Chapter 4 #2
Kara felt the blush that climbed up her neck and face. She traveled on the very outer edges of this sophisticated crowd, but she wasn’t jaded. She never had been.
“Leave her alone, Elvira.”
“Querido, have your tastes changed so drastically?”
“Not at all,” he said.
“Then how can you be with…”
“She’s the woman I’ve been waiting for, Elvira. A woman worth marrying.”
Gui led her away from the other woman and out the front door where Vincent had a Rolls-Royce waiting for them.
They climbed in the backseat without saying a word, but Kara’s mind was busy with the thought that there were worse pains than embarrassment, and if she didn’t watch herself around Gui, she might end up with a broken heart.
The apartment that Gui kept in Manhattan was on Park Avenue and overlooked Central Park.
He’d had it for years and had always thought that he had the best there was in the city, but Kara’s place was lovely.
There was something very fresh and American about her decor and the feeling he got when he stepped over the threshold.
She put her handbag on a table in the foyer before leading the way into a well-appointed den.
There were floor-to-ceiling bookcases along three walls, and three overstuffed chairs and a large leather couch grouped together in front of a large walnut desk.
The executive chair behind it was leather, to match the sofa.
The desk had a laptop on it and two picture frames.
He wondered whose photos she kept on her desk.
“Have a seat, Gui.”
She walked around behind the desk and sat down. He bit the inside of his lip at her play for power.
Instead of sitting, he leaned one hip on the edge of her desk. Her den was one of the most relaxing rooms he’d ever been in. And he realized that there was something about Kara that brought a sense of peace to him.
Peace was something he rarely experienced. “Where should we start this discussion of ours?”
“I think at the beginning. Why did you say I was your fiancée?”
Gui pushed to his feet and paced around the room. He really had no explanation. He knew only that he had needed to change the dynamic between himself and Elvira. He hadn’t thought of the impact on Kara.
He stopped in front of a floor-to-ceiling window that looked out to the east. The lights of the city spread out before him.
It was a view he was used to—remote. He often felt a bit removed from life, except when he was working with the kids through his foundation.
He even kept a distance from his lovers.
“Gui? Is it true that she was the one woman you loved?” She’d given up her seat behind the desk to stand near him at the window.
“Where did you hear that?”
“From Katie. She works for the Celebrity Channel.”
He shook his head. “Don’t listen to gossip, Kara.”
“I don’t. That’s why I’m asking you. What’s between you and Elvira?”
“Ancient history.”
“Is it true you and she are lovers?”
“Kara, I said leave it be.”
“I can’t leave it be, Gui. She’s the reason you said we were engaged, and now my family and friends want to know if I’m going to marry you. And I have no idea what to say to them.”
“What do you want to say?”
She nibbled on her lower lip, reaching out to touch the glass. “A part of me wants to say yes, I am going to marry you. Which is silly, because I don’t know you. But I’m at the age where people—Okay, I’m starting to wonder if I’m ever going to be married.”
He turned to her then, knowing there was no backing down. Though he’d have done it if Kara had seemed to have more doubts.
“I never planned to marry,” he said, feeling the need to be totally honest. “I’m not sure that I’m husband material, but my life is at a point…”
“I understand. Mine is, too. If we went through with this, I’d want to set up some criteria for our relationship.”
“Why?”
“Because I could easily fool myself into falling for you, Count, and I’m not really into heartbreak.”
“Neither am I. I don’t want to hurt you, Kara. But love isn’t something that I believe in.”
“But you have such a close-knit family, surely you love them?”
“I have great affection for my sisters and for my brother and parents. But that’s not the kind of love you’re talking about.”
“No, it isn’t. I mean romantic love. What did you feel for Elvira?”
“Passion,” he said, feeling he owed her some kind of explanation. “Jealousy and obsession. It was a volatile relationship. And I’m not interested in experiencing that again.”
“Well, I’ve never stirred a man’s passionate nature,” she said. And he heard in her voice that hint of longing. He stared into her eyes, just inches below his. Sexy. “Gui?”
“Stop saying things like that. You stir passion very easily in me. It’s just not fueled by the darker emotions.”
“You stir me, too, Gui. That’s another reason why I’m contemplating this. I’ve never really been attracted to another man.”
“You are a virgin?” he asked, a part of him pleased to think of being the first man to have Kara.
She shook her head. “No, I’m not.”
He shook off the twinge of jealousy he felt toward her unnamed past lovers. He knew it was irrational. He’d had many lovers, but he wanted her to be as innocent as she looked.
“You aren’t either, right?”
He bit the inside of his lip to keep from smiling at the way she said that. “No, I’m not. I was simply inquiring because you said you hadn’t been attracted to another man.”
“Well, sex can be about something other than passion,” she said.
“No, it can’t. Passion is the only reason a man and a woman should share their bodies.”
“And you think we have passion between us?” she asked.
“I know we do,” he said, lowering his head to capture her lips and prove to her that passion was the one thing they could both agree they had between them.