“Miss Coulter.”
“Yes.” Responding instantly to the command in Jonas’s voice, Stephanie appeared in the doorway of her room.
“Lunch will be served in ten minutes.”
“I’ll be ready. I just need a few minutes to freshen up.”
“Of course.”
Stephanie doubted that he’d even heard her speak. He’d often given her that impression. Returning to her assigned room, she glanced in the mirror. Several tendrils of soft blond hair had escaped from the coil at the base of her neck. Rather than tuck them back, Stephanie pulled out the pins and reached for her brush. The blond length curled under naturally at her shoulders. When working in the office, she preferred to keep her hair up. It gave her a businesslike look and feel, and that was important around Jonas.
“Miss Coulter.”
Taking her brush with her, Stephanie moved into the large central room where Jonas and Adam were waiting.
“Yes?”
For a moment, the room went still as Jonas caught her gaze. Their eyes met and locked. His deep blue eyes narrowed, and an expression of surprise and bewilderment flickered across his lean face. Something showed in his eyes that she couldn’t define—certainly not admiration, perhaps astonishment, even shock. His mouth parted slightly as if he wanted to speak, then instantly returned to a stern line.
Adam Holmes’s face broke into a spontaneous smile as his lingering gaze swept her appreciatively from head to toe. “I don’t think I realized how attractive your secretary is, Jonas.”
The muscles in Jonas’s jaw looked as though they were cramped. He ran an impatient hand through his hair and turned to reach for his briefcase.
“You wanted me?” It was hard to believe that breathless voice was hers. She sounded as though she’d been running a marathon. She couldn’t be attracted to Jonas. He was the last person in the world she wanted to have any romantic feelings for. Normally she was a levelheaded person, not the sort who let her emotions carry her away. Not that Jonas Lockwood was worthy of a moment’s consideration. He was arrogant and...
“We’ll meet you downstairs.” He interrupted her thoughts, his voice cool and unemotional.
“I’ll be there in a minute.”
“Take your time,” he said, doing his best to avoid her.
She turned to go back into her room, but not before she caught the darting look Adam Holmes gave them both, disbelief etched clearly on his smooth, handsome features.
After closing the door, Stephanie sank onto the end of the bed. There must be some virus in the air for her to be thinking this way about Jonas Lockwood. For a moment, she’d actually found him overwhelmingly, unabashedly appealing. She’d actually been physically attracted to him. She shook her head at the wonder of it. She was playing right into Jan’s and the other gals’ hands. Jonas had noticed her as well—really noticed her. At least his comment when Adam complimented her wasn’t that “she was only a substitute.” A small smile tugged at the edge of her mouth. Maybe, just maybe, Jonas Lockwood didn’t have a heart of ice after all. Perhaps under that glacial front there was a warm, loving man. The thought was so incongruous with the mental picture she held of him that Stephanie shook her head to dispel the image. Without wasting further time inventing nonsensical fantasies about her employer, Stephanie finished styling her hair and changed clothes.
Lunch passed without incident, as did the first series of meetings.
In bed that evening, Stephanie’s thoughts spun. They’d called it an early night, but she wasn’t able to sleep. The most beautiful city in the world lay at her doorstep, and she would be tied up in meetings for the entire visit. Sitting up, she wiped a hand across her face. She was undecided. They would only be in Paris another two nights. If this was to be her only opportunity, she’d take it now.
Dressing silently, she slipped the hotel key into her purse and carefully tiptoed across the carpet, letting herself out.
Since their hotel was in an older section of the city, she caught a taxi and instructed the friendly driver to take her to several points of interest. He escorted her through Les Halles, the mammoth central food market, which had once been located on the north of the river, but had been moved to Rungis, in the suburbs of Paris.
From there, the talkative cabby drove her past Notre Dame cathedral, pointing out the sights as he went. But Stephanie barely heard him. Her thoughts were focused on that moment in the hotel room earlier in the afternoon when Jonas had looked at her for perhaps the first time. Her hands grew clammy just thinking about it. At the time, she’d been flippant. Now she was profoundly affected. Just remembering it caused her pulse to react. In those brief seconds,