“Christien.I didn’t make the appointment, my boss did.I have no idea why she would create this…ruse.”What an odd word to use.“If there was an ulterior motive she kept it from me.”
“Madelaine—”
“Don’t call me that.”Her visceral reaction startled her.She’d never particularly liked her name, believing it too different from the Lindsays and Nicoles and Megans in her class, but she’d never disliked someone using it as much as she disliked him using it.
He cocked his head.“Is that not your name?”
“I prefer Lainie.”
“Madelaine.Are you telling me you have no idea why she would sendyouto do her bidding?”
Her back teeth came together.He totally ignored her polite request to call her by the name she preferred, then insinuated something when he emphasized theyou.As if she weren’t good enough to deliver his papers?This man was arrogant and she wasn’t sure she liked him very much.“I have no idea,Mr.Chevalier.”
A smile touched his sensuous mouth, gone before he allowed it full rein.She shuddered to think of the devastating impact of his smile should he ever unleash it.
He moved to the edge of his desk and planted his butt on it.His finger tapped the edge of the desk.The silver in his eyes dulled as if his thoughts turned inward.He was thinking something, but whatever it was she wasn’t privy to it.Nor did she think she wanted to be.
He shook his head, straightened and walked with quick, angry strides to the other side of the room.His back to her, he took deep breaths, those wide shoulders rising and falling.
He turned around, piercing her with those steely eyes.“How long have you worked for Lucheux?”
“Three months.”Three very long months.She’d applied for the job after finding an advertisement in the local hometown paper.To her surprise, Giselle called her right away.Two phone interviews later, they flew her to Milwaukee for a face-to-face interview.Once they met, Giselle had been condescending, standoffish and disdainful.She’d looked at Lainie as if she were looking at a bug smooshed on the sole of her shoe.
Lainie had written off the fabulous opportunity to work for Lucheux Limited, disappointed the chance had slipped through her fingers.To her shock, she received a call from Giselle later that afternoon offering her the position as assistant to the director of Human Resources and citing a salary that still made Lainie swallow in surprise.
Chevalier walked toward her, yanking her back to the present, the supposedly fake papers and his intimidating presence.Exceptwalkwas too ordinary a word.Stalkedmight be better.He stopped when they were toe-to-toe and for the first time she realized the complete power of the man.Tall, wide-shouldered and fit beneath the expensively cut dark gray suit, he exuded authority and commanded attention.He dominated the room with a strength of force she’d never encountered before.It was as if her surroundings were sucked into his aura.
His gaze focused on the part of her hair falling over her shoulder.He picked up a lock and rubbed it between his fingers, inhaling deeply, as if pulling her scent into him.Something crossed his face, an expression close to grief.
She blinked and the glass-and-chrome desk, the leather chair, the bookcases and tinted windows, wavered, before disappearing.Suddenly she was surrounded by a darkness broken only by the moon’s light.Sadness rushed through her, pressing on her shoulders, squeezing her lungs and heart.
A man stood in front of her.He looked like Chevalier.He had Chevalier’s stormy gray eyes and thick black hair, but he wasn’t dressed like Chevalier.If she wasn’t mistaken, he was dressed in period clothing.Like from medieval times.He touched her cheek and spoke to her in a language she didn’t understand.
Her sadness drove into her, weakening her with its intensity.She was sad for him and for her.
“Where did you get this?”
Yanked back to the present by his harsh question, she took a deep breath.The room swam into focus, the desk and chair still sitting before the windows, the bookcases in their right place.And Chevalier in front of her, dressed not in medieval clothing but an expensive gray suit that matched his eyes.
His fingers touched her necklace, then skimmed the soft skin of her neck.Heat exploded inside her and centered on his touch.He did nothing more than touch, but it felt as if she’d been branded.
She struggled to shake off the remnants of the strange vision.Something weird was going on here.Something otherworldly and something she didn’t want anything to do with, yet her feet refused to move to the door.
Their gazes locked, held.His was so familiar.
“It was a gift from my mother.Years ago.”
He lifted the silver key she’d worn almost her whole life and cradled it in his large palm.
He muttered in what sounded like French.He cocked his head, studying her.“I make you nervous.”
“Yes.”No reason to deny it.
“Don’t be afraid, Madelaine.I would never hurt you.”His voice wrapped around her, held her spellbound until the room around them faded once again.
“I would never hurt you, chérie.”A callused hand touched her cheek, skimmed down to her chin, sending shivers through her.
“I know.”She leaned in to the caress—
