Chapter 169

Lucette tried to banish the disquiet that fluttered through her as she saw Ariston ’s eyebrows draw together in a faint frown. She’d been nervous about coming back to Paris, to the city where they’d met so often during their affair and the very room where Lucette had rejected him. She didn’t think she’d imagined the suddenly shuttered look on Ariston ’s face as he’d come into her apartment, and she had a terrible feeling he was remembering how he’d proposed to her here and what her answer had been.

Now, however, he smiled, his face clearing, and looked around her sitting room. ‘Do you know, before I came here I would have thought you’d have some modern, sleek penthouse? All chrome and leather and modern art.’

You mean like your bachelor pad in Athens? I prefer a homeier place to live.’

Which is why you were a buyer of home furnishings, I suppose?

She nodded, and he strolled around the apartment, noting the squashy velveteen sofa, the Impressionist prints, the porcelain ornaments and