Текст книги "Just To Be With You"
Автор книги: Bella Andre
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Текущая страница: 5 (всего у книги 18 страниц)
CHAPTER SEVEN
The following afternoon, Tatiana dropped onto the couch in Ian’s office to make the most of the rare, and extremely precious, fifteen-minute window in his schedule. If she had been alone, she would have closed her eyes and taken a speed-nap. Then again, if she hadn’t been shadowing Ian, she would have been moving at a reasonable pace all day like everyone else on the planet.
Ian, she had decided, was superhuman. He didn’t just deal with his crazy schedule...he thrived on it!
It didn’t particularly help that she hadn’t gotten anywhere near enough sleep the night before. After he’d dropped her off at her condo, she’d been dying to strip off her clothes and sink into her bathtub. But she’d known that once she got into the hot water, she might never be able to drag her exhausted bones out again, so she’d forced herself to pull out her script and study it one more time.
Surely, she’d hoped, something she’d learned from shadowing Ian all day would be what she needed to get a handle on her upcoming role so that the director wouldn’t fire her on the first day of filming. But by the time she’d finally crawled beneath the covers, she was no further along with her script than she’d been before. And, of course, once she was in bed, her brain refused to shut off, taunting her as she tossed and turned with images of how good Ian had looked in his suit, how sweet he was with his old college professor, how kind he was with his employees.
And how utterly, completely untouchable he remained.
Ian stepped into the office just then and went to sit down behind his desk. “You seemed really interested in that last presentation, Tatiana.”
She peered at him from beneath lids that felt really, really heavy. Barely holding back yet another yawn, she nodded. “It was great.” The truth was, however, that she hadn’t taken in a word of it after the opening slide. The presenters’ monotones had lulled her straight into dreamland.
“I’m glad you thought so, because I was hoping you could help me make a decision on one of the three approaches they presented.”
Her lids lifted a little higher. “Decision?” She licked her suddenly dry lips. “You want my help?”
When he nodded, her brain did a quick scan of the forty-five-minute presentation. Maybe if she tried really hard, she’d remember something the presenters had said. Anything they’d said. But after a few seconds of concentrating hard enough to give herself a migraine, she still drew a blank.
A very sleepy blank.
Clearing her throat, she said, “I should probably review the slides and corresponding documents again before offering my opinion.”
“Surely you can just review your notes.”
In only a day and a half, she’d nearly filled up her notebook with her thoughts and impressions of what it took to be a successful CEO of a big company. But while her notebook had been open on her lap this afternoon, all she’d managed was a jagged blue line as her pen skidded across—and off—the page.
“I really just wanted to listen this afternoon.”
“Ah,” he said, nodding again, “that explains why you had your face resting on your hands and your eyes closed. So that you could listen better.”
“Okay,” she finally admitted, “I might have lost the thread of the meeting at some point—” Like the beginning one. “—but I’m sure no one but you noticed.”
“Lost the thread,” he echoed, a small smile playing on his lips. “That’s an interesting way of talking about falling asleep in a meeting.”
“Falling asleep?” She felt her face flush and wished, for the first time, that she was as good an actor in real life as she was in front of the cameras. But unfortunately, her brain was sleepy enough that it continued to let her mouth run amok. “That’s crazy.”
He shrugged as if he were going to let it go, but just as relief came over her, he sneakily hit her with, “You were snoring.”
“I don’t snore.” Ian had to be joking, right?
The small grin he gave her was so surprisingly intimate that it almost felt as if he’d reached out to caress her skin. “You sounded just like a sleepy little tiger.”
The goose bumps she got from the caress of his voice were no match for her chagrin as she dropped her face into her hands. “How embarrassing.” She felt horrible that the presenter must have known how bored she’d been, because if Ian had noticed her snoring, surely everyone else in the room had, too. “I feel like I should apologize to—” Ugh, what were their names?
“Bill and Francesca?”
“Right, Bill and Francesca.” God, she was so tired her brain felt like it was folding in on itself. “I’d hate for them to think I thought their presentation was boring.”
“Didn’t you?”
“Can you ask me that again after I’ve had a good night’s sleep? Because by the time you dropped me off last night, it was all I could do just to take off my clothes before falling into bed.”
Just that quickly, with one teeny-tiny little mention of stripping off her clothes, the air in the room shifted from teasing to desire.
Again, it occurred to her that if she’d had more experience with men—any experience at all, really—she would have known how to capitalize on a moment like this. Surely, other women must know how to turn a heated moment into an equally heated kiss. Or more. Because, as he stared so hungrily at her mouth that her lips began to tingle from nothing more than the intensity of his gaze, she could have sworn that Ian wanted her just as much as she wanted him.
Unfortunately, it was just as clear that he was not going to be the one to make the first move.
In the day and a half that Tatiana had spent shadowing Ian, she’d seen just how well he treated his employees and the companies he worked with. She’d witnessed time and again his focus, his determination, his intense drive to win. She’d seen him soften around his family at the wedding in Napa, especially the little ones. No question about it, Ian Sullivan was a good, strong man with a great family behind him.
Which was why she still didn’t understand why he was so careful not to let anyone in too close. Especially her.
He was so careful around her, in fact, that apart from the attraction he didn’t always manage to hide, she didn’t have any idea what he really thought of her. And now she’d gone and fallen asleep in the middle of one of his meetings.
Way to impress, Tatiana.
“Tatiana, it’s okay.”
“No,” she said with a morose shake of her head, “it’s not. I came here to shadow you and stay in the background, not to embarrass you in front of your employees.”
He pushed away from his desk, moving toward her instead of away for what felt like the very first time. “I fell asleep in a meeting once.”
She couldn’t stop her mouth from falling open. “No way.”
“Way,” he said with a full-fledged grin that was so sudden, and so beautiful, that it snuck up on her and pretty much stole away the last part of her heart that he hadn’t already claimed. “And I’m afraid I snore a heck of a lot louder than you do.”
She couldn’t help but laugh then, not just at the image of the perfect and unflappable Ian Sullivan falling asleep in a meeting, but because he’d obviously told her the story to make her feel better about her own gaffe. Why would he do something like that if he didn’t care about her, at least a little bit?
And when his laughter joined with hers, it was the sweetest sound Tatiana had ever heard.
She’d seen him smile several times during each workday, usually when one of his family members called. Clearly, they were all thrilled that he was back home. And though she knew firsthand just how crowded his schedule was, she’d also heard for herself how patient he’d been on the phone with his cousin Gabe’s eight-year-old daughter when she’d asked him some questions for a project she was doing about the Sullivan family tree.
Maybe it was the lack of sleep that had her suddenly throwing her inhibitions to the wind, or maybe it was just how good it felt to laugh with him, but she suddenly needed him to know, “You have the most wonderful smile, the most infectious laugh. I could listen to it all day.”
For a moment, she could have sworn he was going to close the rest of the distance between them and give in to what had been growing more inevitable with every second they were together. But instead, he abruptly looked away from her and frowned. Taking one step back, and then another and another, until he was nearly at his desk, she thought it looked like he was smelling something that bothered him.
By the time the unmistakable scent of Chanel No. 5 hit Tatiana, she realized Ian’s ex-wife was standing in the doorway.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Chelsea Adrienne was even more stunning in person that she’d been in her pictures online...and clearly didn’t notice that Tatiana was in the room as she swept toward Ian in a very expensive couture dress.
Bethany was only a couple of steps behind her.
“Ian, I’m sorry, I tried to tell Ms. Adrienne that you were busy—”
“It’s all right, Bethany.”
His assistant shot Tatiana a worried look before leaving the office and closing the door behind her with a soft click.
“To what do I owe this pleasure, Chelsea?”
Just moments ago he’d been full of so much warmth and humor. Now, both were gone as he regarded his ex-wife the way one did an animal that might strike at any second.
“You closed the deal with Amando’s two weeks ago.”
“And now you’ve come to offer your congratulations?” His voice was so carefully modulated that although Tatiana thought it might be sarcasm, she wasn’t quite sure.
“You began those negotiations when we were married. In fact, I was the reason you even knew about the Italian shoemaker in the first place when you saw how many pairs I had in my closet.” She posed as though she’d reached the end of a runway before telling him, “I want my share of the deal.”
Tatiana had watched Ian carefully for the past couple of days, and while it had been impossible not to see the walls he put up around himself, she’d never seen his gaze turn this cold. But there was something else there, too, something worse even than the coolness.
Something that looked to Tatiana like guilt.
Still, when he moved behind his desk, opened a drawer, and pulled out a checkbook, Tatiana nearly gasped in surprise.
“Here.” He gave Chelsea the check, then pushed away from his desk. “My next meeting is about to begin. I’ll walk you out.”
His ex glanced at the check to make sure the figure he’d written on it suited her, then opened her Chanel purse and dropped it in without so much as a thank-you. But though she’d gotten what she’d come for, she didn’t follow Ian to the door. Instead, she shifted into yet another predatory pose. “I hear you’re the bachelor everyone wants to catch now that you’re back in Seattle.” She laughed, a floating sound that grated on Tatiana’s nerves despite how light and airy it was clearly supposed to be. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell any of them what being with you is really like.”
Tatiana couldn’t stand it anymore. She tried never to play off her star power unless she absolutely needed to. But right here, right now in Ian’s office as his bitchy ex-wife tried to hurt him, she was extremely glad to be one of the best-known actresses in the world.
Unfortunately, she was wearing a rose-colored cashmere sweater and black slacks rather than the kind of fashion-forward outfit that could compete with what Chelsea was wearing. Fortunately, however, after years of transforming herself on a daily basis in front of the cameras, Tatiana knew better than nearly anyone else how to turn simple into spectacular.
“Ian,” she said in a soft voice, “I’d love an introduction.”
Tatiana purposely remained sitting on the couch while Chelsea spun around to face her. Once Tatiana knew she had the other woman’s full attention, she made certain her every movement as she rose gracefully was so easy and so confident that it was perfectly clear she wasn’t trying to compete with Chelsea on any front—beauty, sensuality, or personality.
Tatiana had quickly learned in Hollywood that only an insecure woman needed to compete. The truly successful, truly confident women always forged their own paths, and didn’t give a fig what anyone thought about them or their choices, fashion or otherwise.
“Tatiana,” Ian said in a tense voice, “this is Chelsea, my ex-wife.” Tatiana could see that he was worried about what was about to go down between the two women in his office, and she wished she could reassure him.
But right now she had to hold focus on avenging him.
Ian might not be hers, but five minutes ago she’d been certain they were at least on their way to becoming friends. And she refused to tolerate anyone speaking to one of her friends the way his ex-wife just had.
Tatiana forced herself to take a couple of steps toward the horrible woman. “Hello,” she said, holding out her hand in such a friendly way that there was no way his ex could have refused to shake it. Since there was no better way to let the very competitive woman know she wasn’t a threat than by giving her an honest compliment, Tatiana said, “Your dress is beautiful.”
“It is, isn’t it? It’s always such a thrill to wear a one-of-a-kind Christianna original.”
Tatiana could have spectacularly one-upped Chelsea by informing her that she had just been asked to become the face of Christianna’s couture design house in Europe. But she wasn’t here to compete for the crown of Queen Bee. She was here to put the other woman in her place as quickly as possible so that she’d leave Ian alone.
Then again...thinking about Ian’s check burning a hole in Chelsea’s purse helped Tatiana decide that sometimes it might not only be okay to stoop a little low, but it might be downright necessary.
“I’ll be sure to let Christianna know you’re pleased with her designs when I see her in Paris in a couple of weeks for my Golden Globes fitting.”
Tatiana might have laughed at the jealous fury that leaped into the woman’s eyes were she not still so furious about the way Chelsea had marched in and demanded money from Ian.
Money he’d given her without a fight...
“You’re so much curvier than you seemed to be in your last film,” Chelsea said in a voice so sweet it practically gave Tatiana a sugar rush. “I hope your fitting goes well.”
This time, Tatiana couldn’t stop her laughter from bubbling up and out. She’d met plenty of competitive actresses in the past ten years, but Ian’s ex trumped them all. “Casting directors usually just jump past curvy and go straight for the word fat.” But she’d already easily shrugged off the insult. “I know Kate Moss said nothing tastes better than being thin, but I’m pretty sure she’d change her mind if she ever tasted the chocolate truffles we had for dessert at Ian’s parents’ house on Friday night.”
“You’re not fat,” Ian growled as he moved between them. Turning his scowl on his ex, he said, “You got what you came for, Chelsea.”
“I know,” Chelsea said, holding up her hands as if he was the one on the wrong foot, rather than she. “You’re ready for me to leave so that you can get back to business. Believe me, I remember what it was like being married to you. Business always came first then, and clearly it still does.” His ex gave Tatiana a pitying glance. “I don’t know how the two of you met...”
With every word that fell from the woman’s blood-red lips, Ian’s tension seemed to rise, and the instinct to protect him from anything else his horrible ex-wife had to say had Tatiana reaching for his hand. “We met at a wedding.”
The need to protect him quickly turned into something that ran even deeper as she stared down at her hand in his and was rocked by such a strong jolt of sensual—and emotional—awareness that she found herself confessing, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a man look better in a suit.” But it was what she saw on his face when she looked up into his eyes that had her continuing to speak straight from her heart, only for him, their audience completely forgotten. “All it took was one handshake for me to fall for you, Ian.” Palm-to-palm, the memories of that first time they’d touched came rushing back.
“Trust me,” Ian’s ex-wife said, shattering the moment with all the precision of a baseball hurled straight through a plate-glass window, “Ian might be good in bed, but even the best orgasms in the world don’t make up for what it’s like to live with him. Or should I say, not live with him, since I promise you that after he gets over his current infatuation, even you are only going to see him when he needs to screw away his tension from a business deal gone bad.”
“It’s past time for you to go, Chelsea.” This time Ian put his hand on her arm to make sure she didn’t linger. Unfortunately, her heavy scent did.
Tatiana would never be able to wear Chanel No. 5 again.
She had wanted to teach his ex-wife a lesson, but she hadn’t planned on doing it like that, by finally opening up her heart to Ian so suddenly. And so completely. It was simply that she hadn’t had it in her to lie about her feelings for him—not even to his ex-wife.
Interestingly, though, Tatiana was certain that it had also been the best possible way to strike out at the other woman. Because nothing could have infuriated her more than knowing how thoroughly she’d been forgotten by her ex-husband.
Chelsea was his past.
And Tatiana had just made it perfectly clear, in perhaps the most unplanned and non-well-thought-out way possible, that she hoped to be his future.
CHAPTER NINE
Tatiana’s mind raced with a half-dozen different ways to approach Ian when he came back into his office. Would it be better to act like nothing had happened? Or should she try to cut the tension from what she’d witnessed with a joke that he wouldn’t see coming and wouldn’t be able to resist laughing about?
If she were in his place, she finally decided, what she’d really want was an ear, a shoulder, someone to gently talk through the whole situation with. Of course, that meant she’d need to force her own emotions into the background so that she could help him.
So then, if she’d been so sure about the best way to deal with things, why was the first thing out of her mouth when he walked back into his office, “Why did you give her the money?”
Only, she knew exactly why she’d said it, didn’t she? Tatiana had never been any good at hiding her feelings. Especially when she felt more for the man standing in front of her than she could ever remember feeling for anyone else.
There was only the barest hitch in Ian’s gait as he moved to his desk to pull something up on his computer screen. “I have more money than time to deal with lawyers,” he replied in a voice utterly without inflection or emotion. “She knows that and capitalizes on it.”
What he’d said about his money-to-time ratio was certainly true, but in Tatiana’s mind it didn’t come anywhere close to explaining what had happened. She frowned as she thought about the scene between Ian and his ex-wife.
One thing continued to stick with her: the guilt she’d seen in his eyes.
“You think you owe it to her—whatever she asks you for—don’t you?”
Ian Sullivan had a masterful poker face, and she’d thought more than once that if he hadn’t become a captain of industry he could easily have ruled the high roller tables in Vegas without breaking a sweat. But she could have sworn she saw a crack appear as she continued, “Why? Why would you think you owe her anything? I saw the way she acted. I see the way she is. What more than what she’s already gotten from you do you think she deserves?”
Every time she said the word why, Ian’s eyes flashed hotter, darker. He’d always held his inner fire in check, but now she expected it to burst free. Finally.
“I’m late for my next meeting.”
Tatiana was momentarily stunned by the way Ian completely ignored her questions. Stunned into utter silence, actually.
She’d never known anyone who could shut down—or shut her out—so quickly. Or so thoroughly. And maybe, Tatiana told herself, that’s where she should let the whole thing go. Any rational woman would.
Only, there was more than just what had happened between Ian and his ex-wife to deal with, wasn’t there? Specifically, when she’d said, “All it took was one handshake for me to fall for you, Ian.”
She wasn’t ashamed that she’d finally admitted her feelings to him, and she didn’t much care that his ex-wife had heard it. But she couldn’t imagine sitting through a bunch of meetings with it hanging between them...or worse, with Ian pretending she’d never said it at all—as if what she felt for him didn’t matter in the least.
So even though the rational part of her knew the timing was all wrong, that in the wake of dealing with his ex-wife Ian was as closed off as he could possibly be, Tatiana couldn’t stop herself from moving closer into his personal space. Personal space that he’d just made perfectly clear he wanted to keep as his alone.
She reached for his arm. “About what I said at the end—”
“Forget it, Tatiana.”
Now her eyes were the ones leaping with fire. “I can’t forget it. I won’t.”
“You have to. We both do.” As open as he’d been when they’d been laughing together fifteen minutes earlier about her falling asleep in the meeting, he’d now swung all the way to the far side of closed. “This next meeting will be even more boring than the one we just came out of, so you might as well skip it. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Having dismissed her, he walked out of his office, leaving her standing alone with a difficult decision to make, one that she couldn’t believe had become so thorny in such a short time. Should she do what he was obviously hoping she’d do—and what, at the moment, her stung pride was demanding—by picking up her bag and finding another CEO to shadow? Or should she suck it up and continue forward on the path she’d been so determined to walk just a few days ago?
But the truth was, continuing to shadow him wasn’t about her pride. And it wasn’t completely about researching her role, either.
The real reason she was going to stay in his life was because she recognized, deep inside herself, that there wasn’t any decision for her to make. Not when her heart really and truly had made it for her all those months ago in Napa Valley, when Ian had held her hands in his...and she’d looked up into eyes that she’d been waiting to gaze into her entire life.
Yes, she knew that it was crazy to try for Ian’s heart. While he was a caring man, he wasn’t an easy one like his brothers. On top of that, he had obviously been terribly scarred by his marriage, his heart now imprisoned behind a thick, seemingly impenetrable wall.
And yet, she couldn’t help but feel that it would be so much crazier not to try—to let him go without knowing she’d risked absolutely everything first. His mother’s words from Friday night replayed inside her head: “What I learned when Ian’s father and I were trying to make things work between the two of us, was just how much determination it can sometimes take to stay on your heart’s path. I also learned that love is worth the struggle. Always.”
Just then, Tatiana’s phone buzzed from the couch. She picked it up and was both surprised and pleased to see a text from Ian’s sister.
HAVING DRINKS WITH THE GIRLS AT MY PLACE. PLEASE COME!
Tatiana considered her options. She could go in to Ian’s meeting, even though he’d just made it clear he didn’t want her there. She could go back to her condo and read over her script another dozen times. Or she could go to Mia’s house, have a couple of drinks, and try to forget that any headway she’d made with Ian had just been stripped completely away.
After texting Ian’s sister back and noting her address, Tatiana tossed her phone at her open bag, then headed for Mia’s.
* * *
“What a fabulous house,” Tatiana marveled as Mia put a glass of wine in her hand the second she walked through the front door. “Is that a tower I saw just behind the house?”
“Complete with thirteenth century stones and everything,” Mia confirmed. “It’s where Ford first tricked me into seeing him again, and then later proposed. It’s my favorite place on the property. He’s turning the lower level into a recording studio, which means there will be lots of hot musicians always hanging around,” she added with a wicked grin. “No complaints here.”
Tatiana already knew the story of how, five years after they’d had a week-long affair and then split up, Ford had posed as an anonymous buyer to hire Mia as his Realtor to find him a house in Seattle. He’d believed it was the only way to get her to see him again, and while Mia had been furious with him at first, beneath her anger had been a deep and true love that had never gone away in the years she and Ford had been apart.
“I love watching the two of you together. Ford loves you so much.”
“Sometimes,” Mia said with a happy glow, “I wake up in the morning and he’s right there, and I still can hardly believe we were lucky enough to get a second chance.”
Tatiana was so happy for her friend, for all of her friends and family members who had found true love. One day, she hoped, she’d be the one glowing from being loved so well.
Brooke and Colbie walked in just then and there were more hugs among them all. Brooke was getting married to Mia’s brother Rafe that summer. They lived full time on a lake a couple of hours away, but were often in Seattle for business meetings and to see family, though they’d had to miss dinner at Max and Claudia’s on Friday night. Colbie was Mia’s oldest friend from kindergarten, and she had also gotten married recently, Tatiana remembered when she saw the stack of bridal magazines Colbie and Brooke plopped onto the kitchen counter.
“Here’s everything we had between the two of us. Although we already ripped out the pictures of all the good dresses,” Colbie teased Mia.
“I swear,” Mia said as she poured glasses of wine for her friends, “thinking through the logistics of marrying Ford is like planning a covert military operation. He’s just so famous, I honestly don’t know how we can avoid helicopters and paparazzi. I’m starting to think we should just throw on some bathing suits one afternoon and say our vows by the pool, then eat burgers and hot dogs at a cookout with everyone afterward.”
Even though Tatiana knew Mia hadn’t been serious, she had to ask, “Why don’t you?”
Mia looked thoughtful. “Now that we’re talking about it,” she said slowly, “maybe that’s exactly what we should do. I’ll have to see what Ford thinks, but something tells me he’d be just as happy as I would to avoid the circus.”
Mia had turned on the heat lamps on the covered porch that looked out over the lake and had laid out blankets on the seats so they’d be comfortable sitting outside. Brooke pulled a big box of chocolates out of her bag and put it on the coffee table next to the plate of crackers and cheese.
“I know how busy your filming and traveling schedule is,” Brooke said to Tatiana, “but I hope you’ll be able to come to our wedding at the lake this summer.”
“Their plans are super romantic and sweet,” Mia said around a mouthful of chocolate truffle.
Brooke smiled, possessing the exact same glow that Mia did. “We’re going to spend the weekend with everyone at the lake and then have the ceremony and reception out on the beach in front of our house at sunset.”
“It sounds amazing.” Tatiana hadn’t visited their lake house before, but the pictures she’d seen had shown a really cute lakefront cottage with a beautiful view. “And thank you for the invitation. I’d love to come to your wedding.” She turned to ask Colbie, whom she’d met only briefly once before, “You just returned from your honeymoon, didn’t you? Was it amazing?”
“Beyond amazing.” Colbie’s deep blush said more than words would have about just how amazing it had been.
They talked honeymoons for a while longer, until Mia suddenly zoomed in on Tatiana and changed the subject. “So, how is shadowing my big brother at the office going?” When Colbie looked confused, Mia explained, “Tatiana is spending the next couple of weeks at the office with Ian to do some research on CEOs for her new movie. She’s been working with him a couple of days already.”
Clearly surprised by this bit of information, Colbie said, “Wow, how interesting. I can’t wait to hear about what it’s like to shadow Ian.”
“Rafe and I were wondering how it’s going, too,” Brooke said. “Do tell.”
Feeling slightly flustered at the sudden attention, plus the glass of wine on a fairly empty stomach, Tatiana said, “It’s going fine.” Ugh, that didn’t sound right. It was just that the day had ended on such a weird note, and she was still reeling from it. “I mean, it’s going great.” She took a sip from her glass before repeating, “Really great.”
Everyone remained quiet, as though they were waiting for her to say something more. Tatiana had promised not to share any information about what happened in Ian’s office with anyone. And she would never spill his business secrets. But she had to know, “What’s the deal with his ex-wife?”
“Chelsea?” Mia made a face. “Why do you ask?”
“I met her today.” Tatiana held up a hand. “But I promised Ian I’d keep everything that goes on in his office private, so that’s all I can say. I shouldn’t even have brought it up, and I don’t mean to gossip, especially about your family—”
“We know that’s not why you’re asking,” Mia said, cutting off her apology. “You’re probably just wondering, How could he have married her?”
Tatiana had to reluctantly nod. “When I saw them together...well, I just couldn’t see them together.”
“I’m probably not the most objective person in the world when it comes to Chelsea,” Mia admitted, “but I swear to you that when he brought her home for the first time, we all tried to like her. We really gave it everything we could, all of us—my brothers, my parents, my cousins. But in the end she never wanted to be any closer to us than we did to her. I think she was used to getting what she wanted...and she wanted my brother all to herself. No family always in the way. No work commitments eating up both his days and nights, when she was dying to have her picture taken for the society pages in the couture dresses he bought for her.”
