The memory faded and she sighed, wishing she could call Luuk. But he had been very explicit. His divorce was still in the process of being finalized and as long as it still wasn’t approved, he would not be able to afford being openly seen with any woman. Even his calls could be screened at work, which was why she could only wait for his call and they only ever came at specific hours of the day—-
Like now.
Stunned that Luuk was calling her at this time of the day—-if it was nine here in Hong Kong, then it would be two in the morning in Amsterdam.
She answered it breathlessly. “Hello?”
~ Two ~
Three Days Ago, New York City
“Why are you thinking of marrying Thelma Laarson when we both know you don’t even desire her?” Farica de Koningh demanded of her cousin the moment he opened the door. She pushed past him and stalked inside his hotel room.
Nic closed the door and when he turned around, the younger girl was standing in the middle of his room, a tiny blue-eyed blond angel with the wrath of God burning in her eyes. Of all his cousins, Farica was the one closest to him, the only one whom he felt truly understood what it was like to feel unwanted as a child. Like him, she had almost become a victim of abortion and, like the rest of the older generation of de Koninghs, both her parents had been assholes, too.
Farica was special to him, a sister of his heart, but in this case she would need to learn to mind her own business.
She stomped her foot. “Well?”
“It’s none of your business, Fari.”
Farica threw her hands up at that. “You’re my cousin! I care about you. Of course who you marry is my business – especially if you’re marrying a bitch like Thelma.”
“She’s not a bitch to me,” he pointed out mildly as he crossed the room. He gestured for her to sit, more a command than a request and Farica knew it. She promptly took the couch and he sat opposite her, taking one of the armchairs.
“Drink?”
“Just water,” she said, spying the crystal pitcher of water on the table. As he poured her a glass, she started again. “Of course she's not a bitch to you, Nic. She’s after your money. She’d pretend she was a monster if that’s what turns you on.”
He handed her the glass wordlessly.
She took it with a frustrated sigh, never liking it when Nic shut himself off like this. “Nic, come on. This is marriage we’re talking about. She’s not even an heiress so this can’t be a business arrangement—-”
“Oh, but it is,” he interrupted coolly. “I need someone to play hostess and make nice with business associates, preferably someone I don’t have to train for the role. I need someone to fuck occasionally when I don’t have a mistress, and I’d prefer someone who looks nice. I wouldn’t have to train her for the role, either. Most of all, I need someone who doesn’t expect me to pretend I’m in love with her.”
Farica set the glass down. Crossing her arms over her chest, she looked at her cousin pointedly and asked, “And that’s the crux of the problem, right? You will have to pretend with Thelma because you’re already in love with someone else.”
His blue eyes cooled. “Bullshit.”
Farica’s eyes, also the same shade of blue, became just as cool. “You’re the one saying a lot of BS and you’re close to making your life full of BS, too.”
“I don’t want to talk about this—-”
“We have to if you’re really going to marry that bitch,” she exclaimed hotly. “Nic, open your eyes, for God’s sake! You already have a girl you love and she loves you—-”
“You can’t be sure of that!” His sudden snarl stunned her, and more shockingly, the deep burning passion that underlined those words.
He really had fallen in love at first sight, Farica realized with a quiet gulp. The knowledge knocked her sideways. It was real then. The kind of insta-love that most people thought was a myth – it was real. It had to be because the proof of it was in her cousin’s eyes...and in her own heart.
“We’ve just been fooling around the past year, Fari. If she...” Nic exhaled. “If she truly did love me, don’t you think she’d have done everything possible to fly here so we could see each other again?”
“She’s poor, Nic.”
He smiled humorlessly. “Love’s supposed to make the fucking world go round and not money, right?”
She shook her head, irritated, having just realized that her cousin was determined to see fault in the girl’s every action. “You also told her you were married and that if someone saw you with another woman, your divorce wouldn’t push through. Face it, Nic. You gave her every reason to believe that she’d hurt you if she came here.”