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CHAPTER ONE

HER LAUGH WAS so pure and spontaneous it caused De with him and seek out the source of the sound As a connoisseur of fake laughter, often given to offering imitations himself, he found the naturalness of the wo girlish or giggly, war a put-on

For aelse but her Short blond hair swung and fell as she tipped the precision cut backward Her skin held a pale, translucent quality that ainst his lips He wondered how her skin smelled Like suht up to the tilt of her nose, while the rest of her was a study incurves

Encased in a Makricosta uniform

Damn, damn and damn

The disappointly acute

He took a nize it It wasn’t the pencil skirt and wispy red jacket over a bohite top that the French staff wore here in Paris, which gave him a beat of hope But if she’d been corporate, she’d have only a scarf or tie in company colors as part of her business ensemble

Unfortunately, those long pants and the wared to one of the Canadian outfits The Makricosta Elite in Montreal, if he wasn’t mistaken—and he shouldn’t have any doubt because he had final say on every ht down to the front-line ie of the staff

He didn’t want to recognize it That was the proble it

Which wasn’t like hieable for him He never wondered, “Who is she? What’s her story?” Especially when he already had a fe, “Bello? What is it?”

“I thought I recognized so s woman—his employee—across the lobby

She was nodding at so so about email that he read on her lips as noise from different sources echoed across the foyer’s marble floor and pillars

Curious what kind of ht look on her face, De the touch of his prospective afternoon delight as he did

Gideon

Shock went through hinized his brother-in-law Not that Gideon looked as though he was encouraging the wonation His sister had been through a lot, especially a few years ago when Gideon’s PA had inti an affair De to sit here while some fresh tart made a play for Adara’s husband

“I do recognize hirimly “Excuse me”

But Gideon and the blonde were already parting ways by the ti aith a brisk walk toward the front desk while Gideon glanced up in tiht of Demitri His expression hardened with determination

That hen De the man

“Good,” Gideon stated as he approached “I was going to find you before I left Adara’s birthday You’ll be there”

The eye to eye,De that Gideon was deterhts on Gideon, De her for a tour hie intact In the end, Gideon had salvaged his ownmore than a few false and snarky claims had been , in reality his devotion to her had never wavered and still appeared rock solid