by Miranda Lee
He wasn’t happy about their holiday ending, either. Far from it. He was even crazier about Violet now than ever.
No, no, Leo, be honest for once. You’re more than crazy about her. You’re in love with her!
All the breath left Leo’s lungs in a rush. How could he not have known till now that he was in love with the girl?
Gulping in some much-needed air, Leo tried to think about the situation with some of the cool logic he’d always prided himself on and which had been sadly lacking since he’d met Violet.
His mind went back to the first night they’d met and the way he’d felt about her before lust had clouded his judgement. Her fresh innocence had enchanted him. So had her honesty and her lack of guile. Yes, he’d been sexually attracted to her but, more than that, he’d really liked her. Liked her so much he’d tried not to get involved with her.
Why? Because he thought he was too old for her. Too world-weary. Too cynical. He’d cared about her even then. But he’d still got involved with her, telling himself all along that it was just lust directing his actions.
Leo rolled his eyes at himself.
Truly, Leo, how delusional can you get? If you’d once looked beyond your obsessive desire for Violet, you’d have seen that you’ve been falling in love with her all along!
Strangely, the realisation that he loved Violet did not bring Leo total joy. For what if Violet didn’t love him back? She’d never said so which, now that he let himself think about it, was odd, given her age and rather romantic nature. It was very common for a girl to fall for her first lover, if he satisfied her in bed. And he’d certainly done that. Admittedly, he’d given her dire warnings on the very first night they’d spent together not to confuse lust with love, so maybe she thought what she felt for him was just lust.
And maybe it actually was...
Leo could not believe how much that possibility hurt him. It was like a dagger had been plunged into his heart. Once again he took a deep breath and let it out slowly, struggling now to return to logic when his emotions threatened to overwhelm him. Panic. Fear. Desperation!
Lust alone would not have waited three months for him, would it? Her feelings had to be deeper than that. But were those feelings true love? Or simply the type of infatuation that a young girl often held for an older man?
This possibility didn’t please him either.
But what if she does love you? What then, Leo?
Because, even if Violet believed she loved him, would that love last the test of time? She was so very young, much younger in experience than her twenty-five years.
As much as he now wanted to declare his love and propose marriage this very night—yes, yes, as crazy as it was, that was what he suddenly wanted to do—to rush her into so serious a commitment at this stage would be wicked of him. At the same time, he refused to risk losing her. She was his. He had to keep her his. Somehow!
Filled with passionate resolve, Leo strode into the bedroom. She wasn’t there. His eyes flicked to the bathroom door which was shut, the sound of a hair dryer just reaching his ears through the solid door.
‘Just get yourself dressed,’ he muttered irritably. ‘By then she might be out of that bloody bathroom.’
No such luck. Even after he’d donned his favourite grey dinner suit, Violet hadn’t made an appearance. Maybe she was having trouble with her hair. Leo knew how long it took women to get ready for a night out and Violet was no exception. Not that she took as long as Helene. That woman had been obsessed with her looks.
Thinking of Helene reminded Leo of his vow never to marry again.
But that was before he’d met Violet. Before he had found true love.
What in hell was he going to do if she didn’t love him back? If she never wanted to marry him?
Leo grimaced as his gut tightened. Lord only knew!
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
VIOLET TOOK ONE last look at herself in the vanity mirror. Frankly, she’d never looked better. Now that her hair was dyed black, strong colours suited her, as did black and white. Knowing Leo was sure to take her out to dinner each night in Paris, she’d brought five cocktail dresses with her in five different colours: black, red, emerald-green, royal-blue and purple.
Tonight she was wearing the purple. Made in lightweight wool, it had a crossover bodice, long straight sleeves and a slender knee-length skirt. Not an overly sexy style, till you added the wide black patent-leather belt which cinched in her figure to a very hour-glass shape. The belt, combined with matching five-inch heels, made all the difference. She’d also left her layered, shoulder-length hair down, blow-drying it carefully to frame her face, which was made up to perfection, her dark eyes standing out against her always-pale skin. One last spray of perfume and she was ready.
Swallowing, Violet steeled herself and left the bathroom.
The admiring look on Leo’s face when he first saw her was satisfying, but it didn’t soothe her inner tension. He’d looked that way at her every evening so far. She could not detect any love in his eyes. Desire, maybe. But desire wasn’t love, was it?
He, of course, looked absolutely splendid in a pale-grey suit, a crisp white shirt and silver tie. They said ‘clothes maketh the man’ but in Leo’s case he made the clothes. Formal clothes, casual clothes; he looked great in anything. And nothing.
‘What can I say?’ he said with a smile as he came forward to take her hand and lift it to his lips. ‘You look stunning.’
Violet didn’t say a word, her returning smile somewhat brittle.
He kept on holding her hand whilst his eyes searched hers. ‘I’ve been doing some thinking whilst you were getting ready.’
‘Oh?’ she said, her chest and belly tightening. ‘What about?’
‘Us.’
Violet swallowed as she tried to get some saliva into her suddenly dry mouth. ‘What about us?’ Even to her own ears, her tone sounded coldly indifferent, which was not what she intended. Fear had made her tone clipped and hard.
His brows drew together in a deep frown, his blue eyes darkening. ‘You do want to keep on seeing me, don’t you, Violet? I certainly want to go on seeing you. Look, I realise we live thousands of miles apart. I also realise you’ve been the one to travel to the other side of the world this time, not me. But we could meet each other halfway in future.
‘I have to go to Hong Kong in July to suss out a movie project. That’s only about an eight-hour flight for you. We could meet up for a long weekend. Or a week, if you can get the time off. Then there’s Dubai...’
‘You have business in Dubai as well?’ she bit out as several emotions started welling up inside her. Dismay and disappointment followed by the fury of a woman who felt not scorned, but used.
He didn’t appear to notice, of course, his attention all on making plans for his own selfish ends. ‘Actually, no, I’ve just always wanted to go there and it’s about halfway to Australia as well. We could meet up there at some stage later on in the year. Then, next Christmas, I could come back to Sydney to stay with Henry.’
‘Really? And is Henry to know about our...er...relationship?’
‘God, no. Not yet, anyway.’
Not yet and not ever, Violet thought bitterly. She was to be his dirty little secret. His long-distance mistress. And not his only bed partner, either. Only a fool would believe a man of Leo’s considerable sexual appetite would do without sex between the odd dirty weekend with her. She’d been a fool to believe he’d waited for her this time.
This last thought had her snatching her hand away from his, startling him.
‘I’m sorry, Leo,’ she said, struggling to stop her voice from shaking. ‘But that won’t do for me at this point in my life. I want more than a part-time boyfriend who lives on the other side of the world. Not that I don’t enjoy being with you. I do; very much so. Joy said I was a lucky girl to have you as my first lover and I have to agree with her. You’ve given me a great introduction to sex. I will be eternally grateful to you.’
; ‘Grateful,’ he repeated, his face somewhat blank, the way people looked when they’ve had a shock. It pleased Violet that she had shocked him. No doubt he had thought she would just fall in line with his wishes, like the naive, silly little fool she’d been when they’d first met. But she wasn’t that girl any longer. No, siree. Not even remotely!
She even managed to find a coolly polite smile. ‘Yes, of course I’m grateful. I’m sure lots of girls have simply dreadful experiences when they first try sex. I’m glad now that fate made me wait for a man like you. Someone older and very experienced. I’ve enjoyed our time together very much, Leo, but it’s time for me to move on. Thank you for your kind offers but I must decline.’
He just stared at her and Violet was taken aback by the expression in his eyes. If she didn’t know better, she would say he looked quite devastated. But then he smiled, a strange, rather sad smile.
‘How ironic,’ he murmured.
‘What is?’ she said sharply, never having liked it when people made cryptic statements like that without further explanation. Henry did it all the time.
He shrugged and turned away from her. ‘Best you don’t know, Violet.’
‘I hate it when people do that to me,’ she threw after him. ‘It’s totally selfish. But then you’re a selfish man, aren’t you?’ she snapped, the temper she’d been trying to control finally getting the better of her. ‘Selfish and arrogant and bloody presumptuous.
‘You thought I’d just do everything you wanted me to do, didn’t you, without offering me anything in return? Nothing of any real value, anyway. No commitment. No caring. Certainly not love. My God, do you even know what love is? I doubt it. All you feel where women are concerned is lust!’
By then Violet felt like she was going to explode, but she hadn’t finished with him yet. ‘You thought you could buy my body with your first-class flights and your fancy holidays and your five-star restaurants. Well, let me tell you that you can’t, you cold-blooded bastard! I’m not for sale!’
Violet was aware that Leo had stood rooted to the spot during her tirade, his back to her. So, when he turned around and she saw he was half-smiling, her blood pressure went up another notch.
‘You love me, don’t you?’ he said, his simple statement of fact smashing Violet’s defences to pieces. No point in denying it now. He knew.
‘Of course I love you, you stupid man,’ she blurted out. ‘Why do you think I agreed to come here in the first place? What kind of girl do you think I am?’
‘I’ll tell you what kind of girl I think you are. I think you are the nicest, sweetest, smartest, sexiest girl I’ve ever met and I love you more than I can say.’
Violet’s mouth dropped open, all words failing her.
‘I didn’t want to say anything earlier because I didn’t want to rush you,’ he went on, walking up to her and taking her frozen hands in his. ‘You’re right about my being stupid. I didn’t realise how it would sound, suggesting we meet up all over the world only once in a while.
‘I’m so sorry, Violet, for making you think I only wanted you as a part-time mistress. That’s not what I want at all. I want so much more. First, I don’t want you to go home. I want you to come back to London to live with me. No, no, that’s not what I really want, though it would do for starters. What I really want is for you to be my wife.’
‘Your wife!’
‘Yes. My wife. So, for pity’s sake, tell me now if that’s not what you want,’ he said fiercely, his fingers crushing hers. ‘Don’t leave me dangling. I told you once before I’m not fond of dangling.’
‘Oh, Leo,’ she cried, tears flooding her eyes.
‘God help me, is that a yes or a no?’
When she nodded, he swept her into his arms, not kissing her, just holding her tight, cradling her head against his shoulder. ‘I never believed I could feel this way,’ he told her in an emotion-roughened voice. ‘When I thought you didn’t love me just now, or even care about me at all, my whole world was in imminent danger of collapsing. But then you started tearing strips off me and I knew immediately that I was wrong.’
Violet drew back and smiled up into his handsome face. ‘How could I not fall in love with the nicest, sweetest, smartest, sexiest man in the whole wide world?’
He laughed. ‘What happened to selfish, arrogant and presumptuous?’
She shook her head from side to side. ‘You’re none of those things.’
‘Yes, I am. Often.’
‘Well, none of us are perfect, Leo. I’m certainly not.’
‘You’re perfect to me.’
She sighed with happiness. ‘I think I should marry you quick before you find out otherwise.’
‘I think you should too. But are you sure, Violet?’
‘I’m absolutely sure.’ Silly man. Why on earth wouldn’t she be sure? It was her dream come true!
‘In that case, there’s something I have to do straight away. Before we go down to dinner.’
‘What’s that?’
‘Ring Henry.’
Violet winced. ‘Oh, dear. He’s not going to be happy, is he?’
‘He might surprise you.’
He did. After an initial few seconds of shock, followed by some rather sticky questions, Henry came round to acceptance of the situation with good grace and, Violet thought after she talked to him, sincere congratulations. He seemed genuinely happy for them both, which made her even happier. She would have hated for Henry to disapprove.
‘I could still work for you from London,’ she suggested to him. ‘You don’t really need an assistant on site, not with email.’
‘An excellent suggestion, and one which I aim to take you up on.’
‘Great,’ Violet said. She didn’t want to give up work and become a lady of leisure. That didn’t appeal to her at all. ‘You could sell that other apartment as well,’ she added.
‘No. I think I’ll hang on to that. It’s a good investment. Besides, I like working in the city. There are a lot more restaurants at hand for my client lunches.’
‘Oh, you and your client lunches!’
‘I’ll have you know, missy, I do my best work over lunch. Now, off you go. I’m sure you have better things to do than talk to your future father-in-law. Give my love to Leo and tell him that I think this is by far the best move he’s ever made in his life. I’m very proud of him.’
‘Your father said to tell you that he’s very proud of you,’ Violet said after she hung up.
‘Wow,’ Leo said. ‘He must really like you, my darling. So, do you want to ring your folks and tell them too?’
‘No. Not tonight. That can wait. They already know I’m here in Paris with you. I didn’t keep you a secret, Leo. What about your son?’
‘Liam can wait too. Tonight should be all about us, Violet. I just want to wallow in our love for each other. You sure you still want to go down to dinner?’
‘Yes, yes I do,’ she said after a moment’s temptation. ‘I’m starving.’
‘But I thought you had a stomach ache earlier.’
‘Nah. I was sitting on the edge of the bath, crying.’
‘Oh, Violet. I’m so sorry for letting you think I didn’t care about you. I always did, you know, right from the start. I just didn’t realise how much. But, when the penny dropped earlier this evening, I should have said I loved you straight away. I guess I was afraid to.’
Violet was touched that Leo would admit something like that. He always seemed so sure of himself. But it was a sign of her new found maturity that she understood that no one was perfect, even the man she’d imagined was just that.
‘Then tell me now, Leo,’ she said softly.
‘I love you, my darling Violet.’
‘And I love you, my darling Leo,’ she returned, entwining her arms around his neck and bringing her mouth up to his.
They kissed. Not wildly or hungrily, but lovingly. Then they went down to dinner where they sat at length over a magnificent meal, making plans for their future
together.
‘What about children, Leo?’ she asked him over coffee and mints. ‘I would like to have at least one child.’
‘I can’t think of anything I’d like better. I’ve always enjoyed being a father. Liam was the best thing to come out of my first marriage.’
‘And your second marriage, Leo? Would you mind if I asked you about that?’
He sighed. ‘It’s not a pretty story.’
‘I don’t care. I need to know what happened or I’ll be curious about it for ever.’
‘Fair enough. Look, I fancied myself in love with Helene. It’s amazing the tricks a male ego can play on you. But love had nothing to do with that relationship. It was all about image and status. When we met, I’d just won another award for best picture and Helene had just been voted the most beautiful actress in the world by some glossy magazine. They forgot to mention that she was also the most vain, amoral, ambitious woman I have ever met. And, trust me, I’ve met quite a few.’
‘Heavens! That’s so different to what I imagined. So what happened?’
Leo shrugged. ‘Less than a year after we were married, I walked in on her screwing her latest leading man in her dressing room. She claimed it meant nothing.’
‘Oh, Leo. How distressing for you!’
‘Only for a few egotistical moments. Then I realised that I didn’t really give a damn. Though I have to confess my lack of emotion left me wondering if I had any feelings left in me at all. That’s one of the reasons I thought I’d never fall in love again. I had no idea till I met you that I’d never actually been in love.’
‘Oh...I like the sound of that. Okay, enough talk of the past. Back to us. When do you want to get married?’
‘I’d marry you tomorrow if we could. But I understand that weddings take a little longer than that to organise.’
‘True. And I would want to get married back in Australia, if you don’t mind, so that my family could attend.’
‘Fair enough. So, about this baby business. Do you want to wait till we get married or start trying straight away?’