MAËLLE
Ihad come close to forgetting how mortified I was over Dagger’s rejection last night, until we walked past the place in the hallway where I’d thrown myself at him.
What had nearly made me forget was Dagger’s response to the toast. My father had humiliated me in front of a room full of strangers, and he’d known exactly what he was doing.
Best wishes to the man, congratulations to the woman, as though I were the one who ought to be grateful someone had agreed to have me.
He would say I misunderstood if I confronted him about it.
Dagger had saved me, allowing me some dignity, and that was the trouble with him.
How was I meant to keep my fake fiancé at a distance when he kept rescuing me?
He’d done it when I was caught under rubble.
Today, he’d done it again. Had Dagger known my father’s words did far more damage than being trapped in a bombed-out building had?
It was a wound I’d had since childhood. One that wasn’t visible but cut deeper than any knife.
I’d told Dagger I didn’t miss the person I became when I was here. What I’d left out was why. He’d sensed it, though. Or maybe he saw it. Maybe everyone did. Did they all think I should stand up to the man who thought so little of me?
I opened my bedroom door and went in. Dagger followed and shut it behind him.
“I need an hour,” I said. “Let me get my notes together before I brief you. I don’t want to leave anything out.”
“No.”
I turned to face him. “Did you say no?”
“You’re going to talk to me now, before you get the chance to convince yourself that you shouldn’t.”
“Too late.”
He half smiled. “I guess you’ll have to listen, then.”
I opened my mouth, but closed it when he pressed two fingers to my lips.
“First, we’re going to talk about last night.”
“There’s nothing to talk about,” I said when he dropped his hand.
“There bloody well is, Maelle. What you need to know more than anything else is that it took every ounce of willpower I possessed not to bring you into the room and make love to you.”
I snickered. “Make love? That’s—”
He crowded me and put his arm around my waist, bringing me closer to him.
“I know you can feel me, mon feu, like you could last night. When I’m with you—hell, even when I’m not—I’m in a perpetual state of arousal. Make no mistake about how much I want to make love to you.”
I waited, not wanting to say all the horrible things to him that were rolling through my head. All of it was meant to hurt him, but why? He didn’t deserve my ire. My father did.
“Are you listening to me?” he asked.
When I nodded, he sat on the bed and pulled me down beside him.
“I want more than a night. I want more than a week of nights, or a month of them. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
This time, I shook my head. “Tu es fou et tu mens.”
His nostrils flared, and his mouth set in a hard line. “I couldn’t understand your words, but I know they weren’t nice. If you’re going to insult me, say it in English so I can experience the full effect.”
“You’re crazy, and you’re a liar. Are you happier now that you know what I said?”
“I’m neither of those things. I’ve never said anything remotely close to that to any other woman. And, with the exception of when it’s necessary for a mission, I don’t lie, Maelle. I’m upfront about expectations, or lack of them.”
“I will be upfront as well. I am not interested in more than a night. All I wanted was to experience the sexual prowess of the great Dagger Curran. Nothing more.”
“So that was enough for you?”
“Oui.”
I raised my chin when he studied me.
Several seconds passed with neither of us speaking. Finally, he stood. “If that’s true, know this. If I ever touch you again outside of what’s required for this mission, it will be for one reason only.”
I folded my arms in front of me and looked up at him. “What reason would that be?”
“If you beg me to.”
I scoffed. “That will never happen.”
When he stalked out of the room, I stayed on the bed and put my head in my hands.
I didn’t believe things would be any different for us than they had been for every other woman he’d fucked.
I couldn’t. I had no doubt my mother believed every word my father said when he was seducing her.
Once they were married, he moved on to his next conquest. What I didn’t know was why he’d wanted to marry her in the first place.
Perhaps even then he worried about an heir to carry on the Valais family legacy.
If that were the case, the joke was on him. Their only child was a girl, and while she—I—would inherit the property and everything on it, the man who would be in control of the domaine had already been born. Rémy was the son my father never had.
For years, I told myself I didn’t resent him for it.
That it wasn’t his fault. But being here at Valais after such a long absence, I felt things I’d never allowed myself to before.
The vineyards and wine business my ancestors held stewardship for were as much mine to manage as they were Rémy’s.
And while I’d never allowed myself to imagine spending my life here before, I was starting to.
What made the fantasy all the more ridiculous was that, when I closed my eyes and pictured where I’d be ten years from now, Dagger was the man by my side.
The foolishness of it would make me laugh if the regret didn’t hurt so much.
I’d lied when I told him I wanted to get my notes together before I briefed him. The truth was there was nothing in the invoices, deposits, or payment records that linked Valais to Géraud. At least nothing apparent.
My search had been cut short when Rémy returned far earlier than anticipated.
I’d heard the car stop on the driveway near the building and had the drawer closed before he was through the door.
“What are you doing in here?” he’d asked.
“I thought I’d get a start on learning more about the business. What about you? You said you’d be gone until dinner.”
“My meeting ran shorter than I anticipated.”
“By several hours?” I pressed.
“It happens,” he said with a shrug.
“I used to spend hours in this office with my father. He didn’t think I understood anything about the business of running a winery, but I paid far more attention than he realized.
” I put my hand on the binders on the shelf beside me.
“For example, the invoices from vendors are still kept in the same place they’ve always been.
I see we have a new cork supplier. We’ve had the same one for at least two hundred years. Why the change?”
“We still have the original supplier. Given the shortage of cork around the world, we decided it was prudent to have more than one source.”
“That makes sense,” I said. It did. I wrote the name of the second supplier down anyway.
I’d left him in the office and was about to return to the house when he asked me to join him in the tasting room. Moments later, my father and Dagger arrived, and now, here I was, sitting in my childhood bedroom, not knowing what to do about any of what was happening around me.
My father was somehow connected to Géraud, but figuring out how wouldn’t be as easy as I thought.
My precious mother had a life-threatening illness and had been putting off the treatment she needed to survive. What would have happened if I hadn’t come? I couldn’t allow myself to think about it. I was here, and that was what mattered.
And then there was Dagger. I’d been drawn to him since the first time I saw him.
How could I not be? He was better looking than any man I’d ever known, with a body that exuded power.
And when he looked into my eyes, it took every ounce of strength I possessed to keep from lusting after him like the two women in the tasting room earlier.
Thankfully, it hadn’t taken long for him to show his true colors.
He flirted with every woman who set foot in Minerva and had bedded most of them.
I soon learned his reach went far beyond our headquarters.
Women in Lausanne asked where he was when a few of us went out for dinner.
I recognized the dreamy look in their eyes when they said his name, and knew, without question, he’d had sex with them too.
My father had aged since I last saw him, but when they weren’t looking at Dagger, every woman in the Caveau stared at him. I watched as he made his way through the crowd, kissing ladies’ hands, being the charming and delightful French winemaker I’d seen him be all my life.
Dagger was no different. He might say he wanted more than a night with me, but whether it was a week or a month or longer, he’d eventually get bored and start looking at other women.
I wouldn’t be able to bear it.
Not knowing what else to do and needing to think about anything other than Dagger, I went in search of my mother.
She wasn’t in her room, but I found her a few minutes later, following the laughter to the solarium. The next thing I heard was Dagger’s voice.
“She’s the most capable person I’ve ever met,” he said. “I’ve told her so. She doesn’t believe me. Or she doesn’t believe I mean it.”
I peeked around the corner. The two were sitting side by side with their backs to the door.
“Not yet,” my mother said. “But she will listen to how you say it. If you don’t stop, she’ll eventually accept your words as truth.”
“I don’t intend to give up.”
“Bien.” Maman patted his hand. “You will be a good husband to my daughter.”
“It’s my greatest desire to be.”
From where I stood, I could see Dagger lean forward and rest his elbows on his knees. “Tell me about her,” he said.
Maman was quiet for a few moments, then she smiled.
“When she was barely a teenager, I saw her on her way out to the vineyards, carrying a pruning knife. When I caught up with her and asked what she intended to do, she said, ‘That should be obvious.’ She held the blade up so I could see it. When I told her it was too big for her, that it was made for a man’s hands, she scoffed. ”
“What did she do next?”
“I can’t remember how, but I convinced her to return it to where she’d found it and come inside.”