“Hi everyone! Are you having a good night?” I ask. No one answers me, but they don’t look angry either. There’s rapt attention and the curiosity of people who haven’t yet decided if they’re watching a car crash. “I’m sorry to interrupt. You see, I realized the charity I’ve become enamored with tonight might not meet their funding goal. I’d like to try to change that.” This next part will hurt. But I have to use his name and attach it to my own. “I’m Paige Montclair, and I’m auctioning off a dinner with me. I’ll pick up the tab and maybe treat you to something extra, too.” I wink at the crowd, and they laugh. Hopefully most of them have seen the pictures of me spending outrageous amounts of money in Milan.
No doubt they’ve all read the news about Rafe and me.
“I promise I’m a great dinner date,” I say. “The only catch is that whatever you bid has to go to a charity of my choosing.”
My heart is pounding alongside the beat of the music. This seemed like a fantastic idea ten seconds ago. The many, many eyes of the fashion world’s elite all looking directly at me. My gaze snags on one handsome, furious man at the table closest to the stage. He’s looking at me like he might murder me.
This is going to be so, so embarrassing if no one bids.
I turn to the presenter. He’s finally found his footing and holds out his hand for the mic.
“Lovely!” he says. “What a brilliant idea. A dinner with the new Mrs. Montclair and a chance to get to know her better. I imagine there are more than a few here who see the value in that, hmm?” He laughs, and others join in.
He repeats it in Italian and opens the bidding.
I smile like I’m the most confident person in the room.Bid on me,I think.Please.My time was the only thing I could think of to offer. The villa isn’t mine. The cars aren’t mine. But my access to Rafe is the one thing I can gamble on people wanting.
A hand lifts up near the middle.
“Fantastic!” the auctioneer says. “We have ten thousand. Do we have fifteen? Anyone for fifteen?”
A woman in the third row lifts her paddle, and just like that, the bidding is off. Six other people jump in, and the price quickly rises to nearly forty thousand in a matter of seconds.
It’s strategic.
Becoming my friend means potentially becoming Raphaël Montclair’s, and from what I’ve seen, he’s charming to many and close to almost none. It’s access people in this room might kill for.
I look over at the woman I spoke to, who runs the charityRise and Bloom.She’s got a wide-eyed look on her face as she looks at me. At these amounts… It seems she’s funded now.
My hands relax at my sides.
“Do we have fifty thousand?” the auctioneer asks. “Do we? If not, a dinner with Paige Montclair is going in three, going in two—oh, gentleman in the first row. Raphaël Montclair himself!”
Rafe is holding his paddle up. “A hundred thousand.” He doesn’t raise his voice, but it carries across the room. There’s barely leashed irritation there.
“A hundred thousand! Mr. Montclair isn’t one to share, is he?” the auctioneer says with a wide grin. “And who are we to begrudge him, ladies and gentlemen, with this beautiful new bride? Going once, going twice… sold to Mr. Montclair!”
Rafe’s smiling, with the faint crook to his lips that I know well. But this time it doesn’t reach his eyes.
He’s pissed.
CHAPTER 21
PAIGE
He spent a hundred thousand euros on a charity that deserves it, and he’s pissed about it. And it’s all because of me.
The joy I feel is almost euphoric.
People applaud, their eyes shifting from me to Rafe. This is brilliant. Now he looks like he can’t get enough of me, and I’ve made a splash. Everyone was already curious about us. Might as well give them something to talk about.
I give a little curtsy, and someone from the side cheers. It’s Leelyn. Sylvie is sitting beside her, shaking her head with a smile.
I walk down the steps. Rafe is there to meet me, arm outstretched. I thread mine through his.
He doesn’t walk us back to our seats.
He steers us toward the open terrace instead, the one that overlooks the Milan cathedral and the large square. He’s tense. It radiates off him, despite the casual, confident demeanor he always adopts.
