The Wealthy Frenchman's Proposition (12 page)

When they got back to his place, he waited for Sheri to come and greet them but she must still be at the office, hiding from him. He felt the emptiness in a new way. Echoing around him.

Gui had been shocked by how he looked. When Tristan had mentioned that the engagement was definitely off, Gui had left in disgust to run an errand. And Tristan realized that his plan to make Sheri his fake fiancée hadn’t been well thought out. He’d never considered how he’d feel when she left his life.

Blanche had nothing but good things to say about Sheri and Tristan found himself laughing at the stories she told about shopping with the woman he’d been trying to keep out of his heart for the last few weeks. As he pictured her in his mind, he realized he hadn’t done a very good job of it.

He loved her. How could he not have realized what he was feeling for her? The only excuse he had was that it was different than the sweet and gentle love he’d had for his Cecile. With Sheri the love was bigger than he was, passionate. And that’s what had him running scared.

Dammit, she had been right when she’d called him a coward. He had been running from her, because he’d been afraid to risk being hurt again.

Realizing that, he knew he had to make things right for her. Had to find a way to win her back before she had to face his friends and family tomorrow night at the engagement gala. He wanted it to be a real celebration, otherwise what was the point?

He called the office, but Sheri’s phone went to voice mail. He hung up without leaving a message. He had no idea when she was going to show up, or even where she was. But he did know she’d come to the restaurant for dinner. Because she always kept her word.

And that was another reason he loved her. She wasn’t fickle or shallow. She couldn’t tell a lie to him. Her love would never leave him, or let him feel betrayed.

He knew he needed to do something to show Sheri that he was serious about her and that he wasn’t running away any longer. And he knew it would take more than the hour he had until he was supposed to start meeting his friends and family at Del Posto. He went and found his mother.

“Maman?”

“
Oui,
Tristan.”

“I need your help.”

“With?”

“I’ve hurt the woman I love and I need to make a big gesture to make it up to her, but we have reservations at a restaurant across town.”

“How can I help,
mon fils?
”

“Be my hostess while I take care of a few details here. And when Sheri arrives, keep her there.”

“Where will you be?”

“Taking care of details,” he said, kissing his mother on the forehead.

“Okay, I’ll do this. Are you sure about this girl? You always swore love was no longer in the cards for you.”

“
Oui, maman.
I am more than sure. She’s reawakened a part of me I thought was dead.”

His mother smiled at him and then hugged him tightly. “I’m so glad to hear it. A part of me has long wept for that deadness inside you.”

After his family left for the restaurant, Tristan made several quick, demanding phone calls. Knowing the kind of romantic person Sheri was, with her secret dreams of how love should be, he arranged for flowers to fill the apartment. He ordered the finest French champagne sent up from his wine cellar and then called his favorite jeweler for a necklace. When the flowers arrived, he decked out the balcony to resemble the one at his villa that night in Mykonos. Now he had every detail he could think of in place—except for Sheri.

His mobile rang. A quick glance at the caller ID window showed him it was Gui. “What’s up, Gui?”

“Where are you?”

“My place. Why?”

“Because Sheri is at the restaurant turning heads, but she’s asking where you are. You need to get down here.”

“I’m on my way. Don’t let her leave.”

“I won’t.”

Tristan’s driver had him across town in no time at all. He walked into the restaurant and stopped in his tracks. Sheri wasn’t sitting quietly in a corner the way she had during many of the activities that week back on Mykonos. Instead, she was in the center of his family and friends, wearing a stylish dress and holding court. He couldn’t move as his heart skipped a beat.

This was what he’d been afraid to let himself see. That Sheri was the other half of his soul and he needed her more than he’d ever expected to need any woman. If she left him…God, he couldn’t even go there in hypothetical. He needed her.

How could he have thought he’d be able to survive without her in his life?

He walked up to her and all the words he’d rehearsed escaped him. He saw her flush as he looked at her. He wanted her and he was sure she knew the signs of his arousal well enough by now to tell that. But he wanted more than just her sexy little body. He also wanted the joy in her eyes, the witty, sassy mouth of hers. He wanted it all.

And he didn’t want to tell her in front of the world. She deserved to hear about how he felt for her the first time in private. Where he could do a proper job of it.

“Tristan?”

“Hmm?”

“Are you okay?”

He shook his head. “I’m tired.”

“Well, I’m sorry to hear that,” she said.

“Don’t you want to know why?”

She nibbled on her lower lip. “Okay, I’ll ask. Why are you tired?”

“Because I’ve been running for too long.”

“What have you been running from?”

“I’ve been running from you,
ma petite,
and that has to stop.” He reached out and snagged her wrist. “Please excuse us,” he said to his family.

“Not so fast. We want to hear more about this running you’ve been doing.”

“Forget it, Rene. My private life is supposed to be private. Isn’t that what you’ve been telling me?”

“Indeed,” Rene said.

Christos and Ava stepped in between Rene and Tristan to say hello. They looked wonderful together, smiling and happy and…loving. Tristan clapped his hand on his friend’s shoulder, thanking him for flying in and promising to see them the next day. Then he drew Sheri away from the crowd and toward the exit.

“Why are we leaving? You just arrived.”

“I need to be alone with you.”

She wondered if simply changing her attitude had changed his, but she knew that couldn’t be it. Something had happened to Tristan, too. He was acting so different. When they got to his apartment building, he held her hand all the way up in the elevator and then made her close her eyes when they got to the front door.

“Why?”

“Because I said so.”

“And I’m going to do this why?” she asked, teasing him.

He lifted her off her feet and into his arms, kissing her hard. “Stop sassing me or I really will spank you.”

She shook her head. “Tristan, what is going on with you?”

“I am in love.”

Tears burned her eyes as those words came from his mouth. She didn’t believe them. He’d been too adamant about not falling again. “Put me down.”

“No.”

“Tristan, I mean it.”

“So do I.”

He reached down, unlocked his front door and carried her over the threshold. He set her on her feet in the foyer. She was blinking, trying not to cry, but it wasn’t working.

“I wanted to do this properly.”

“Do what properly? You don’t have to pretend to feel something for me you don’t feel.”

“I am not pretending,
ma petite.
”

She wasn’t sure she believed him, but she knew he wouldn’t lie to her. He never had.

“When did you realize you loved me?” she asked him.

“Today, when I was surrounded by my family. I did not realize how much you’d done with them. They were all telling me stories about you and I realized that no matter how hard I’d tried not to fall for you, I already had.

“I love you, Sheri. And it does scare me. Because as much as I thought that Cecile was my once-in-a-lifetime love, I have come to realize that love is also what I feel for you. I need you in my life.”

She was afraid to believe him. “It’s okay if you don’t love me. I’m not going to walk away from you like I did last night. That was wrong—”

“You are not listening to me,
ma petite.
I love you. I am not going anywhere without you anymore. No running unless you are by my side.”

She was still afraid to believe him but there was sincerity in his eyes that made her want to.

He must have read the hesitation on her face because he leaned down and kissed her. And when he lifted his head he said, softly, “I am not going anywhere.”

Those words she believed. No man had ever said them to her before. “Promise?”

“Yes, I do. What about you?”

“I’m not going anywhere, either. I’m staying by your side from now on.”

“Why is that?”

“I love you, Tristan.”

He smiled at her and lifted her off her feet. He carried her through his apartment out onto the balcony that offered a splendid view of the Manhattan skyline.

“You’re already wearing my engagement ring, but I need to ask you again…Sheri Donnelly, my love, the woman who owns my heart, will you marry me?”

She looked up at him as he stood next to her on the balcony. Taking a deep breath, she leaned up and kissed him before pulling back. “Yes, Tristan, I will marry you.”

He pulled her into his arms and made love to her, sealing the bond they’d just made with their bodies. And she knew she’d found the happiness she’d always thought would elude her. She and Tristan had found something rare, the kind of love that touched few people’s lives, and she felt blessed to have him as her own.

THE WEALTHY FRENCHMAN’S PROPOSITION

Copyright © 2008 by Katherine Garbera

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