Simon: Le Beau Brothers: New Orleans Billionaire Shifters with BBW mates Series (Le Beau Series) (16 page)

“We’re not sure if Rose is the prime target or Le Beau women in general so everyone should be extra careful.” Cade and Simon reached for their mates at the same time, needing the contact.

“That’s really all the business we have to cover. Emma has made a feast for brunch. I hope everyone is hungry.”

The family moved to the dining room and had the most elaborate brunch Rose had ever experienced. When she offered to help clean up Anna and Emma shooed her out of the kitchen.

She followed the sound of voices to the great room and sat on the couch to watch the men play a raucous game of pool.

Twenty minutes later Emma joined Rose on the couch. “So, tell me all about your family, cher.”

Rose swallowed hard, she hated these questions. All of the sympathy and pity that she received with her answer about drove her mad. “My family?” Rose echoed, her heart breaking as she realized she didn’t fit in Simon’s family at all. Emma and Isaac were all about family. She was concerned for her son and wanting to know that Rose would be a good wife for her son, a good mother. If she had a wonderful extended family for his future children. You’re supposed to learn how to be a good parent from your own mother and father, right?  Well, then she was screwed.

Simon watched the color fade from Rose’s cheeks. She looked to him for both rescuing and forgiveness. She felt utterly helpless and defeated. With one simple question she was beaten. She looked at the floor then glanced up at him almost helplessly and his heart turned over. She actually shrank into the cushions of the couch as if to protect herself from the question.

Simon crossed the room and sat next to her on the arm of the couch. “Rose is an orphan, Mom.”

Here it comes, the pity will be first and then the rejection. No one wants an orphan with no family, no history or decent upbringing to be the mother of their grandchildren.

Anna joined them on the couch. “Rose prefers to not discuss her childhood.”

Emma clucked her sympathy. “That doesn’t matter, cher. When you marry Simon, you’ll have all kinds of f
amily. We’ll all be your family. Shoot, you’ll have more family than you know what to do with.” She gathered Rose into her bosom and actually rocked her like a small child. Emma was unable to let anyone leave her presence without some mothering and in her eyes Rose had a lot of years of missed mothering.

Hold on,
did she just say, when I marry Simon? Why did she say that?

“The way you grew up and the people you lived with are no never mind; it’s the woman you became that’s important. I just wish you would have had the love and joy little girls deserve. Lots of dolls and tea parties,
birthdays and scrapbooks with all the memories. As a matter of fact, we should start a scrapbook for you right away. I’ll get my camera and we’ll get pictures of everything then go to the scrap book store for supplies so we can begin building fabulous memories for you.” Emma zeroed in on a new project and there’d be no stopping her.

Rose could handle any challenge
, but her lack of family was her kryptonite. Her reaction to others finding out about her childhood could seem unreasonable but it was something she couldn’t seem to help. To change the subject, she said, “Thank you Emma, I’d like that. I hope you have lots of pictures of Simon when he was a boy. I’d love to see what he was like. I imagine he was a hand full.”

Emma clapped her hands gleefully. “He was!” She raised her voice. “Isaac. Would you please bring me the family album?”

“Awww. Mom,” Simon groaned “Do you have to do that to me?”

“Great idea, Emma,” Isaac said cheerfully. “I bet An
na would enjoy seeing it too.” He went to a large bookcase and removed a leather bound album.

“Mom!
Not the pictures,” Cade whined.

“I would!”
Anna said.

Rose leaned in for a better look; there was a picture of a happy baby splashing excitedly in an old fashioned washtub.  A few pages and he had aged to about one year old. Simon sat with his toys, waving chubby arms, hair falling into his face. Every few pages he aged a year or so. It was an incredible record of his happy childhood. It occurred to her that all of the pictures had period clothing and toys. The furniture
and other things in the background were turn of the century. And they were old-fashioned black and white photos.
What the heck was that all about?

Both Anna and Rose sat in rapt attention as Emma told story after story of Cade
’s and Simon’s exploits.

The men sat quietly and took it like the big strong men that they were. Groaning in agony on the inside.

Simon sent her his quick, easy grin when the photo session ended. He felt her sadness increasing with each turn of the page. She covered her sadness surprisingly well. But the level of her anxiety was becoming alarming to him.

Simon had the family Rose had always dreamt of while growing up. They loved one another, teased each other horribly, and treated each other affectionately. It surprised her how much she still craved that. She thought she’d left that behind her years ago.  Now that she’d had a taste of what it was like to be a part of this family, it would destroy her when she had to go back to her lonely life in Denver.

When the album had been returned to the shelf, Rose waited for the chance to sneak from the house unnoticed. Her heart was breaking just thinking about the day she would have to pack her bags and return home. Alone. With no family. No Simon. All her life she had been an outsider. Never good enough. Never what others wanted her to be. It was a lonely place to live. The tears were threatening to spill from her eyes any second and she needed to escape.

Simon was watching her out of the corner of his eye, she was very upset and trying to hide it. Her agony tore at him. The entire situation confused him;
he couldn’t fix it if he didn’t understand it.

Rose walked away from him, from the dream family she would never have, with a lump in her throat and tears burning behind her eyes, away from his smiling mother and his loving father. She ran from the house and rushed to reach the safety of her bedroom at Anna’s.

“Hey!” Simon came up behind her and put his arm around her shoulders. “You all right? I thought we were having fun? What happened?”

She wouldn’t cry in front of him. If she had any sense she’d go home tomorrow. Maybe it would be less painful if she left now before it got any harder to leave. Before she fell even deeper in love with Simon and his family. She really didn’t see any reason in prolonging the agony. She would only be here a few months and then she would have to go home. She didn’t have silly hopes that Simon would fall in love with her and ask her to marry him. Men like him didn’t marry women like her. Better to rip the Band-Aid off quickly.

Rose shrugged Simon off and walked more quickly, practically running down the hall. It was a cowardly thing to do, but she had to get away before the tears started. She didn’t owe him an explanation. Hell, she didn’t know how to explain it. What she did know was that if she spent one more minute with him she’d be sobbing on his shoulder. The door had barely closed and the lock turned when Simon crashed into it.

“Rose,
baby, please talk to me. Whatever it is, let me make it better.” The desperation in his voice was growing.

Rose lay on the bed with her face buried in the pillow weeping as her heart shattered.

Hearing her sobs and feeling her heart break was too much. Taking a step back he rammed the door knocking it off its hinges. He hadn’t even realized what he was doing until he was standing on the other side of the door.

Rose screamed and bolted from the bed.

In two steps Simon was on her. He grabbed her up in his arms, burying his face in her neck. His entire body was shaking so badly he wasn’t able to stand. With a slight turn of their bodies, he tumbled them to the bed.

The family came running as they heard the crash of the door from across the yard to find Rose wrapped in Simon’s arms weeping heart-wrenching tears.

Isaac waved everyone away. They needed privacy. He would speak with Simon once everyone settled down.

It was a long time before Rose quieted. Simon wanted to get her tissues but he was terrified of letting go of her. A few minutes later she lifted her head. Her mascara
ran down her face, her nose and eyes were red, she’d never been more beautiful to him.

“Will you please tell me what’s wrong? Did I do or say something?” His wolf was howling in agony feeling its mate’s pain.

“I can’t stay here, Simon. I don’t belong. I’m not part of the family. If I stay any longer, my heart will shatter when I need to go back to Denver. You’re having fun now but you’re going to get bored with me like the others. I need to leave now, before it’s too late.”

“NO!” It came out as a sharp command. His wolf leapt to the surface. He struggled to soften his tone. “Please don’t leave me
, Rose. I’m begging you. Please stay.” His voice broke and a tear ran down his cheek

At that she lifted her head and looked at him. “Why? Why is it so important to you that I stay?” This didn’t make sense to her, yes
, she had slept with him, but that didn’t mean much to men.

“You may not believe me but I love you
, baby. You’re my mate, there is literally no other woman for me.”

“Everyone keeps calling me your mate. What the hell does that even mean?” She was frustrated now.

“For every shifter there is only one woman, one mate. You search all your life for the special woman meant for only you. When a shifter is born, he has half a soul, his mate has the other half. There’s a mating ritual that binds the two pieces of the soul together. Once a shifter finds his mate, she’s everything to him. He has no interest in any other woman, no desire for any other woman. You are literally my other half, my everything. I’ll never leave you, never cheat on you. I only want to protect you, love you, and make you happy.”

She sighed
. “That sounds like the perfect fairy tale. How can you be so sure I’m your mate? You could be with me for a while and then decide someone else is your mate.”

He shook his head. “There are specific signs.
You’ll be unnaturally drawn to the person and once you are close enough you will smell the most delicious scent you’ve ever smelled.”

Her head came up and she started listening intently.

“Then when you hear her voice it’s like the world becomes brighter, more colorful. I can’t even begin to describe it properly. Finally, the unmistakable sign is you’ll be able to talk telepathically to your mate.”

“And
you’ve had all these signs?”

“Yes, I’m sure you have too. When
I’m near you do you smell anything special?”

She looked at the floor again, afraid to say it in case it wasn’t real.

He bent way down so he could force her to look at him. “Rose?”

“Yes, I smell fresh linen, like freshly washed sheets
,” she whispered.

I smell the most exquisite combination of coffee and cinnamon rolls
. He grinned and waited for her to react to hearing him telepathically.

She smiled, as she looked him in the eye
. “I smell like breakfast?” She laughed.

“The best breakfast in the world.”

“So, you really can’t ever leave me?”

“Nope, I wouldn’t want to anyway. You
’re beautiful and the most amazing woman I’ve ever met. You’re everything to me, baby. I love you so much, it hurts.”

“But what happens if you don’t do this mating ritual you mentioned?”

“Then our souls won’t be complete, and you won’t get your wolf soul and your magic.”

“Back up the bus
. What wolf soul and magic?”

“When we do the ritual,
you’ll receive a wolf soul and be able to shift like me. You also get magic so you can put on clothes with a thought, heal and move super fast. Stuff like that.”

“That’s the special abilities you talked about at the diner right?”

“Exactly.” He was beginning to breathe easier and the knot in his stomach eased.

“What
’s the ritual?”

“First there is the reques
t. I’ll ask you formally if you’ll give yourself to me to make me complete. I ask you, will you give yourself, body and soul, to complete this man and his wolf? Will you unite your life with mine, bond your future with mine, and merge your half of our soul to mine, and in doing so complete the mating ritual?

“
The second part is your formal response, which is: I will give myself, body and soul, to complete you as a man and a wolf. I will unite my life with yours, bond my future to yours, and merge my half of our soul with yours. I will complete the mating ritual with you.

“
Then as we join our bodies together and while we make love, I make my vow to you, which is: I claim you as my mate. I belong to you as you belong to me. I give you my heart and my body. I will protect you with my life. I give you all I am. I share my half of our soul to complete you. I share my magic with you. I beseech the great Luna goddess to bless you and your wolf guardian. You are my mate to cherish today and for all time. I claim you as my mate.