Page 43 of Signed, Sealed, Married

She looked at his hand holding hers. ‘I reached the phone before him and saw it was filming us.’ Fire flashed in her gorgeous eyes as she raised her chin. It struck Adam that he’d never seen her look more magnificent. ‘He tried to grab it but in the scuffle I managed to knee him in the groin, hard. Then I pitched the phone over the terrace and into the sea.’ Gisèle’s eyes sparkled with satisfaction. ‘He had a cliffside house.’

Despite the dire story, Adam felt a grin spread across his face. She was some woman! He’d assumed her assailant had kept the recording. He’d probably been bigger and stronger than the seventeen-year-old girl he’d targeted. Nor would it have been surprising if shock had kept her from acting quickly.

‘Did you get away safely?’

He could imagine her assailant turning vicious.

Gisèle nodded.

‘I’m glad.’ The words barely conveyed his relief. He remembered Angela at seventeen. His sister had been a budding beauty but too ready to take people at face value. If something like that had happened to her... ‘Give me his name, Gisèle. I know you dealt with the situation. But scum like that need teaching a permanent lesson.’

Adam’s voice was gentle, like his hand on hers. But there was no mistaking his fury.

His nostrils flared, his mouth flattened and that marauder’s jaw clenched aggressively. With his dark stubble and hair long enough now to be tousled after she’d run her fingers through it, he’d never looked more like a pirate. And his eyes, they glittered wickedly as if envisaging terrible retribution.

The glimpse of his temper was spellbinding. She hadn’t told Julien about the event until years later, when Paul was well and truly out of her life. Her brother had been furious, taking what steps he could to ensure Paul never returned to her orbit. But she hadn’t felt the deep-seated thrill she experienced now, seeing Adam’s elemental protectiveness on her behalf.

Here was a man who’d be ruthless in defending those he cared for. Even those, like her, who weren’t dear to him, but who’d been wronged.

She couldn’t help but be warmed by his response.

‘There’s no need.’

Adam raised his eyebrows in query.

‘The next morning I visited his aunt. She’s a friend of my parents from the old days, someone I’ve known all my life, and a wealthy, powerful woman. Her nephew was, and I suspect still is, dependent on her for his job, home and prospects.’

Gisèle remembered the lines deepening on the older woman’s face as she told her what had happened.

Long fingers smoothed over hers in a slow, reassuring rhythm. ‘That took a lot of guts.’

Adam was right. She remembered with horrible clarity her lingering shock and nausea. The shame, even though she’d done nothing wrong. It had taken every bit of strength she had. Would she have dared to if Paul’s aunt hadn’t been a dear family friend?

‘It had to be done. If he did that to someone else later...’ It didn’t bear thinking about. ‘I never saw him again. She said he’d be punished and learn to treat women with respect. I believe if anyone could do that she could. As far as I know, and Julien has checked, he’s a better man than he was.’

Adam looked ready to argue.

‘I believe he’s been punished. I don’t want it opened up again. I want to put what happened behind me.’

She thought she had, until she’d seen Adam’s phone on the table and the past had rushed back in nauseating clarity.

His hard-hewn jaw flexed, but finally he nodded.

Another first. Adam Wilde pulling back from something he wanted out of respect for her wishes.

If nothing else, tonight was giving her a new perspective on the man she both desired and demonised.

Not much of the demon now, with him stroking your hand as if he believes you still need saving.

How would Adam react if he knew his attempt to comfort her was beginning to affect her in other ways?

Heat trickled through Gisèle, making her shiver. A shiver that had nothing to do with past distress. But Adam didn’t know that. She saw concern etched deep around his eyes.

‘Would you like to be alone? Should I leave?’ He lifted his hand and she was startled at how much she disliked the idea of him going.

‘No!’ She moistened dry lips. ‘That is, I don’t mean...’ She shook her head, infuriated to find herself having trouble expressing herself. She wasn’t a distressed teenager any longer. ‘If you—’

‘It’s okay, Gisèle. I know we won’t finish what we started tonight.’

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