A Taste of Heaven (Billionaires' Secrets Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page B

done your research.”
    “It’s supposed to be the best new restaurant in New Orleans.”
    “In the world,” he challenged.
    Still no smile.
    “I’m...I was his third wife. He has a daughter from a previous marriage, but after he was diagnosed with cancer, he told me about a woman who’d tried to sue him for paternity decades ago. He said he’d been wondering about the child—a boy—and what happened to him. Once he got a sense of his own mortality, I think he became obsessed with finding an heir.”
    “His daughter wasn’t good enough?”
    “She’s young, and probably not cut out for running a luxury retail empire. God knows I’m not cut out for it, either, so I encouraged him to begin the search. Then he recalled other incidents—such as his affair with your mother—and we began to suspect that he might have a whole network of heirs out there.”
    “How encouraging.”
    “Don’t judge him too harshly.”
    “I can’t judge him at all. Apparently I’m no better than he is, though at least we used a condom, so we didn’t make any heirs.”
    She blinked rapidly and color flooded her cheeks. “I’m so ashamed. Honestly, I can’t even wrap my mind about it. That I slept with my husband’s son.” Her throat dried on the last word and it came out as a strangled sob.
    “Calm down. For all we know I’m the result of a different one of my mother’s many lovers. Let’s not kid ourselves that we live in a kind of world where people mate for life, like swans.”
    Sam hesitated, probably taken aback by his bluntness. “Did your mother ever marry?”
    “No. She said slavery was over and she wasn’t going to chain herself to a man for any reason, ever.”
    Her pretty blue eyes widened. “She sounds like a character.”
    “She was a very unconventional mother, let’s put it that way. She showed me how to live my life without being cramped by other people’s expectations.”
    She nodded, looking thoughtful.
    “So, a little thing like accidentally sleeping with my stepmother doesn’t put a hitch in my stride.”
    Her mouth flew open, then snapped shut.
    “But as we’ve already established, we don’t actually know if you’re my stepmother or not, so why don’t we just assume you’re not.” He wove his fingers together and mastered his features in a pleasant smile.
    “Will you take a DNA test?” The words rushed out.
    Louis hesitated, his flesh crawled at the thought of someone spreading his genes out on a laboratory table and delving into them in search of whatever mysterious information was hidden there.
    His father. Sure, he’d wondered who he came from. If there was someone out there walking around with the same unusual eye color or with his feeling for music or his passion for food?
    As a kid, being hustled from one country to another and allowed to do things most parents would never permit, he’d dreamed of a traditional father who’d pat him on the head and be there for him no matter what.
    Mercifully, he got over it.
    “Why take a test now? What good would that do? If the man you think is my father is already dead, there’s no point.” He narrowed his eyes. “Unless you’re planning to snap off a chunk of the Hardcastle empire and hand it to me on a gold platter.”
    Her face was strangely impassive. Was that part of the plan?
    “And you can shelve that idea because I’ve already made all the money I’ll ever need and I have my hands full with my six restaurants and coaching the Little League team.”
    “Will you take the test anyway?”
    Her question, deadly serious, knocked him off-kilter.
    “Why? What does it matter if I’m his son or not?”
    “Maybe it doesn’t matter, maybe it does.” She shrugged her slim shoulders inside her mint-green dress. Her calm voice was thoroughly undermined by the intense look in her eyes. It mattered to her.
    “Maybe it would make you feel better if I take the test and we can determine that I’m not your stepson.” He found the whole