A FEW DAYS LATER, Hugo knocked on Cassie’s door.
He’d called ahead to make sure she was up for a day out. Told her to layer up in outdoor exercise gear and left it at that.
She’d been in the public eye a lot over the past week. Following the success of the Louvre, they’d crammed in plenty—the Palace of Versailles, the Musée d’Orsay, Sacré-Coeur—the list went on and the press were spoilt for choice when it came to pictures and stories. Last night’s trip to the opera had been particularly romantic and snap-worthy.
Though today was once again about striking a balance, gifting her Paris and some anonymity in one, and it was either going to be a brilliant surprise or an epic disaster. He couldn’t wait to find out which.
The security detail could though. Their faces when he’d told them what they’d be doing...he should have recorded it for his father. That would have made the old man laugh.
Not that his parents knew about Cassie yet, because if they’d heard, he would have heard. And right now, digi-detox land was gifting him more than just a quiet life workwise, it was protecting him from the third degree on a personal level. Because his mother would be all over this, her excitement unbearable.
Almost as unbearable as his father and his work interference.
He was going to have to get ahead of it and tell them the truth before his mother got wedding planning. Though he had a few weeks before they were out of digi-prison—his father’s choice of name—and that should buy him some time. He could cross that bridge then.
And he’d just tell them the truth. It was a fake relationship to protect a good woman’s reputation. Hell, his father might even be proud of him. They were well protected by the firm. And ultimately, Cassie wasn’t Sara, so he wasn’t about to make a public fool of himself. They would manage the breakup, when it came to it, with dignity on both sides. No harm, no foul. Simple.
Her door opened and she smiled up at him, all tentative and unsure as she finished tying her hair back into a ponytail. ‘Will I do?’
He took a second to steady his heart, another to reply...and even then, he paused to look at her, truly look at her. Taking far too much pleasure in drinking her in, but knowing she wanted his honest opinion.
Was there anything this woman couldn’t pull off? She was wearing trainers, socks slouched at the ankles, black leggings, and a sports jacket zipped high to her chin—nothing sexy about it but...
Just tell them the truth, he quoted himself back. But which truth? That this is a fake relationship or that you find her sexy?
‘Are you windproof?’ he said, ignoring the inner taunt as he mentally waved the platonic flag...though he might as well have waved a red rag to a bull. ‘We’re not due any rain but without any cloud cover the wind has a bite to it.’
‘I’ll be good.’ She pursed her lips. Green eyes sparkling. ‘Thanks, Mum. And that’s a compliment by the way, because my mum was all about how we looked and not whether we caught our death.’
His cheeks warmed while his heart chilled over the woman he’d now been able to put a face to thanks to one of his late night googling sessions while catching up on some work. Yes, he’d taken some overdue holiday, but there were some things he couldn’t just drop last minute, not at his level.
‘Of course she was. But just in case, do you have a buff?’
‘A what?’
‘A neck warmer? Something you can pull up over your face?’
Which would also have the added benefit of concealing her lips from view...lips which seemed to get more alluring and distracting by the day. And how was that even possible?
She unzipped her pocket and pulled out a tube of fleece from her pocket, her smile proud as punch. ‘You mean one of these.’
A brusque nod. ‘That’ll do. Let’s go.’
‘Wait.’ She grabbed his arm as he started to race away, and he had to resist the urge to snatch it back as the connection thrummed through his veins, leaving him craving more of the same. ‘Do I need my purse, a drinks bottle, snacks, anything else?’
‘Everything else is taken care of.’
She gave him a peculiar look. ‘You going to tell me what we’re doing?’
‘You’ll find out soon enough.’
She let him go and closed her door. ‘Are you always so mysterious?’
He didn’t reply and she hooked her fingers in his as they headed for the elevator. A connection they had come to do so often when in company of late that she obviously did it now, and ordinarily it would be fine. But they weren’t in company yet, and there was no one around to put a damper on what she had sent licking along his veins...
‘What’s that frown for?’
‘Huh?’
She was pressing the button for the lift, but her green eyes were very much on him.
‘Nothing.’
‘Liar. I’ve not known you very long, Hugo, but I know when you’re pensive about something.’
The elevator pinged, launching him back to the discomfort of that night and the present moment in one, and he propelled himself inside as soon as the doors slid open, taking her with him.
‘Hugo?’
His eyes slid to hers.
Nom de Dieu, she’s had enough dishonesty in her life...just give her something.
‘If you really must know, I was thinking that I’ll have to come clean to my parents about our relationship and the reasons behind it at some point.’
‘Oh, goodness, of course.’ Her eyes flared up at him. ‘I’m sorry I hadn’t even considered it. How thoughtless of me!’
‘Hey.’ He squeezed her hand. ‘These are my parents, my concern, and we don’t need to worry about them just yet. They’re still enjoying my birthday gift, remember? We have a few weeks’ grace.’
‘You reckon news isn’t going to slip through the resort’s net?’ She gave a dubious laugh. ‘I can’t imagine any place on this earth being that secure.’
‘Depends on how desperate you are to get a fix, I guess.’
‘Your father strikes me as the kind to get his hands on a phone at the very least.’
‘If he does, the last thing my father will be checking is the celebrity news.’
She gave another laugh. ‘True. Though are you sure one of your staff isn’t going to let something slip about the boss of the hotel chain? Especially when the father of said boss is a guest...’
‘I think that makes them all the more likely to be discreet, don’t you?’
‘You put a lot of faith in your staff.’
‘I do.’
She eyed him from beneath her lashes.
‘What’s that look about?’
She chewed the corner of her mouth.
‘Cassie?’
‘Did you find out who took the photo?’
He clenched his jaw. He hadn’t wanted her to ask because he hadn’t wanted to tell her, but he wouldn’t lie. ‘Yes.’
‘And?’
‘It’s been dealt with.’
‘Hugo, please...?’
‘She was a young, single mum. Desperate for the money. She passed all the checks, there was no reason for my team to be concerned. Though we can assure you changes are being made to avoid the same thing happening again.’
‘I see.’ She fell silent for a moment then, ‘Did you report her to the police?’
She sounded sad, forlorn, and his mouth twisted to the side as he thought of the young woman’s face, the evidence of drug addiction too obvious to ignore.
‘No, Cassie. I did not. Vincent has put her in touch with a women’s support group that his wife is involved in. Hopefully getting help that way will set her on a path to a better future.’
She looked up at him, the golden light of the lift sparkling in her emerald depths.
‘What’s that look about?’
‘I’m not sure you want to know.’
‘No?’
She shook her head. Her ponytail sashaying down her back and taunting him further.
‘Cassie...’ It was a low growl and she nipped her lip, eyes still sparkling.
‘You really don’t, Hugo.’
He reached out and hit the emergency stop button. ‘I’ll be the judge of that.’
Her eyes flared. ‘Hugo! You can’t stop the lift.’
‘It’s my lift, I can do what I like. Now, I gave you the truth, so out with it.’
She lifted her chin, the defiant angle triggering a rush of heat south. ‘If you really must know, you give off this Mr Suave Sophisticated Hotelier Tough Guy vibe, but you’re as soft as they come, Mr Chevalier. An absolute teddy bear! And you should be out in the suburbs setting up a home with some lovely woman and popping out glorious mini-Chevaliers with hearts as good as their papa’s.’
Her finger was pressed into his chest by the time she had finished her little speech. Her cheeks were streaked with the passion of her words and her mouth was parted on her last breath and her eyes held his, fierce and determined.
‘Is that so?’
And hell, she could have said anything, done anything and he would have taken it, because in that moment she was glorious, impassioned, and so far removed from the wallflower who had been hiding out in her room that first morning.
‘It is so.’
‘Monsieur, madame, quel est le problème avec l’ascenseur?’
Hugo looked up at the camera above his head, to where Vincent was likely eyeing them in confusion and gave an apologetic wave.
‘Tout va bien, Vincent.’
He sent the lift back on its journey to the basement, where his team were waiting to kit them out with their mode of transport for the day. And counted his lucky stars for the camera keeping watch and his team that would continue to keep watch. All holding him to account that day and every other day, because what he’d been about to do no one should have witnessed.
And his good conscience should not have permitted. He was supposed to be helping Cassie on a journey to a better life, not complicating it.
As for what she’d said, it was so close to what his mother had been begging him for since he’d turned thirty. But as he’d made clear, he had no interest in going there. His relationship with Sara had left him scarred not just physically but emotionally. And whilst the former had healed, the latter not so much. And his mother knew it.
Knew it and still she pressed, wanting him to move on. To find love, to trust and have a family of his own. But you couldn’t simply stitch the heart back together. It didn’t just heal.
A strange warmth crept along his arm and he looked down to find Cassie’s thumb caressing the back of his hand. A mindless caress that had him clearing his throat. Did she even know she was doing it?
The lift came to a gentle stop at the basement level, and he pulled his hand free, raked it over his hair.
‘I hope you had a hearty breakfast,’ he said, more for something grounding to say as the elevator doors opened and they stepped out.
‘You know exactly what I had—you sent it.’
‘But did you eat it?’
‘I ate—Oh, my God, Hugo! You’re kidding!’ She came to a standstill, her hands pressed to her cheeks as she took in the van ahead with the bikes, the bags, all the equipment and his team...
‘It’s not quite running but you said you missed the wind in your hair, the freedom. I figured this was the next best thing. And with the helmets and the clothing, no one will even know it’s us sneaking out of here on the bikes.’
‘They’ll work it out at some point.’
‘Let them. I think we rock the exercise gear, don’t you?’
She laughed, her cheeks warming under his gaze that was likely ablaze with far too much appreciation and not enough jest.
‘And your team are up for this?’
‘They’re all up for it, aren’t you, guys?’
There were a few grunts, a few smiles, even some boisterous lunges from the back. ‘We have an inconspicuous mix of runners, cyclists, and a car. We’re good. We’ll get to see some sights and so long as the weather holds, we’ll have a late picnic in the Bois de Boulogne. Maybe even spot a red squirrel or two.’
Before he could say anything else, her arms were around his neck, and she was squeezing the very air out of him. ‘Thank you!’
‘Well, we haven’t left yet. This could be my craziest idea so far, cycling and picnicking at this time of year in Paris, but I figured it gave you the best chance of beating the foot traffic.’
She dropped back just enough to look into his eyes. ‘See! Teddy bear!’
And then she was racing off to get her bike, and his team were all easy smiles and eager to please because nothing was too much trouble when Cassie was in the room. Nothing whatsoever.
The spell she cast over all around her was as effortless as it was unintentional.
No wonder the Prince was behaving like a man still half mad, a man still half possessed by her...
Hugo had breathed the same air for a week and it might as well have been a year for all he felt overrun by her.
She mounted her white-framed bike and tested out its bell, her laugh lighting up his world, and he accepted that he didn’t mind being overrun at all. Not if it meant he was going to get it right this time and she was going to walk away happier for having met him.
And what about you? Are you going to walk away happier? Whole?
But this wasn’t about him. This was about her.
Cassie not Sara.
And he had this, he reminded himself firmly. This time, he had it, because he wasn’t a man being led by his heart but his head. He was in control. And he would do this to make up for the past and fix the future for a woman who had no one else to fight in her corner for her.
Though if he was honest, he could see her fighting for herself very soon.
Cycling around Paris with Hugo made Cassie wonder why she hadn’t thought of getting a bike sooner. With the helmets and all the layers, no one recognised them to begin with. The varying modes of transport meant the team as a whole blended in with the general population, and at their core, they just looked like a group of friends taking a ride out.
And it was amazing. To act the tourist, to be a tourist. To be able to stop and take photos, rather than be the subject of them. To have a drink and sample the street food, rather than dine at prearranged times and prebooked establishments.
To see and experience the real Pah-ree!
They weaved their way to the Bois de Vincennes—a sprawling expanse of woodland to the east of the city—and from there he told her they would take the Rive Gauche, the left bank of the Seine all the way along to the Bois de Boulogne, another stretch of woodland to the west. Though if she was honest, as she took in the boats floating on the picturesque Lac Daumesnil, she felt the smallest pang of envy.
‘Would you like to do that another day?’
She found him looking over his shoulder at her. Was there anything this guy didn’t detect? He seemed as skilled as any one of the bodyguards. The way he scanned a fresh room. The way his body somehow managed to be ahead and behind her all at once. The way he seemed to spy a potential problem before the team could fully express it.
There was the feeling of being safe and protected because of Hugo, and then there was the feeling of being all warm and fuzzy and cherished because of Hugo.
And that’s where things got tricky...
‘I wasn’t expecting so much hesitation after such a smile of longing.’
She gave an abrupt laugh. ‘Don’t you have a job you need to get back to? You’ve already taken a week out to show me the city.’
And now she just sounded ungrateful.
She bit her cheek and winced.
‘Eduardo is thriving now he’s off the Chevalier leash. And Zara, once she picked herself up off the floor, is very grateful to have been entrusted to run things in the hotel group for a while. Your appearance in my life couldn’t have come at a better time it would appear.’
‘To be considered a blessing when I’ve been something of a distraction...’ She shook her head. ‘I never thought I’d hear that one.’
He slowed his bike so that he was alongside her, his piercing blue eyes seeking out hers, which she purposefully kept averted. ‘That wasn’t what you were thinking about though, so stop trying to distract me and spill.’
‘You need to keep your eyes ahead Mr Chevalier, else you’ll end up in the lake today.’
‘Are we back to titles, Princess?’
She winced. He was right. And she knew why she’d done it. She was hiding behind the respectful form of address, using it to create distance between them, which wasn’t fair. Not when he had done nothing wrong, and everything right. Not when she was purely protecting herself by pushing him away, inflicting hurt in the process, and that wasn’t on.
‘Sorry, Hugo. Consider me told.’
‘I don’t need you told. I just need you to stop it.’ He smiled. ‘And you don’t need to tell me where your head has gone, not if you don’t want to. Your private thoughts are your own and I’ll respect that.’
She shook her head. ‘It’s just... Why are you doing this, Hugo?’
‘Because I want to.’
He sent her a guarded look that she so desperately wanted to rip apart and understand. Regardless of the privacy he had just granted her. Which she knew was about as unfair as her pushing him away, and still she pressed. ‘But why?’
‘Because I couldn’t bear the thought of you trapped another day inside that apartment with all of this on your doorstep.’
‘I would have got out eventually.’
‘And that’s the problem—eventually! Life’s too short to live your life like that. Trapped by what you can’t control.’
‘So, you thought to lure me out?’
‘I figured it was high time you had yourself an ally, someone to fight in your corner with you... Is that so bad?’
‘No.’
‘And I’m afraid it’s in my nature. You speak to my mother and I was always one for bringing home the stray and injured when I was a kid. Not that I’m comparing you to the stray and injured,’ he hurried to add when she gave a choked laugh. ‘But I’m serious...if you ever meet her, she’ll likely tell you the tale of the water boatman I tried to save from drowning, not that I knew what he was at the time.’
She frowned. ‘Water boatmen. But don’t they...?’
‘Swim. Yes. I soon learnt as much. Once she got over her fit of the giggles.’
‘Oh, Hugo, you really are a—’
‘No more teddy bear, please. It’s bad enough that my father always accused me of being too soft. And I was four.’
‘Yes, and now you’re a full-grown man...’
One sexy specimen of a man who she had all these feelings for, and she didn’t know what to do with them or whether he felt them too. And that was scaring the hell out of her. Not that she was about to tell him that.
‘And you have a company to run and friends you must want to spend time with. A family too. You shouldn’t be out here, spending all your spare time with me.’
‘I told you, my parents are on their retreat, and yes, I have friends of which you are now one. As for work, a perk of being the boss is that I get to choose when I do it, which is something I’ve forgotten in recent years. Besides, this is kind of working, getting to see this side of the business that I’ve not been a part of in so long.’
‘But I’m not paying you.’
And what did he mean—a part of in so long? Had he worked for his father? And when?
‘See it as extra training on their part.’
‘And do they need it? The extra training?’
He grinned.
‘Hugo?’
‘We only employ the best, Cassie.’
And there was her answer...he wasn’t boasting, he was simply stating a fact. And she admired him for it. Her gaze swept over every chiselled feature in his stocky frame, which somehow managed to look lithe and athletic as he pedalled beside her.
‘I’m sure you do.’
‘But the best always leave room for improvement.’
She snorted. ‘My father would see that as some kind of ridiculous riddle never to be solved.’
‘Impossibly high standards?’
‘You could say that.’
‘And your mother?’
‘You know the saying, if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all?’
‘Oui.’
‘I think she makes it her mission in life to live by the opposite.’
‘Oh.’
‘She’s a delight.’
They fell silent as the path narrowed into single file for a stretch before widening once more and he was back alongside her.
‘I was thinking about how safe you make me feel, Hugo. Just now,’ she blurted before she could chicken out a second time. ‘When you asked. It’s not just about your team, the security detail, but it’s you, how thoughtful you are, how your presence is like this shield that’s several times your physical size, and it...it feels good.’
Heat bloomed in her cheeks and she hoped he’d attribute it to the exertion and not the extra kick to her pulse that her confession had triggered. Though maybe it was as simple as what Hugo himself had said. That he was her ally. Her champion. That for the first time in her life, she had someone to encourage her to go after what she wanted for a change. And it felt good.
It didn’t have to mean she was starting to have feelings for him. Messy. Complicated. Feelings. That ran deeper than friendship.
‘Bien. That makes me happy.’
‘You said something just now, something about seeing this side of the business after all this time...does that mean you used to work for your father?’ she found herself asking, needing the focus off her, but also wanting to understand what he’d meant. Whether he’d tried it out and walked away at some point. Whether, like her, he’d chosen to break away from the expectations of others.
‘I did,’ he said after a long pause. ‘Many years ago.’
He didn’t look at her now, the tension in his jaw telling her he wasn’t happy with the change in topic. She wanted to press, but she also wanted the man at ease back.
Ahead, the art deco masterpiece that was the Palais de la Porte Dorée came into view—something she’d only previously glimpsed from the speed of a passing vehicle. She wanted to stop and take a closer look. The National Museum of Immigration History was something that truly interested her, but she also knew that as soon as their helmets came off, the anonymity they were enjoying would swiftly be gone.
The noise of the traffic built as they came to the edge of the park and they slowed to a stop in silence. Took a drink.
‘My father is a hard man to please,’ he surprised her by saying. ‘I had to do more than prove myself before I joined his company. I had to prove myself above and beyond those that he employed, because heaven forbid it looked like he’d given his son a free ride.’
‘Would you have had it any other way though? Truthfully’
He gave a soft huff, took another slug from his bottle. ‘I would have taken a kind word occasionally, some encouragement... I guess I resented it at the time.’
She frowned. ‘The fact that he made you work for it?’
‘No, not that. But the fact that he made me feel like nothing I ever did was good enough. Until one day something changed, and he saw me. Congratulated me. Welcomed me in.’
‘And let me guess.’ She smiled as she thought about how much that must have meant to him, meant to them both. ‘By that time, you were better than all the rest?’
He gave a tight chuckle. ‘Are you going to break out into song for me?’
‘God, no. You never want to hear me sing.’
‘I’ll be the judge of that.’
‘So, what happened?’
His eyes wavered as they stayed connected with hers, shadows chasing behind his eyes that she couldn’t read.
‘You ready to go again?’
No, she wanted answers. But she could wait until he was ready. He’d gifted her so much of his precious free time, after all.
She nodded, and they eased off. Falling into single file as they hit the busier streets of the city and though the traffic made conversation impossible, she was no less happy. No less grateful too, because she was out in the fresh air, seeing Paris the best way possible thanks to him.
Her teddy bear made of steel...