She’d seen them together, Emma realized, feeling a little nauseated. She’d seen them together at a very private moment. And they had looked amazing.

That only increased the roiling sensation in her belly. Vanni had said their relationship would be exclusive during their five weeks together, and she’d believed him. She hadn’t thought about what that implied—if anything—to Astrid.

Astrid entered the box, her gaze skimming over Emma and clearly finding her insignificant. She stepped right past her to embrace Estelle. Emma stood, all too glad to move over into Vanni’s seat next to Michelle Shaw and give Astrid the one next to her cousin. Michelle greeted Emma warmly and moved her monitor so they could share. Emma was growing accustomed to Estelle’s frequently vicious tongue, but she didn’t have to always be on her guard with Michelle.

She was uncomfortably aware of the two women chattering away in rapid French next to her, especially when she specifically recognized Vanni’s name mentioned by Astrid. Estelle replied. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Astrid whip her head around and glare pointedly in Emma’s direction.

“Just ignore her,” Michelle said quietly. Their heads were close together as they leaned in to watch the same screen. Emma looked up with just her eyes and saw the older woman was regarding her with a small, knowing smile. “I noticed how you tensed up when you saw her just now. She’s about as important to him as what’s on the dinner menu. And at least until recently, Vanni had a take-it-or-leave-it attitude about food.”

Emma gave her a grateful smile. She appreciated the show of support. But it wasn’t that she was worried about Vanni being overly interested in Astrid. She’d heard him tell the fiery beauty firsthand, after all, that sex was all he could give her. The reason she was troubled by Astrid’s appearance was that she was reminded in a jarring fashion that she—Emma—was in the same boat as Astrid. She’d agreed, just as Astrid had, to a sexual affair. The only difference in her case was that she’d put the time limit on it. Otherwise, she and Astrid had more in common than it was comfortable for her to think about.

She hadn’t forgotten the practical reason for her and Vanni’s entering into the agreement. It was just that under the influence of the romance and excitement of the French Riviera and Vanni’s masterful lovemaking—and her own foolishness—it was easy to mask the truth. It was convenient to escape it.

Something she was infamous for doing, Emma realized with a sinking feeling.

Now she’d allowed things to progress to the point where she’d told Vanni she was falling in love with him. His response to her confession had been fierce and sweet and had swept her off her feet completely.

But he’d never returned the words. Why had it been so easy while in his addictive presence to not focus on that glaring fact?

She blinked when Michelle touched her arm. “I meant to make you feel better,” Michelle said in a hushed tone. “But from that look on your face, I’ve made things worse.”

“No. No you haven’t. Thank you for saying what you did.”

Michelle didn’t look convinced, but at that point a roar went up in the distance. The announcer exclaimed excitedly in French.

“Niki just took the lead on the mountain turn,” Dean yelled as the crowd in the main arena began to cheer.

She and Michelle turned their total focus back to the race. By the time the fortieth lap was complete, one of the NASCAR champions had spun out in a frightening, fiery crash at the harrowing harbor turn, and the caution flag had gone up, slowing down the race considerably. Miraculously, the driver escaped from the crash unscathed. Meanwhile, Joe Hill had come back fighting strong for the Americans, nudging out Mario Acarde and gaining on Niki. She, Michelle, and Dean went to get a plate of food, but Emma could barely eat it, the danger level of the competition was growing so fierce. The announcer had taken to yelling nonstop into the microphone as drivers took greater and greater risks to gain supremacy on the road.

“Can I ask you something?” Emma asked Michelle during one of the more relatively placid moments in the race. Michelle nodded. “Did Vera leave the French Riviera because I was coming?”

Michelle’s friendly face collapsed slightly. “Did someone tell you that?”

“No,” Emma said. “But she did, didn’t she? Leave as a sort of protest to my coming?” Emma saw her answer on Michelle’s honest face.

“Vera can be very idiosyncratic at times, especially when it comes to Vanni,” Michelle said apologetically. “She imagines herself as a mother figure to him, although I’ve never noticed Vanni reciprocating the sentiment. To be honest, I’ve always thought he’s so forbearing when it comes to her because she resembles his mother a bit, and he loved his mother so much.”

Emma nodded in agreement. “I just don’t understand why Vera hates me so much.”

Michelle shrugged. “Isn’t it obvious? She sees you as a potential threat to her comfortable little world. I’m afraid Vera’s feelings for Vanni’s father complicate things even further.” Emma gave her a puzzled glance. What did that mean? Michelle waved her hand. “Trust me, the internal workings of my sister-in-law’s mind are not worth thinking about. I won’t be so cruel as to call her delusional, but she gets pretty close to that description. She’s an odd one, but relatively harmless.”

Emma wasn’t sure she agreed, but she didn’t think it was worth pursuing at the moment. The end of the race was fast approaching, and just like every spectator for miles, it captured her full attention. The fierce competition escalated to a barely controlled desperation as the drivers took the final lap. A communal gasp went up to the heavens as Niki, Mario, and Joe Hill seemed to fall straight down a steep mountain pass, and Joe maneuvered around Mario on the bottom turn in a breathtaking feat of pure skill and daring. Now he was gaining on Niki as the cars plunged toward the main arena and the finish line.

Emma stood like everyone in the arena, the roar of the engines growing louder by the second making her skin tingle with mounting excitement. The sound was deafening as the frontrunners stormed into the arena. Her vision obscured by people’s heads and waving flags, Emma turned the monitor and watched the finish there, holding her breath. There didn’t appear to be an inch difference between the Montand car and Joe Hill’s. Just yards before the finish line, however, Niki surged. Still, Emma wasn’t sure who had won, it’d been so close when they crossed. Above all the wild shouting and screaming, she heard the announcer yell Niki’s name. Emma shouted triumphantly, turning and hugging Michelle, both of them jumping up and down. Then Dean was hugging her, too.

One thing was for certain, Emma thought later as she watched Niki do his victory lap. She could understand why Vanni loved the sport so much.

Chapter 36

Emma had been flushed with excitement and beaming when Vanni arrived back at the box to claim her for the award ceremony. She’d been unusually quiet on the car ride home, however, and Vanni thought he knew why.

They’d stayed to drink champagne with Niki, the Montand crew, and friends and family at a private room on the arena grounds. After taking one look at Emma, whose expression appeared strained and her face pale, he’d bowed out for the celebratory dinner at a local seaside resort. He’d had enough of crowds and champagne and the hoopla for an entire year. Besides, despite the fact that Emma had enthusiastically said she’d go if he liked, she looked a little relieved when he said he’d rather have dinner alone with her at the empty villa.