“I’m glad.” A small victory. She could see him struggling with his family history, despite the fact that it was, apparently, public knowledge.
“Why did Dempsey come to live with you later?”
“We have different mothers.”
“Your parents got divorced? But—” That certainly did not seem strange.
He met her gaze, his expression tight. “The ages don’t match up. I’m the oldest, then Dempsey, followed by Henri and Jean-Pierre. Dad slept around on Mom, a lot.”
“Gervais, I am so very sorry.” She touched his arm lightly, which was as much sympathy as she dared offer without risking him pulling away or shutting down.
“My father used to go to clubs with his friends. Remember, this was before the internet made it possible to stalk your date before you’d ever met.” He took another breath, clearly uncomfortable.
Erika’s eyes widened, realizing that he was opening up to her.
“All families have...dead bones in the closet,” she said quietly.
A smile pushed against his lips. “You mean skeletons?”
“Is that not the same thing?” She ran her hand over his.
“More or less, I suppose. Anyway, he hooked up with Dempsey’s mom, Yvette, at a jazz club. She got pregnant. Worked a lot of jobs to raise Dempsey, but never found my father, since he hadn’t even been honest about who he was, apparently. Until his image was blasted all over the sports page and she recognized his face. Yvette thought it was her ticket out of the slums. She arranged a meeting with my father. But he insisted Dempsey become part of the family. And Dempsey’s mother agreed. For a price.”
How horrible for Dempsey. And, from Gervais’s perspective, how horrible it must have been for him to assimilate a new brother almost his own age when they were both young teens. She avoided focusing on him, however, guessing he would only shift gears if she did.
“That had to be strange for your mother,” she observed lightly.
He bit back a bark of a laugh. “Strange? She wasn’t much of a motherly type. After one more kid got added to the mix, she left.”
“That is so much change for children.” Her heart swelled with sympathy for him. She had no idea that there was so much struggle in the Reynaud family.
“We didn’t handle it well. I was jealous. Henri was my shadow, so he followed my lead. We blamed Dempsey for breaking up our parents, which was ridiculous from an adult perspective. But kids can be cruel.”
“What happened?”
He looked at her sidelong. “We were living in Texas then. Staying at our grandfather’s ranch while our father chased our mother around, trying to work things out. Anyway, I dared Dempsey to ride a horse. The biggest, meanest horse on the ranch.”
“Oh, my.”
“You don’t sound horrified.”
She shrugged her shoulders. “Remember? My sisters threw me out a third-story window. I know how siblings treat each other even when they have grown up together.”
“True enough.” He nodded. “Of course, he had no idea how to ride—not even a nice horse. So he was...completely unprepared for a high-strung Thoroughbred used to getting her own way.”
“That’s scary. What happened?”
“She threw him clear off, but he landed awkwardly and broke his leg. We both almost got trampled while Henri and Jean-Pierre ran to get help.”
“You did not mean to break his leg.” Ah, sibling cruelty was something that existed in all countries.
“Things were difficult between us for a long while, even once we all made up. I don’t want my children to live in a fractured family. Not if I can help it. I want them to have a firm sense of belonging, a sense of being a Reynaud.”
“And a Mitras,” she reminded him.
“Yes. Both.” He reached out to take her hands in his and squeezed. “I want your strength in our children. They will need it.”
His words warmed her even more than his touch, and that was saying a lot when a thrill danced over her skin.
Too breathless to answer, she bit her lip, unwilling to allow a dreamy sigh to escape.
“Erika, please stay here with me for a while. We need more time to get to know each other.” He drew her to her feet, his eyes pleading with hers at a time when her resolve was at an all-time low.
Her heart beat wildly, her lips parted. Anticipating the press of his mouth to hers.
He rubbed her arms, sliding them up until his hands tangled in her hair. They kissed deeply, with open mouths and passion. Tendrils of desire pulsed through her as he explored her mouth with his tongue, tasting her as she tasted him right back. She had not been passive in their lovemaking before, and she could already feel the urge to seize control driving her to the brink now.
It could have gone on like that for hours, for days even, if not for the sound of the door opening. She pushed back. Looked down. Away. At anything else but him.
While Gervais spoke in a low voice to his secretary, Erika used the time to collect herself. Straighten her dress. Find her purse. She had to figure this out soon. It was apparent there was chemistry simmering hot just beneath the surface. But now there was also a tenderness of feeling. An emotional connection. How would she ever forget that look in Gervais’s eyes when he told her about the guilt of seeing Dempsey hurt? Of course she understood why he wanted to keep his own family intact. His children connected.
That was admirable, and a deeper draw for her than the sensual spell he cast around her without even trying. It had been difficult enough resisting just one.
How would she ever keep her wits about her with both those persuasive tools at his disposal?
* * *
On the private plane to St. Louis later that week, Erika replayed the kiss in Gervais’s office over and over again. Of course, she had already relived that moment in her mind more than once, awake and asleep. Every look between them was filled with so much steam she could barely think, much less trust herself to make logical decisions around him.
At least they were on different planes today, so she could avoid temptation for a few hours. All the wives and girlfriends traveled first-class, while the team went on a chartered craft. Gervais had a meeting in Chicago first, something to do with corporate sponsorship for the Hurricanes. But he would arrive in St. Louis at the same time she did.
With any luck, she could use this flight to get her bearings straight.
But even as she tried to focus on being objective, her mind wandered back to the kiss in the office. A kiss that hadn’t been repeated despite the fact that they’d spent time together over the past few days. It felt as though he was always on the clock, managing something for the team or overseeing business for one of the other Reynaud family concerns. So he was a bit
