Page 20 of Maximum
CHAPTER6
Pierre
Maximum
I sensed Fleur’s tension when she gave a stiff smile to Pierre. I sized him up and read his signals much like the leopard in the photo behind us would if any competitor entered its territory.
“My God, you look even more beautiful than when I last saw you.” Pierre moved in and hugged Fleur.
I instantly disliked his French accent as much as I disliked the way his hand fell to the small of her back.
“Pierre, let me introduce you to my fiancé, Maximum.”
Not even the lie in Fleur’s words could overshadow the satisfaction I felt from seeing his shocked face.
“Hello.” I stretched out my hand with a confident smile, pretending that I didn’t know who he was. “Are you one of Fleur’s friends?”
“I’m her husband.” He spoke almost without moving his lips.
“Ex-husband,” Fleur corrected him.
Pierre’s face flamed red as he pinned Fleur with an intense stare. “You didn’t tell me you met someone else.”
“I didn’t think it was any of your business,” she retorted, her neck turning red as well. There sure was a lot of resentment on her part; I remembered River’s words that Fleur’s divorce had been so ugly that it caused her to move to a different part of the world and give up on men altogether.
For that reason alone, I scowled at Pierre thinking to myself,Thanks a lot, you fucker.
“None of my business…” As he repeated Fleur’s hostile words, Pierre folded his right hand into a fist. He was shorter than me but looked fit. Fleur hadn’t mentioned anything about his having violent tendencies, but I was already scanning our surroundings to decide which direction I’d throw him in if he touched her.
Feeling no pity for this fool, I played my part and placed an arm around Fleur, loving how she leaned into me and held on to my waist. “If it makes you feel better, Fleur didn’t tell me much about you either, except…” I trailed off with my eyes landing on her belly. “Well, she mentioned she’d been married for years but it didn’t result in children. That’s why we’re so excited about the baby.”
Fleur gasped and whipped her head in my direction.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that,” I apologized to her before speaking to Pierre. “It’s still early and Fleur prefers to wait with the good news.”
“You’re pregnant?” Unlike what I’d expected there was a softness to his tone that confused me.
Swallowing hard and hesitating, Fleur finally gave a small shake of her head. “No.”
Pierre clearly didn’t believe her. His left hand went to his hair with his receding hairline and then he looked from one side to the other. “I need something to drink.”
“There’s a buffet upstairs.” Fleur pointed to the staircase made in the same light polished concrete as the floor.
When Pierre left us, she pulled me in the other direction, out of the gallery and to a street corner, before she confronted me.
“Why would you tell him I was pregnant?”
“To send him packing, of course. If he thinks we’re having a baby, he’ll know that we’re serious about each other.”
With a groan, she leaned her neck back. “That won’t stop him. Pierre always wanted a child.”
“Surely not another man’s child.”
“That part doesn’t matter to him. When we learned he was infertile he suggested we should use a sperm donor. Trust me, a child in my belly will only be a bonus to him.”
“Hey.” I pulled her into my arms. “It doesn’t matter what he wants. He blew his chance and now you’re with me. That’s all he needs to know.”
“We should have never lied.” She sighed and looked away.
