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CHAPTER ONE ‘WITH a nail-biting finish like that, I think we can safely say that this tournament is wide-open and set to be one of the most exciting yet. This is Alana Cusack, reporting live from Croke Park. Back to you in the studio, Brian.’ Alana kept the smile pasted on her face until she could hear the chatter die away in her earpiece and then handed her microphone to her assistant, Aisling, with relief once she knew she was off air. She avoided looking to where she knew the man was still standing, his shoulder propped nonchalantly against the wall, hands in the pockets of his dark trousers, underneath a black overcoat with the collar turned up. He’d been talking to one of the French players, but now he was alone again. He was watching her. And he’d been watching her all through the Six Nations match between Ireland and France. He’d unsettled her and he’d distracted her. And she didn’t know why. That was a lie; she knew exactly why. He was dark and brooding, and so gorgeous that wh
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO ‘I DON’T appreciate being manipulated into situations, Mr Lévêque.’ Pascal looked at Alana’s tight-lipped profile from across the other side of the car, and had to subdue the urge to show her exactly how much she might appreciate being manipulated. He knew she felt the simmering tension between them too. At one point during the interview earlier, when she’d had the temerity to dig so deep—too deep—their eyes had stayed locked together for long seconds and he’d read the latent desire in those green depths even if she tried to deny it. ‘I prefer to think of it as a gentle nudging.’ She cast a quick look at him and made some kind of inarticulate sound. ‘There was nothing gentle about it. Your unspoken threat was very clear, Mr Lévêque—the possibility that you could deny us the right to the interview.’ ‘Which is something I could still very well do,’ he pointed out. As if on cue, Alana turned more fully in her seat. Her eyes spat sparks at him, and he felt a rush of adrenaline
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE BY THE time Alana had stepped back into her house, followed by a tall, dark and imposing Pascal Lévêque, the shock was rapidly wearing off. She crossed her arms and rounded on him with a scowl on her face. Once again he was demonstrating that ability to suck in the space around him and make everything seem more intense—dwarfed. She tried to block out the fact that he was quite simply the most handsome man who’d ever stood feet away from her and looked at her with an intensity that bordered on being indecent. ‘That phone call was a conversation that shouldn’t have had to happen. And it was all your fault.’ He inclined his head slightly. He looked huge in her tiny sitting room. ‘I apologise, but, as all I heard was the intriguing last sentence, you’ll have to forgive me as I don’t know what I’ve done. And we certainly haven’t had sex yet.’ Alana flushed when she recalled what she’d been saying to her sister as she’d opened the door. ‘Did you know that apparently our dinner
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR WHEN Alana reached her room, she was breathing hard. She went straight into her en suite bathroom and looked in the mirror. Her cheeks were flushed, eyes over-bright. Her body was too sensitive, and an ache throbbed down low in her belly and between her legs. She dropped her head, hands gripping the edge of the sink. She went back out into the bedroom and fooled herself into believing that she was doing what she wanted by unpacking her clothes and taking out her toiletries. A silk dress slithered out of her trembling hands to the ground. She picked it up. She’d pulled it out of her wardrobe on a whim. It was one of the very few dresses she’d kept from her days with Ryan, and she hadn’t worn it since her marriage had ended. Ryan had derided her when she’d worn it first, as it hadn’t been revealing enough for him…or, more accurately, for the press, who he’d constantly wanted to impress. But in actual fact it was plenty revealing, and way more than Alana had been comfortable
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE ALANA stood on the steps, shivering. ‘You would like me to get you a taxi, madam?’ ‘Yes, please,’ Alana said gratefully to the nice doorman. She had no idea where she would go—all her stuff was at Pascal’s—but she just wanted away from here. ‘She doesn’t need a taxi, she’s with me. Can you send for my driver, please?’ a familiar deep voice, throbbing with anger, came from behind her and she stiffened in rejection. A harsh hand on her arm pulled her round. She met furious dark eyes, and everything in her rebelled against his anger. The fact that the doorman had already scurried off to do his bidding made things even worse. ‘I believe that I just ordered a taxi; thanks all the same for the offer of the lift.’ ‘What the hell just happened back there?’ ‘Why, I believe what just happened is that you saw a better option and decided to pursue it, leaving me at the mercy of a…a creepy, slimy lounge-lizard.’ His hand tightened on her arm. ‘What are you talking about? Did someone co
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX THREE heady, passion-filled weeks later, that day was eluding Alana spectacularly as she looked down from her position in the press box to the VIP area in Croke Park. Déjà vu washed over her as she caught Pascal’s eye and made a face before turning her attention back to the game between Ireland v England. Her heart was singing, her breath was coming fast, and her blood was zinging through her veins. She put her intermittent feelings of nausea down to that see-sawing feeling and tried to forget that she’d been compelled to buy an over-the-counter pregnancy test that morning on her way to work after Pascal had said goodbye to her from her own modestly sized double bed. She wouldn’t think about her late period or the pregnancy test now. It couldn’t be possible. And yet, a small voice niggled, it could. But in the years of her marriage to Ryan, while they’d still been sleeping together, she hadn’t had one scare despite not having used contraception. It had been the source of so
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN THREE days later Alana finally had to acknowledge that she really hadn’t had a choice. Not that it made her feel any better. What could she have done? Her family was reeling from the revelations. The country was reeling. Reporters had camped out on her parents’ front lawn until Pascal had hired security guards to protect them and drive the reporters away. She’d created an unholy row. She’d never confided in her brothers and sisters, so to seek help now—and in doing so bring the media circus behind her—would be unforgivable. The best thing she could do was to disappear. But unfortunately that could only happen with the one person she really didn’t want to have to face: Pascal. By coming to Paris, she knew she’d tacitly agreed to stay for an indeterminate amount of time—till things calmed down at home, or until she could get another job. Either way, she was in no position to call the shots for now. Yet she’d prevaricated, resisted, and watched with mounting horror as the st
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT SOMETHING was definitely wrong. Since that night in the restaurant a week ago, Pascal hadn’t made another move to touch her. Yet he hadn’t left her alone like he had the first week. He’d come home early every day, they’d cooked or eaten out, but with an impregnable wall growing between them. Alana was too nonplussed and unsure to ask what was wrong. But all the time she was burning up inside, aching with desire, aching for Pascal to just reach out and touch her, kiss her. She wanted to make the move, but she was too scared of what his reaction might be, and she couldn’t help but be afraid that this was the start of the end of his attraction for her. There had been something finite about the way he’d made love to her the other night. All he seemed to want to do now was talk. About everything. ‘Have you thought any more about what you want to do?’ Alana’s attention came back to the present and the discreetly exclusive restaurant that Pascal had taken her to, which was round
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE AS SOON as she knew she was alone, the tears came, and through them Alana ranted at herself—what was wrong with her? She wanted Pascal and yet she didn’t want him. She wanted to be independent, and then when he brought her out to show her places where she could live independently, she didn’t want that, either. All she knew for sure, as she wiped away the tears and prepared some dinner, was that she wanted him with a bone-deep ache that ran through her body like a dull pain. It got worse every time he came near. She’d been having erotic dreams nearly every night about what had happened in the restaurant, waking with sheets damp and twisted around her body. She needed the physical. It was as if that would make all her confusion go away, if she could just bury herself in that release that only he could give her… As Alana sat and ate, not tasting any of it, an intense desire rose up within her to seduce Pascal, making it hard to think of anything else. Her blood felt heavy and
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN ‘HEY, Alana, nice to have you back, we missed you.’ Alana smiled at Sophie, but it felt forced as she walked into her old office. ‘Thanks.’ She closed the door behind her. Everything had felt wan since she’d come home just a few days ago. She felt listless, as if a vital source of energy had been taken from her body. She smiled bleakly to herself. She knew what that was: Pascal. She sat down behind her desk heavily. Just then a knock came on her door, and before she could answer, it opened and Rory barrelled in. ‘Alana! Great to have you back. Sorry about all that business before, but you know my hands were tied.’ Alana couldn’t help a wry smile as Rory’s words flowed into one another and washed over her aching head. ‘…Pascal Lévêque for the charity bash in the K Club this weekend.’ Alana’s body straightened up as if she’d been given a shot of adrenaline. ‘What did you say?’ Her heart was already beating fast. Out of control. Rory rolled his eyes. ‘I was talking about the R
CHAPTER TEN
EPILOGUE
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