Wronged (The Cuvier Widows Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

and gazed out the window at Bienville Street. “You’re
never going to get out of here through that crowd.”
    She turned and gave him an irritated look.
“Thank you, Mr. Fournet, for that brilliant observation. I need to
get home to my children.”
    He raised a brow at her and smiled. “I have
an idea. Drew, do you have any more sacrificial law clerks?” Drew
frowned at him. “I think James is still left in the building.
Why?”
    “Let’s send him out to Mrs. Cuvier’s driver
and tell the man to pull the carriage around back. My own carriage
is sitting across the street. Most of the news hounds should follow
Mrs. Cuvier’s carriage and then I’ll take her home.”
    She glanced at him, an awkward smile on her
lips. It really was a good idea. She just hoped it worked. ‘‘Thank
you.”
    “Now you’re going to have to go through those
doors on the far wall, so it appears you’ve gone to the back of the
building while we send James out.”
    Marian frowned, but did as they told her. In
a few moments she heard her carriage pull around back. Shouting
voices could be heard in the distance, following her driver.
    Drew hurried into the back room where they’d
placed her. “Hurry up, I think we have drawn them to the back.”
    She ran back into the lawyer’s reception
area, where Louis stood waiting impatiently for her. “Come on,
we’ve got to get out of here now, before they realize they’ve been
tricked.”
    Louis opened the front door and the three of
them stepped outside. The number of newspapermen had dwindled down
to a manageable size, and Drew and Louis hurried her out the door,
one on each side.
    Marian felt a moment of sheer panic when the
reporters turned their greedy gazes on her, seeing their lead story
right before their eyes. They began running toward her, like an
unruly herd of cattle.
    “Mrs. Cuvier? Mrs. Cuvier? Who killed your
husband? Can you tell us anything about the will? Did Jean leave
the other women any money?” they shouted at her.
    “Don’t say anything,” Drew said sharply as
they all but ran down the steps to the waiting carriage across the
street.
    Drew protected her right side, while Louis
kept the reporters at bay, shielding her with his big muscular
body. A sense of gratitude overwhelmed her as she realized the risk
the men had placed themselves in, shielding her.
    When they reached the carriage, Marian was
completely winded. Louis handed her up into the vehicle and then
climbed in after her. The moment he slammed the door shut, Drew hit
the side of the carriage and immediately they pulled away from the
curb, just as the other reporters rounded the street comer behind
them.
    “Good Lord, please don’t tell me it’s going
to be like this until this is resolved. I can’t live this way,” she
said glancing out the window at the reporters who ran behind their
carriage.
    “No. I think it will become old news in a day
or two. At least until whoever killed Jean is brought to trial,” he
said, gazing out the window at the reporters.
    “The trial.” Marian shook her head. “How am I
going to protect my children from the sensationalism of a
trial?”
    “Maybe it would be better to tell them than
to keep the information a secret,” he responded.
    She glanced at the handsome man, her new
business partner, who sat across from her. “Are you married, Mr.
Fournet?”
    “No, I’m a widower,” he replied.
    “Do you have children?”
    The comers of his lips turned up in a smile.
“No children. So you can tell me I don’t know what I’m talking
about and to quit making suggestions that affect your
children.”
    “Thank you, you’ve saved me a great deal of
trouble.”
    They rode along the edge of the Garden
district, the warm breeze blowing off the Mississippi making the
air damp and humid. For the next couple of blocks they sat in
silence, Marian trying not to notice the way his shoulders looked
broad and firm beneath his suit coat, how clean his hands were, his
nails