Free The Highest Price to Pay by Maisey Yates Page A

felt as though it had been filled with leaden weight, her entire body shaking. “It’s late. And anyway, it really should be spectacular, gold dusted chocolate cake or something.” He still didn’t move, didn’t speak. “Thanks for the dance,” she said, because there really was no way to ignore it. All she could do was try to make light of it. Try to pretend her whole world hadn’t just been shaken. It seemed like she’d been trying to pretend that ever since Blaise had stormed into her life.
    He nodded and offered her his hand. She clenched her teeth, tight, trying to hold back frustrated tears. She couldn’t touch him now. If she did, she might crumble.
    But she wasn’t weak. She never let anyone see her cry, and she wasn’t going to start now.
    “I think I can manage to find my way back into the ballroom,” she said stiffly, keeping her hands at her sides.
    A small smile curved one side of his mouth. “Of course.”
    At least now there would be a physical barrier between them, a table, and maybe some wealthy society people to create a buffer.
    Although, now it all just felt like too little too late.

CHAPTER SIX
    Chevalier Romance Heats Up!
    The press had done their job admirably. They hadn’t missed the chance to snap photos of a very rare event: Blaise Chevalier with the same woman twice.
    Not for the first time, he felt a small stab of disgust over the interest the media had with the salacious details of his life. Over the fact that there were so many salacious details. He was not a saint, not by any stretch of the imagination, and the press didn’t have to tweak too many truths in order to write stories about him.
    But he used his reputation to his advantage, no reason not to. He made money. It was what he knew how to do. It allowed him to set up foundations in Malawi in his mother’s memory. Support causes that had meant so much to her.
    The money that he made, the success he had achieved in business, was the one thing that kept his father from writing him off entirely. Not that he truly sought out redemption, not from him. Their relationship was strained at the best of times, his father still harboring anger at Blaise’s eight-year-old self for choosing to leave with the woman who had betrayed him.
    Then there was Luc. That Luc had offered forgiveness so freely for what had happened with Marie was still something that didn’t settle well with Blaise.
    It would have been better, in so many ways, if his brother had demanded a pound of flesh for the betrayal, if he had worked to extract pain and revenge. But he had not. And there were times when Blaise felt there was still penance to be paid.
    Although, that implied that he was seeking absolution. He was not. Such a thing was beyond men like him. He accepted it. Owned it. Used it, as he did all things.
    Just as he knew he and Ella could use the press to their advantage in the building of her business.
    Ella. Temptation.
    She was, much more than he had envisioned. Women, in his mind, were women. Sex was sex. Looking at it any other way had drastic consequences. But Ella, her smell, the feel of her skin, the temptation of those full, brightly painted lips of hers, turned him on faster than any woman in his memory.
    Even Marie. And the control he had allowed Marie to exert over him had been nothing short of shameful.
    He knew the man he was when he allowed emotion to lead. Knew what he was capable of when he let his desires take charge, when he abandoned decency in the pursuit of his own satisfaction. He had no intention of ever being that man again. Which was why his control was his own now, why he never allowed it to be shaken.
    He put the paper down on his desk, allowing his gaze to linger on the photograph of Ella and himself out on the balcony. His face was tilted down, close to the curve of her neck.
    Her head was tilted back, her face in profile. Red lips parted, eyes closed, long lashes fanning over her high cheekbones. She was a beautiful