to throw herself under a bus for his company.
He had treated her no better than her mother had for all those years and the realisation made him suddenly nauseous.
As the town car rolled slowly along the streets of Paris, Nicole wondered for the millionth time if she was doing the right thing. Once she had heard that the court case was today she’d known she couldn’t stay away any longer. She had to try to do something.
She stepped out of the car and looked up at the steps of the courthouse, seeing Rigo standing near the top, finishing up his statement to the press. He stood alone as the cameras turned away to move towards the prosecution group, who had just emerged from the building.
She felt her stomach tighten as Rigo turned and saw her. She suddenly felt a lot less brave. His face tightened with surprise and he powered down the steps towards her, his eyes darting towards the cameramen, who hadn’t yet seen her.
‘What the hell are you doing here?’ he asked harshly. ‘Get back into the car now—before they see you.’
‘I’m here to give my statement,’ Nicole said. ‘I’m here to stand by your side.’
‘It’s all over.’ Rigo exhaled harshly. ‘I paid them off and the case has been thrown out. If you had told me you were going to come I would have told you to stay exactly where you were.’
‘In my prison?’ she asked quietly.
‘I was angry at myself when I said those words.’
He took her hand, looking down at her with such fierce sincerity she thought her heart might break.
‘No, you were right, Rigo. I can’t live my life running away and hiding from these people or my voice will never be heard. I can’t teach my daughter to be fearful.’
‘When I said those words all I was thinking of was myself. I’ve been living under a microscope for days now and it’s already driven me halfway to madness. But it was my actions that got us into this mess and I will face it alone.’
‘I’m not just here for you, Rigo. I’m here for me, too. To prove to myself that I’m strong enough to protect my daughter.’
‘You are strong enough, Nicole. You are the strongest woman I have ever known.’
A cameraman turned, catching sight of the candid discussion he was missing out on, and soon the whole press camp was descending upon them.
‘Last chance,’ Rigo warned, his fingers holding in a tight grip on her arm, as though he wanted to haul her away from the crowd.
She looked up at him, her eyes gravely serious. ‘No more running.’
The crowd of cameras and microphones surrounded them with an excited hum.
One ‘respectable’ news journalist took an immediate jab. ‘Nicole, what have you to say on the allegations that your marriage is a complete sham?’
Nicole took a deep breath, remembering the speech she had prepared and memorised on the plane journey. The words seemed to swim in her head, moving just out of her reach for a millisecond, before she squared her shoulders and grabbed them with both hands.
‘Marriage is a deeply private affair for my husband and I,’ she began, ‘and just because we both may have previously courted the media it does not somehow make our private lives fair game.’
‘What do you have to say about your husband’s ferocious attack?’
‘My husband acted instinctively, to protect my daughter and me from a stranger’s harassment. I ask you this. In what world is it okay for a man to pursue a lone woman and an innocent child for the purpose of entertainment? Does his occupation give him the right to disregard the safety of those unable to protect themselves? Until my child is old enough to make the choice herself, I will be upholding her right to privacy.’
RIGO WAS IN awe of the strong, confident woman who stood poised on the steps of the courthouse. She held the media in the palm of her hand. Her words were unpractised, imperfect and deeply emotional, but they held all the more weight for it. What had begun as a press statement had somehow morphed into a public shaming of the paparazzi and their careless disregard for children.
He was seeing his wife transformed before his very eyes. Gone was the passive girl who had lived her life according to everyone else, and in her place was this fiery woman, poised and ready to wage war on those who dared to oppose her.
As she finished speaking a crowd of onlookers erupted into applause, and then the press began to ask more questions, one after another.
Rigo motioned to his guards to move forward as he carefully guided Nicole away.
‘That was quite possibly the most terrifying, exhilarating thing I have ever done.’ She smiled as they walked towards the street. ‘I feel as if I could take on the world.’ Her smile faded as he held open the door of his limousine. ‘I’m not going with you, Rigo. I came straight from the airport,’ she said quietly, gesturing to the town car parked just behind them. ‘I’m flying back to Tuscany straight away.’
‘We need to talk, Nicole. Please—just come back to the apartment with me.’
She shook her head. ‘There’s nothing else to say.’
‘Nicole…’
Rigo fought past the strange tightness in his chest. He was trying to tell her how proud he was. How lucky he was to have her by his side. But the words wouldn’t come, so instead he leaned forward and captured her lips with his. His hands tangled in her hair as he took his time, not caring about the people around them. He kissed her deeply, trying in vain to show her how much she meant to him.
When he ended the kiss she was breathless, and his chest was tighter than ever.
Nicole’s eyes were guarded as she pulled away from him. ‘Rigo…’
He held his breath as he watched her war with herself, but when she raised her eyes and he saw the solemn look in them, he knew the answer would be no even before she turned and walked away to her car.
As the pilot made his final checks Nicole took her seat and looked out the window with unseeing eyes. She should have just gone with him and drowned in his kisses. They would have gone back to the apartment under the pretence of talking and ended up falling straight into bed.
She bit her lip, swallowing past the lump in her throat that hadn’t eased since she had walked away from him outside the courthouse.
She had told him that she loved him and he’d made it clear that he didn’t feel the same. He cared about her. She knew he did. But she couldn’t stay in a relationship in which she was the only one with both feet in the boat. Watching him walk away from her in Tuscany had broken her heart all over again, and she knew that she couldn’t keep going round in circles when she was the only person who kept getting hurt.
There was a commotion at the door of the plane and suddenly the stairs were being lowered to the tarmac once more. Heavy footsteps banged hard on the steps and Rigo’s hulking form appeared in the entryway.
‘What are you doing here?’ She unbuckled her seat belt and moved to her feet, facing him off in the bright cabin. The stewardess tactfully disappeared into the cockpit, giving them privacy.
Rigo stepped forward, his eyes dark with some unknown emotion. For the first time she noticed the dark circles under his eyes and the way his jaw was overgrown with dark stubble. Had he looked so tortured outside the courthouse?