Angelo reappeared to check that their meal was enjoyable and Sasha welcomed the interruption. She’d said more than enough. If Nick didn’t think she mattered, then she wasn’t going to force him to change his mind.
She had her pride after all.
Six
N ick phoned Sasha late the following morning to tell her the deal had been signed and that Alex was calling her father now to tell him the news.
Enormously relieved, Sasha thanked him for letting her know, then waited for her mother to call and share in the good news and perhaps say thanks.
Her mother didn’t call.
“No doubt your parents were relieved,” Nick said when he came home.
“No doubt they were.”
He froze. “You mean they haven’t called you?”
A lump lodged in her throat. “No, but they were probably busy.”
“They weren’t too busy to ask you to spy for them,” he rasped.
She sucked in a sharp breath. “It wasn’t like that.”
A pulse beat in his cheekbone. “Not on your part, but they got what they wanted from you. They used you, Sasha.”
He was right, and on one level she was warmed by his concern for her, but loyalty to her mother kept her quiet. “Let’s forget that for now.”
“Can you?”
“No.” If she thought about it the pain would overwhelm her. She’d always known she came second with her mother, but until recently she hadn’t realized just how low down on the scale she was compared with her father.
She pretended to dismiss it all. “Come on. I want you to pick a color scheme for the study. I can’t decide by myself.”
He made a dismissive gesture. “Any color will do.”
“No, Nick. You’ll be using it a lot, so it’s important I get your input.”
“You’ll be using it, too.”
“Exactly. It’s something we need to choose together.”
He suddenly broke into a sexy half smile. “You’re very good at getting your own way. Subtle but very effective.”
She found herself smiling back. “That’s always been my policy.”
The rest of the week went quickly and before she knew it, it was Friday. She was nervous about hosting their first dinner, and of course she helped Iris arrange it all, but there was a difference in doing it because she wanted to and not because it was expected of her.
“You look beautiful,” Nick said when she’d finished dressing in a blue dress that hugged her body in all the right places, her blonde hair up in a chignon, delicate diamond earrings at her ears.
Silly delight rippled through her. “Thanks.” Her eyes slid over his dark suit and white shirt that did him full-on justice. “You’re looking quite spiffy yourself.”
He smiled. “Spiffy, eh?”
She smiled back then saw him fiddling with his tie. “Here, let me do that for you.”
“You don’t mind?”
“No, I like doing up men’s ties,” she quipped as she stepped close to him and began working on the tie.
His smile vanished. “Just how many men’s ties have you done up?”
“The odd one or two.”
He stared down at her, then must have seen her lips twitching because he broke into a grin. “I think you’re making that up.”
“Am I?”
“You’d better be,” he pretended to growl, sending a thought flashing through her mind. He liked being the only man to make love to her.
Well, well, she mused. Who’d have thought he’d be so old-fashioned?
“You’re not nervous about tonight?” he asked, dragging her from her thoughts.
“Yes, I am.”
“You don’t show it.”
“Neither do you.”
One brow rose. “Who said I was nervous?”
“You usually don’t have trouble doing up your tie.”
“Thanks for noticing,” he said wryly.
She finished her task and patted the tie. “There. That’s better.”
He turned away to look in the mirror. “Perfect.”
Yes.
He was.
She cleared her throat. “So this dinner is important, is it?”
He reached for his jacket. “Yes and no. Alex has already made the deals to launch ‘Valente’s Woman’ in France and Germany. I just need to keep relations agreeable between us until the launch.”
Sasha realized that this must be all quite new to Nick. Previously Cesare and Isabel would have hosted any clients, and then Alex and Olivia, but this time it fell to him. No doubt he would be an accomplished host as a playboy bachelor, but this was the first time he’d be hosting a dinner in his own home as a married man.
She felt bad now for refusing before. “You’ll do fine,” she said, prompting an arrogant smile from him.
“I know.”
And he did.
Extra fine, Sasha thought sourly an hour later as she watched Claudine, the beautiful wife of the French businessman, flirt with Nick from the moment she set foot in the house.
In the meantime the German couple just sat back and smiled, along with Jacque, who didn’t appear concerned by his wife’s behavior.
It concerned Sasha, especially when Nick looked thoroughly smitten by the gorgeous brunette leaning close to him and talking French in a low, husky voice.
“Ooh, Nicolah, you are teasing me,” she said in her accented English, laughing sexily as she squirmed in her seat.
“No, really,” he teased. “If you’re going to the fashion show tomorrow make sure they don’t mistake you for one of their models.”
Claudine preened. “Perhaps I will need you to come with me and protect me.” She looked at Sasha. “Would you mind if I borrowed your husband tomorrow, Sasha?”
Her blatant approach took Sasha’s breath away. And Nick, the rat, was sitting there smiling and thoroughly enjoying himself and probably expected she would say yes.
She’d be damned if she’d be humiliated like this.
“I’m sorry, Claudine, but I need him tomorrow,” she said sweetly, smiling at Nick like her very existence depended on him.
“Ooh,” Claudine pouted at Nick. “Another time perhaps, Nicolah?”
“It’s a date.”
Sasha could feel the humiliation rise up in her throat but she refused to look at the others at the table. A date with a married woman? Wasn’t he forgetting something? Like he was now a married man himself? This was going beyond being more than a good host.