‘You know that’s who you are,’ she began tentatively.
‘Alex...’
She couldn’t let him interrupt her. Couldn’t let him run away this time—although he would never, in a hundred centuries, believe that was what he was doing.
‘You don’t have to be either your mother or your father. You can be yourself, and who you are is pretty special, Louis. Or at least could be. You’re the best parts of the Lefebvre and Delaroche lineages. You could take up your mother’s legacy and create something even more prestigious than the Delaroche Foundation. But, unlike your father, you’d be doing it for all the right reasons.’
His lips pulled into a cold, hard line. But he was still standing there, still listening to her. That had to stand for something.
‘This again? Why do you keep pushing this? Just because I helped Florien tonight doesn’t make me who you want me to be.’
He was right, she couldn’t seem to let it go. But suddenly it felt vitally important. She could tell herself it was her last chance to secure Rainbow House, to make her father realise just how much she would sacrifice to make up for what they had lost, but she suspected it had become more than just that.
She suspected it had become more about Louis, and the way he resisted the good part of himself because he didn’t feel he deserved it. He was punishing himself for his mother’s death and, for some reason, that hurt her. As though layers were being peeled away, from the inside out.
Very much as though Louis mattered to her. More than she had ever thought possible.
But that couldn’t be right.
This was about her father, and Rainbow House. Nothing more, nothing less, and that was what she had to stick to.
‘It isn’t who I want you to be,’ she pressed. ‘It’s simply who you are. You must see that. You’re a good man. Everyone who works with you knows that. Brigitte was telling me that only tonight. Every single one of your surgical team, eager to please you every chance they get, knows it. Even the press know you’re a good surgeon. They laud you every time you operate.’
‘Brigitte said it?’
‘Brigitte told me she’d worried when you’d first told them you were bringing someone to the chateau, but that since she’s seen us together she hopes our marriage will be a very happy one.’
‘Our marriage is a sham.’ Louis frowned.
It hurt far more than it should. Alex struggled to answer him.
‘Of course I know that. But the point remains, people want the best for you. Did you know she also told me that she knew we were trying to regain control of the Lefebvre Group?’
‘There’s no such thing as secrets in a place like this.’ Louis shrugged, his shuttered expression only heightening her frustration.
‘According to Brigitte, your mother once intended for the stable blocks here at the chateau to be turned into a respite centre. Holidays for families from places like Rainbow House and the other charities sponsored by the Lefebvre Group.’
‘Is that so?’
Louis gritted his teeth. It was a warning she should heed, but she couldn’t. Or she didn’t want to.
‘It is. Brigitte said your mother even got planning permission, and that your father signed documents to that effect.’
‘My father would have long since got rid of any such papers.’
‘Not if your mother lodged them at her own solicitors. In trust.’
It was a dangerous game, but she couldn’t seem to stop. Aside from their silly argument, things had seemed so positive between them before they’d got the message about Florien. And even then, they’d worked together harmoniously, just as they always did. She felt as close to Louis as she was likely to get.
So why did that knowledge deflate her so?
‘Let me guess, Brigitte thinks that, too.’
‘Right.’ Alex nodded, shoving her misgivings aside. ‘You could reinstate your mother’s plans and make it one of the first successes of the Lefebvre Group.’
‘And call it Rainbow House the Second? Maybe Rainbow Court?’ His anger was apparent. ‘Alex, how many times can I tell you that I don’t want to take over the Lefebvre Group? Or the Delaroche Foundation. The Lefebvre Group was my mother’s drive, her passion, because it was something away from my father. But to me, it holds too many bad memories. The Delaroche Foundation has only ever been a vehicle for my father to gain a knighthood. It has never been about helping people, for him.’
‘So you can be different.’ She stood up, took a step forward and then stopped, her arms dropping to her sides helplessly as Louis folded his own arms across his chest as though warding her off.