She spun around, wondering if she was hallucinating. But the second her gaze fused with those riveting blue eyes she couldn’t doubt the incontrovertible proof of his presence.
It was Raoul. He was here in Jackson, not Zermatt or Neuchatel.
Shock made it difficult for her to think.
“H-how-?”
“I followed you from the house.”
“I mean-”
“Madame Simoness.”
“You were there?” Lee was so dazed nothing was coming out right. “She gave you my address?”
“Yes,” he answered in a solemn voice. “I would have tapped on the car window, but I didn’t want to frighten you.”
Lee started to tremble. Had he heard her cry out his name?
“What are you doing here?”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
She shook her head in disbelief. “But why have you come? Has something terrible happened?”
His handsome face darkened with lines. “Yes. It’s something so serious we have to have a long, uninterrupted talk about it.”
Lee swallowed hard.
“You’re in pain.”
“Yes. It has become unendurable.” His voice grated.
“I was afraid of this. Oh, Raoul-” She moaned. “I warned you, but you wouldn’t listen.”
“You’re right. As a result, the situation is more precarious than ever. You see, my wedding is still on.”
“To Sophie?” she cried in astonishment. “Then she didn’t marry Luciano! Thank heaven!”
A strange look crept over his striking features. “What are you saying?”
“You don’t have to pretend with me, Raoul. I know that, given time, your marriage to her will work, and you’ll be able to win her love. She won’t be able to resist you-”
“I think we’re talking at cross purposes.” He broke in on her abruptly. Shadows darkened his eyes. “I need to speak to you, but I’d rather do it in private than out here in the hall.”
“Yes. O-of course. Come in.”
He plucked her things from the floor and opened the door for her.
Like before, her arm brushed against his chest on the way inside. But this time it was like fire devouring her flesh. Lee would go up in a lick of flame if he so much as touched her again.
She heard the door close behind her. The click reminded her they’d shut out the world. It was just the two of them.
Her heart turned over at the sight of his tall, whipcord-lean physique dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. He had a hungry look around his eyes and mouth. She thought he might have lost some weight, yet he was more appealing to her than ever. His searching gaze took in the knit top and shorts she was wearing.
“I’m glad you’re sitting down.”
His remark set off more alarm bells. “Don’t keep me in suspense any longer,” she begged.
“I don’t intend to.”
He closed the distance between them and hunkered down in front of her bare legs.
“What are you doing?” she whispered in an unsteady voice as one of his hands went to the calf of her right leg while the other removed the sandal off her foot.
His dark-blond head was lowered in concentration.
“Raoul?”
The feel of his hands created an erotic sensation that wound its way to the very core of her being.
“I wanted to see if this would fit.” A flash of purple and gold caught her eye before she felt him slide the other shoe onto her foot. It was one of the dainty high heels that matched the dress she’d left behind.
“I told my parents I would marry the woman who’d worn this dancing with me, and no other.”
Marry?
Her thoughts reeled.
Surely she hadn’t heard him correctly.
His head came back up. She found herself staring into eyes that blazed blue fire. “You’re that woman.”
Lee sat very still. “This isn’t a joking matter, Raoul. I-I know you’re hurting. So am I. But I left all playacting behind me when I boarded the plane for the States.”
“So did I,” his deep voice grated. “Tell me why you’re still hurting. Is it because of Todd?”
“Todd?” she cried out in surprise. “Heavens no! I can’t imagine why you would bring his name up at all. It’s your pain I’m worried about.”
“I hope you mean that,” he whispered rather emotionally, “because you’re the only person who can take it away.”
“But Sophie-”
“What about her? She’s on her honeymoon with Luciano.”
“They’re married?”
“Yes. Several weeks ago, as a matter of fact.”
His slid his hands up her legs, as if he couldn’t help himself. She almost fainted from the pleasure of it. Then he reached in his pocket and pulled something out. “I’ve come here so the real game of life can begin for us.”
She gasped when she saw two different rings in his palm. He lifted one to her astonished gaze. It was a dazzling amethyst solitare.
“If you choose this ring you’ll live in Jackson, Wyoming, with your husband and you’ll be known as the wife of Mr Raoul Mertier. He’s a banker and businessman with holdings in Europe and America which he intends to expand in order to take care of his family. He wants three or four children. They’ll travel to Switzerland as often as they can to see their grandparents.”
When Raoul pressed the ring in her palm, it began to sink in that he was proposing to her. If she was dreaming, she never wanted to wake up.
“I brought another ring. One I know you don’t want, but it’s important to me that I tell you about it.”
He lifted it so she could see the bejeweled royal crest. “If you were to choose this one, you’d be the wife of His Royal Highness Prince Raoul Mertier Bergeret D’Arillac. There would be certain public duties attached to being my consort. You’d have private duties as well.” His eyes had kindled with desire. “You’d live in our own wing of the Château D’Arillac in Neuchatel. Any children born of this marriage would automatically be a prince or princess. They’d have constant access to their grandparents.”
He folded that ring in her other palm.
“Weigh them both very carefully, because once a decision is made there’s no going back.”
“I-I can’t make a decision!” she cried in pain. “You’re a prince- You’d never be happy living here.”
Before she could say anything else, he’d cupped her face in his hands. “Without you, I’ll never know another moment’s happiness. I’m in love with you, Lee Gresham.” His voice trembled. “That soul-deep, painful kind of love that won’t ever go away. It happened so fast and hard I’m still reeling. You were there when it happened, so you can’t possibly deny it. Tell me you love me,” he begged. “I need to hear the words.”
Joy had welled up inside of her until she thought she might expire from too much happiness.
“You know I love you,” she cried from the depths of her soul. “I can’t believe you love me back.”
“Mon amour-” he cried, before their mouths met and clung with voracious hunger. He pulled her into his arms and then they were on the floor, bodies, legs and arms entangled. The rings tumbled on to the carpet.
Swallowed up in a state of europhia, Lee covered his face and hair with kisses. Again and again she found his mouth, relishing its taste and feel.
“I don’t think you have any conception of how much I love you, Raoul. At my house tonight, I sat there sobbing because I didn’t know how I was going to go on without you.”
He lifted his head to look down at her. His fingers tangled in her silvery-gold curls. “I wanted to comfort you because I thought you were grief stricken that your parents weren’t there anymore.”
“Darling-you have to understand. I wasn’t grieving for them. I’ve gotten past that stage. Of course I’ll always miss them. They were wonderful. But it was you I was mourning.” Hot tears trickled on to her temples.