“Stay,” he directed, sitting beside her as the crowd applauded again enthusiastically. A model—tall, blonde and quite familiar—came out wearing one of Andrea’s dresses and Heidi gasped. Daniella! She hadn’t seen her since that photo shoot on the beach a million years ago. She was so surprised she almost didn’t hear the announcer’s words.
“Kaiser’s debut line by new designer, Heidi Bauer!”
The crowd’s applause turned thunderous. She turned to Kaiser, eyes wide, and he smiled, reaching for and squeezing her hand. Across the catwalk, Carvel sprang up from his chair, his face a cloud of anger, but it was too loud for anyone to hear what he might be saying. His wife, Eve, pulled him back to sitting and Heidi’s attention shifted again as another of her designs, a stunning midnight blue, floated by.
“Happy?” Kaiser leaned over to ask.
“Beyond,” she replied, the rest of the show a stunning blur, but she still didn’t understand. When they announced her at the end and Kaiser led her down the catwalk—now she knew why he had insisted she wear the Rene Lacoste!—raising her hand in triumph, she looked up at him through tears.
She thought she couldn’t be any more surprised, until Lenny appeared in an Armani suit, handing her a dozen red roses from the end of the catwalk. Leaning down to take them, she immediately understood and hissed, “You told him!”
He grinned, shrugged, and gave Kaiser a little salute as he stepped back into the applauding crowd. Just when she thought she couldn’t take another flash bulb, Kaiser led her off the catwalk to more thunderous applause.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured into her ear, hugging her close. “I wanted it to be such a surprise.”
She laughed. “You succeeded!”
“Kaiser!” Carvel stormed toward them, red-faced. “What the hell is this nonsense? Those are Andrea Paxton’s designs!”
“I’m afraid they aren’t,” Kaiser replied coldly, keeping Heidi beside him even though she was trying to melt into the floor. “I received definitive proof that they were stolen from Miss Bauer. Andrea even admitted as much to me.”
Both Carvel and Heidi stared at him, aghast.
“I assume this means you’re sticking with Kaiser?” Carvel asked, frowning at Heidi.
“Like glue,” she agreed, linking her arm through Kaiser’s.
“She’s a willing little whore, but not worth my time. You can have her,” Carvel scoffed, turning to leave, and Heidi gasped when Kaiser grabbed the old man’s shoulder. Neither she nor Carvel had any idea Kaiser had such a hard right hook, not until Carvel was picking himself up off the floor.
“You didn’t have to do that!” Heidi hissed as Kaiser pulled her down the hall.
“I didn’t have to,” he agreed, grinning. “I wanted to.”
She stopped then, throwing her arms around him, and kissing him wordless. When they broke off, both of them breathless, she whispered the words she’d said last night, this time looking into his eyes and knowing he heard them.
“I love you, Kaiser.”
He blinked, frowning, touching her mouth with his fingers and then quickly kissing her again.
“You didn’t have to say that,” he murmured against her ear, pulling her close.
“I didn’t have to,” she agreed happily, letting him hold her so tight she could barely breathe. “I wanted to.”
Epilogue
“I think Paris must have been a dream.”
“He hasn’t said a word about it since you got back?” Lenny asked, incredulous.
“Nothing.” Heidi sighed, pushing the “door close” button on the elevator and crooking her cell phone against her ear. “It’s like nothing ever happened. I’m still just… a secretary.”
“But your designs, your dresses…”
“I know!” She pouted, leaning against the back of the elevator as she rode up. “I don’t know what I expected. My own office, maybe? Something. I mean, there are things to do, decisions to make…I mean, I think there are…”
Honestly, she hadn’t really thought much past the design aspect of her dresses. The business end of the business had never really interested her.
“Well… maybe he’s got something else up his sleeve,” Lenny said, giving Kaiser the benefit of the doubt. He’d been doing that since Paris and it was driving Heidi crazy! “He really isn’t such a bad guy, you know.”
“So you keep saying,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Has Saint Kaiser knighted you yet for your selfless deeds?”
“Hey!” He sounded genuinely hurt and she was instantly sorry and said so.