Avoiding Mr Right Read online

  ‘You should. It was you who made me realise—most of all when you burst in that day and made me see what Goraev was doing to my humanity. You were right. Simon was more important than all the protocol in the world.’ His face twisted suddenly. ‘Do you know, when I found him, he said he hadn’t talked to me about his parents because he thought I’d be too busy doing important things?’

  Christina nodded. ‘He told me princes have to do things they don’t want to. And that you didn’t have any fun any more.’

  ‘He saw what was happening to me more clearly than I did. I owe young Simon.’ He paused. ‘And you. You thought I hid who I was because I wanted a brief affair. You were so wrong. What I was had become a sort of prison. I was beginning to see that. You’d escaped from your prison. I didn’t want to pull you back into mine.’

  He took her hand.

  Christina said in a choked voice, ‘You said you wouldn’t pretty things up. If you want to go to bed with me, why don’t you just say so?’

  Her hand was crushed. He hauled her towards him.

  ‘Christina,’ he said quietly.

  She moistened her lips. ‘Yes.’

  ‘Look at me.’

  ‘I—’

  ‘Look at me.’

  She did. His eyes were gleaming with a light that she had never seen before. She could not look away.

  He drew a long breath and said carefully, ‘Do you love me?’

  There was no point in pretending.

  ‘Yes,’ she said simply.

  He let out a long breath of sheer relief. ‘Then you’ll marry me.’

  ‘But—’

  ‘Or I shall pursue you till you do.’

  ‘You can’t. You don’t know where I live.’

  ‘I’ve got your box number in Milan,’ he said. His eyes were dancing suddenly. ‘I shall camp there till you pick up your mail.’

  She stared, taken aback.

  ‘It’s going to cost me a whole series of interviews with that appallingly keen young student friend of yours.’

  Christina was even more bewildered. ‘Karl? What—? Why—?’ She gave up, flinging up her hands in defeat.

  Luc laughed. ‘He was very suspicious at first. Swore that he didn’t know how to get hold of you out of the season. Only when I made it clear how I felt—and that it was for ever—did he agree to find out. The trouble was, he had a price.’ He sighed dramatically. ‘I never give personal interviews, on principle. If my colleagues at the UN heard about it, they wouldn’t believe it. Don’t you forget, my girl, I’ve done more for you than I would do for anyone or anything else in the world. But it will be worth it. You’re never going to get away from me again.’

  ‘I can’t marry you,’ Christina said, shaken.

  ‘If you love me, I defy you to do anything else.’

  She saw with wonder that in spite of his amused tone Luc was deadly serious. As if he could not help himself, he put up his hand and smoothed the soft tangle of brown hair back from her face.

  ‘You mean it,’ she whispered.

  He pulled her into his arms. ‘Oh, my darling.’

  ‘But you don’t approve of me. I speak my mind and I crew and I lose my temper with bank clerks,’ she said in a muffled voice.

  He was kissing the vulnerable skin below her ear.

  ‘Very entertaining,’ he said, laughter quivering in his voice.

  She shivered with pleasure. ‘I’m another appallingly keen student,’ she warned. ‘Of design. I’m based in Milan but I’ve got a visiting studentship with a Paris house.’

  ‘We’ll fit it into the itinerary,’ Luc promised. He had reached her mouth. Christina stopped even trying to think. She gave herself up to his kiss.

  ‘I thought you didn’t want me,’ she said on a gasp when he raised his head.

  He looked blank. ‘Didn’t want you?’ His shoulders began to shake. ‘What do I have to do, for heaven’s sake?’

  Suddenly Christina felt all her doubts slip away. It was going to be all right. He loved her. Luc really loved her. She smiled at him brilliantly. ‘Make love to me.’

  He stared, fascinated. ‘It will take some exceptional sapphires to match those eyes. We must do something about that.’

  Christina pretended to frown. ‘Make love to me.’

  He suppressed a smile. ‘Only if you agree to marry me as soon as I can arrange it.’

  ‘You drive a hard bargain.’

  He looked modest. ‘International negotiating skills. Years of training.’

  ‘Oh.’ She pondered. ‘In that case—I suppose it would be quicker to agree now and get it over with.’

  Luc’s hold tightened but he chuckled. ‘I could persuade you,’ he murmured in her ear.

  Christina gave a long sigh of pure pleasure and gave herself up into his embrace. She met eyes so full of warmth that they dazzled her.

  ‘I’m persuaded,’ she said. ‘Marriage it is. As long as you make love to me as well.’

  Luc laughed aloud. ‘It’s a deal,’ he said.

  He swung her off her feet and carried her through the suite to a room full of gold leaf and chandeliers. Christina did not notice anything but the canopied bed. Then Luc dropped her onto it and she lost awareness of everything but him.

  She reached up to him. The laughter died out of his eyes. Christina knew that she must have that same look of unguarded feeling. In this, as he had said, they were equals. Her hands closed round his shoulders and brought him down to her.

  ‘Burn, fire, burn,’ she said.

  ISBN : 978-1-4592-6325-3

  AVOIDING MR RIGHT

  First North American Publication 1998.

  Copyright © 1996 by Sophie Weston.

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

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