Unbreak My Heart (Childhood Sweethearts Reunited) (9 page)

"Hmm, we'll have to agree to disagree." Kate walked to and fro and angled her leg to see a shoe beneath the fluffy hem of her bathrobe. They were actually really pretty. But she wanted to try the last pair. "What are the others like?"

"I thought you liked the ones you're wearing."

"Just give me the third pair, Le Court, and hurry up about it."

He tried for a stern look, but his eyes sparkled with amusement. He tossed her a green pair that matched the dress she planned to wear. The heel was a little higher on these. "Put on the shoes, Ms. Frost, and let's get moving. You still have to get dressed before we go."

"You've got to change as well."

"I'll only take five minutes."

"So will I!" Kate playfully punched his arm, dodged his retaliation, and giggled as he chased her around the sofa. Inside she tingled with excitement to be sparring with him again like they used to when they were kids.

"Remind me why I took you in," he said with a gasp as he made a lunge for her and missed.

"Because I'm the only person who stands up to you. Everyone else says, 'Yes, Mr. Le Court' and 'No, Mr. Le Court.' You admire my free spirit."

Andre made a noise of disbelief, then sidestepped with his arms out. She evaded him. "I like people who do what I tell them. Things get done that way."

She waved her finger at him. "Ah, but are they the right things?"

He feinted one way, then went the other and nearly caught her. She squealed and ran behind the sofa.

He wiped his forehead on his sleeve and gave her a superior smile. "You know I'm always right, Kat. Just admit it."

"You weren't right the time you said the ice on the lake was thick enough to walk on, and we both got boots full of water."

"Give me a break. I was only ten or eleven."

"Age is no excuse for stupidity."

"I am not stupid!" He dived over the sofa, grabbed her arm, and pulled her down on the overstuffed cushions. She squealed and wriggled as he came down, pinning her. Their panting breaths sounded loud in the quiet room. Kate's heart raced. Suddenly all her senses focused on Andre's muscular body pressing her down against the cushions, his face only a few inches from hers. Never in her life had he been on her like this. Except in her fantasies.

"Kat?" He said, his voice hesitant, uncertain. His fingers grazed across her cheek. Her eyelids fluttered, but she kept them open so she could see the rich brown of his eyes. Was he going to kiss her? She wanted him to, needed to feel his lips against hers.

A loud knock on the door shattered the tension. Slowly, he uncurled his fingers from her wrist and climbed off her. Every cell in Kate's body sighed, and she wasn't sure if it was with relief or frustration.

Andre crouched beside the sofa. "Are you all right? I didn't squash you, did I?"

Her heart pinched with memories. He had always been considerate, even as a boy. "I don't break that easily, Le Court. Go answer the door." As Andre stood, and smoothed back his mussed hair, she followed his every move with her eyes. One of his shirt buttons was undone, and a delicious patch of tanned skin peeped through the gap. What would have happened if they hadn't been disturbed?

Chapter Five

Kate opted to wear the green sandals to the party because they matched her dress and Andre liked them. On the journey to the Delacroix's house, Kate ached for Keiko. Mrs. Cooper seemed nice enough, but it was the first time Kate had been apart from her baby. She felt as though she'd cut off part of her body and left it behind.

When they arrived, Andre held the car door open for her. Kate's heel caught on a stone and she nearly twisted her ankle as she climbed out.

"Steady." Andre crouched and massaged her lower leg. "All right now?"

"Mmm." His fingers sent delicious tingles over her skin that made her forget the pain. He helped her out and she clung to his arm, limping slightly across the bumpy parking area beside the huge manor house overlooking the sea.

"Perhaps you can put yourself under self-hypnosis to forget the pain," Andre offered.

She gave him a quizzical look. "What do you know about hypnosis?"

"I read."

"Tell me something I don't know," she said, laughing.

His lips tilted in a warm smile that was so familiar it touched a spot deep inside her. "There was an article in Prestige Hotel magazine about a hotel outside Amsterdam that offers hypnotherapy. Stressed businessmen chill out after sales conferences with a dose of hypnosis and meditation."

"Well, there's your new angle. Turn the Caspian into an alternative health center. You can offer thirteenth century treatments for the authentic Caspian experience. Guests will pay you a small fortune and all you have to do is stick a few leeches on them and feed them herbal tea."

Andre laughed. "You're a bit off with your dates. Leeches were used more recently. In the thirteenth century they probably ate lizards' tongues." He tapped his fingers against his lips. "I'll have to read up on it."

"Don't get carried away. I was only joking."

"I know, but the subject's interesting." She stumbled on her tender ankle and Andre clenched the muscles in his arm to support her. "Good job I'm here or you'd be flat on your face."

Kate giggled, intoxicated with the pleasure of his company. "Have you been working out, Mr. Le Court?" She squeezed his biceps playfully. "You didn't get these pushing a pen around."

"I do twenty minutes of exercise each morning when I wake up."

"You've got a home gym hidden in the closet. Why didn't I guess?"

He laughed. "I just do a few pushups and stomach crunches, that sort of thing."

Her imagination provided images of Andre, shirtless, doing interesting things on his bedroom floor. Then a memory she had nearly forgotten flashed back. "Hey, you used to do pushups on the beach. I counted for you. I poured cold water on you if you didn't make fifty."

"I aim for a hundred these days."

"Wow, Mr. Universe, watch out. I could do with toning up. Perhaps I should join you." As they approached the open front door, light jazz music filtered through from the back garden.

Andre stepped aside to let her enter first. "You'll never wake up that early."

"You could wake me." She winced inwardly. Squirming around half naked on the floor with Andre was not the brightest idea if she wanted to stay sane. These emotional kamikaze tendencies must be due to postnatal hormones.

"You can exercise at leisure in the gym at the Caspian. Why get up early?"

The click of heels on the wooden parquet floor saved her from answering. Elizabeth Delacroix prowled toward them, her beautiful curtain of chestnut hair glowing beneath the lights. The woman gave Kate a cursory glance before fixing her attention on Andre. "Good evening," she said, her gaze cruising over his body.

Andre cleared his throat and straightened his cuffs. "Hello, Liz. How's Edmund this evening? Feeling better, I hope."

"Fine," Elizabeth said, stepping forward to take Andre's arm. Kate got there first. She may only be a pretend fiancée, but she had her pride. Kate slid her arm firmly through his.

Elizabeth shot her an irritated glance and turned to indicate the open French doors at the end of the hall. "My grandfather's waiting for you outside. Follow me."

She sashayed along in front of them. Kate glanced at Andre to see if he was watching Elizabeth's swaying posterior. He wasn't. Tiny lines formed between his eyebrows and he looked down and patted his pockets. "Kat, I forgot to give you the engagement ring," he whispered. "Liz, we just need to use the bathroom," he said louder. "Tell Edmund we'll be out in a moment."

Elizabeth frowned."Okay then. Don't be long." She smoothed her dress over her hips and walked out.

Andre opened a door and they slipped into a dining room. Lights outside shone in the windows and reflected off the mirror polish on a walnut table. He closed the door quietly and led Kate across to the window. From his pocket he withdrew a small navy leather box embossed with the words, HARRODS LONDON, S.W. and handed it to her. "If we're going to pull this off, we need to make it look convincing."

Kate opened the lid and angled the box toward the light. Nestled in fine white velvet was a silver-colored ring. In an old-fashioned setting surrounded by seed pearls, the golden stone sparkled in the darkness like a drop of crystal fire. "Andre…" She pressed a hand to her heart. The ring was so pretty and unexpected her voice trembled. "It's lovely. Where did you get it?"

"It belonged to my grandmother." He took the ring out and slipped the box back in his pocket. "It's white gold set with a champagne diamond. I thought it was beautiful and a little unusual, just your sort of thing."

He lifted her left hand and they both stared at the tiger's eye glowing on her third finger. The ring he had given her when they were young and naive enough to think dreams came true. Emotion churned through her. "You've still got it," he said in a gruff whisper.

Before she could answer, Kate had to swallow the lump in her throat. "I never take it off. They made me stick a Band-Aid over it when I had Keiko."

Kate tugged on the tiger's eye ring, but it didn't budge. Andre tried to pull it off and her skin burned. "Careful, I like that finger."

"We need some soap. That's what they use in movies." He grasped her hand and headed for the door.

They found a bathroom upstairs that was as big as the sitting room in Andre's cottage. Under the window was an old-fashioned sink, which would make a perfect bath for Keiko, and a claw foot bathtub stood against the wall.

Andre guided her to the sink, squeezed a blob of liquid soap on her finger, and massaged it in. He twisted the ring and it moved. "I think we're getting somewhere." A few seconds later it slipped off. She washed the soap away, rubbing the dent in her finger. She had never told Dan where the tiger's eye came from. The ring was all she had left of Andre and she wouldn't give it up.

Andre retrieved the engagement ring from his pocket and she presented him with her left hand, biting her lip to hold back the flood of memories. "Let's hope nobody notices your swollen, red finger," he said as he slipped the ring on. "That's good. It fits perfectly." And it did. Almost as if it had been made for her.

Gold sparks flashed in the diamond as she twisted her hand beneath the light. How would she feel if the engagement were real, if he'd taken her down to the beach at twilight and proposed like he'd done when he was sixteen?

The night before he left for boarding school, they'd sat on their favorite rock hand in hand and watched the setting sun turn the sea to liquid gold. Andre had pushed the tiger's eye ring on her finger and asked her to marry him when he left school. Then he kissed her on the lips for the first and last time. Unsure how to respond, Kate had burst out laughing and ruined the emotional moment. Later, he'd laughed as well and told her it was a joke, but it hadn't been. She knew that now. She'd hurt his feelings, and he'd never given her a chance to apologize.

"Do you like it?" His words brought her back to the room.

"It's perfect, Andre." She attempted to grin and willed away the tears pressing behind her eyes. "You'll have to watch I don't sneak off with it."

He blinked his thick, sooty lashes, lifted her hand and pressed his warm lips against her ring finger. "Beautiful," he whispered and his gaze rose to her mouth.

The faint sound of music filtered in through the window. A tap dripped and the pipes hummed as someone ran water in another part of the house. Kate's lungs burned and she sucked in a breath. Andre stepped closer. Desire shivered in the air between them, a palpable force.

"Andre, are you upstairs?" Elizabeth Delacroix's voice sliced through the moment, and the spell broke.

"In here, Liz. We're just coming." He opened the bathroom door and Elizabeth leaned a hand on the door frame.

"Sorry to pester you, but Grandpa's asking for you."

"That's fine. We're done in here aren't we, Kat?"

Kate shrugged, taking a moment to recover from her wildly fluctuating emotions. Being with Andre was messing with her head. She mustn't let this charade suck her in. They weren't engaged and his youthful declaration of love had been nine years ago. Since then he'd changed his mind and moved on. He obviously still liked her and they got along well, but their lives had taken them in different directions. They were friends, nothing more.

Andre led them downstairs. Elizabeth walked beside Kate. "Andre tells me you worked for a London advertising agency. That's what I want to do. You must tell me about it, later."

The last thing Kate wanted was be grilled by Elizabeth. She was bound to ask awkward questions about Andre and the engagement. When Elizabeth went on ahead, Kate leaned in to Andre and whispered under her breath, "Don't you dare leave me alone with her."

"That's a deal. If we stick together she can't corner me alone, either."

As they walked out onto the terrace, Kate hesitated and clung to Andre's arm. She hadn't expected there to be so many people. All around her, elegant men and women chatted and laughed together, confident they belonged among the wealthy, fashionable set. Kate wasn't sure she could carry this off. "I'm nervous about pretending to be your fiancée. What if they don't believe I'm a successful designer? What if they realize I'm an imposter?"