Page 66 of Prelude To You

“Mr. Belmont?”

I swung around. One of the concierges was standing before me. He’d been with the hotel for years.

“Yes,” I said, somewhat dazed by my decision to not go chasing after Isabel.

“Sir, if you’re looking for the woman who was with you earlier…”

“Do you know where she is?” I asked, maybe too intensely because the concierge regarded me with a worried look.

“She left the hotel a minute or two ago,” he said. “Maybe she’s still outside?”

I mumbled a sincere thank-you as I headed for the exit. There were stares from the staff as they watched the usually very composed heir to the empire make a frantic dash outside to find the mysterious beauty who’d graced his side earlier.

The first thing I noticed outside was the biting chill, even if it was still early in the evening. It horrified me that Isabel was out here with nothing to protect her from the cold. That dress of hers was but a kiss and a promise, as silk goes.

I scanned my surroundings, eyes hunting for Isabel. Frustration pushed up in my chest, constricting my throat. Didn’t I just decide to let her go, to protect her from big bad me? I had to get it together.

A valet waved at me and pointed toward the big lawn. The one she’d descended earlier while dancing to an imaginary tune.

And there she was, her delicate silhouette accentuated by a sliver of moon flickering through the clouds. Shoes once again in hand, she made her escape, as gracefully as anyone could while barefoot on the lawn.

I couldn’t imagine how cold she was in that flimsy dress. I unbuttoned my jacket and took it off as I sprinted after her. “Isabel!”

She turned around in her step, but instead of waiting for her hero to rescue her from the harsh elements, she continued walking. A little faster this time.

For fuck’s sake. She was going to make me run after her. How like her to fight this tooth-and-nail. Not that I blamed her for a single second.

The distance between us shrank until I finally caught her by the waist, drew her to me and draped my jacket over her bare shoulders. She was shivering, and it wasn’t clear whether it was from the cold. Or me.

She looked up, her features stained with conflict. “Let me go, please,” she said.

“No. Where are you going?” Despite my earlier thoughts of being a nobleman and letting Isabel escape to safety, I completely reversed course and decided she’d be safer with me. For now.

She glared at me, but made no move to flee. Instead she settled into the warmth of my jacket and my arms. “I left my phone in the car coming over here,” she said, “And I can’t remember Meg’s number off the top of my head. So I can’t call her and Felix to come get me. I was going to the nearest bus stop. Long story short, I was going home.”

“The hotel has a car service,” I said. “At least let me arrange a ride home for you.”

“Thank you, but that’s not necessary,” she insisted. “I have a bus pass.”

“I’m simply not going to allow you to venture into the night like this, Isabel.”

Her glare continued uninterrupted, now accessorized by a solemn pout. At least she didn’t object to my holding her close. “It’s a goddamn wonder how I survived without you for twenty-five years,” she said.

She was twenty-five years old. Something I didn’t even know. It was strange that I didn’t know the most basic things about this woman who inadvertently held the power to change the course of my life. The fact that I had to get a grip on this whole situation wasn’t lost on me.

Put her in a car and send her home, where she’ll be safe and far away from you.

I just wanted to know that she’d be okay, and that I could live with my decision to never see her again. But there was nothing assuring about this all-consuming feeling. Its unrealistic and magical overtones dwelled inside me, finding empty spaces to fill.

Her eyes glinted in the hotel’s lights, a thousand questions begging to be answered. And I couldn’t answer one of them. “Isabel, about what I said earlier…”

“Let me guess, it’s you, not me?” she said, clearly trying to muster a show of defiant composure.

“Yes,” I said. “Something like that. I could have explained better, but it’s complicated. The fact is, you’re absolutely right. It’s not you.”

“Which tells me absolutely nothing,” she said. “What do you want from me?”

I poured all the gentleness I could into my petition. “I want you to come to the auction with me, please. That’s all.”

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