She nodded miserably, drawing a shuddering breath.

Kaiser sat down in the chair behind her with a deep sigh. "Heidi, I'm sorry."

His apology made her sob harder.

"I just...I want you to trust me. And this..." He pulled her skirt down, putting his arms around her waist and resting his cheek against her aching bottom. "Is not the way to get you to do that, is it?"

He stood, unlocking the door and walking to the window.

"Go, Heidi. Go find your friend and see if you can make some sort of explanation."

She stood on wobbly legs, wiping at her tear-stained face with her palms. "Kaiser, please...don't send me away..."

"Please." He waved her out, looking disgusted. She had never heard him use the word please before. Ever. "Go."

Reluctantly, she went.

"Lenny, I'm at work!" she hissed into her cell, looking around to make sure Kaiser wasn't anywhere near. The models were all over back here in various states of undress and she had to weave her way through them like walking through a forest of tall flesh-trees.

"Yeah, you looked like you were working hard when you were leaning over Kaiser's desk with your skirt up-"

"You don't understand..." She hadn't found him after leaving Kaiser's office and his phone had just gone to voicemail.

"I understand perfectly," he snapped. "Forget the weird s.e.x stuff. I'm more worried about you selling your soul to the devil. Heidi, are you really going to let some scheming cow like Andrea Paxton steal your dreams?"

She opened the dressing room door and stepped into the hallway, gulping the fresher, less cloying air. "Maybe my dreams have changed."

"Heidi, I swear, if you don't do it, I will."

She froze, eyes wide, and actually pulled the phone away to stare at it for a moment, as if Lenny could see the shocked look on her face. She put the phone back to her ear and hissed, "You wouldn't dare!"

"Do you really think it was you I was coming to see today?"

"Lenny!" she gasped, covering her eyes with her hand. It was bad enough he'd walked into what he had-but what would have happened if he'd actually decided to spout off to Kaiser?

"So tell him," he urged, his voice more firm that she'd ever heard it. Was he serious? He couldn't be serious.

"Okay, okay!" she relented, praying he wouldn't call her on her bluff. "I will."

"You promise?"

She sighed, looking up at the sound of heels on the tile and saw Andrea coming down the hall. "I've got to go!"

Heidi ended the call, slipping her cell into her jacket pocket and standing up tall-as tall as she could manage-as Andrea approached.

"Where are my dresses?" the blonde inquired, frowning down at her.

"Your dresses?" Heidi scoffed.

Andrea rolled her eyes. "If you're going to accuse me of something, either do it or shut up."

Heidi turned and opened the dressing room door and Andrea followed, gasping when she saw the rack of her dresses lined up against the wall. The models would run her line last-the show finale-so they were untouched so far.

"G.o.d, they're amazing..." Andrea fingered the material, her eyes shining.

"I know." Heidi sighed.

The stage manager stuck her head in and called, "Fifteen minutes!"

"How do I look?" Andrea asked, moving left and right, fussing with her blonde curls, trying to see herself in one of the mirrors past a tall, brunette model. "I saw Carvel sitting down in front."

"Kaiser's there, too," Heidi reminded her hotly. "You know, the man whose company is showcasing your designs."

Andrea shrugged, giving her cheeks a pinch. "Gotta go where the money is."

"What does that mean?"

The blonde whirled and shook a finger at her. "You know why you'll never make it in this business?"

Heidi shook her head, swallowing hard.

"G.o.d, you are so naive!" Andrea threw up her hands, heading for the door. "If you'll excuse me, I have a career to go make."

The door closed behind her and Heidi stood next to the rack of dresses that should have been hers, her stomach churning, her eyes filling with tears.

"I can't watch this," Heidi murmured, pushing past one of the models who'd stepped into her path.

"What did you say?" The model was a tall redhead, her hair in tight auburn cornrows, her eyes painted up like b.u.t.terfly wings.

"Nothing," Heidi muttered, pushing into the hallway and standing there for a moment, undecided. Then, instead of heading toward the stage, she turned the other way and hurried toward the exit.

Kaiser's call came in on her cell when she got back to the office. She'd expected it earlier, but he probably had a.s.sumed she was backstage, working to make everything run smoothly.

"Heidi, where are you?" The noise was deafening. She could barely hear him.

"At the office," she replied, lying smoothly. "I had to fax Jean Patou the schedule in Paris. They need it by tomorrow morning. I thought that was more important..."

"Thank you," he said, and she heard the grat.i.tude in his voice. "The pre-show went without a hitch, Heidi. Thank you so much for all your hard work."

"You're welcome."

"I can barely hear you!" He was now yelling to be heard. "I'll see you in the morning, okay?"

He hung up without saying anything more and Heidi stood looking at the dozen red roses sitting on her desk, along with a similar thank you note, probably meant for her to see in the morning. Her sketchbook was there, too, open in the middle of her desk, and there as another note: These are beyond good. Please have patience. I hope I've earned your trust.

-K The fact was, she did trust him, more than he realized, more than he could ever know. Her entire life, her heart, battered and broken and still beating, rested in the man's hands. She was his, bent on her knees, humbled and surrendered, an open offering. He didn't know it, maybe he never would, but in Heidi he had found a woman who would follow him, wholly and without hesitation, wherever he decided to go, no matter what sacrifices she had to make.

Chapter Nine.

"Adjoining rooms?" Heidi murmured. She looked up at Kaiser hopefully as the porter took their bags and said something in French she a.s.sumed meant "Follow me." Heading around the corner, he bypa.s.sed the elevators the other patrons were waiting for, sliding his key card into a different slot down the hallway. Heidi noticed people staring at them, whispering, probably wondering who in the heck the mousy girl going up in a private elevator to the Belle Etoile Suite at Le Meurice with Warren Kaiser really was.

Kaiser smiled indulgently as he waved her in. "It's an entire floor. Two, actually. I think we'll have plenty of room."

"Would you be needing the car this evening, sir?" The porter spoke perfect English to Kaiser, with just a hint of his Parisian accent.

"We'll be dining in." Kaiser slid his hand across the small of Heidi's back, rubbing, and she shivered, wondering at his real meaning. She was tired-an eight hour flight, even in first-cla.s.s, was exhausting, and while the Christian Dior travel-suit she was wearing was gorgeous and much more comfortable than it looked, she still wanted out of it. And even in spite of that, she couldn't resist the press of his hand, whatever his insistence might be.

The door opened and Heidi blinked in amazement, gaping. She couldn't help it. Being aware of the vast expanse of Kaiser's money in New York-the clothes he purchased her, the lunches they took, the amenities he could afford-was entirely different than experiencing his wealth somewhere like Paris. Here, lavish wasn't just impressive, it was stupefying. She stood there with stars in her eyes, only moving forward propelled by the firm pressure of Kaiser's hand on her back.

Then she found her feet, flying from room to room to room...to room! Bedrooms, living room, sitting room, the bathroom was beyond magical-a gallery of black and white Italian marble with an enormous round tub as its centerpiece. If she hadn't seen the terrace, she might have peeled her clothes off right there, but Paris called her name and out she went, throwing the doors wide and breathing in the fresh air.

They were in the center of everything-the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe, even the Eiffel Tower made a distinctive appearance like a sculpture of steel lace in the distance. It was a dream. She had to be dreaming. She had hit her silly head out on the beach tripping over Kaiser's outstretched feet and was just lost in her own personal version of the perfect fantasy, that's all. That had to be it.

"It's a bit ostentatious for me. I usually stay in a little chalet on the Seine." Kaiser slipped his arms around her waist from behind, his lips moving along her hairline. "But I thought you might like to be in the center of all the action."

"It's..." But there weren't words-Heidi spread her arms out to embrace the city, unable to express the magnitude of her feeling, and laughed.

"Besides, this view is incredible. There's nothing like a sunset in Paris."

"There's nothing like this," Heidi agreed, breathless. "I'll remember this forever. Forever and ever and ever."

"I hope there will be plenty more experiences like this for you." He smiled. "Some day, a room at Le Meurice will seem like a night in a youth hostel."

"I doubt that." She laughed, turning in his arms. She couldn't have imagined a more romantic setting, the sun sinking behind the Eiffel Tower behind them, his eyes full of warmth as he looked down at her. "I just want to thank you. A month ago, I was...nothing...I couldn't have imagined this."

"You were never nothing," he murmured, hugging her close. She felt his heart beating with hers and didn't ever want him to let her go. "Are you hungry?"

"Hungry, tired, dirty..." She went through the list with a groan.

"Let's work backwards." He chuckled. "Why don't you draw a bath?"

"In your tub?" she asked, incredulous.

"Our tub."

Did he mean it? Was she really staying here, with him? There was a bedroom on this floor with a huge accommodating bed, but two more below, and she was sure to be relegated to one of those. Surely...

"Will you join me?" she asked, her eyes hopeful.

He smiled. "I'll shower and order dinner. You go get clean."

The Italian marble bathtub felt deep enough to swim in, and she left the overhead lights off and watched Paris come to life through the nearly person-high windows that surrounded her. Kaiser lit a candle before he stepped into the adjacent shower and she lazily washed her hair and shaved her legs, staring at the Eiffel Tower, sure she must be dreaming.

"I'm dreaming," she murmured to Kaiser as he came in, dressed again for dinner. He helped her out of the tub, rubbing her dry with the thickest towel imaginable. Her hair was still wet when he handed her a silk robe.

"Don't you want me to dress?" she asked, sliding her arms into the slippery material.

"I prefer you undressed." He smiled. "But I don't think the staff would appreciate it."

"The staff?" She'd been so absorbed in the experience she had missed the delicious smells filling the suite. Now her stomach growled-loudly.

"Come to dinner." He led her on his arm just as if she was dressed to the nines instead of barefoot in a silk robe, and sat her at a completely set table. She blinked in surprise as he poured her a gla.s.s of champagne.

"Drinking too much of that on an empty stomach isn't such a good idea," she told him, taking a sip anyway, and he smiled.

"It won't be empty for long."

He couldn't have been more right. Their waiter brought out the amuse -a green pea gnocchi with onion emulsification. Heidi groaned as it melted in her mouth, a bright, airy pasta in a sweet, b.u.t.tery foam. After that, she lost track of the courses, but they came, and they came, and oh G.o.d, they came again!

The asparagus was perfect in citron lavender vinaigrette with scallop and vanilla quenelles. A perfectly cooked sea ba.s.s came out looking smart in his green jacket of wilted spinach, a dazzling display with an even more stunning flavor. There was chicken breast with pommes de terre, and veal with risotto, gold leaf and morels in a veal reduction.

And the cheese! Oh, the cheese! Kaiser fed her piece after piece, each flavor more delightful than the last, and when dessert came and she thought she couldn't possibly eat another bite, it was a light and refreshing-roasted pineapple with meringue, followed by pet.i.te fours, a perfect a.s.sortment of vanilla madeleines, chocolate truffles, Normandy tartlets, lemon macarons and almond tuiles.

The waiter and chef both came out for a two-person standing ovation and Heidi even kissed the laughing chef on both cheeks and hugged him like a long-lost brother.

"Now, to bed," Kaiser said, draining the last of his after-dinner brandy.

"The dishes," she said, standing and taking them automatically, always willing to serve. He smiled, grabbing her hand and forcing the plate back to the table.

"Someone else will clean up."

"But-"

Kaiser rolled his eyes and smacked her bottom, pointing to the bedroom. "Go!"

That language she understood and, grinning, scurried off to the bedroom, Kaiser not far behind her.

"Climb up," he directed.

The bed was enormous, the mattress much softer than she was used to. It was like sinking into a cloud as she stretched out on her back, nude, watching Kaiser remove his tie.

"Hands above your head."

She obliged as he knelt beside her, using his tie to restrain her, the silk softly tightening over her wrists. The headboard was smooth wood with nowhere to tie her, so he left her hands above her head, telling her to stay that way and trusting she would. Of course she would.

"Spread your legs." They were already halfway there. "Now, pull your knees back."

She went to use her hands to hold her legs and realized she wasn't allowed, so she pulled her legs slowly back, a position she knew wouldn't be easy to hold for long. Kaiser's gaze fell between her thighs as he unb.u.t.toned his shirt and peeled it off, moving to settle himself between her legs.