His Paris Affair (The Albury Affairs) Read Free Page B

doesn’t even know what in-situ means—ouch!” she yelped, rubbing

her arm. “That hurt!”
    He smiled an indulgent smile that made her stomach clench.

“Be nice.”
    She stuck her tongue out at him as she rubbed more gently to

her throbbing arm. “How did you get to my skin through a thick layer of

cotton?”
    He leaned closer and whispered seductively in her ear, “The

same way I got to your heart. Through your skin, flesh, and bones.”
    Melody rolled her eyes. “Oh Romeo, you weaken me with your

sweet, sweet words of love. Where have you been all my life?”
    “Come on,” he chuckled. “We are missing out on the history

lesson.”
    She twisted her face in disgust. “I hated history in school

and not much has changed now. Too much to remember, too many dead people to

know even though there is no way they’ll ever be coming back to life—”
    He elbowed her again. “Shh!”
    She made a face at him then crossed her arms over her chest

and bit her lips shut.
    “…the king himself carried the relics, barefoot and dressed

as a penitent to this very chapel. A scene depicted here in the south side of

the chapel,” he pointed at the stained window of a man, “the Relics of the

Passion window. It’s something non ?”
    “Something doesn’t even begin to describe it,” she whispered

in admiration as she moved closer to the window. As the rest of the crowd moved

on, Melody just stood there basking in the beauty of the depiction of penitent

Louis. She wanted to touch it and yet she was so afraid she would taint it

somehow. Seeing this for herself, was a true gift from history. It was beyond

beautiful. It was…
    “Now that’s magical,” Ruiz spoke behind her.
    Magical… That was

exactly what it was. She turned to face the other magical gift in her life.

“I’m glad I got to see this with you and not Allan. He has no taste for the

arts and wouldn’t have given it the appreciation it deserves.”
    He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Neither do I—have

an appreciation for the arts that is. That’s Riana’s thing. But I’m glad too

that we got to experience this together. Why don’t we head to the Les Invalides

next?”
    She nodded, giving the Relics of the Passion window one more

look of admiration before she let him lead her out through the eastern apse. Les Invalides was basically a large Army

museum and a church with Napoleon’s tomb. The church was beautiful and Napoleon

somehow grew in his death because the tomb was huge—and that was all the

interest it held for Melody. Ruiz however loved all the rooms filled with

armor, weapons and military clothing. Room after room after room of the same

stuff and yet he went ‘that’s so cool’, ‘no way, that’s epic’ several times in

each room. Instead of getting bored and ruining it for him, she got her kicks

off taking pictures of him doing the silliest things. The pictures would make

for great memories, and one day when they were old and grey or telling their

kids the story of how they fell in love, they would re-live them all over again

as they traveled down memory lane together.
    Kids, old and grey…yeah she was thinking of the future; had

been dreaming about it since she met the man. And truth be told, she couldn’t

wait to start on it. All she had to do now was get him to propose and what

better place than the city of love, Paris.
    “What are you smiling about?” he asked, the corner of his

eyes crinkling as he narrowed them at her. There was something so dangerously

sexy about him when he did that.
    She smiled at him. “Nothing. How about a late lunch at the

hotel then we get dressed up for dinner at Les

Fines Gueules ?”
    He took her hand and as always led her out—sometimes he

reminded her of her bodyguards. A bodyguard who also loved her—not like psycho

Jeb!

 
    * * * *

 
    Melody walked the aisles of the boutique store completely in

the dumps. Whoever said retail therapy was