Page 57 of Richard

“Turn around.” He had placed an exquisite square-cut diamond on her finger as soon as she walked through the door.

“I think it needs something extra.” She was wearing a clingy turquoise sweater over a short black velvet skirt. Knee-high boots completed the ensemble, and her hair was loose and crackling with life. Diamond knobs were at her lobes, and herlips glistened with the strawberry lip gloss she was wearing.

She was not big on wearing makeup, but with her complexion and skin tone, she didn’t really need it. He was finding it very difficult to believe that she was forty-two and had demanded to be shown her birth certificate.

“I feel like a dirty old man, along with a teenager," he told her gruffly.

Taking out an oblong-shaped box, he opened it to reveal a shimmering diamond necklace with a sapphire setting.

Collette stared at the stones dazedly before lifting her head to look at him.

“You are spoiling me,” she whispered lowly.

“That’s the plan.” Plucking it out of its velvet bed, he turned heraround so he could put it on.

“There, that’s better.” Her fingers touched the stones reverently and she felt the familiar lump clogging her throat. Her eyes, moistened with tears, met his own in the mirror as she leaned back against him. His arms came around her waist, his chin tucked on top of her head.

“I love you.”

His heart did a painful bump against his ribs, and for a few seconds, he could not speak.

“I adore you," he said gruffly. “And if you continue to look at me like that, we are going to be late for Mother’s dinner, and she hates tardiness.”

“Then we’d better go. Janice is being picked up?”

He nodded. “I sent a car for her.”

She turned to face him, her hands crawling up the softness of his black cashmere sweater. “When I saw you coming into the restaurant, I felt a twinge of apprehension.”

“Whatever for?” His thick brows winged up.

“I felt a sense of déjà vu. We were in a restaurant when I introduced her to Trevor, and I should have noticed how she was flirting with him. I wondered if–”

“I was the same as that spineless asshole.” A frown altered his expression, and she realized she had made him angry. “Do me a favor? Don’t ever compare me to that piece of garbage, or I am going to be pissed.”

She lifted a hand to his rigid jaw, her fingers gentle. “Never. It’s a residual of what I went through, never about you, hon. You are the best person I know. You have changed my life in so many ways that I feel my head spinning. I keep pinching myself tofind out if I am dreaming or if this is real.” Her eyes became luminous.

“You are nothing like him.”

His expression softened as he stared at her. She had changed his life so much he could hardly recognize himself. Lenny had remarked on the changes and congratulated “that lovely gal” for effecting it.

She was his entire world, and he wanted to give her everything.

“It’s not one-sided. And I warned you about looking at me like that," he said thickly. Lifting her chin up, he took her lips in a kiss that had her toes curling. She clung to him, her nipples growing taut and sensitive.

“We are going to be late, baby.” His heart was hammering, his body hot all over. “We shouldn’t have started anything. Oh sweetheart," he groaned as he stared at the parted lips, glossy from his kiss, and her limpid eyes.

“What you do to me!” He kissed her again before forcing himself to let her go. “You witch.” Releasing her, he went to get one of the brand-new cashmere jackets he had bought her.

*****

Janice stepped out of the limousine as soon as the driver opened the door for her and stood there in the biting cold, with her jacket wrapped around her as she stared at the luxurious setting in awe. It was an apartment, but unlike any she had ever seen, except in magazines. It was a stand-alone building surrounded by palm trees and poinsettias.

“This way, Miss.” The driver, wearing the traditional black uniform, guided her toward the heavy glass doors that opened as soon as she stepped toward it.

Ever since her sister had told her about the relationship and the upcoming wedding to one of the most powerful men in the music industry, she had been in a state of shock and envy. What had compounded it was the way the man had hovered around Collette, barely giving Janice a look.

A gasp escaped her as she stepped into the lofty foyer, the cream and blue décor taking her breath away. She was whisked toward the elevator with hardly any chance to look around.