Chapter Five

Charlee-Mae was properly bundled up in several layers of winter clothing when she stepped out of the en-suite and caught the tail end of her husband"s conversation. Concern filled her when she heard his grim tone, and she looked at him uncertainly as he ended the call. "Is everything okay?"

"Oui, bien s?r," he assured her. "Forgive the constant interruptions. Everyone in the company has been feeling the pressure of our launch."

"You don"t look pressured, though."

He gave her a lazy smile. "It must be because of you."

She smiled back at him sweetly, saying, "I think so, too." The answer won her a laugh, and its sound was so, so sexy it made her toes curl hard. Thank You, Lord, for giving me the hottest husband ever!

Philippe turned to the balcony, and upon following his gaze, it was then she belatedly noticed that their lunch alfresco had already been set up.

"Oh my gosh!"

His wife"s gleeful squeal could only be described as shrill, but strangely enough, Philippe found this adorable as well.

"I can"t believe it!" Charlee-Mae was so excited, she was practically hopping from one foot to another. The weather outside was gorgeous, and the landscape even more so, with the snow-capped mountain peaks in the distance. "Can we go out now?"

"As long as you give me your word," he said strictly, "that you understand we can only be out for an hour."

"Um..." Charlee-Mae squirmed. Just an hour? Really?

"I mean it, ma femme. Konstantin already made me feel like I know no better than a horny teenager," Philippe muttered in self-disgust, "when I was forced to tell him this morning why you had passed out." His wife giggled at this, but Philippe was still feeling slightly disgruntled. "And thanks to your alfresco request, my friend is now convinced I have lost all common sense since marrying you."

Charlee-Mae could no longer keep herself from grinning. Basically, what he was saying was that Dr. Manolis believed she had her husband wrapped around her finger. Wasn"t he?

She saw Philippe"s gaze start to narrow, and she quickly wiped the grin off her face and sought to distract him with a mournful shake of her head. "I"m so sorry, mon Philippe. I didn"t mean to have you suffer a lecture from your friend." Inspiration struck, and she said, "But maybe I can make you feel better?"

Philippe was startled when his wife suddenly rushed towards him.

"I shall kiss your bad feelings away," Charlee-Mae announced.

And so she did...by suddenly bending down to press a quick little kiss to his trousers, and right on top of the telltale bulge of his manhood.

Nom de Dieu!

It was the simplest and cutest little thing, but it still aroused him...even as it also made Philippe throw his head back with a laugh.

His wife straightened up, her amber eyes aglow once again with mischief. "Feeling better now?"

Philippe shook his head "I think you need to do it again, but this time sans clothing?"

Charlee-Mae would have loved to say yes, oh yes...but with her stomach suddenly growling, all she could do was smile sheepishly. "Can I take a rain check?"

She expected him to laugh, but instead Philippe was swiftly urging her out to the balcony even as he scolded her for not informing him she was that hungry. The lecture continued as he started heaping food on her plate, but throughout it, all she could think about was how she would have hated every word if it were Landon or Charlotte doing the scolding.

But because this was her Philippe, and anything her husband did was adorable—-

This only meant he loved her so very much, she thought happily, and she therefore didn"t mind if he were to scold her every day of their lives.

When Philippe finally settled in his seat, it was Charlee-Mae"s turn to talk, and Philippe surprised himself by answering his wife"s seemingly endless stream of questions without feeling impatient or irritated.

No, his older brother did not work for the company, and it was because Pierre had passed away seven years ago.

No, Greta and Pierre had not met at work, but instead the three of them had grown up together.

No, she had not yet met his mother, but she would soon, since Sandra was also here in Jackson Hole.

In truth, most of the things she was asking about, she would have already known if she had not lost her memories, and if it had been anyone else asking these questions, Philippe would have long considered this a waste of time.

But he did not.

Because, truthfully, he could not remember having this much fun—-

"Who"s who?"

—-and one of the reasons for this was her wonderfully horrible French accent, which Philippe still found strangely cute...and exquisitely arousing.

Charlee-Mae looked at her husband hopefully. "Did I get it right?" The word she was trying to pronounce was French for "happy", and it was the name Philippe had chosen for his company"s new line of liquor chocolate.

"Désolé, mais non." I"m sorry, but no.

"Then..." Charlee-Mae refused to feel defeated, and so she tried again, saying, "Who"s whose?"

Philippe"s lips twitched. "It"s Heureuse."

"Ah!" Her eyes lit up. "Who wuss?"

"Ah, bien...I am sure you will get it in no time."

She made a face. "In other words, I still suck."

"Oui."

Charlee-Mae stuck her tongue out. "You just—-" She stopped speaking when she saw Philippe"s phone, which he had left screen up on the table, start vibrating, and the name Greta pop up on the display.

"Aren"t you going to take that?"

"After lunch," he said firmly.

"Oh, so Emily in Paris got that right? French people never work during lunch hours?"

Actually, he had never been the type to have lunch hours, but Philippe decided it was best to simply shrug in response rather than have his wife realize he had no wish to speak to his mistress in her presence.

"I hope it"s nothing serious," Charlee-Mae said worriedly.

"Even if it were serious, she should be able to handle it or let someone else take over as VP."

"Uh...wow." Charlee-Mae was more than a little surprised. "That"s quite harsh."

"Just as my own father did not give me any special treatment when I started out in the company, neither can I treat my sister-in-law differently from any other employee just because of who she is."

"Your father sounds intimidating."

"He was." Philippe"s tone was brief. "He passed away when I was still in college."

Charlee-Mae reached to give his hand a squeeze. "I"m so sorry, Philippe."

"It"s fine, ma femme. We were not truly close to begin with."

"And...your mother?"

The chiseled edges of her husband"s handsome face softened. "We are quite close."

"I hope she"ll like me." Charlee-Mae couldn"t help feeling a little nervous at the prospect of meeting her mother-in-law. She usually had a lot of confidence in making people like her, but none of those people happened to be Philippe's mother.

What if her mother-in-law ended up hating her because she was too American? What if—-

His phone started to ring again, and she then heard Philippe say, "Maman?"

Charlee-Mae froze. Wasn't that French...for mother?