As their little caravan pulled away from the curb, Hattie glanced in the rearview mirror for one last look at her old life slipping away. Her emotions were not easy to define. Relief. Sadness. Anticipation. Had she sold her soul to the devil? Only time would tell.
Luc experienced a sharp but distinct jolt of satisfaction when Hattie stepped over his threshold. Something primitive in him exulted. She was coming to him of her own free will. She'd be under his roof … wearing his ring. Ten years ago he'd let his pride keep him from trying to get her back. That, and his misguided belief that he had to respect her wishes. But everything was different this time around. He was calling the shots.
The attraction was still there. He felt it, and he knew she did, as well. Soon she would turn to him out of sheer gratitude, or unfulfilled desire or loneliness. And then she would be his. He'd waited a long time for this. And no one could fault him. He was giving Hattie and her baby a home and security.
If he extracted his pound of flesh in the process, it was only fair. She owed him that much.
He left them to get settled in, with Sherman and Ana hovering eagerly. After changing clothes, he drove to the office and threw himself into the pile of work that had accumulated during his unaccustomed morning off.
But for once, his concentration was shot. He found himself wishing he was back at the house, watching Hattie … playing with the baby … anticipating the night to come.
He called home on the drive back. It wasn't late, only six-thirty. Hattie answered her cell.
"Hello, Luc."
He returned the greeting and said, "Ana has offered to look after Deedee this evening. I thought we might go out for a quiet dinner and discuss business."
Business? He winced. Did he really mean to sound so cavalier?
Hattie's response was cool. "I don't want to take advantage of Ana's good nature."
"You're not, I swear. It was her idea. Little Deedee has a way of making people fall in love with her. I'll be there to pick you up in twenty minutes."
It was only dinner. With a woman who had already rejected him once. Why was his heart beating faster?
Unfortunately for Hattie, the black dress had to do duty again. This time she had no inclination to wear Luc's necklace. Not for a business dinner. She tied a narrow tangerine scarf around her neck and inserted plain gold hoops in her ears.
She was ready and waiting in the foyer when he walked in the front door.
Luc seemed disappointed. "Where's the baby?"
Hattie grimaced, her nerves jumping. "She's taking an early evening nap. I couldn't get her to sleep much at all this afternoon … the uncertainty of a new place, I think. She was cranky and exhausted."
"Too bad. Well, in that case, I guess we can get going."
The restaurant was lovely-very elegant, and yet not so pretentious that Hattie felt uncomfortable. The sommelier chatted briefly with Luc and then produced a zinfandel that met with Luc's approval.
Hattie was persuaded to try a glass. "It's really good," she said. "Fruity but not too sweet."
He leaned back in his chair. "I thought you'd like it."
They enjoyed a quiet dinner, sticking to innocuous topics, and then afterward, Luc reached into a slim leather folder and extracted a sheaf of papers. "My lawyers have drawn up all the necessary documents. If you wish, you're welcome to have a third-party lawyer go over them with you. I know from experience that legalese is hard to wade through at times."
She took the documents and eyed them cautiously. "I have someone who has been helping me with the custody issues," she said, already skimming the lines of print. "I'll get her to take a look." Most of it was self-explanatory. When she reached page three of the prenup, her eyebrows raised. "It says here that if and when the marriage dissolves, I'll be entitled to a lump sum payment of $500,000."
He drummed the fingers of one hand on the table. His skin was dark against the snowy-white cloth. "You don't think that's fair?"
"I think it's outrageous. You don't owe me anything. You're doing me a huge favor. I don't plan to walk away with half a million dollars. Put something aside for Deedee's education if you want to, but we need to strike that line."
His jaw tightened. "The line stays. That's a deal breaker."
She studied his face, puzzled and upset. "I don't understand."
He scowled at her, his posture combative. "You've thrown my wealth in my face the entire time I've known you, Hattie. And now you're using it to protect someone you love. I don't have a problem with that. But I'll be damned when that day comes if I'll let anyone say I threw you out on the street destitute."
Her lip trembled, and she bit down on it … hard. Luc was a proud man. Perhaps until now she had never really understood just how proud he was. She was sure his heart had healed after she broke up with him. But maybe the dent to his pride was not so easily repaired.
She owed him a sign of faith. It was the least she could do after treating him so shabbily in the past. He was an honorable man. That much hadn't changed. She reached into her purse for a pen and turned to the first yellow sticky tab. With a flourish, she signed her name.
He put a hand over hers. "Are you sure you don't want someone to look over this with you?"
She shivered inwardly at his touch. "I'm sure," she said, her words ragged.
He released her and watched intently as she signed one page after another. When it was all done, she handed the documents back to him. "Is that it?"
Luc tucked the paperwork away. "I have a couple of other things I think we need to discuss, but it requires a private setting. We'll be more comfortable at home."
"Oh." Her scintillating response didn't faze him. He seemed perfectly calm. He summoned their waiter, paid the check and stood to pull out her chair. As they exited the restaurant, she was hyperaware of his warm hand resting in the small of her back.
Hattie was silent on the drive back. Her skin was hot, her stomach pitchy. What on earth could he mean? Sex? It seemed the obvious topic, but she had assumed they might work up to that gradually … after they were married. She hadn't anticipated talking about it so bluntly or openly. They had been as close as two people could be once upon a time. But that was long, long ago.
Was she willing to go to his bed? To be his wife in every sense of the word? He was well within his rights as a husband to insist.
Did she expect him to be faithful in the context of a sham marriage? And if Luc no longer wanted to be intimate with Hattie, was it fair to deny him physical satisfaction?
She wouldn't lie to herself. She wanted Luc.
Dear Lord, what was she going to say?
In a cowardly play for more time, she stalled when they got back to the house. "I'd like to check on the baby and change clothes. Is that okay? It won't take me long."
Luc dropped his keys into the exquisite Baccarat dish on the table in the foyer. "Take your time. I'll meet you in the den when you're ready."
Five
Wearing ancient jeans and a faded Emory T-shirt, Luc sprawled on the leather sofa and stared moodily at the blank television screen. Was he insane? Power. A nice fantasy. Clearly he was fooling himself. What man was ever really in control when his brain ceded authority to a less rational part of his body?
Just being close to Hattie these last few days had caused him to resort to cold showers. He told himself that his physical response to her was nothing more than a knee-jerk reaction to memories … to sensual images of the way he and Hattie had burned up the sheets.
She'd been a virgin when they met, a shy, reserved girl with big eyes and a wary take on the world. As if she was never quite sure someone wasn't going to pull the rug out from under her feet.
He'd been embarrassed to tell her how many girls he'd been with before meeting her. A horny teenager with unlimited money at his disposal was a dangerous combination. In high school, he'd been too concerned about keeping his body in shape for sports to dabble in drugs. And even drinking, a rite of passage for adolescent boys, didn't hold much allure. Perhaps because he had grown up in a house where alcohol was freely available and handled wisely.