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Brigitte flashed her brother an accusing glance. "Mark my words, Jean-Jacques, your stupid Gallic pride is going to be your ruination."

Unable to abide her remarks because they were trampling over his bleeding wounds, he lifted Paul from his shoulder. By the time had made the transfer to her arms, Nicole had reached them.

"Joyeux Noel, everyone. These presents are for your family." She handed her packages to Claude, kissing him and Brigitte on both cheeks, then the baby.

When she lifted her head, she darted Jean-Jacques a glance devoid of emotion. Her eyes no longer reflected her usual joy. The drastic change in her demeanor, especially during this Christmas season, sent a chill through his body.

"If you two don't mind, I'd like to speak to Jean-Jacques for a few minutes. I promise I won't keep him long."

"No problem. We'll see you later." Brigitte shot Jean-Jacques a final fierce glint of disapproval before walking away with her husband and little Paul.

Once they'd gone, he turned to Nicole. "I assume you came to mass with your parents. I'll run you to the villa in my car. It's behind the back of the cathedral."

By tacit agreement they headed in that direction, forming part of the throng of people dispersing from the square. She said nothing and held herself apart from him. Even though this was the most holy of nights for locals and their families, there were still journalists hanging around for a chance sighting of her.

On cue the flashes started popping. A half-dozen video-cam artists followed their progress to the car, shouting at her to make a comment. With regal grace she ignored them as if they didn't exist. Still, it was a relief to get her inside and drive away.

He knew how much she hated the paparazzi. It was testimony of her determination to talk to him that she would face the media's scrutiny without Dominic or her parents nearby to offer protection.

I've always made you walk the gauntlet, haven't I, Nicole. But after tonight, no more.

One glance in the rearview mirror told him the press hounds were in hot pursuit. But he knew they couldn't follow his car inside the gates of the Giraud estate. Pressing on the accelerator, he headed there with tires squealing around the hairpin turns as they wound up the hill. Fortunately, Nicole had ridden on the back of his bike too many times to be nervous. In fact right now she seemed impervious to her surroundings. But he knew inside that beautiful skin of hers, tension had been building. She was ready to explode. So was he. The pain had to end.

The guard at the gate immediately recognized them and ushered him on through. Jean-Jacques drove beyond the fountain to the west end of the villa near a stand of dark cypress trees. It was the one place where they could have total privacy, yet Nicole would still be safe from him. Right now he was going to have to lie through his teeth.

He knew what she was going to say, so he decided to save her the trouble. Without looking at her he said, "After the way I left Vence, not to mention the way I've behaved since I've been back, I don't blame you for coming after me for an apology. No person deserves one more than you do, so I'll be blunt.

"As long as I lived in Vence, you were always a temptation, but not the sole meaning of my existence. After I moved to Paris, I discovered other women who had the same effect on me. When Dominic asked me to come back and head the company, I was flattered and thought it was what I wanted. But I was wrong. Paris has more distractions than I thought, so I've resigned from the company."

"I know. My father told me." To his shock he heard her door open. He jerked his head around in time to see her get out of the car. She leaned down so their eyes would meet. Hers held a mixture of indescribable hurt and anger. "I expected honesty from you tonight, but it's just not in you." Her voice trembled. "He told me about the scholarship."

Jean-Jacques's worst nightmare had come true. Sickness welled up inside him.

"I don't blame you for taking what was offered. You now have what you never thought could be yours. Don't resign because of me. I'll never come near you again. But I have to tell you that if I'd known about this before you left Vence, I would have whispered, 'Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.' One day there may be a price to pay. I hope not. Adieu."

"Un moment!" Jean-Jacques called out as he threw the last pair of socks in his suitcase. The knocking at the door continued. He'd refused to answer any phone calls. In frustration Brigitte must have told Claude to come over, hoping his brother-in-law could talk him into spending Christmas day with them. But he wasn't fit for company, not even his own.

Damn Dominic to hell for flying to Paris and talking him into coming back home. He knew how Jean-Jacques felt about Nicole. Dominic knew a lot more than he ever let on. That's what made him so remarkable. Until he'd allowed him to believe something that wasn't true, there probably wasn't a man outside of Jean-Jacques's father he admired more.

He still couldn't understand why Dominic hadn't asked him to take the position in New York. None of it made any sense. As for Nicole, last night's devastating encounter outside the villa wrote the end of their history. That one last withering adieu from her lips had said it all.

The knocking persisted. As long as it was Claude, Jean-Jacques didn't care if he hadn't shaved and was only wearing a pair of well-worn jeans. When he jerked the door open, his eyes narrowed in disbelief to see Nicole standing there in a two-piece suit the shade of hyacinths. She smelled like a garden of tea roses opened by the sun, and she looked so breathtaking, he thought he was hallucinating.

He couldn't take any more. "Unless it's a case of life or death, I don't know what would bring you to this door."

"This is life and death. I just talked to Dominic. May I come in, please."

There was an element in her voice and mien that convinced him she was serious. His heart did a violent kick. He stepped aside. As she moved past him into the mess he'd made of the living room with all his stuff still to be packed, he heard her breath catch. Her emotions had risen to the surface. Something traumatic had happened. He prayed it wasn't bad news. Nicole idolized her brother.

After closing the door, he leaned against it and folded his arms, not knowing what to expect, yet fearing the worst. She drew close to him. "Jean-Jacques —"

He shook his head. "What, Nicole? Tell me —" he cried softly in alarm.

To his shock, she got down on both knees and grasped his left hand. Looking up at him with her heart in her eyes she said, "I love you with all my mind, body, and soul. I've loved you all my life. I don't remember a time when I didn't. This morning Dominic told me you loved me. He said that's why you went away.

"Now that you're back, would you do me the honor of marrying me? You're the man I want to be the father of my babies. You're the man I want to walk through the flowers with until the day we die. Please say yes.

"I already have a job, and so do you as CEO. I also have a home my dear grandfather willed to me. You've seen it. That lovely villa in Antibes, which is close enough to both our jobs. It's waiting for us. I also have this silver ring from Morocco my grandmother gave to him at their wedding. He told me to give it to my husband one day. It was meant for you, no one else. Will you let me put it on you? Please let me," she implored him. "Then promise me you'll never take it off."

Jean-Jacques couldn't move, couldn't breathe. His vision blurred from tears he couldn't fight. When he felt the warm metal from her hand slide home on his ring finger, an enormous weight seemed to leave his body.

"Nicole —" he cried, joining her on the floor, pulling her on top of him. "Mon amour."

He covered her feverish face with kisses. "Je t'aime." He kissed her mouth. "Je t'adore." He kissed her eyes and nose. "I love you. Dear God, how I love you. I love you. I can't think what I've done to deserve you, but I've always wanted you for my wife. Yes, I'll marry you. I love you. I swear I'll love you to the day I die."

She put a finger to his lips. "Let's never talk about dying again, not when it's time to live. Really live." She kissed his mouth hungrily. "I want to get married as soon as we can. We'll tell the priest it's an emergency. If he gives us any trouble about not waiting for the banns, Dominic will fix it. He fixes everything. He was the mastermind behind that ghastly scholarship that took you away from me," her voice throbbed. "But I forgive him because he brought you back to me."

"On my way to Paris I figured he'd orchestrated everything," he murmured against her throat where her scent was the sweetest. "He knew when I hadn't proposed to you by the time I'd reached 25, I wasn't after your money. He also heard I was leaving Vence to go to college in Lyon."

She gasped. "You never said a word to me."

"I was afraid to, mignonne. Your power over me was too great. If you'd begged me not to leave, I probably wouldn't have. But without more education, I would never have worked up enough courage to ask Nicole Giraud, of all women, to marry me.

"Dominic understood me better than I did myself. When he heard through gossip about my plans, he devised a plan of his own to send me to Paris. I went with it because Paris was farther away from home. I wouldn't be tempted to come back on weekends to be with you."

"If only I'd known," she moaned. "I would have found a teaching job in Paris so we could be together all the time!"

"I wouldn't have let you, mon amour. My plan was to pay back your father every franc so I wouldn't be beholden to your family. By that time, if you were still free, I hoped to find a job elsewhere and ask you to marry me. Then I saw that photograph in the paper and thought you were getting married. My heart died that day, Nicole. It was the only reason I said yes when Dominic offered me the job. If I couldn't have you, I could at least come home to Vence."

"Bless him for deceiving you." She gave him another passionate kiss. "He knew all along our wedding was going to happen. Do you know I'm marrying the most exciting Frenchman on the planet?"

"That is true, cherie," he said very seriously to provoke a response. She didn't disappoint him.

"You're horrible," she teased, before they both chuckled. "Swear to me you won't ever change. Always be my Jean-Jacques," she begged before they lost all sense of time and place in each other's arms.

"I am a horrible man," came his admission some time later, after he'd grudgingly released her mouth so she could breathe. "I never let another guy get near you. I was too possessive. Those five years away were part penance for my sins."

"The other part you'll have to pay for by never letting me out of your sight again. By the way, Dominic made me temporary CEO until you withdraw your resignation. Since I don't have it in writing yet, I'm ordering you to take a long honeymoon."

Low laughter rumbled out of him as he reversed their positions. "He's a man after my own heart. Where does my fetching bride-to-be want to go?" Looking down at her, he could drown in her gorgeous brown eyes.

"Anywhere you are. Merry Christmas, my darling."

After a sharp intake of breath, he gathered her to him and clung. "I think I'm too happy, Nicole."

"You only think? That sounds like a true chemist talking," she whispered into his neck. "I guess this means we'll have to undergo hundreds of experiments to test your theory."

Her mind was as exciting as her body, which was having too powerful an effect on him. He still couldn't believe his fantasy woman was going to be his wife! "More like thousands and thousands. Come closer and we'll get started on our first one…."

The End