” she asked, laughing as Etienne wrapped one arm around her waist to hold her close and keep her out of the rain. “I’ll bet he’s not supposed to do that. Did you have to give him half your fortune?”

“Meg,” Etienne lectured. “Are you making fun of me for trying to keep you from getting soaked?”

Suddenly she stopped. She turned in his arms and faced him. “Not at all. I like the way you identify a problem and then immediately identify a solution. You’re a magic man, mon cher. Is that how you say it?”

But he was still holding her against him, the flowers crushed between their bodies. “That’s how you say it, my Meg. And no, I’m not a magic man. Just a man. A man who has to do this. Right now.”

His mouth came down on hers. He pulled her closer still. She dragged her arm, flowers and all, free and looped it around his neck, trying to get closer to him.

The rain came down, and Etienne’s kisses became deeper, more demanding.

Meg tilted her head and gave and gave. And took and took. She tasted him, she savored him, she wished this moment would never end, that they could stay beneath this cocoon of an umbrella in the rain forever. Alone. Just the two of them. With nothing else to come between them.

But in the distance a car horn honked. People yelled at each other, they laughed. More traffic noises intruded, and the streetlights came on.

The real world returned, and in the real world Etienne was a man who might want kisses but didn’t want more. He could have any woman he wanted, but he wanted none. At least not for more than this.

And Meg realized how unprotected her heart was. She was in grave danger of doing something very unhealthy to herself. Something she had sworn not to do again. Fall for a man who would, ultimately, break her heart. Etienne might not want to do that to her, but it would be done nonetheless.

And when it happened, he would know. It would send him to a very bad place, emotionally. She needed to keep that from happening. Somehow she needed to be a woman who dealt in solutions. Emotional solutions.

Gently, carefully, reluctantly, Meg eased herself away. “That was…very nice. You’re exeptionally good at that. But I suppose you know that. It was…a very effective lesson.”

He frowned. He growled. “You know that was no lesson.”

“I know you didn’t mean it to be one, but nevertheless it was. If I’m going to be doing business with the big boys, I have to know how to go one-on-one with them. I’m assuming that now and then there might be temptation. I need to know how to…to walk away from it, don’t I?”

For several seconds Etienne didn’t answer. He was looking angry, angrier than she had ever seen him. “You definitely need to know how to walk away from temptation. Especially temptation that is bad for you.”

She just couldn’t do it. No matter the need, even to save Etienne in the end, she just couldn’t pretend in this way. Instead she touched him on the sleeve. “I didn’t mean it. You’re not bad for me. You know how much you’ve done for me, but…this…this part of the two of us…it’s only going to hurt us both in the end. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Dammit, Meg, I’m the one who’s supposed to say that. I pulled you into this. I get to be the protector.”

She placed her palm across his lips and slowly shook her head. “You can’t be my protector, Etienne. You can’t save me. In the long run we both know that that job can’t be yours. And I don’t want you to regret it. I want you to enjoy your time with me.”

“I do,” he promised. “I am. I will.”

“For now,” she whispered. “We still have some time left. And we have rain and red flowers and a beautiful umbrella. Let’s walk in the rain.”

“Impetuous,” he said and the word was a caress. “But your leg. I’ve walked you too far already.”

“I don’t even feel it anymore,” she promised. And it was true. For now all she felt was the need to walk with this man who had changed her life so much. For this one moment she would not worry about tomorrow and just enjoy this man and this simple pleasure. Who knew what tomorrow would bring?

CHAPTER TWELVE (#ulink_4ee4e687-d71a-50a5-90fd-7869389193a1)

ETIENNE knew that he was losing control where Meg was concerned. There was just something about her that made him forget all the things he needed to remember. Yes, he was a successful businessman, but he had failed in his personal life and had hurt those he should have taken better care of. He just could not risk failing or hurting anyone else, especially not Meg.

Bright, beautiful Meg who deserved that loving, secure home surrounded by children that she desired. The thought of interfering with those dreams of hers in any way just wasn’t something he could face. He’d hate himself if he caused her any pain. So he had to stop thinking about her all the time, stop spending so much time with her before he did any irreversible harm to her.

How was he going to do that?

Keep it low-key, Gavard, he told himself. Keep it all business. The way Meg wanted things. Couldn’t he do that much for her?

With that as his goal, he pressed himself to concentrate on the company and drove himself around the clock. He almost thought that he was making progress when he had gone a whole week without touching Meg. Yes, it had been a hellish week. He missed Meg so much that he felt crazy and hot, so much so that he hadn’t even been paying attention to the calendar and that hated day looming before him. He wanted nothing more than to go slamming into Meg’s office and just…look at her, be near her. But somehow he managed to stay away. With a gargantuan effort he kept his distance. He was even beginning to think that he might have himself under control a bit.

Until he looked up one day and found her standing in the doorway to his office. Her brown eyes were bright and fierce.

Immediately, as if he couldn’t help himself, he rose and went to her. “Meg, what’s wrong?” He reached out and took her hands.

She hesitated.

“Meg? Tell me.”

She shook her head. “It’s you.”

“Me? What did I do?”

“You’re just doing too much for us. You’re pushing yourself too hard. You’ve been here day and night and you’re looking tired. It’s occurred to me that there’s a lot more at stake here than just Fieldman’s and all of us who work here.”

Etienne frowned at that. “What do you mean?”

“I mean you. Your reputation. You’ve been working so hard for us, but…what about you? You’ve been very nice about not pointing out to all of us that you have a reputation to uphold. Whether we…I, do a good job and cut a good image could affect you. And you haven’t even said anything. Is that why you’ve been so upset lately?”

It almost broke Etienne’s heart that Meg was worrying about him. “I haven’t been upset, ma chère.”

She crossed her arms. “You promised me truth.”

“All right, the truth is that I’ve given no thought whatsoever to my reputation.” He offered up a smile.

Meg frowned harder. “Then the reason you’ve been upset—”

“I didn’t say I was upset.”

“Etienne, did I ever tell you that I’m a very visual person? I need to see things in order to get them straight, but once I see them, everything falls into place. You’ve been preoccupied and you’ve been frowning a lot. Your eyes…”

“My eyes?”

She glanced up then and blushed. “Well, never mind your eyes, but something is wrong. I know it.”