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Bastien stepped back from the limo and swung round as a lithe blonde scrambled out of the sports car and ran to greet him. She wore only a chiffon wrap, which was split to the waist at either side to show off her fabulous legs and brief leopard print bikini pants.
Lilah smoothed her gown over her knees and watched as the blonde kissed Bastien on both cheeks and he returned the greeting. The woman chattered, her slim hands moving expressively in the air. Very French, very chic, Lilah conceded, deliberately looking away from the encounter. Bastien’s dealings with other women were none of her business.
Her tummy flipped, her chin coming up. No, that couldn’t be true or acceptable. She was Bastien’s wife now, and that had to make a difference.
‘Who is she?’ Lilah enquired when Bastien finally joined her and the limo moved off again.
‘Chantal Baudin—one of my neighbours,’ Bastien divulged carelessly.
‘You’ve slept with her...haven’t you?’
The instant those provocative words leapt off Lilah’s tongue she was shocked by them, because she hadn’t even known that that question was in her head.
‘On several occasions over the years since I bought the chateau,’ Bastien revealed, as cool as ice water in tone. ‘She’s a model.’
‘What else would she be?’ Lilah traded drily, while colour flared over her cheekbones like a revealing banner, because she felt as though an evil genie had taken over both her brain and her tongue.
‘We were ships-that-pass-casual,’ Bastien qualified very quietly. ‘Not that that’s any of your business.’
Lilah’s shot a stubborn look at him, sapphire-blue eyes bright and defiant. ‘Oh, it’s my business now,’ she assured him without hesitation. ‘For as long as you remain married to me you have to be a one-woman man.’
A line of colour flared over Bastien’s exotic cheekbones and his dark golden eyes smouldered. ‘That sounds suspiciously like a warning.’
‘It was. Do you expect me to stay away from other men?’ Lilah asked dangerously.
‘Of course,’ Bastien breathed, in a harsh uncompromising undertone.
‘Well, let’s not be sexist about it—the rule cuts both ways. While we’re married, your wings are clipped,’ Lilah pronounced with satisfaction.
‘Presumably you intend to ensure that the sacrifice of my sexual freedom is worth my while?’ Bastien purred, black lashes dropping low over his gaze.
Lilah clashed with expectant dark eyes, brilliant as stars in a black sky, and her tummy performed a somersault while damp heat gathered at her feminine core. She shifted uneasily on the seat, uncomfortable with the potent physical effect Bastien had on her. Even when he annoyed her he could still make her want him. One glance at those high cheekbones and those stunning eyes and she melted into a puddle of longing.
Lunch awaited them on their return to the chateau. The table had been set with white linen, lace and rose petals, and Lilah stiffened in dismay when she saw it because it was very bridal and romantic. But the meal was superb, and Bastien’s businesslike account of how he had dealt with the problems at his Asian manufacturing plant relaxed Lilah again.
Bastien studied Delilah, ultra-feminine and lovely, in a dress that merely enhanced her petite proportions, wondering if she was pregnant. He wanted a child, he acknowledged. Perhaps it was simply that he was ready for a child and for a change in lifestyle. But would he have felt that way with any woman other than Delilah?
‘I should get changed,’ Lilah murmured over coffee.
‘I want to take off that dress.’
Lilah coloured. ‘It’s the middle of the day, Bastien.’
‘My libido is not controlled by the clock. In any case, we’re newly married and anything goes,’ Bastien pointed out smoothly as he rose from his chair.
But Lilah refused to think of them as a married couple, thinking it wiser to regard their current relationship as simply an extension of their original arrangement. In other words, barring the ring on her wedding finger, she was still Bastien’s mistress and his desired entertainment between the sheets. It would be very unwise, she thought, to start thinking of herself as occupying any more important or permanent role in Bastien’s life.
