Wronged (The Cuvier Widows Book 1) (24 page)

“Why me?” he asked, suddenly curious, not at
all expecting her to respond.

“Because ... because you’re so good with
women and because I needed someone that I knew.”

He lay with her in his arms, silent. This had
never happened to him before and he didn’t know whether to feel
angry, sad, or pleased as hell that she’d chosen him. All because
she needed reassurance of being a desirable woman!

Saddened, he realized the pain of Jean’s
deception went deeper for Marian than he’d realized.

“I don’t know why Jean didn’t make love to
you. Mad is the only word to describe him, if he didn’t find you
attractive.” Louis kissed the top of her head, holding her tight.
“God, Marian. He’s dead. He doesn’t matter anymore. You’re alive,
you’re beautiful, and you just about drove me crazy tonight. Bury
Jean and leave him behind.”

She reached up and kissed his mouth hard and
Louis felt himself responding once again to her body. Her lips
released his and she gazed deeply into his eyes.

“Thank you, Louis, but you don’t have to be
kind. I understand that you’re used to women more sophisticated in
these matters and ...”

“Marian, I’m not being kind. You were
everything a man could want. You are everything I want.”

His lips plundered hers making her his, not
Jean’s. Louis lost himself as he felt her naked and wanting against
him. It was true that he couldn’t remember enjoying a woman more.
No one since his late wife had aroused his passion to such heights
and even Anne had never made him feel so much.

So what would he do now?

Come Monday, could they return to the office
and look at each other in the same way again? Could he sit across
from her without remembering her soft whimpers and the way she
melted in his arms? But did he really want to?

***

Louis watched as Marian’s bedroom slowly
lightened with the promise of a new day. Sometime during the night
they had moved upstairs to her big bed and made love into the early
hours of the morning.

When she drifted off to sleep, he’d lain
there and watched her, unable to slow his continuous thoughts. For
the last three hours he’d gazed down at her sleeping form,
wondering what to do.

The passion they aroused together stunned
him. Still in shock from how good they were together, he wanted
nothing more than to make love to her again and again.

So what now? Every day he would have to face
her, remembering her wrapped around him, wondering when she would
find out about his attempts to sell Cuvier Shipping. And God, when
she found out about him trying to sell the business, she would hate
him even more than Jean.

Louis didn’t want to cause her more pain than
she’d already had, but he still needed this new business. And he
only knew one way to get everything that he wanted. Marriage. He’d
been considering matrimony again with the right woman and Marian
would be an excellent choice in more ways than one.

He wished he didn’t have to deceive her about
selling her portion of Cuvier Shipping, but... maybe he wasn’t
looking at this correctly. Maybe he didn’t have to mislead Marian
into selling if he could convince her to marry him.

Marriage would give him control and
eventually she would accept his decision to sell Cuvier Shipping.
Together they could build his new sugar mill. All night long he’d
looked at the different ways he could obtain what he wanted and
have Marian too, not wanting to settle for anything less than
having both the new business and Marian.

Dawn crept in through the window, an
unwelcome portent of a new day. Soon the servants would be
returning as well as the children. He should be going, before the
sunlight exposed them and burned away their midnight ardor. Before
her neighbors realized he’d spent the night and made her even more
scandalous.

Would the passion they felt last night remain
this morning? Or would it be as fleeting as the dawn mist?

He leaned down and began to nuzzle Marian’s
neck. She was soft and beautiful, and he loved the way she
responded to his kisses, stretching in her sleep, rolling over and
surrounding him with her naked flesh.

Her eyes opened and he smiled into the depths
of her sleepy gray gaze. “Good morning.”

She returned his smile. “Good morning. What
time is it?”

“It’s still early, probably around six.”

“Hmm. The servants will be here at seven.”
She closed her eyes as if to go back to sleep.

“I know.” He trailed his finger down her
silken shoulder, wishing there was time to explore her body once
again. “Marian, wake up we need to talk.”

“I am awake,” she said, opening her eyes
sleepily and gazing at him.

“I’ve lain awake all night thinking about us.
About the business, your children, wondering what would be best for
all of us.”

Her eyes widened. “Why?”

“It’s going to be difficult working together
after what we’ve done. I mean, I don’t want to be slipping around
trying to find a moment alone with you, when the servants and the
children are around.”

Marian sat up, her hair tumbling about her
creamy shoulders, her nipples peeking out from beneath her tousled
dark locks. A frown gathered between her brows, her gaze suddenly
wary.

“I think we should get married,” he said. “I
know I’m not doing a very good job of asking, but would you marry
me? Would you be my wife?”

Silence filled the room for a moment as she
stared at him, her eyes wide with shock. She glanced away and
pulled the sheet up to cover her nakedness, her expression filled
with distress. Several moments passed before she looked at him,
still frowning.

“Marriage? Why are you doing this?” she
asked. “This was supposed to be for only one night”

“What? What are you saying?” he asked. He’d
just proposed to her and she appeared irritated. He’d asked her to
be his wife and she didn’t appear the least bit excited.

She faced him, her smoky eyes flashing as if
she were angry.

“You have all these women traipsing through
your office and you want to marry me?” She laughed, the sound
sarcastic. “I’ve told you repeatedly, I have no intention of ever
remarrying. I only wanted one night, not a lifetime.”

“I thought you would be happy if I asked you
to marry me. How can you want just one night? We could be together
forever.”

“Forever is a fairytale,” she said, her voice
rising. “I chose you because I knew you didn’t want forever,
either. So why are you doing this? Can you tell me that you love
me?”

Louis paused, staring at her. He hadn’t
considered love, last night. He’d thought only of the shipping
business and his desire for Marian. But if those three little words
would make her feel better and convince her to marry him, then yes,
he could say them.

“Yes, I ... I love you, Marian. I want you to
be my wife, because I love you. That’s why I asked you to marry
me.”

Marian jumped out of bed, enraged. “You
thought about those words just a little too long.” She grabbed her
robe and wrapped it around her nude body. “You’re acting isn’t
convincing, Louis. Why would a man known for seducing women
suddenly want to marry me after one night together?”

“It’s more than sleeping together!” he said
jumping up from the bed and striding toward her nude.

She moved to within inches of him, her face
flushed. “Why couldn’t last night just remain one passionate night?
That’s all I wanted. I don’t want to get married.”

“Good women are supposed to want to be
married the morning after! What’s wrong with you?”

“What’s wrong with me?”she asked her voice
rising. “After spending most of my life married to a man who didn’t
want to make love, I just wanted one night. Nothing more. I don’t
want to be tied to a man. I want the freedom to make my own
choices, work at Cuvier Shipping, and earn my living.”

She paused and gazed at him. He could feel
her eyes upon him searching out his face and he suddenly felt
uncomfortable. “What’s wrong?”

“Cuvier Shipping...” she said, her voice
dying away. “Are you trying to get control of the business? Is that
why you’re asking me to marry you?”

“Of course not, Marian,” he lied, knowing
he’d miscalculated once again and now he looked a fool. He’d let
the night affect his thinking and should have realized she would
recognize his ploy to acquire the business.

She glared at him, her face flushed, her eyes
wide with anger, her body shaking, madder than he’d ever seen
her.

“Why did you have to ruin last night, Louis,
by offering to marry me? I just wanted one night of passion and now
you’ve tainted the memory by asking me to marry you.” She seemed to
run out of steam. “Get dressed and get out.”

***

Later that morning, Marian watched from the
window as the carriage arrived with Claire and her children inside.
God, she dreaded facing Claire. How much should she tell her
sister? Wonderful night, fantastic lovemaking, until he’d ruined
the night by proposing?

How many women turned down a marriage
proposal the morning after being so intimate with a man?

Once he’d left this morning, she’d thrown
herself into cleaning Jean’s old bedroom. The time to purge her
life of Jean’s personal belongings and put him in the past had
come.

The midnight’s moonbeams had touched and
healed her, while the morning sun’s glare left her disturbed and
disappointed that Louis could be such a cad. To think he would
deliberately marry her just to get his hands on Cuvier
Shipping!

Now doubts crept in like spring ants crawling
their way through cracks. If he would propose to gain control of
the business, should she believe he had really accepted their
partnership? And was the proposal just another lie he wanted her to
believe for his own reasons?

Marian pasted a smile on her face and
smilingly opened the front door, happy to see her children home
again.

“Momma,” Renee said, running up the walk to
fling herself into her mother’s arms.

“Hi, sweetheart. Did you have a good time?”
Marian asked hugging her daughter to her, the child’s body feeling
comforting and uplifting.

“Yes. We played Old Maid and I won. I stuck
Philip with the old maid two times. He got mad at me.” She leaned
back and looked up at her mother, her arms still around her. “What
did you do?”

“I went to a dinner party with Mr. Fournet.
Then today I’ve been cleaning out your father’s room,” she
said.

“Oh,” said Renee and stared at her mother for
a moment. “What are you going to do with Papa’s things?”

“Today you and Philip can go through them and
pick out what you want and the rest we’ll give away to charity,”
Marian told her daughter.

“All right,” Renee replied in a subdued
voice. “It’s going to be strange not seeing his stuff.”

“You’re right,” Marian acknowledged. Philip
and Claire walked up.

“Hello, Mother!”

“Hello, son. Did you have a good time?”

Philip glanced at his younger sister. “It was
all right. What’s to eat?”

“I smelled lunch a little while ago. Go check
the kitchen.”

Philip started toward the kitchen, the smell
even now drifting on the breeze.

“Me, too!” Renee said, running after her
brother and leaving Marian alone with Claire.

“Well?” Her sister smiled at her. “You look a
little peaked this morning. What happened?”

Marian shrugged as if it meant nothing. “The
evening was lovely.”

“And?” Claire said, her face lighting up into
a grin.

“I’m really tired.”

“That’s usually a promising sign that someone
didn’t get enough sleep the night before.”

Marian shrugged. “Come into the parlor where
we can talk.”

She led her sister into the small room not
certain what she intended to tell Claire. She’d have to tell her
sister something or Claire would never let her have any peace, but
the night had been intimate. She didn’t want to discuss the way
Louis pleasured her until she cried out his name. Some things were
private. Some things hurt too much to remember.

After Claire walked in the door, Marian
closed it firmly behind her. She turned and faced her sister. “I’m
tired and I really don’t want to discuss the details of last night”
Marian took a deep breath. “But I will tell you this much. We came
back here after dinner last night and, yes, we made love.”

Her sister smiled and then she frowned.
“You’re all right aren’t you? He didn’t hurt you?”

Marian shrugged and walked away. “I’m fine.
Actually last night was really good.”

Claire took a seat on the couch. “Then why
aren’t you happy?”

“I’m fine, really. It’s just that before he
left this morning we had an argument”

“I see. Then you’re not upset about what you
did with Louis?” Claire asked Marian, her eyes questioning. Claire
took a seat on the settee.

“No. I didn’t expect what he said to me this
morning. I don’t know. In some ways, I’m more confused than ever
before,” Marian acknowledged.

“Did you at least get the answers you were
looking for?” Claire asked.

Marian paused in her pacing of the floor and
smiled wryly at her sister. “Yes. And I’ve spent the morning
cleaning out Jean’s bedroom. It’s time to put that man out of my
life. He’s dead and I must go on.”

A sigh escaped from Claire as she brushed a
speck of lint from her skirt “That sounds very good. Do you
consider last night a success?”

Marian stopped her pacing and frowned. “I
enjoyed being with Louis. The dinner party was fun and he is a
fantastic lover. But...”

She could feel the tears coming, pricking her
eyelids. She shook herself and turned back to Claire, regaining
control. “Anyway, last night was great but this morning everything
came apart.”

“I see. But as long as you’re all right and
you don’t regret what you’ve done ...” Claire said, her voice
sympathetic.