Page 35 of Rogue

That was also on the agenda.

He said, “We’ll go to the Louvre on one of those days for a few hours in the morning.” The Louvre was closed on Tuesday. He’d have to work around that and find something for that day.

“You sure know a lot about women’s fashion,” she said.

“It was very important to an old friend of mine. I listened to her guidance.”

“Yeah,” Dree said, taking his hand. “I can see that. You’re a good listener.”

He stopped her and turned her to face him. “Am I?”

“Well, yeah,” she said, little lines of confusion between her eyes. “I mean, I was a mess this morning. No, I was a hot mess fried in bacon fat, and you listened to all of it. I was absolutely mortified, but you didn’t judge. I appreciated it.”

“I’m never sure. I know I’m good at talking.”Too good.“But the career field I’m looking at requires listening skills.”

She smiled up at him. “You listened really well. I feel better.”

Maxence nodded. “All right. Back to the hotel.”

“What’s the schedule for tonight?”

“Is that how you ask that?”

Her coquettish smile made him tingle in all the right ways. She asked, “What’s tonight, Sir?”

“Something special.”

When they got back to the hotel, Maxence was ready to order room service, do something depraved to his little sub, and collapse. He’d slept five hours the night before in her hovel of a rented room and only two hours the night before that on that cursedboat.

Maxence hated boats.

Indeed, it wasn’t quite five o’clock in the evening. He’d arranged a room service supper for eight o’clock and after that had planned a stroll to see the Eiffel Tower lit for the night.

And then the evening’s festivities would begin.

Maxence could crawl into that vast, glorious bed for half an hour.

Just a little nap.

Just a tiny, short, minuscule snooze to refresh before supper.

A siesta.

The beds at the George V hotel were so comfortable.

Chapter Seven

Sister Annunciata

Dree

After the world’s most expensive lunch and shopping, Augustine told Dree they had a few hours before a room service supper would be delivered. He wandered into the bedroom and reclined on the bed.

Dree hung up the new clothes that Augustine had bought her in the closet and stewed in guilt.

He’d even bought her five pairs ofshoes:two pairs of horribly expensive pumps with red soles that she knew she’d seen on TV somewhere, two casual pairs, and sneakers for exercise.

When she’d joked that all these clothes wouldn’t fit in her gym bag when she left on Thursday, he’d bought her a suitcase more sturdily constructed than the walls of her apartment back home.