A Bride to Redeem Him

‘It means there are some members of the Delaroche board who would like nothing more than to see your father ousted.’

‘That’s absurd.’

She shook her head.

‘No, it isn’t. I told you, I’ve been working at Rainbow House for over a decade. People talk. People talk to me. There are quite a few people who had seen that other side of your father, the one the press seem oblivious to. I hadn’t believed it until I saw for myself the other night. But if you came back, Louis...if you took control of the Lefebvre Group, I think there may be quite a few members who would support your nomination within the Delaroche board as well.’

‘But you don’t know for sure.’

Why did he even care? He had his surgeries, and when he wasn’t at the hospital he had his hedonistic lifestyle. He didn’t want anything to do with either the Lefebvre Group or the Delaroche Foundation. He didn’t belong in that world. He should stick to what he did best.

Except something niggled at him.

He thrust it away.

Alex had asked for his assistance and, though he couldn’t explain why, he wanted to help her. Wanted to make sure she and her father kept the fragile connection between them, the link to her brother. The kind he had never had with his own father, and had lost with the death of Celine.

‘If you want to save Rainbow House then you’re still going to have to marry me.’

‘There has to be another way. Your position in full control of the group can’t really be wholly dependent on whether you’re married or not.’

‘Only it is. And, yes, I could probably fight the clause if I wanted to. Get a top legal team and find some way around it, but it would take time. And I don’t think Rainbow House has that time. Not if the vote to transfer is imminent.’

‘Which means you have to get married imminently,’ she said.

‘Right. So, Alexandra Vardy, how much does Rainbow House really mean to you?’

It was a bit of a loaded question, he recognised that as soon as he asked it. But rather than another of her wisecracks, she shot him a sideways look.

‘It means more than I could tell you. I just don’t know if we can pull this off.’

‘You doubt me?’

She heaved a deep sigh.

‘No, as it happens. I’ve seen how driven and focussed you can be. What you can achieve when you want to. I just don’t know if you want Rainbow House enough.’

‘Well, you’re going to have to make a decision.’ He felt unbalanced. Intoxicated. Her decision had been like an intimate caress to the hardest part of his masculinity. Nothing like the fawning, gushing compliments that so often peppered his day yet meant absolutely nothing to him.

‘You can trust me and maybe we can save Rainbow Ho

use, or you can fail to trust me and we save nothing.’

The last thing he expected was her sudden wry grin.

‘Hobson’s choice, then.’

Whether she’d intended it or not, it had the effect of chasing away the uncharacteristic melancholy that had threatened to sweep through him. He suspected she understood that, which was why she’d chosen to back away.

It should bother him more that she’d been able to read him so easily when he prided himself on the fact that no one else ever could.

‘It is. Although regrettably I don’t have an extensive stable of horses.’

She laughed, and the sound cascaded through him like a pleasant waterfall.

‘You can’t really expect me to believe that. Only the other night you told me that your family home is a castle. You truly don’t have huge stables?’

‘The stables are long gone. Or at least the horses are gone and the stables have seen better days. They’re not really a priority for my father. Does that count?’