“It’s looks like we’re in for pleasant weather,” Adam stated conversationally. His dark eyes narrowed fractionally as he gazed out the small window. For most of the trip, Adam had carried the conversation. He was both friendly and outgoing, a blatant contrast to the solemn, serious Jonas.
A little surprised, Stephanie glanced up, not knowing if Adam was addressing his comment to her. Jonas didn’t respond. Stephanie would have been shocked to learn that any type of weather interested her employer.
“I would guess early summer is the perfect time to visit Paris.” In reality, Stephanie wondered how much of the city she’d have a chance to see. Her one hope was that she would visit the Champs de Mars and view the 934
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-foot Eiffel Tower built for the 1889 World’s Fair. High on her list were the twelfth-century cathedral of Notre Dame, and the Arc de Triomphe. She’d spent a year in France as an exchange student in high school, but apart from a quick trip through the airport, Stephanie hadn’t seen anything of Paris.
The plane began its descent, and she clicked her seat belt into place. Casually, Jonas put away his papers and closed his briefcase. As soon as they landed they’d be going through customs, and Stephanie would be expected to step into her role as translator. Although she spoke fluent French, it’d been a while since she’d had the opportunity to use it.
To her surprise, everything went without a hitch at the customs station, and her confidence grew. The three moved from that area to the waiting limo with only the minimum of delay.
Adam Holmes held the door open for Stephanie, and she climbed inside the luxurious automobile. Jonas followed her, and they were soon on their way.
At the hotel, they were escorted to their rooms and their luggage was delivered promptly. While Stephanie unpacked her clothes, she heard Jonas and Adam discussing the project. Apparently they would be meeting a powerful financier in the hope of obtaining financial backing for a current project. Lockwood Industries was the world’s largest manufacturer of small-airplane parts. There also seemed to be the possibility of establishing a branch of the Minneapolis firm in France, and Jonas had decided on Paris as the first foreign site of Lockwood Industries.
“Miss Coulter.”
“Yes.” Responding instantly to the command in Jonas’s voice, Stephanie appeared in the doorway of her room.
“Lunch will be served in ten minutes.”
“I’ll be ready. I just need a few minutes to freshen up.”
“Of course.”
Stephanie doubted that he’d even heard her speak. He’d often given her that impression. Returning to her assigned room, she glanced in the mirror. Several tendrils of soft blond hair had escaped from the coil at the base of her neck. Rather than tuck them back, Stephanie pulled out the pins and reached for her brush. The blond length curled under naturally at her shoulders. When working in the office, she preferred to keep her hair up. It gave her a businesslike look and feel, and that was important around Jonas.
“Miss Coulter.”
Taking her brush with her, Stephanie moved into the large central room where Jonas and Adam were waiting.
“Yes?”
For a moment, the room went still as Jonas caught her gaze. Their eyes met and locked. His deep blue eyes narrowed, and an expression of surprise and bewilderment flickered across his lean face. Something showed in his eyes that she couldn’t define—certainly not admiration, perhaps astonishment, even shock. His mouth parted slightly as if he wanted to speak, then instantly returned to a stern line.
Adam Holmes’s face broke into a spontaneous smile as his lingering gaze swept her appreciatively from head to toe. “I don’t think I realized how attractive your secretary is, Jonas.”
The muscles in Jonas’s jaw looked as though they were cramped. He ran an impatient hand through his hair and turned to reach for his briefcase.
“You wanted me?” It was hard to believe that breathless voice was hers. She sounded as though she’d been running a marathon. She couldn’t be attracted to Jonas. He was the last person in the world she wanted to have any romantic feelings for. Normally she was a levelheaded person, not the sort who let her emotions carry her away. Not that Jonas Lockwood was worthy of a moment’s consideration. He was arrogant and...
“We’ll meet you downstairs.” He interrupted her thoughts, his voice cool and unemotional.
“I’ll be there in a minute.”
“Take your time,” he said, doing his best to avoid her.
She turned to go back into her room, but not before she caught the darting look Adam Holmes gave them both, disbelief etched clearly on his smooth, handsome features.
After closing the door, Stephanie sank onto the end of the bed. There must be some virus in the air for her to be thinking this way about Jonas Lockwood. For a moment, she’d actually found him overwhelmingly, unabashedly appealing. She’d actually been physically attracted to him. She shook her head at the wonder of it. She was playing right into Jan’s and the other gals’ hands. Jonas had noticed her as well—really noticed her. At least his comment when Adam complimented her wasn’t that “she was only a substitute.” A small smile tugged at the edge of her mouth. Maybe, just maybe, Jonas Lockwood didn’t have a heart of ice after all. Perhaps under that glacial front there was a warm, loving man. The thought was so incongruous with the mental picture she held of him that Stephanie shook her head to dispel the image. Without wasting further time inventing nonsensical fantasies about her employer, Stephanie finished styling her hair and changed clothes.
Lunch passed without incident, as did the first series of meetings.
In bed that evening, Stephanie’s thoughts spun. They’d called it an early night, but she wasn’t able to sleep. The most beautiful city in the world lay at her doorstep, and she would be tied up in meetings for the entire visit. Sitting up, she wiped a hand across her face. She was undecided. They would only be in Paris another two nights. If this was to be her only opportunity, she’d take it now.
Dressing silently, she slipped the hotel key into her purse and carefully tiptoed across the carpet, letting herself out.
Since their hotel was in an older section of the city, she caught a taxi and instructed the friendly driver to take her to several points of interest. He escorted her through Les Halles, the mammoth central food market, which had once been located on the north of the river, but had been moved to Rungis, in the suburbs of Paris.
From there, the talkative cabby drove her past Notre Dame cathedral, pointing out the sights as he went. But Stephanie barely heard him. Her thoughts were focused on that moment in the hotel room earlier in the afternoon when Jonas had looked at her for perhaps the first time. Her hands grew clammy just thinking about it. At the time, she’d been flippant. Now she was profoundly affected. Just remembering it caused her pulse to react. In those brief seconds,
Jonas had seen her as a woman and, just as importantly, she’d viewed him as a man. She was intensely attracted to him and had been for weeks, she just wouldn’t admit it.
The driver, chatting easily in French, pointed out the sights, but instead of seeing the magnificent beauty in the buildings that surrounded her, Stephanie’s thoughts revolved around Jonas. She wondered about him as a child, and what pain there’d been in his youth to snuff out the joy in his life.
Straightening, she shook her head and asked him in French, “Please take me back to the hotel.”
The driver gave her a funny look.
“Oui.”
Stephanie had hoped to see the Louvre, but it wouldn’t have been open at this time of night. As it was, she didn’t seem to be able to view any of the sights without including Jonas in what she saw. It was useless to pretend otherwise.
Back at the hotel, she gave the driver a generous tip and thanked him. The lobby was quiet, and the soft strains of someone playing the piano sounded in the distance. Stephanie briefly toyed with the idea of stopping in the lounge for a nightcap, but quickly rejected the idea. She wouldn’t have any problems sleeping now.
Being extra-cautious not to make any unnecessary noise, Stephanie silently slipped inside the hotel room. She was halfway across the floor when the harsh voice ripped into her.
“Miss Coulter, I didn’t bring you to Paris to sneak out in the middle of the night.”
Stephanie reacted with a startled gasp, her hand flying to her breast.
“Just who were you meeting? Some young lover?” The words were spoken with a sharp cutting edge, mocking and bitter.
“No. Of course not.” She could barely make out Jonas’s form in the shadows. He sat facing her, but his features were hidden by the dark.
“Surely you don’t expect me to believe that. I understand you spent a year in France. Surely you met some young men.”
The words to tell him what to do with his nasty suspicions burned on the tip of her tongue. Instead, she shook her head and replied softly, “I don’t know anyone in Paris. I couldn’t sleep. It may sound foolish, but I decided that I might not get the opportunity to see the sights, so I—”
“You don’t honestly expect me to believe you were out sight-seeing?” The shadow began to move, and Stephanie noted that his hand was massaging his thigh.
Against her will, her heart constricted at the agony she knew his leg was causing him. With everything that was in her, she yearned to ease that pain. She took a tentative step in his direction, claiming the chair across from him. In low, soft tones, she told him about the historic buildings she’d visited and the chatty taxicab driver who had given her a private tour of the older sections of Paris, along with a colorful account of his own ancestry.
Her eyes adjusted to the dark, and she watched as the cynical quirk of his mouth gradually relaxed. “It’s really an exceptionally lovely city,” she ended by saying.
“Holmes is attracted to you.”
“Adam Holmes?” Stephanie couldn’t believe what she was hearing, and quickly dismissed the suggestion. “I’m sure you’re mistaken.”
“Do you find it so surprising?”
“Yes...n-no.”
“It’s only natural that he find you lovely. As you said, you’re in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It’s springtime. You’re single, Holmes is single. What’s there to discourage a little romance?”
“I hardly know the man.”
“Does it matter?”
“Of course it does.” Stephanie sighed. She dropped her gaze, sorry now that she’d made the effort to turn aside angry words and be friendly. The man was impossible.
“You could do worse. Adam Holmes is a bright attorney with a secure future.’’
“If I were buying stock in the man, I might be interested. But we’re talking about two people here. I find Adam Holmes friendly and knowledgeable, but I have no romantic interest in him. I’m simply not attracted to him.”
“Who does attract you?”
Stephanie swallowed uncomfortably as she battled back the instinctive response. Jonas attracted her. She was still shocked by the realization, but she wasn’t willing to hand him that weapon. “I believe my private life is none of your affair,” she informed him crisply.
“So there is someone.” Impatience surged through his clipped response.
“I didn’t say that.” Bounding to her feet, she stalked over to the window and hugged her waist. “There’s no use even trying to talk to you, is there?”
Her voice revealed her distress. “We seem incapable of maintaining even a polite conversation.”
“Does that disappoint you?”
Stephanie could feel his gaze run over her; it seemed to caress her with its intensity— and to demand an answer.
“Yes,” she admitted gently. “Very much. There’s so much locked up inside you that I don’t understand.”
“I’m not a puzzle waiting to be solved.”
“In some ways you are.”
Jonas rubbed a hand over his face. “I can’t see that this conversation will get us anywhere.’’
Stephanie couldn’t either. She was tired, Jonas was unreasonable and in pain. The best thing she could do now was to leave the conversation for a more appropriate time. “Good night, Jonas.” She didn’t wait for his acknowledgement before she headed for her room.
“Good night, Stephanie.”
It wasn’t until she had changed into her cotton pajamas that Stephanie realized that for the first time since meeting Jonas Lockwood, he’d used her first name. No longer was she a robot who responded to his clipped demands. Somehow, in some way, she had become a woman with flesh and blood. The realization was enough to send her spirits soaring. Hugging the extra pillow beside her, Stephanie held it to her breast and drifted into a sound sleep, content with her world.
“Good morning,” Adam greeted her early the following morning. From the looks of the table, Jonas and Adam had been at it for hours.
“Morning.” Stephanie walked across the room and poured steaming coffee into the dainty cup, then held it to her mouth with both hands.
“I trust you slept well, Miss Coulter,” Jonas inserted next.
So they were back to that. “Thank you,
Mr. Lockwood,
I slept very well.”
Jonas glanced up momentarily, and Stephanie recognized the glint of amusement in his eyes. A brief smile moved across his mouth.
“Would you like a croissant?” Adam asked, preparing to lift the flaky pastry onto a china plate with a pair of metal tongs.
“No, thanks.” Actually, she might have liked one, but feared a simple thing like accepting a breakfast roll would encourage Adam. She hadn’t noticed it the day before, but the eagerness glinting in his gaze revealed the truth of Jonas’s statement. Adam Holmes was interested in her. After she was done with her coffee, she’d eat something.
As it turned out, Stephanie barely had time to down the coffee before Jonas stood. “We have a lot of ground to cover today.”
He limped to the door without his cane. Stephanie noticed that he preferred not to use it, and did so only when absolutely necessary. His leg had kept him up last night and would soon be aching again without the cane.
“In that case,” she said, “you’ll want your cane.”