“We’ll be back in Avce soon enough. But first let’s treat your hero.” Remy’s voice soothed her like warm honey in strong tea on this cold night.
She placed her hand on his back. “Remy, I’m grateful that I have you as my hero too.”
Remy, still in his tux, rubbed her back and neither said anything else until Marco returned. He lifted the Frenchman’s head and Remy had his feet to carry him to the waiting car.
Cassidy followed behind them, closing the blue door.
“Here, let me handle the Frenchman,” Marco said. “I’m trained in some EMT practices. You go speak to your wife. I’m sure she has questions.”
Her heart stopped, but she walked next to Remy, not far from the limo as the prince adjusted the Frenchman, still out cold, flat in the backseat. “Is what Lucinda said true? Are we married?”
Remy’s lips pressed together which was always his way of not admitting to something, but he wrapped his arms around her waist. “Yes, your mother stood in for you.”
It felt like her heart fell into her heels and she couldn’t walk. She couldn’t move, but couldn’t push him away either. She let out a sigh. “I always knew this was a business deal.”
His hands around her waist tightened. “Cassidy?”
“Yeah?” She shouldn’t have bothered with the trouble of any wedding—of hoping. This was her own mistake.
He pulled her close. “I want to kiss you.”
The tingle in her lips was immediate. She closed her eyes, held her head high, and accepted his kiss.
She melted right away. Remy was perfection. It wasn’t fair that his lips burned her soul and she physically craved more of him.
Without warning, Remy ended the kiss and let her go, though she’d felt the bulge between his legs. “There, now do you guess?”
Sex wasn’t on the menu right now, but she accepted a hug and that kiss. “Remy, I’m grateful you came for me. All I wanted was for you to hold me.”
“I’ll do far more than hold you, after you get checked out at the hospital.” He spoke softly into her ear. “Far more.”
“What?” She’d always known Remy had sex with his girlfriends throughout the years but right now, as he held her hand, she wasn’t ready to fall into that relationship. Her heart still ached that he wasn’t in love with her and that her love was one-sided.
They walked together toward the limo. “You were in a car accident too. It’s best to see a doctor.”
“I feel fine.” She took some solace in his care for her, even if it wasn’t love.
He held her car door open for her. “What if there was a concussion? I don’t want my wife hurt in any way.”
She took the passenger seat in the front as Alexandre took half the room on the bench seat. Lucinda was between the driver who acted like a nurse and Prince Marco. So Remy drove the limo to the hospital. She’d have to accept that she’d married Remy, just as she said she would. Love was never in the equation. She’d known that but her heart needed to accept the truth she saw so clearly now.
Chapter 17
Remy left the nurse’s station after filling out paperwork that took longer than necessary and then returned to Cassidy’s hospital room. She was pulling green socks back on and then wet tennis shoes—she seemed so small, so vulnerable. He could have easily lost her and that had made him question his own feelings. “Cassidy? Are you ready?”
She nodded, her face scrubbed free of all the makeup she’d had on earlier, though her hair had the unnatural waves of being up and pinned. She must have put the pearls in her pocket because the girl he knew all his life was always practical and tried to never lose anything. Cassidy jumped off the bed with a relieved smile. “The doctors cleared me, but I want to check on Alexandre before we head home.”
His stomach knotted. She’d called the man her hero. He ignored the tight pit in his stomach and motioned with his head. “He’s conscious and making a full recovery.”
She walked over and took his arm, leaving a trail of desire in her simple gesture. “That’s good to know, but I’ll feel better if I talk to him first.”
“Did you like him?” His throat was tight. If she said yes, he had no idea what he’d do.
She let out a laugh and walked down the hall with him. “Remy, you will never believe this, but he is Chelsea’s true love according to my computer program. He needs to come to Avce and meet my sister.”
His heart beat easier as his muscles relaxed. Cassidy hadn’t found another guy on him in the hours since he’d lost her. He walked her toward the other man’s room. “Lucinda told Chelsea you left because you believe in love more than anything else.”
Her sigh sounded like a brush-off. “That was the old me.”
