Sienna took an instinctive step backwards, not so much feeling excluded as mildly bereft. The question of age aside, she wished Max was here with her tonight. It had crossed her mind to check and see if he was free, but she’d been invited by Jacyn, and she knew instinctively that it would have been rude of her to ask for him to tag along. There she was, dateless, while the others had their dancing partners.
She whispered to Jacyn that she was popping out on to the balcony for a sip of fresh air, and as she made her way through the throng of ultra-wealthy socialites, her mind was spinning. Didn’t the fact that she wanted so desperately to see him give her the answer she had been looking for?
And weren’t Chantelle and Shaundra right? Why should age matter if she had feelings for a man? Sienna made up her mind to speak to Max again as soon as she could. Tomorrow, even. She would call him, ask him to meet her in their room, and tell him she wanted in. That she was prepared to spend some time figuring out where this thing was going. Besides, there was a week remaining on her plane ticket before she had to return. Surely that was more than enough time to decide once and for all—
“Sienna?” The voice was soft, but she knew it at once.
She had stepped out onto the small, ornate balcony, whose doorway had been shrouded in a heavy brocade curtain, and therefore hadn’t been spotted by many of the partygoers. She’d gone expecting to be alone, but to her stunned surprise, there was Max. Almost as if he was waiting for her.
He was handsome in a dark gray suit with a garnet-colored tie, the color combination of which brought out the sparkling darkness of his eyes and the clean-cut tan of his skin. She was unable to stop herself from rushing into his arms and kissing him. He kissed her back, just as enthusiastically.
“What are you doing here?” they asked simultaneously, and both laughed.
“I’m Jacyn’s guest,” she informed him, discovering that she was unable to tear her eyes away from his face. It was almost as if she was looking at him through different eyes. Less dismissive, more inclusive. “You?”
He shrugged it off. “Family. You know how it is,” he murmured as he looked her up and down admiringly. “You look amazing.”
She did a little twirl and a bit of a hair flip, laughing. “Yeah, I do.”
He chuckled, reached for her, and pulled her close. “That’s my Sienna. Full of confidence and spunk.”
His Sienna, she wondered. But what if she was?
The music was filtering in through the open balcony door, and it took her a while to realize that they were swaying to it, bodies pressed together. She felt his lips brush her brow. Closing her eyes, she let her head fall onto his shoulder. It all felt so perfect.
“I missed you,” she confessed.
He murmured the same into her ear and then nudged her face up so they could have eye contact. “I missed you, Sienna,” he repeated. “I wish I didn’t, but I do whenever you aren’t there.”
He kissed her, and she responded ardently. She marveled at the depth and intensity of the kiss, the sweetness of it. It was like a whisper at the back of her mind, telling her to take a chance. Urging her to set aside her doubts.
“Max?” she ventured.
“Hmm?” His lips had traveled to her earlobe. She almost laughed when she thought that the man was nuzzling gently on about a million dollars’ worth of borrowed diamonds.
But there were more serious issues to be discussed. It was time for her to take the plunge, follow her instincts rather than her cautionary thought. “What you were talking about the last time we met. I think we might be able to try. I mean, Iwantus to try. You and me; see where this goes.”
There, she’d admitted to it. There was no turning back now. What would he say?
He stopped what he was doing to stare at her, and then a slow smile crept across his face. “Do you really?”
“Yes, I—” She stopped short of explicitly declaring her feelings, or naming them. Instead took the coward’s way out, saying only, “I know I have feelings for you, and I want to explore them.”
His face looked like it was glowing. “I’d like nothing better. I want that, for both of us.”
“Maxim!” An imperious feminine voice made both of them turn towards the doorway. A small but dignified looking Asian woman was standing there, dressed in an elaborate gown worthy of the runway at a Paris fashion show. Her makeup was impeccable, her graying hair a coiled edifice that even the wind wouldn’t dare to disturb. She oozed diamonds and sapphires from every exposed part of her body.
Before Max could even respond with, “Maman!” she knew this was his mother. She stepped away from him, feeling and looking guilty. Never mind he was well over age and didn’t have a damn thing to apologize for.
The look on the woman’s face clearly conveyed that she didn’t share that opinion. There was nothing but disdain and dismissal in that dark glance. “Quest’ce-que c’est?What is this?”
Max had only just opened his mouth to answer when another woman joined them. Pretty in a faded kind of way, with blond hair and light blue eyes, she had a sour expression on her face, as if she smelled something bad, and from the glances she shot in Sienna’s direction, she seemed to be saying she knew exactly where that bad smell was coming from.
Sienna bristled. In defiance, she took a sideways step closer to Max, and let her hand fall onto the cuff of his sleeve. Max went stiff at her side.
The new arrival gave Sienna a murderous look, and it was only then that Sienna realized that she was pregnant.
“I fear we have not met,ma chère,”the older woman said patronizingly. “My name is Madame Huimin Lavigne, Maxim’s mother.” She lifted her chin so she could look down her pert little nose at Sienna.