“Your mother was right!”
“I guess she was.” Her mom had touted that education was the key to major opportunities in life. She’d pushed her children to always keep their heads in their books. It paid off. Both she and her sister were highly educated women with careers, although Naisha hadn’t made use of her degree yet.
“I have a wonderful idea!” Jacyn announced.
“What is it?” Naisha asked. The few moments she’d spent with Jacyn and Willa had already taught her that they were spontaneous with their ideas.
“If you really want to get out of the limelight, you could do worse than taking up a teaching gig in the south of France. Trust me, it grows on you super-fast, and I’m sure Willa would love to have you.”
Willa spun around so quickly that the braid Naisha had just begun popped out of her hands and would need to be re-started. “Please do, please do. I’ll ask Papa. No, I’llbegPapa.”
Jacyn flipped through the sheaf of papers and found the job posting Willa’s dad had created, holding it up for Naisha to see. “Look. You’d meet the requirements perfectly. Except,” she made a rueful face, “you need conversational French, at least.”
With a mischievous look on her face, Naisha addressed her next words to Willa.“Ta tante crois que ne parle pas français!”
Willa looked both delighted and shocked.“Pas vrais! Tu parles français? Comment?”
“Ma grandmère était guadeloupéenne.”
“Slow down, you two!” In response to Willa’s excited squeal, Jacyn gave them suspicious looks. During her time in France she’d picked up on quite a bit of the language, but when it was spoken rapidly, she sometimes became lost. “Did you just say your grandfather was from Guadeloupe?”
“Grandmother,”Naisha corrected her. “She worked as a housekeeper in a stately manor in France, and I visited her every summer as a teenager.”
“So you speak French!”
“And a smattering of Creole as well,” Naisha said proudly. No matter how out of the blue, the idea of becoming the governess for this lovely young girl was beginning to sound like a godsend. It had been a while since she’d had any practical experience, but she did have the training. She was sure there were worse options for the family to choose from.
People assumed that models were dumb, and Naisha had had more than her share of comments sent sneeringly her way, but the truth was that it was time to make use of the excellent education she had received. It would also be a great way to slip out of town without Abe, her loser ex, ever knowing where she’d gone to. Maybe a few months far away from him, like on another continent, would be just the fresh start she needed.Wouldn’t kill me to try,she thought.
“Just so you know, my brother-in-law makes the final decision. He’s gonna run a background check as well.”
“Not a problem. Should I print out my CV?”
2
“Fifty dollars,” Alexandre said with a grin. “I challenge you.”
William couldn’t hide his answering smile.
All their lives,I challenge youwere fighting words between them. And even now, despite the fact that both he and his brother were billionaire executives—with holdings in everything from transport to hotels to real estate—their standard stake on any wager was always just fifty; euro when they were in Europe, and dollars here in the United States. Barely enough for a trip to the movies for two, with large popcorns and sodas thrown in, but to them, it was more about the excitement of betting than the money to be won. That was the bet they rode on everything, from the results of the European Cup final or to whether their favorite mare would deliver a colt or filly.
So he offered his hand to be shaken. “Fifty dollars, then. I say Jacyn will be finished on time and waiting for us. You say she will be late.”
Alex gave him an exaggerated growl. “You’re always taking my wife’s side over mine, Liam.”
“I’m gallant like that.”
The two men laughed and Liam felt a warm glow pervade his chest. It was not too long ago that he and his brother didn’t even speak to each other. As a matter of fact, twelve years ago, Alex had stormed out of their family château in Aix-en-Provence and moved to the States, and hadn’t returned for ten years. Not even for their father’s funeral.
Liam didn’t blame him; their father was a callous, self-centered, emotionally abusive son of a bitch who had lived to pit two sons against each other, and who had no qualms destroying both their lives, using William’s late wife, Sofia, as leverage.
He cringed internally whenever he thought about how hideously their lives had changed, thanks to their father’s grotesque machinations and Sofia’s lies. He’d drowned in self-loathing and self-disgust during his marriage, only to discover how completely and thoroughly he’d been played.
Now, he and his brother Alex, younger by two years, were friends again, just as they had been when they were kids. And Alex’s lovely wife, Jacyn, had become a source of comfort for Willa, who was grieving terribly over the loss of her mother. Although Liam didn’t believe in wishing ill upon the dead, he had to wrestle with the urge not to hope that Sofia was burning in hell for what she’d selfishly put him and Willa through.
After having left their daughter years before without a backward glance, his wife had died in childbirth six months later—two days before their divorce would’ve been finalized. He’d had to leave his daughter to grieve with his mother while he went to England to handle the mess Sofia left behind. Three months before her death, he’d finally gotten hold of her in her lawyer’s office—after ignoring their daughter for months — and confronted her with his late father’s letter. All Sofia did was laugh in his face for being a fool and blind to the family’sscandalous secret. She didn’t give a damn that he knew the truth or that she’d lied to him for years. The callous woman had even suggested that he pay her to keep the secret hidden forever.
They stepped into the lobby, hearing feminine laughter floating out at them from the area of the dressing room, and all thoughts of the past dissipated. Jacyn immediately turned around, revealing the small round bump of her belly. It gladdened his heart that he was going to be an uncle and godfather, since Alex had asked him only yesterday.