Billionaire Games Boxed Set 1-3 (39 page)

“She was.” Camille lifted her gaze from Juliana’s face, looked at her husband, and then let her eyes drift back down to the baby. “I think she had some errands to run, or something.”

Honestly, Camille couldn’t remember why Tasha had left and that laid a heavy guilt trip on her.

“Well, thank goodness.” Julian pushed himself up and paced the length of the open space in the middle of the room.

Camille looked up at him. “What do you mean?”

“Instead of that underworked nanny, we should’ve hired Andre’s wife. Between the two of you, there’s nothing left for the nanny to do.”

“You need to cut Tasha some slack, Julian. Besides, Juliana is her niece. And I, for one, am thankful that she loves her instead of resents her. After all, had fate not been so cruel, she’d be in the nursery holding her own baby right now.”

“Why don’t they have another child?”

“They’re trying. They’ve been trying for months.”

“Oh…” The single word grated over Julian’s voice with palpable shame. He swiped his hand across his forehead. “I’ll try to go easier on her.”

“Hopefully, this month will be the charm. She is late.”

“What is it the Americans say…?” Julian looked at Camille. “When you least expect it.”

Two days later, Tasha started her period.

T
asha and Andre waited in silence in Dr. Jolie’s office. They’d been referred to the fertility specialist by Dr. Ainsworth. Andre thought they were acting a bit prematurely, but if it made Tasha feel better to come into the doctor’s office and talk to him, then Andre was more than willing to set up the appointment.

Tasha fidgeted with the hem of her skirt, rubbing it between her fingers. As if she knew his eyes were on her, she looked up at Andre and gave him a weak smile.

He reached for her hand, tangled his fingers around hers and gave her a squeeze. “Whatever he says…we’ll get through it together.”

Tasha sucked in a breath, but it did nothing to chase away the anxiety that’d overtaken her face. She wanted a baby. And Andre wanted to give her one. He’d gladly spend every last dime of Uncle Edouard’s inheritance on fertility treatments if he thought it would increase their odds.

The door opened and Dr. Jolie came in. He was a tall, slim fellow with light hair and eyes. Aesthetically pleasing to the senses, he probably had a way of easing his uptight clients—it was working with Andre.

“Andre, Tasha.” He shook their hands and moved behind his desk to sit down. He perused the file and without looking up, he said. “I see you had a miscarriage last September.”

Tasha nodded and Andre answered vocally, “Yes.”

Finally, Dr. Jolie raised his eyes to make contact with them. “When did you start trying to conceive again?”

“Well, we weren’t ever
not
trying.” Andre laughed to hide the uncomfortable feeling creeping over him. “But we’ve been aware of her ovulation schedule since Christmas.”

“So not even six months.” He closed the file and pushed it aside. “The best advice I could give you two is to relax and give nature a chance.”

“There’s nothing else we can do?” Tasha’s emotion-choked voice made Andre feel bad. Andre knew what she was hoping for when they came in to see Dr. Jolie. She wanted an instant pill that would cause her ovaries to release a dozen eggs at once, hoping those odds could assure that at least one of Andre’s sperm would cross the finish line.

It was becoming clear to Andre, though, that Dr. Jolie had other ideas. “Tell you what…” The doctor stood. That had to be a bad sign. Didn’t standing mean he was about to show them out? “Let’s just let nature take its course. If Tasha isn’t with child by the time Christmas rolls around, then we’ll discuss fertility options.”

C
hristmas? Seriously? The fertility doctor wanted Tasha to wait six months before implementing some sort of a treatment plan?

Tasha let Andre lead her, pretty much in a daze, to the limo waiting outside the building’s main entrance. He helped her into the car and then climbed in himself.

“Can you close the partition, please?” she whispered to Andre.

“Sure thing.” He reached for the button and pressed it. The window immediately and effectively cut them off from the driver. Andre slipped her hand in his and squeezed. “Look, I know this wasn’t the news you wanted to hear, but if there’s nothing wrong with either of us then the odds are in our favor, right?”

Tasha appreciated Andre’s pep talk, but optimism wasn’t a part of Tasha’s skill set right now. Maybe it just wasn’t meant to be. Maybe Tasha was destined to be the aunt who spoiled her nieces and nephews rotten, to the dismay of their parents.

“You know, I’ve been thinking…” And she had. Not very long, only since the doctor’s words had filled her mind, but once Tasha got an idea in her head, it didn’t take much for it to take hold. “Maybe we should just forget about this fertility business.” She looked at Andre for direction. “Maybe we should quit
trying
and just let nature take its course. I can’t keep living like this. Wondering every month if we’ve succeeded, and then feeling the deflation when we don’t. If it happens, wonderful. If it doesn’t, we need to be able to move on and just enjoy our lives.”

“I agree. Let’s give nature a chance.” He pulled her to him and kissed her cheek. “But are you sure you’re okay with leaving it up to fate?”

“Yes.” She nodded. “Besides…I’m having a lot of fun driving Julian up the wall. He thinks I’m obsessed with Juliana.” Tasha giggled. “I do enjoy the little tyke, but I also enjoy freaking out Julian.”

A
fter returning to Pacifique de Lumière, Andre settled Tasha in for a nap and then went out to the gardens. He knew Tasha was just being brave. That she wasn’t as compliant with the doctor’s advice as she’d claimed. Trouble was, Andre wasn’t sure how to make this right.

In the garden, Andre turned sideways and squeezed through the hedges. The Roman Goddess statue, the protector of the garden, and the benches perched against all four walls of shrubs might have been weathered with time, and the trees and shrubs might have grown considerably, but every time Andre came into the grove he was transported back to a time when he was no more than two. He had flashes of memories about playing here. He knew his mother used to bring him and Julian inside the grove, but even so, Andre hadn’t a single memory of his mother even though he well remembered playing in here with Julian. There was a part of Andre’s heart that felt cheated because he hadn’t any memories of his mother. If only he could’ve managed to save just one.

He took the handkerchief from his pocket and brushed dust from the goddess statue’s face. “Mama, where did I go wrong?” Andre asked, barely above a whisper. His gaze moved to the memorial stone beside the goddess. It and the new bench at the foot of the statues were the newest things in the garden. Andre’s eyes traveled over the words on the memorial stone.

We thought of you with love today,

but that is nothing new.

We thought about you yesterday

and days before that too.

Your memory is our keepsake,

with which we’ll never part.

God has you in His keeping,

We have you in our hearts.

In loving memory of our little Angel.

We cherish the few precious weeks

your mother carried you in her womb.

“Is this punishment for not telling Tasha about the stipulations of the will in the first place?” A chill shuddered over him. “Did our only child die because of me?”

The hedges rustled behind him. Andre looked over his shoulder just in time to see Julian squeezing through.

“What are you doing here?” Andre asked.

“Looking for you.”

“Why?”

“I saw you come out here. And you only come out here when something’s troubling you.”

Andre had to give Julian credit. When he was right, he was right. Even so, that didn’t mean Andre was going to tell Julian what was troubling him. “You wouldn’t understand,” he said, shaking his head.

Julian stopped beside Andre and shoved his hands in his trouser pockets. “Try me.”

Andre shook his head. “I just can’t help wondering if this mess isn’t a product of my own doing.”

“I’m not following you.”

“I told you that you wouldn’t understand.”

“I’m sure I could if you’d just help me to understand what you think you’ve done that’s so awful.”

“I should’ve been forthcoming with Tasha. I should’ve told her from the beginning what was really going on.”

“So tell her now.”

“It’s far too late for that.” Andre stared at the ground. “I should’ve told her from the beginning.”

“So why didn’t you?”

“Because she was pregnant. I was afraid she would think I was only marrying her to get the inheritance. I didn’t want her to say no.” Andre shook his head and lifted his gaze back up to the memorial stone. “Because of my selfishness, we lost our baby.”

“Wait…” Julian’s voice leaped up an octave. “Are you telling me that you think Tasha’s miscarriage was a direct result of you not being forthcoming with her? That it was karma?”

“Precisely.”

“Andre, that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.” Julian’s tone was short. “It seems to me that you feel you’ve misled your wife, and now you want to come clean and tell her about the terms for you to inherit the Renault fortune, but you’re afraid she’ll still leave you.” Julian looked at Andre and laughed.

“Do you doubt that she won’t?”

“No.” Julian shook his head and laughed. “My money’s on her dumping you.”

American idioms. Camille and Tasha were wearing off on Julian.

I
n the garden, Cecily held her breath while listening to Julian give Andre a pep talk. She didn’t dare breathe for fear that they’d discover her on the other side of the hedges.

Based on what Cecily was hearing, this was the evidence she’d been waiting for. This was her proof that Andre had indeed kept his wife in the dark. Dealing with a bought wife probably would’ve been easier. Valid marriages could be hard to break up—unless one party was hiding something from the other. Something like marrying them to inherit a large fortune. Tasha de Laurent wasn’t going to take this lightly. And if Cecily played her cards right, she would convince the woman that her marriage was a farce.

The hedges began to ruffle, and Cecily rushed to the closest wall and rounded the corner to hide. Standing with her back against the shrubbery, she didn’t dare peek around the corner for fear of being discovered.

She couldn’t be found out now, not when she finally had the advantage. Cecily had some planning to do. It might take her a couple of weeks to figure out exactly what to say to Tasha, but once she did, Cecily knew it would be the first step to claiming the Renault fortune as her own.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

BEFORE CECILY HAD ACCEPTED THE JOB as Julian and Camille’s nanny, her initial plan had simply been to break up Andre’s marriage. But now that she’d been living among them for a few months, she thought better of it. It wasn’t that she was afraid of Andre, or cared about his or his wife’s feelings. It’s just that she’d decided he was more likely to give up one thing in exchange for another, rather than being forced to lose both. Today was the day Andre de Laurent would have to make a choice.

Cecily canvassed the hallways of Pacifique de Lumière, searching for him. Thunder roared overhead. It didn’t surprise her. When she’d come up to the main house in the golf cart this morning, the cloud cover overhead was suggestive of an impending storm. Fitting, she thought, since she was about to rain on Andre de Laurent’s parade.

On the ground floor, she found him. “Oh, Mr. Andre,” she called to him as he was about to head into the stairwell that led to the garage. “Might I have a word?”

Andre glanced over his shoulder. “Miss…” he said, and then waited for her name.

Why would he know her name? She was just a servant in his eyes. “Cecily. Please call me Cecily.”

“What can I do for you?”

She pointed to the small salon on the right. “May we speak in private?”

“Sure.” Andre opened the door and gestured for her to go inside.

He followed her into the salon, but didn’t close the door. She looked at it and waited for him to close it. She didn’t need any busybodies listening in. Finally, he got the message and shut the door.

Cecily glanced at the three large windows evenly spaced along the western wall. Outside, the sky had darkened.

Andre crossed his arms and looked at her. “All right. Why all the privacy? What can I do for you?”

“Well…” She hesitated and then met his eyes. “You and I need to come to an understanding.”

A flash of lightning lit up the darkness outside.

“Is that right?” He all but laughed. “And just what do
we
need to understand?”

Thunder rattled the old house.

“Well, it’s kind of complicated.” From out of nowhere, a bout of nerves hit her full blast.
Breathe deep, Cecily
, she told herself. She had the advantage. There was no way Andre could win, considering what she knew about his marriage.

“I’m sure you can find those well-practiced words somewhere inside the scheme you’ve concocted.”

The first patters of rain pelted the windows.

Smug bastard
. “Yes.” She lifted her chin. Those damned de Laurents had always been witless and cruel. “Yes, I can.” She nodded to give herself time to corral the insulted feeling coursing through her. “What it all comes to, is this…” She cleared her throat. “You are going to give up your claim on Edouard Renault’s fortune.”

Lightning flashed and thunder roared overhead. The sky opened up and poured bucketfuls of rain against the windows.

Amusement danced across Andre’s eyes. Nothing happening outside bothered him. Not the lightning. Not the thunder. Not the rain. “What is this? Some kind of joke?”

“Not hardly.” She hoped she held her face straight enough to hide the jitters rolling around inside her stomach. Maybe it was the weather. She certainly wasn’t afraid of Andre de Laurent. “In two weeks’ time…” She sucked in a breath and went on with her plan. “You will relinquish your claim on the inheritance and turn it over to the heirs next in line.”