When You Defy Me (When I'm With You Part 2) by Beth Kery Read Free Book Online Page B

you? I told you I wasn’t going to tell anyone that I know you from before. Don’t you trust
     me?”
    “Let’s just say that I’d rather be in close watching distance so that I know where I stand.”
    “You don’t, in other words.”
    “Trust is something that has to be earned, Elise,” he said quietly. “And don’t play the martyr. I know that you don’t trust
     me completely, either. Not yet, you don’t.”
    His intensity took her by surprise. She absorbed what he’d said, feeling unsteady.
    “Where shall I pick you up?” he asked after a moment, his quick topic change only increasing her sense of being off balance.
     “At the address you put down on your application?”
    “No.”
    She realized how abrupt she’d sounded. The last thing she wanted was for Lucien to see the rundown extended-stay hotel where
     she was living. It would only affirm his belief that she was scatter-brained and impulsive. She did some quick thinking when
     she noticed his narrowed gaze on her. “Can we meet here? In front of the Noble Tower building?”
    His handsome face settled into an unreadable mask. “Of course, if you prefer it. Seven thirty?”
    “That will be fine,” she said, starting to back out of the office. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
    “Elise?” he asked sharply when her hand was on the door.
    “Yes?”
    “Your employment with me has ended now that I’ve hired Denise.”
    She held her breath.
    “Just remember. My rules,” he reminded significantly. “Denise being here means your salary will stop as well. You
do
have adequate funds to live here in the city, correct?”
    “Of course. Didn’t you tell me that Papa would never see me starve?”
    He raised his eyebrows slowly. Not liking the suspicious expression settling on his features, she hurried out the door.

Chapter Four
    Lucien remained seated and unmoving once the door closed behind Elise. He thought of how pale she’d gone when he’d mentioned
     catching her in flagrante delicto
with Hugh Langier, illustrious member of the French senate and renowned womanizer. He regretted embarrassing her, but the
     memory was still volatile to him; it still made something hot and unbearable swell in his gut, not to mention what it did
     to his cock.
    He’d been looking for her that night five years ago, having noticed her luminous face from a distance during the opera. It
     had been a year since his father had first mentioned the possibility of him marrying Elise. He’d flat-out refused to even
     discuss the idea, of course. No one was going to choose his future wife but himself. But the idea had lingered in his consciousness:
     not heavily, but lightly, like a radiant, teasing smile, the prospect of a stolen summer day or a sip of the perfect champagne—light-filled
     and effervescent . . .
    . . . like Elise herself.
    He couldn’t help but be curious about what sort of a woman that smart, funny, sad girl had become.
    Still, his curiosity hadn’t been so great that he’d sought her out when he’d moved permanently to Paris to open his first
     hotel and restaurant. It’d been completely by accident that he’d glimpsed her at the opera. Their boxes were almost directly
     across from each other. The curtain was about to go up when he noticed several faces in the audience flicker to the left of
     the stage. He’d followed their gazes idly, wondering what was causing the stir. His body sprung into instant alertness.
    She’d stood and was making her way to the back of the box. The gown she wore was jaw-dropping. No, not the dress itself,
     but Elise in it. It was made of a pale ivory metallic material that clung to her ripe, svelte curves, the material giving
     off a pearl-like sheen that nowhere near rivaled the luminosity of her pale skin. She was completely covered, but the clinging
     fabric and its similarity to her coloring gave the impression of nudity. Her hair had been long back then. Lucien recalled
     that during that summer five years before,