“I didn’t really believe it, Olivia. I swear to you I didn’t, but I was in so much pain over you I became the madman you accused me of being.”
She wiped her eyes. “Did Etienne admit he’d lied about Cesar’s affair with your fiancée?”
Luc’s body hardened. “He admitted far more. Genevieve was a fortune-hunting groupie. Unbeknownst to Cesar or me, she gave Etienne her favors to get information on the Falcon family before she entered our lives.
“Genevieve’s plan was to go after me because she thought I had more money. But her plans backfired because she discovered she was pregnant with Etienne’s baby.”
“What?”
“It gets ugly. When she told Etienne she was carrying his child and was afraid I would find out because the dates were wrong, he told her to get rid of it. She refused and decided to play up to Cesar, hoping that if they slept together one time, she could pin it on him and he would marry her in the end.”
“That’s ghastly! Now I’m beginning to understand your venom. How could a woman do that?”
His eyes glittered silver. “It happens. But as you know, Cesar sent her packing and told her that if she didn’t tell me she’d approached him, he would tell me himself.
“When nothing worked out as she’d planned, she turned on Etienne and blackmailed him into giving her money to get rid of the baby, or she’d tell his wife. There were complications from the procedure and she ended up at the hospital.”
“It’s a horror story.” Her hands slid up to his face. “I hope they both suffer agony for what they did to you and Cesar.”
He covered her hands with his own. “Etienne no longer has a job with Cesar of course. But my brother’s the best man I know. He doesn’t want Etienne’s family to suffer, so he gave him a good recommendation for finding another mechanic’s job.”
“I love Cesar for that.”
“So do I. As for Genevieve, what goes around, comes around. The point is, my brother and I are closer than ever. It’s all because of you.”
He shook his dark, handsome head. “I loved you from the beginning, and that love grew while you fought for our love. You do love me.” He shook her gently. “I know you do, mon coeur.”
“So much it’s killing me. Oh, Luc—when I returned to the boat with Nic and found you’d gone for good, I thought I was going to die.”
His lips roamed over her face. “I had to leave and take care of my past. How else could I offer you a future.”
“I know that now.”
Unable to suppress her needs any longer, she gave him her mouth. They clung fiercely, forgetting everything in the joy of being together without strife as a constant companion.
She drowned in rapture as his mouth began devouring hers. Neither of them could get close enough. After that terrible day in Cannes when she thought her world had come to an end, she never dreamed Luc had gone off in search of the truth.
Olivia was still having a hard time believing the war was over, that she was claiming the spoils of victory and Luc was helping her with a possessive eagerness.
“Whoa—” she cried and laughed at the same time as the boat started to list to the other side sending salt spray over them.
Luc grasped her tighter while he grabbed hold of the sail. “It’s time to take the boat back to shore.”
“But we just came out here!”
“There’s something else we have to do first. Then we’ll take off and let the wind blow us wherever it will.”
“I’d love that, but what could be more important than being together right now?”
“Getting married first,” he whispered against her lips before giving her a deep, salty kiss.
When he finally let her go she blurted, “You mean now? Tonight?” Her voice came out with a definite squeak.
He smiled the smile she lived for, making her heart race. “Am I to presume that was a happy ‘yes’ coming out of the unexpected and astounding Duchess of Kingston?”
Though he’d said it teasingly, she detected the tiniest trace of anxiety in the question. Her darling Luc was having equal trouble believing their pain was behind them.
“Yes!” She threw her arms around his neck and gave