The door opened. Andre came in carrying a binder. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” He went to her side and kissed her cheek. She tried not to cringe at his touch. It was just a lie. But Tasha was an actress, and a damned good one.
“I just wanted us to have some privacy.” She smiled.
“We’re going to have plenty of privacy during the upcoming weeks.” He offered her the binder. “Here.”
She took it but didn’t open it. “What’s this?”
“It’s a portfolio of the properties we’re inheriting.”
We’re inheriting. That almost made Tasha laugh out loud. Luckily, she managed to contain it by clearing her throat. She didn’t want to tip her husband off just yet. She preferred to have the element of surprise when they got down to it, down to the real nitty-gritty of how they’re gotten here to this place in time, where she just so happened to be his wife.
She set the glass down on the small table in front of the window, accepted the binder and opened it. In the first leaf was an eleven-by-fourteen picture of a five-story castle of worn yellow stone. Trees, shrubs and flowers complemented a well-manicured lawn. It took her breath away.
She stared at the photograph. “Where is that place?”
“Avignon. It’s called Belle Vallee,” he said. “It’s the home where my mother grew up.”
“Wow.” Tasha trailed her fingertips over the image. “I’d like to see the house in person.” She looked at Andre. The last bit of her thought, before I go, stayed inside her head.
“Of course, you’ll see the house. You’ll see them all.”
“How many properties are there?” The thought crossed her mind that he must have dozens of properties at his disposal, maybe he’d let her live in one.
“Around twelve, if memory serves me.”
“All in Avignon?”
“Oh, no.” He shook his head. “All over the world.”
Are you sure you want to do this? Leaving Andre took guts. But Tasha’s pride insisted upon it. She should’ve known this whole Mrs. de Laurent deal was too good to be true. And boy, was her mother going to be disappointed. Tasha was going to put off telling her as long as she could.
But she couldn’t put off the confrontation with Andre any longer. “You’d better sit down.” She pointed toward the couch, then moved to it herself. Andre was right behind her. She hesitated, sucking in a breath.
“Tasha…” He reached for her hands. She tensed up. “You’re scaring me.”
“I have questions for you.” She avoided looking at him. One come-hither look from him and she might cave. “How you answer them will figure prominently on the future. And trust me…” Tears swelled around her eyes. “The stakes are huge.”
“What is it?” The light in his eyes flickered. “What’s happened?”
“Why did you marry me?”
“Because I love you.”
She ignored his declaration. “Was it because I was pregnant?”
“What are you implying?” The light in his eyes dimmed.
“I’m just trying to figure out why you asked me to marry you last September, as opposed to six months before that? You’d told me then that you loved me.”
The failing light in his eyes died out. He glanced away, looking wholly embarrassed. “You know, don’t you.” It was more of a statement than a question.
“What exactly do you think I know?” She wanted to hear him say it, admit it. Explain to her how he could marry her for money’s sake and not tell her about it.
“I can explain,” he said in a pleading tone.
“And I can’t wait to hear it.” Her voice had grown so tense that it cracked. She moved to the end of the couch, away from Andre.
“I don’t know why my mother’s uncle—a man I can never recall meeting—decided to place everything on my shoulders.” Andre shook his head and then settled his gaze on her. “One hundred million dollars to be split equally between my brother and my sister, was dependent upon me getting my inheritance.”
“I’m well aware of that part of it.” Tasha could tell that the burden had weighed heavily on Andre’s shoulders for nearly a year now, but Andre wasn’t getting off that easily. This wasn’t about his responsibility to Julian and Lecie, it was about his inability to trust Tasha. “When you came to America last year, was it your plan all along to use me without telling me?”
“No, of course not.”
“Then what changed your mind?”
Andre shook his head and dropped his head into his hands. Tasha didn’t like seeing him anguish this way, but she couldn’t worry about that now. Besides, he’d brought this on himself.
Still, she couldn’t help wanting to aid him in finding the words. “What were your intentions when your plane landed in LA?” she asked. “You must have had something in mind.”
He looked up at her. “I did.” He nodded. “I had every intention of telling you everything. You were…you are the person I trust most, and I couldn’t imagine marrying anyone else. I was planning to ask you to help me. I knew I’d be asking a lot, so I was planning to compensate you.”
“Compensate me?” The distaste of those two words shuddered through her.
“I was going to give you one hundred million dollars to be my wife for one year.” His tone had gone weak. “With money to fund the project and Draco Studios at your disposal, you’d finally get that big break. And I’d honor my obligation to my brother and sister.”
“Not to mention gaining billions yourself.”
Andre lowered his eyes and looked away, unable to meet her gaze now.
On the verge of feeling sorry for Andre, Tasha jumpstarted the conversation again. “Okay, so you’re at my door, ready to knock, rehearsing the speech you’ve prepared…I open the door and it all flies out the window. Why?”
“Two little words.” Andre smiled sadly, but still didn’t look at her. Tasha waited for them. “I found a pregnancy test in your bathroom.”
The cloud that had blown over Andre made its way to Tasha. Her heart ached for the baby they’d lost. She tried to dispel the sorrow. She had to focus on the here-and-now and the future. “I still don’t get how you went from asking me to help you to using me to help yourself.” Her words were cold and had a bite to them that chilled even Tasha.