‘I fell pregnant after our night together. My five year old son, Tristan, is your son, our son. He looks just like you, he has your dark hair and gorgeous brown eyes, with little flecks of my amber ones. Say something, please say something,’ I whispered, as tears started to roll down my face. I’d made a mistake, it was too soon. It was one thing saying you wanted children, quite another to find out you had one and had missed out on a large portion of his life.
‘I have a son? With you?’ he asked slowly, like he was testing the words in his own head.
‘Yes,’ I nodded as I let go of his face and reached up to wipe my eyes. I jumped as he grabbed my hands and dragged them away from my face.
‘You are not lying to me?’
‘No,’ I sniffed. ‘I returned to Paris when I was seven months pregnant, to try to find you. I didn’t expect anything from you, I just thought you had the right to know and I honestly hoped that you’d want to be a part of our lives, or his at least.’
‘I have a son.’ His fingers eased mine apart and slid between them as he clenched my hands tightly. ‘I have a son.’ He repeated louder.
‘We have a son,’ I confirmed with a nod, taking this as a good sign.
‘Nous avons un fils,’ he declared, as a huge grin spread across his face, making me laugh with relief. ‘I have many questions, many, many questions.’
‘I’ll answer them all,’ I nodded, my heart racing fast with the adrenaline of finally getting it out in the open. He laughed, released my hands, grabbed my face and kissed my forehead, then shocked me by leaping off the bed and racing out of the room. ‘Luc?’ I called. I heard him pounding down the stairs as I sat on the bed baffled. ‘Ok, so not exactly how I saw that going,’ I said to the empty room. I got up and grabbed my black shirt off the floor, shrugging it on as I padded across the room to venture out onto the landing. I looked over the bannister to see him taking the stairs back up, two at a time, stark naked. What the hell was he doing? I straightened up as he made it to the top, not even out of breath, grabbed my hand and dragged me back to the bed. He lifted me up, plonking me down in the middle, before jumping up to sit next to me.
‘Show me,’ he demanded, as he thrust my mobile into my hands. ‘You have pictures of him on your phone? Oui?’
‘Oui,’ I smiled, with a blush. So that’s where he’d hared off to. He looked as excited as Tristan did when it was our monthly zoo trip. All of my fears regarding whether Luc would want Tristan in his life suddenly evaporated, now I only had to worry about whether Tristan would want him in return. That was a whole other issue, one I wasn’t going to think about now.
I tapped in Tristan’s birthday to unlock my home screen, scrolled to my albums, opening the biggest one on there, all full of him, pressed slideshow and passed it over to Luc. They were in date order, from the moment I held him in my arms at the hospital, all the way up to yesterday, when I did a selfie of us pulling silly faces. I kept my gaze on Luc’s face as he stared at them, his eyes wide. He muttered something under his breath and reached up with his thumb and middle finger to wipe under his eyes as they filled with tears. I felt more starting to roll down my face and quietly got up and went in search of tissues in what I assumed was the en-suite, through the only other door in the room and found myself in an enormous empty space with another door opposite. I walked through there to find a luxuriously appointed en-suite, all in cream travertine, with two white Victorian porcelain sinks, toilet, bidet of course and chrome finishings. There was a huge rain shower head mounted on the ceiling, with a large glass panel protecting it from the rest of the room. I ran my hand over the magnificent carved stone, egg shaped bath, so cool and smooth to the touch. Luc had lovely taste. I grabbed some strips of toilet roll and sat on the edge of the bath, wiped my eyes and blew my nose. We needed to talk, when he’d calmed down. It wasn’t every day you told a woman you were in love with them, to find out she’d had your secret love child, let alone a child your wife was using in a blackmail scheme to ruin you. I had a feeling it wasn’t going to go down well. I reached up to caress my beautiful pendant and smiled. He loved me. Damn it, I was crying again. I looked up as I heard a noise, to find Luc striding towards me. Before I knew it I was in his arms, being held tightly against his chest, his face buried in my neck.
‘Il est parfait, he is totally perfect.’
‘Oui, c’est vrait,’ I confirmed, with a giggle. ‘Are you ok?’
‘I am a father.’
‘You’re not mad with me?’
‘Mad? Non,’ he replied, as he straightened up and shook his head, then kissed my forehead. ‘How can I be mad at the woman who carried him, loved him and protected him for me for all these years? Where does he think I am?’
‘I told him that we lost each other, which was the truth, but that I was sure if you ever found us again you’d want to be a part of his life.’
‘I do, both of your lives. I must see him, take me to him.’
‘I will, in time,’ I nodded. ‘I need to decide how we’re going to handle this.’
‘Not in time. Now. I need to see him.’
‘Luc, it’s late, he’s sleeping and I can’t just thrust someone new into his life and say darling, here’s your long lost father. I need to talk to him about this and make sure he wants to meet you first.’
‘Merde, Lulu! You cannot tell me that I have a son and then keep him from me!’ he snapped, as he stepped back and put his hands on his hips, anger brewing in his eyes.
‘Please don’t get mad with me, I told you because I felt you deserved to know, I didn’t want to lie to you, but think of Tristan. He’s only five, he doesn’t know you. All he knows is that it’s been the two of us for as long as he can remember. These things need to be handled carefully, gradually. I don’t want to frighten him by forcing you on him and risk him being scared and not wanting to see you again.’
‘He’s my son,’ he said forcefully, as he shoved a hand through his unruly hair.
‘And he always will be, we’re not going anywhere, I want you to be a part of his life, but you have to trust me. I know him. We can’t rush this.’ I stepped over to him and put my hands on his chest. His breathing was out of control again and his body had tensed up in an instant. ‘We can’t rush this,’ I repeated as I looked up into his eyes. He looked up at the ceiling and blew out a few breaths. ‘Give me some time to tell him that I’ve found you and see how he reacts. If I know him as well as I think I do, he’ll have lots of questions and he’ll want some time on his own to think about what I’ve said. When he asks me if he can see you, then we can make some plans, but it may not happen overnight.’
‘I need to see him, Lulu,’ Luc said quietly as he dropped his face to mine, tears rolling down his cheeks. ‘Don’t deny me this.’
‘Luc,’ I sighed, my heart breaking for him, as I quickly wiped them away. ‘You’re asking too much. Give me time. This isn’t about you and me, it’s about a little boy and what he needs, not us.’
‘Then just let me come and see him for a moment tonight, while he’s sleeping. He won’t even know I’m there. Please, do not deny me the chance to see him in person. I leave for Paris in the morning, you know this. To be without you for four days will be hard enough, but to know I have a child, whose face I have not seen in person will be too much.’
‘You promise me that you won’t wake him? If you wake him up I swear it will be another six years before you see either of us again,’ I warned. Seeing tears on this dominant man’s face was too much.
‘I promise,’ he nodded, breaking into a smile. ‘Come, get dressed. We will leave now.’
‘We still need to talk, about today.’
‘Merde, Myrtille! We will talk in the car. You will make it brief and concise for she is of no interest to me. I want you to tell me everything about your pregnancy, the birth and my handsome boy. He is nearly as good looking as his father,’ he chuckled, making me smile. He grabbed my face and kissed me again. ‘You are an incredible woman, to look after him so we
ll, alone. To protect him from other men who would have tried to take my place.’
‘I’m not incredible. I’m just a protective mother.’
‘You are incredible, to me you are everything. You are my soul mate, the love of my life and the mother of my child. I hope that you are serious about wanting to be with me, Lulu McQueen, because now that I have you, I will never let you go. Come, get dressed and hurry. I am impatient to see him.’
‘I cannot believe the nerve of her,’ he growled, as he slammed the gearstick down to third, the engine of his powerful Lotus Exige S roaring behind my ears. Hard as I’d tried to start off the conversation with my meeting with Myrtille, he’d insisted that he wanted to have the details of my pregnancy and Tristan’s birth first. As we’d got closer to home, I’d had to force the issue by telling him that she knew about our son and was prepared to use him as part of her smear campaign against Luc and that my timeframe had reduced to a week now. ‘You should have told me before, I could have filmed us in bed, you could have handed the recording to her and this would all be over.’
‘I have some cards up my sleeve, I just have to move up my timetable,’ I confirmed. ‘Let me worry about handling her and you worry about getting your affairs in order, she knew you’d met with the two banks.’
‘She may have friends in high places, but I do also. I may need to go back to China to ensure that I have their backing. It would mean that I may not return Friday night,’ he sighed heavily. I reached over and placed my hand on his thigh.
‘Do what you have to do. I’m not going anywhere.’
‘No, you are not. I know enough to find you if ever you run from me again, Lulu McQueen,’ he warned, flashing me a serious, irritatingly hot, possessive look.
‘I’m not running. Turn left up here, the white house with the oak garage door.’
‘This is an expensive area,’ he observed.
‘I work hard and I earn good money, so in case the thought is in the back of your mind, I’m not looking for any hand outs and if you lose everything, I won’t care. I managed without your money for six years, I can continue to manage.’
‘I do not doubt it, you have brains as well as beauty, but you have given me an excellent idea for protecting some of my assets just in case,’ he replied, a slow smile spreading across his face as he pulled up to my garage door and turned off the engine.
‘Luc, I need you to promise me that you won’t wake him up and you won’t turn up here without my express invitation. This is important to me. I know you’re excited, but I won’t tolerate any attempts to push this at your own pace,’ I warned.
‘I am not happy about this at all, but I must trust that you know our son and his needs best. I acquiesce, Ms. McQueen. Now please, I am beyond impatient. Take me to him.’
‘You’ll have to leave after you’ve seen him, sometimes he wakes up and wants to come into my bed, I don’t want him to find you in there with me.’
‘Are you determined to ruin my night?’ he groaned. ‘I may not see you again for days.’
‘Then we’ll make up for it next time I see you, I promise,’ I confirmed, as I leaned over and clasped the back of his head as I kissed him, breaking away when he started to moan and become more vigorous with his tongue. ‘Come on, this car wasn’t built for sex, or children,’ I advised looking through the clear panel behind me at the ridiculously powerful engine.
‘Merde, I need another new car,’ he groaned.
‘Another? How many do you have?’
‘A few, boys and their toys,’ he shrugged, with a grin on his face. I took his hand as we crept in and made our way upstairs.
‘If he wakes up you come and sit out here, don’t make a sound and don’t move until I come back out. I mean it, please don’t let me down.’ I looked up at him and he quickly frowned as he recognised the fear in my eyes.
‘I promise, though it will kill me, I promise.’ He gently kissed my forehead and I blew out a deep breath and took his hand as I carefully opened Tristan’s bedroom door. His night light was glowing and I could see him fast asleep on his back, Eric his elephant tucked under his arm. I heard Luc gulp and looked up at him, raising my eyebrows. He gently exhaled and nodded, so I carefully headed over to the bed, with him in tow. His grip on my hand tightened as he gazed down at him and I smiled as Tristan let out a soft little snore. I looked back up at Luc, to see he was battling tears again. I tried to pull on his hand to head back out, but he shook his head and pulled me in front of him, wrapping his arms around my waist and resting his chin on my shoulder as we just stood watching him sleeping. ‘He’s perfect,’ he eventually whispered in my ear. I smiled and nodded.
‘He really is and he has his father’s good looks,’ I whispered in return. ‘I wonder how many hearts he’ll have broken by the time he’s your age?’
‘Too many,’ he sighed.
‘Mummy?’ I froze as Tristan moved and moaned.
‘Shit, outside now,’ I warned Luc. ‘NOW!’ For a moment I thought he wasn’t going to move, but he quickly released me and disappeared as promised, just as Tristan opened his eyes.
‘Hello, darling, it’s very late, go back to sleep.’ I bent over and kissed his forehead.
‘I missed you,’ he yawned.
‘I missed you too, so much. But I’ll be taking you to school and picking you up tomorrow and staying with you all night, ok?’
‘Hmmm,’ he moaned.
‘Sleep, darling. I’ll see you in the morning.’
‘Elmer,’ he murmured.
‘It’s too late for Elmer, we can have Elmer tomorrow night.’
‘Please, Mummy,’ he pleaded.
‘One chapter, then sleep or no Elmer at all tomorrow,’ I warned. I could never resist him.
‘Ok,’ he smiled, his eyes half-closed already. I reached for the book from his bedside table, sat on the edge of his bed and started to read, smiling as his little hand reached down to hold mine. I caressed the back of his with my thumb as I softly continued, closing the book when I got to the end of the promised chapter.
‘That’s all. We’ll have more tomorrow.’
‘Thank you, Mummy. I love you.’
‘I love you too, to the end of my life and beyond. Now be a good boy and go to sleep, you’re tired.’ I kissed him again and sat watching him, as he continued to try and fight against his eyes closing tightly shut. I wondered how he’d react if he knew his dad was sitting on the floor outside right now. In under a minute his grip on my hand went limp, his lips parting as he started to snore again. I waited for a while, to make sure he was well and truly out of it, before carefully getting up and heading out, pulling the door behind me. Luc, sitting on the top step of the stairs, leapt to his feet and gave me a pleading look. I shook my head.
‘He needs his sleep and I can’t risk him waking up again. I’m sorry, I can’t imagine how hard this must be for you, but doing it this way, the right way will be best in the long run,’ I advised. He sighed and his shoulders slumped in defeat as he gave a barely discernible nod.
I clung to him tightly as we stood in my lobby, by the front door. Now that he was back in my life I never wanted to let him go. Wrapped in his strong arms, held tightly against that body, I felt so safe, so cherished and loved. It had been a long time since I’d had that feeling from a man. He didn’t seem willing to release me either and lifted me up onto his hips, one hand holding my bottom, the other the back of my neck as he kissed me. It was as if we hadn’t kissed before, like it was our first ever kiss, full of hunger for each other. An intense, ravenous hunger, that felt as if it could never be sated. I reached down and undid his zip, snaking my fingers into his boxers to grip his thick shaft. He let out a low groan as I tugged him free, then positioned him against my naked and already abused flesh. He was inside me in seconds, stifling my screams with his tongue as he thrust up into me. I soon caught his fast rhythm as his hips moved with the speed of a cheetah, powering in and out of me with long hard strokes, building me hig
her and higher until I shattered in his arms. My climax taking both of us by surprise, forcing his own, as he called out my name and gently rested his forehead on mine as we tried to come down from our high.
‘Never has sex felt so good as it does with you,’ he murmured as our lips gently touched, sending spine tingling shivers of bliss down my back.
‘After five years I’d imagine any sex would feel good.’
‘Non, c’est toi, Lulu. It’s all you. Tell me, how many have there been since me?’
‘Luc,’ I sighed, closing my eyes. It wasn’t a high number, but I had a feeling unless the answer was none, he wasn’t going to be happy. ‘I waited for a long time, I didn’t just leap into bed with the first man who came along.’
‘How many?’ he repeated as he kissed each corner of my mouth, his cock still hard inside me, flexing and keeping the odd spasm running through my exhausted body.
‘Four,’ I said quietly and felt his entire body instantly tense. ‘None lasted, none measured up to you, in length, girth, stamina or the way they made me feel. All of them I compared to you and all of them were lacking.’
‘And while you were pregnant? You had sex with one of these men?’
‘No, no one. If you need a paternity test I won’t object, but I promise, he’s yours, you’ll see yourself in his eyes, in the way he holds himself and frowns.’
‘I do not need a test, I already see it. I trust you.’
‘Thank you,’ I whispered. ‘I promise I won’t keep you from him any longer than I have to.’
‘I know,’ he sighed. ‘I am not patient, but you are right. I must think of him, not myself. I must return to the hotel. I have work to do.’
‘It’s two in the morning, you need to rest,’ I warned him, as I stroked his hair and kissed his forehead.
‘I will not sleep tonight, I am too wired. I am in love, with a beautiful woman and child, I cannot possibly sleep tonight. I will call you when I am home tomorrow night.’
‘Where is home in Paris?’ I asked, suddenly not wanting to hear that he returned to the house he shared with Myrtille.
The Temptress Page 29
