course, Lady Sarah.”
The call from the hotel manager dimmed a good bit of Sarah’s enjoyment in her long, bubbly soak. She didn’t particularly like the fact that Elise’s smarmy ex-lover had tracked her to the hotel.
Dev called just moments after she emerged from the tub. Sounding totally disgusted, he told her he intended to lock everyone in the conference room until they reached a final agreement.
“The way it looks now that might be midnight or later. Sorry, Sarah. I won’t be able to keep our dinner date.”
“Don’t worry about that.”
“Yeah, well, I’d much rather be with you than these clowns. I’m about ready to tell Girault and company to shove it.”
Sarah didn’t comment. She couldn’t, given the staggering sums involved in his negotiations. But she thought privately he was taking a risk doing business with someone who hired thugs to pound on his wife’s lover.
Briefly, she considered telling Dev that same lover had shown up at the hotel this afternoon but decided against it. He had enough on his mind at the moment and Monsieur LeBon appeared to have taken care of the matter.
* * *
She spent what remained of the afternoon and most of the evening on her laptop, with only a short break for soup and a salad ordered from room service. She had plenty of work to keep her busy and was satisfied with the two layouts she’d mocked up when she finally quit. She’d go in to the offices on rue Balzac tomorrow to view the layouts on the twenty-five-inch monitor.
Unless Dev finished negotiations tonight as he swore he would do. Then maybe they’d spend the day together. And the night. And...
Her belly tightening at the possibilities, she curled up in bed with the ebook she’d downloaded. She got through only a few pages before she dozed off.
* * *
The phone jerked her from sleep. She fumbled among the covers, finally found it and came more fully awake when she recognized Dev’s number.
“Did you let them all out of the conference room?” she asked with a smile.
“I did. They’re printing the modified contracts as we speak. They’ll be ready to sign tomorrow morning.”
“Congratulations!”
She was happy for him, she really was, even if it meant the termination of their arrangement.
“I’m on my way back to the hotel. Is it too late for a celebration?”
“I don’t know. What time is it?”
“Almost one.”
“No problem. Just give me a few minutes to get dressed. Do you have someplace special in mind? If not, I know several great cafés that stay open until 2:00 a.m.”
“Actually, I was hoping for a private celebration. No dressing required.”
She could hear the smile in his voice, and something more. Something that brought Gina forcefully to mind. Her sister always claimed she felt as though she was tumbling through time and space whenever she fell in love. Sarah hadn’t scoffed but she had chalked the hyperbole up to another Gina-ism.
How wrong she was. And how right Gina was. That was exactly how Sarah felt now. As though Dev had kicked her feet out from under her and she was on some wild, uncontrollable slide.
“A private celebration sounds good to me,” she got out breathlessly.
* * *
She didn’t change out of the teddy and bikini briefs she’d worn to bed, but she did throw on the peony robe and make a dash to the bathroom before she answered Dev’s knock. As charged up as he’d sounded on the phone, she half expected him to kick the door shut and pin her against the wall again. Okay, she kind of hoped he would.
He didn’t, but Sarah certainly couldn’t complain about his altered approach. The energy was there, and the exultation from having closed his big deal. Yet the hands that cupped her face were incredibly gentle, and the kiss he brushed across her mouth was so tender she almost melted from the inside out.
“Jean-Jacques told me to thank you,” he murmured against her lips.
“For what?”
“He thinks I finally agreed to his company’s design for the pneumatic turbine assembly because I was so damned anxious to get back to you.”
“Oh, no!”
She pulled back in dismay. She had no idea what a pneumatic turbine assembly was, but it sounded important.
“You didn’t concede anything critical, did you?”
“Nah. I always intended to accept their design. I just used it as my ace in the hole to close the deal. And to get back to you.”
He bent and brushed her mouth again. When he raised his head, the look in his eyes started Sarah on another wild spin through time and space.
“I don’t want to risk any more mangled verbs,” he said with a slow smile, “so I’ll stick to English this time. I love you, Sarah St. Sebastian.”
“Since...? Since when?”
He appeared to give the matter some consideration. “Hard to say. I have to admit it started with a severe case of lust.”
She would have to admit the same thing. Later. Right now she could only try to keep breathing as he raised her hand and angled it so the emerald caught the light.
“By the time I put this on your finger, though, I was already strategizing ways to keep it there. I know I blackmailed you into this fake engagement, Sarah, but if I ask very politely and promise to be nice to your ditz of a sister, would you consider making it real?”
Although it went against a lifetime of ingrained habit, she didn’t fire up in Gina’s defense. Instead she drew her brows together.
“I need a minute to think about it.”
Surprise and amusement and just a touch of uncertainty colored Dev’s reply. “Take all the time you need.”
She pursed her lips and gave the matter three or four seconds of fierce concentration.
“Okay.”
“Okay you’ll consider it, or okay you’ll make it real?”
Laughing, Sarah hooked her arms around his neck. “I’m going with option B.”
* * *
Dev hadn’t made a habit of going on the prowl like so many crew dogs he’d flown with, but he’d racked up more than a few quality hours with women in half a dozen countries. Not until this woman, however, did he really appreciate the difference between having sex and making love. It wasn’t her smooth, sleek curves or soft flesh or breathless little pants. It was the sum of all parts, the whole of her, the elegance that
