Page 92 of Right With You
He kissed my cheek, then my jaw, then just behind my ear. “No dowry needed. Odette didn’t have one and?—”
He froze, then sat up slowly, a few French words slipping out in a whisper.
“What is it?” I asked, anxious to know what’d shifted his focus so drastically.
“I know who did this.”
CHAPTERFORTY-FOUR
Luc
My grandfather did exactly as I asked without question when I sent him my suspicions.
With Elise by my side, we walked into the Silver Ridge Resort restaurant’s private meeting room to find Odette, her parents, my sister and Michele, and my grandfather all waiting.
The de Valois’ smiles remained stapled in place, even after Elise took her seat next to me.
“We’ve had an interesting day. Anyone have a guess what we’ve been up to?” I said, casual as could be despite the simmering anger just under my skin.
“Did you two sleep in and make love until you were forced to exit the bed and face your obligations?”
Michele’s innocent expression almost made me laugh. He knew very well but would never miss an opportunity to live in a romantic fantasy land.
Someone grumbled something under their breath, but Cynthia asked, “Why don’t you enlighten us?”
I took Elise’s hand and kissed it, cradling it to me. She was okay, and now that we’d narrowed down the perpetrators, I felt better, but I wanted to get this over with.
Then we’d see about Michele’s suggestion.
“I’d rather know whatyouwere doing this morning,Monsieur et Madame de Valois.”
The pointed way I spoke alerted Odette. Her shoulders stiffened, and she turned to her parents. “What did you do?”
Cynthia waved her away like her question mattered not. “Nothing of importance.”
“I suppose not. You had Callum Davis doing your dirty work for you, no?” I accused, though I remained seated, holding Elise’s hand.
“How dare you!” Bernard and Cynthia said in unison, somehow both equally outraged despite my vague statement.
“Mom? Dad? What did you do?” Odette asked, leaning away from them and turning to me. “What happened?”
It was then her gaze snagged on Elise’s face where a bruise had bloomed and purpled along her cheekbone and below her eye. The abrasions at her wrist were obvious, too.
“I was kidnapped,” Elise said, then turned to the de Valois. “And I think we know who was behind it.”
The gasps from Cynthia should’ve won an award, but Bernard de Valois stood up and nearly knocked his chair over when he did.
“I’ll accept no more of these baseless accusations. Kidnapping?” He scrambled behind his chair, and I could swear he was inching toward an exit.
Did he really think he was going to slip out of the room and get away with this?
My grandfather stood, buttoning his jacket as he did with the habitual grace he innately possessed, and spoke the final blow. “I should’ve known you were so desperate. My largest regret is that I didn’t see you for what you are.”
Another gasp, and then Cynthia started in. “We agreed the children would marry. It was to benefit us both. And then he trots in here with his donut-peddling fiancée like she’s a valid replacement for Odette?Odette de Valois?”
Odette’s head dropped into her hands. She was visibly crumbling as her parents’ bad behavior came to light.
“We did discuss it years ago, and I’d accepted it as a good idea back then. What I failed to do…” My grandfather set his eyes on me and Elise, a tender contrition there I’d never seen, “was consider what my grandson wanted. He never wanted Odette, not because she isn’t lovely, of course. But because he’s in love with his Elise, and no amount of familial pressure will change that.”
