Or perhaps he just didn’t care. Perhaps he was too focused on making a conquest to worry about what this meeting was all about. Worse, perhaps this was how he did business as a playboy.
A reputation well earned?
Thankfully the German woman, Freda, asked Sasha about her plans to redecorate and the conversation turned to interior design. She was busy answering questions when she heard Claudine ask Nick if he could show her where she could freshen up.
“That’s okay, Claudine,” she said instantly. “I can show you.”
“Oh but … you are talking to Freda.”
“No, that’s fine. I want to freshen up, too.”
The woman pouted again, but Sasha ignored it, just as she ignored Nick as she passed him on her way out the door. If he dared to chastise her later, then he was in for a rude shock.
“Your name is French?” Claudine asked as they walked down the hallway. It was the first personal thing she’d said to her all night.
“No. It’s spelled S-A-S-H-A, not S-A-C-H-A.”
“You are not French then?”
“No.”
Claudine gave a grunt, evidently not impressed by a non-French person using a French-sounding name.
Then the woman sent her a sideways glance. “Nicolah is so handsome.”
Aah, now they were getting to the main thing.
Sasha just smiled. “Very.”
And he’s mine, she wanted to say.
“Jacques does not like the fashion shows.” She sighed deeply. “It’s a pity Nicolah cannot come with me. I’m sure he would like that.”
Sasha opened the bathroom door. “Family always comes first with Nick.”
And as she shut the door behind the woman, Sasha realized that was the truth. His family did always come first.
Just not his wife.
Nick was glad to see the back of their guests. Now all he wanted to do was go to bed—with Sasha.
“That went well,” he said, coming into the bedroom after he’d turned off most of the downstairs lights. Sasha was sitting in front of the dressing table, taking off her jewelry. She looked so right, so very feminine, and for the first time he felt thoroughly married.
It wasn’t a bad feeling.
“For some,” she said coolly.
Her unfriendly tone dragged him from his pleasant thoughts. “What do you mean?”
She spun around on the stool, and suddenly sparks were flying from her green eyes. “I’m sorry if I spoiled your plans for tomorrow, Nick, but I didn’t think it right you go out on a date with another woman when you’re already married to me.”
He stared in amazement, then snorted. “You didn’t think that was for real, did you? Claudine was just flirting.”
And mild flirting at best. He’d known women who came on a lot stronger than that.
“Is that why she was practically begging me to let you go to the fashion show with her?”
“When?”
“When I escorted her to the bathroom.”
He shrugged. “She’s French. She does things over the top.”
“Not with my husband she doesn’t.”
A crazy thought blew him away. “You’re jealous!”
Her slim shoulders tensed. “Don’t be ridiculous. You promised to be faithful, and I expect you to keep that promise, that’s all.”
Okay, so she wasn’t jealous.
And now he was getting annoyed. His word was good enough for the rest of the world. It should be good enough for his wife.
“Look, I told you I take my marriage vows seriously, and I do. There’s no way I’ll be unfaithful to you.”
“I’m trying to believe that.”
He considered her tight mouth. “You’ve really got a thing about this, haven’t you?”
She hesitated, then, “Yes, I do. I’ve spent a lifetime watching my father having affair after affair and my poor mother putting up with it. Not me. I won’t put up with it. I won’t allow myself to be humiliated in such a way.”
The words were heartfelt, and something kicked inside him. “So you know about your father’s affairs?”
“Doesn’t everyone?” she said with a catch in her voice.
“Does your mother know?”
“We’ve never mentioned it, but I’m sure she does.” She straightened her shoulders. “And I won’t ever let myself be put in that position.”
“I’m not asking you to.”
Her expression clouded. “It’s all about respect, isn’t it?” she said, as if talking to herself. “Respect for another person.”
“You’ve got my respect.”
She focused back on him. “But I didn’t always have it, did I?”
The muscles at the back of his neck tightened. She’d mentioned respect the other day, too, and he’d let the comment pass. Not this time.
“Why do you say that? I’ve always treated you with respect.”
“If you’d respected me years ago you wouldn’t have gone off with that girl after our kiss.”
The comment staggered him. “What are you saying? That our kiss mattered to you back then?”
She held his gaze for a moment, and her delicate chin rose higher. “You gave me my first kiss, Nick. And yes, it mattered.”
He expelled a breath.
“But you didn’t care, Nick.”
She was wrong about that.
“You’ve got no idea how hard it was for me to walk away from you, Sasha. But dammit, you were only eighteen. You had your whole life ahead of you.”
“So did you.”
“I don’t deny that. I was only twenty-five. I didn’t want a serious relationship. It wouldn’t have been fair to you—to either of us—if I’d taken what you’d offered.”
“I felt humiliated,” she said quietly. “More so when you left with another girl.”
He swore low in his throat. “I’m sorry. That hadn’t been my intention.”
He’d gotten the hell out of there with the other girl—he couldn’t even remember her name now—not to humiliate but because Sasha was a siren … a little witch … who’d suddenly developed a body and a face to die for.
Knowing himself, he would have taken what was offered and moved on.
Knowing Sasha, he couldn’t have done that to her.