Page 49 of Marriage Bargain with His Innocent
‘After all this time?’
‘Ten days. That’s not long. I... What is she up to? I... You know what I’m like... I want to make sure that she’s...okay. Naturally I would phone myself, but if she wants some time out...’ His voice tapered off.
‘That’s thoughtful of you, and you’ll be pleased to hear that she’s doing well, Matias. At least, that’s what she said when I spoke to her the day before yesterday.’
There was another brief moment’s hesitation, during which Matias jumped in, his voice irritable. ‘Good! Glad to hear that she’s doing well. Excellent!’
‘She was very excited before she went,’ Rose mused, ‘but I could detect a certain nervousness underneath the excitement. Understandable, of course...’
‘Went? Went where?’ His senses were suddenly on red alert, his brain whirring round and round as he tried to compute what that throwaway remark meant.
‘Did she not tell you? No, of course she wouldn’t have, if you two haven’t been in touch. Such a shame... I would have mentioned it to you, but, as I said, I felt that Georgina would tell you herself if she wanted you to know. Maybe she got the impression that you might not be interested?’
‘Mother, where did she go?’ Matias paused. Then, ‘I just want to make sure that everything’s all right with her.’
‘Because you usually leave a string of broken hearts behind you, Matias? Not in this case. Georgina made it absolutely clear thatshewas the one with the second thoughts.’
Matias couldn’t prevent an appreciative smile. He could just imagine the conversation. ‘Where is she? If she’s okay, then maybe I’m the one who isn’t.’ Something punched him in the gut, shaking his foundations.
‘Oh, Georgina’s taken a wonderful job,’ Rose confided. ‘She was offered it quite out of the blue... I think she was under the impression that most of the work would be done over here, but it turned out that they were so impressed with what they saw they invited her to go to Paris for a six-month secondment to work on a fabulous new magazine that’s about to hit the streets there. Provincial French cooking. She’s been asked to be the lead photographer. Such a great opportunity.’
‘Paris?Paris?’
‘I was a bit concerned as well, darling. You know our Georgie hasn’t travelled far and wide. But she introduced me to the lovely guy she’ll be working with...’
‘Lovely guy?’
‘Jacques something-or-other. Looks a little unconventional, but absolutely charming.’
‘Jacques something-or-other...?’ Matias gritted.
‘Are you feeling all right?’ Rose asked.
‘Never been better. Sit tight, Mother. I’m heading down to Cornwall. I’ll be there in a few hours.’
He didn’t give his mother any time to question the decision. He knew what he had to do and he knew why he had to do it.
Paris?
Jacques something-or-other?
Georgina was in a fragile place. He had turned her away, just as he had turned away every other woman who had dared venture into the forbidden territory of wanting more than he was programmed to give. He’d been too abrupt—had overlooked the fact that shewasn’tlike all those other hard-nosed women he had dated in the past. She wasn’t equipped to get past a broken relationship just by hitting the clubbing scene.
She’d been defiant and stood her ground, had denied every insinuation from him that she’d broken the rules of the game and fallen for him, but she had and she would be vulnerable. Vulnerable and in Paris. And that was a very bad combination, because vulnerable women had a way of appealing to just the kind of men they didn’t need.
Who the hell was this Jacques character anyway?
He needed to find out exactly where she was! And if she needed to be rescued then, by God, he wasn’t going to shy away from the task.
At last he was doing something. And he hadn’t felt this good in a while.
* * *
It was after ten by the time Georgina stepped out of the taxi. The past week had been a frenetic round of social events, because everyone at the smart Parisian publishing house had wanted to make her feel at home and she couldn’t have been more grateful.
She’d really needed this job—had yearned for the distraction it offered. She’d agreed to every term and condition and had been eloquent in persuading them that the sooner she was on board, the better. No sooner had the ink dried on the contract she had signed than she had been in Paris, ready to fling herself head-first into the commission—anything to lessen the pain of no longer having Matias in her life.
Accommodation had been found fast and everyone had gone out of their way to welcome her.
