Page 53 of Enthrall Secrets
Chapter 16
France
THE LIMO PICKED us up at 6:00 A.M. and we headed along the coastline.
Still sleepy from rising so early, snuggling against Danton’s side in the back of the car, my thoughts continued to cycle around to his illness. Somehow, someway, I knew we’d get through this.
I prayed we’d find a cure.
He stared out at the passing scenery with his usual sereneness and control. His hair was parted and a little messy, a dash of carefree artiness. He’d dressed in a black tailored Armani suit, and he looked as gorgeously intimidating as the first day I’d met him, with that five-o-clock shadow enhancing his confident edge.
He was always so dignified.
Before we’d left home, he’d stood me in the middle of the bedroom and dressed me, tugging a little black dress over my body and then easing on my new knee-high leather boots. All my outfits he’d had especially delivered to the house.
I’d styled my hair just how he liked it - long and sleek, my bangs straight across my forehead to highlight my blue eyes.
After sharing his devastating news a week ago, he’d carried on as though nothing had changed at all, and I suppose for him nothing had. My own world was in disarray, my emotions swirling like that stormy ocean to our right, the waves crashing onto the rocky shoreline as though reflecting the anger I felt, the unfairness of it all.
Why had life done this to me now? I’d just found my soul mate, only to have him ripped away from me. Life continued to show its cruelest hand. Still, I was going to stay. I wanted to be with him during this ordeal and nothing could stop me.
“I’ll go with you,” I whispered.
Danton shook his head as though rising from a trance, and then he smiled, his eyes crinkling.
“When you go in for your treatment,” I clarified. “I’ll be with you at the hospital.”
He gave me a sympathetic look.
Searching his face, I tried to fathom what he was thinking. His face wore that usual beautiful expression of serenity.
He stared out the window. “Aren’t you curious where we’re going?”
I followed his gaze. “Are we going out for breakfast?”
“Where would you choose to go above all?”
“Paris?”
Danton’s head fell back in a laugh. “Oui.”
“For the day?”
“Yes.”
I collapsed against him, planting kisses on his cheek. Our mouths met lusciously, our tongues tangling.
When I’d first arrived in France, that’s where I’d thought I’d be living. I’d had no idea I would be whisked away to an ocean side home, where I would be loved so deeply.
We smooched in the back of the car for the entire way, hugging and kissing and making each other laugh. The excitement of knowing I would finally see the City of Lights made me giddy. With Danton having grown up here, he’d know the best places to visit.
TheLouvre was our first stop.
The museum was breathtakingly beautiful, and it went on forever. Of course, Danton knew everything about it, sharing that it had once been a fortress, and now housed some of the most famous paintings in the world.
We bypassed the long line of tourists waiting to get in and entered through a secret door at the side, where we were met by a senior curator who was expecting us. Danton chatted with him a while and it turned out this man was an old school friend. Pierre offered to take us on a tour, but understood when Danton declined and told him we’d find our own way.
We walked through the long hallways and sprawling galleries, and I was mesmerized by the surrounding marble and ceiling murals - the ones framed in gold were hypnotically beautiful.
