Accidental Heiress (12 page)

The guard sized her up for what seemed hours, and before she could pull the
do you know who my father is…err…who my father was
card, the realization that her father was gone rendered her speechless. The awareness was akin to being punched in the gut, but before she had a chance to recover, the guard was backing out of the room, saying, “So sorry, Ma demoiselle. You must remain here until further notice.”

“You can't hold me prisoner,” she said, finally finding her voice.

“It's a matter of national security. Wait here. Someone will be with you momentarily.”

When
momentarily
had stretched into more than a half hour, she tried the door, only to find it locked.

How could she be a threat to national security? What the heck was going on?

She rattled the handle and pulled hard. To no avail. She was locked in.

Had they forgotten her? Had that horrible Rory Malone made up something else that might make national security believe she was truly a threat?

Ugh…
She sank down into a chair. This was all the more proof that Henri was better off without her. In St. Michel—actually, in all of Europe—she couldn't escape scandal. Henri deserved better than that. He
needed
better than that.

At least in Texas, with the support of Pepper, A.J. and Caroline, Margeaux had managed to piece together a normal, if uneventful, life.

Texas was where she needed to be now.

But before she could leave the tabloids and all the hurtful scandal behind, she had to get out of this office.

She pounded on the door for a good ten minutes, knocking and yelling, “You can't keep me here without telling me why you're holding me.”

Finally, the door flew open, and Henri was standing on the other side.

Margeaux gasped, both grateful to be freed
and unnerved at seeing the man she loved so desperately—but couldn't have.

Then, she was even more confused when he pulled her into his arms and smothered her mouth in a kiss.

She was stunned at first, but in a heartbeat instinct kicked in and she was kissing him back.

“I am so glad I got here before you left,” he murmured between kisses.

Her heart leaped at his words. He wasn't mad at her anymore—

But wait
—his lips were still on hers and he dusted her bottom lip with a feather-soft kiss.

She pulled away.

“Did you have security detain me?” she demanded.

He shrugged, a mischievous glint in his brown eyes.

“You had them lock me up in here, Henri? Told them I was a security threat?” She started to turn away, but he pulled her into him with one strong arm around her waist.

“Shhhh…”
he pressed his fingers to her lips. “I'm sorry for that. Of course you're not a security risk. Luc told them to use whatever
means they needed to hold you so you wouldn't leave. Margeaux, I couldn't let you slip away again. Not after missing you for half our lives. We have enough lost time to make up for. We can't afford to lose any more.”

Before she could sort the right from the wrong, the anger from the relief, the desperate tug of war over getting away from this man whom she loved so much and wanting to be with him…

Henri dropped down on one knee and was holding both of her hands in his.

“Margeaux, I want you with me always. Please say you'll be my wife.”

Her heart nearly burst with love. Every fiber of her wanted to say yes, but she couldn't. She loved him too much to do that to him.

“Oh, Henri, there is nothing in the world I want more than to say yes and spend the rest of my life with you. But we both know what that will cost you. You will never be able to have your dream if we're together. Even more important, you'll never be able to have a moment's peace in your life.”

He got to both feet, still holding her hands in his, the most earnest look on his handsome
face. The emotion in his eyes threatened to break her heart.

“Your father guarded your family's private life viciously. I promise you with every fiber in my being that I will do the same for our family.

No harm will come to you. I promise you.”

She shook her head and tried to pull away, but he wouldn't let her go. In fact, it surprised her when he pulled her closer and gazed into her eyes.

“You think this is what you want now, but, Henri, I'm a magnet for scandal and you don't deserve that kind of life.”

The way he smiled at her nearly broke her heart. She wanted nothing more than to be with him, to find herself in the dream-come-true of being his wife. For then she would truly be home.

But she loved him enough to let him go.

Then, as if reading her mind—he'd always been so good at that because they were
that
connected—he said, “All you have to do is look me in the eye and say that you don't want me—that you don't want
us
—and I will let you get on that plane. But, Margeaux, you and I both
know the true scandal would be losing each other again. So what's it going to be?”

“Ooh—”

He dropped down to his knees again. “Please say you'll be my wife.”

He wanted her.

Even after all that they'd been through, he accepted her for who she was, for better and worse. He
still
wanted her. The slow-dawning realization warmed her from the inside out, thawing the doubt, quelling the urge to run. It would take trust and faith in each other, but—

“Yes. Yes! I love you. I have always loved you and I always will. There is nothing that would make me happier than being your wife.”

S
imple blood tests proved to the council that Matieu was not Henri and Margeaux's natural son. However, after Henri won his seat on the Crown Council, he and Margeaux were married and adopted Matieu and brought him to live with them in St. Michel.

Margeaux sold the photographs she took at St. Mary's Orphanage to an internationally renowned magazine and donated the proceeds to the orphanage.

This inspired her to set up her own phil
anthropic organization, which she called the Fille Sauvage Charitable Trust.

Two of Margeaux's first Fille Sauvage projects were trusts in the names of Colbert and Bernadette Broussard to honor her parents' memories and to fund the organizations that had shaped them in their formative years.

Margeaux Broussard's philanthropy earned her an international reputation, generating many positive stories in newspapers and magazines.

In exchange for releasing the
Daily Mail
from a libel suit, the tabloid agreed to no longer report on Margeaux, and Rory Malone was fired from the paper.