Miss White and the Seventh Heir

Sage shook her head. “Don’t mind me. I guess I’m just tired. But in answer to your question, no, I don’t need an escort. I do, however, need an assistant to stay on top of things both here and there.”

He hesitated.

“Is that going to be a problem?”

He shook his head. “I can handle it.”

“Good. We need to find out which Hollywood stars plan to be in attendance and then we have to research what’s going on in their world that they might want to talk about—a new house, a vacation, an upcoming film project or a charity. Or whatever is of interest to them.”

“So you want to provide a platform for the stars to share with the world something of their choice.”

“Exactly. If the celebrity is excited about a subject, it will come across in the article and hopefully the readers will get excited, too.”

“And you plan to do all these interviews at the festival?”

She shook her head. “As nice as that would be, it’s not practical. We’re going to be there to generate connections and set up interviews for a later date.”

He stared at her for a moment. “Is that how you’ve gotten all of those interviews that have changed the entire platform of the magazine?”

“You read them?”

He paused as though considering his answer. “After our interview, I wanted to make sure I was on top of things. So I read a bunch of back issues.”

“Including the scuzzy ones that got the senior Rousseau in trouble?”

He nodded. “What exactly happened there?”

She knew some of it and had pieced together other parts, but she wasn’t in a position to reveal details. “It was the board’s decision to change the direction of the magazine.”

He arched a dark brow as though hoping for more information.

“Don’t look at me like that. I can only say so much.”

“Fair enough.” He took another bite of food. A few moments later, he said, “And this trip, it’s important to you?”

“It is.”

He nodded. “It’s been a while since I’ve been back to France.”

“I take it you grew up there.”

“I did, but then I moved away.”

“You mean for work?”

“Yeah. Something like that.”

So she wasn’t the only one holding things back. The part that surprised her was that she wanted to know more about him. She wanted to know everything about him. Maybe this trip to a romantic, seaside town wasn’t such a good idea, after all. But it was too late to back out. She truly needed the help. And to tell him that he would no longer be accompanying her would only arouse his curiosity.

* * *

He was going home.

Trey worked hard to mask an emotional response. He’d had the house closed up after his mother passed away. He’d moved his business to the States—San Francisco to be exact. But to go home again, it filled him with a rush of conflicting emotions.

And when he did go back—when he faced those painful memories—he didn’t want an audience. He wanted to do it on his terms.

“You don’t look happy about this opportunity.” Sage took a bite of her lunch.