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

plantation. He kept telling me
there was plenty of work, but I didn’t want to be my brother’s
lackey.”
    The man chuckled. “You were much younger
then.” Louis grinned. “Yes. Now I see this as an opportunity to
work with my brother and father again. But I want to do it on my
terms.”
    “That’s understandable.” The man picked up
his wine glass and sipped from it “Do you have the capital to
finance the business?”
    Stalling for time, Louis picked up his own
wine glass and sipped. The alcohol soothed its way down his throat
“I own half of Cuvier Shipping and I intend to sell the business as
quickly as possible. That’s where my capital will come from.”
    The man laughed. “Don’t you think you’re
going to have a hard time selling now that Jean has not one but
three women going after his money?”
    “No, according to law only the first wife
owns part of the business. The other two received nothing.”
    “Damn! Didn’t they know about the other
women?”
    Louis shook his head. “Apparently not. It
seems Jean kept them in different cities. The day he died was the
day they found out about one another.”
    “Damn shame.” Daniel shook his head.
“Couldn’t you borrow the money from your father? I’m sure he’d be
happy to help you.”
    “Probably. But I’m thirty-five years old and
I want to do this without my father’s help. Call it my foolish
pride, but I don’t want his money,” Louis said, the memory of his
father telling him he wouldn’t amount to anything still vibrated
through his head even after all these years. “In fact, I would
appreciate your not saying anything to my father about our
conversation.”
    Daniel nodded and sat his wine glass back
down on the table. “Okay, let’s meet with my lawyer and we can draw
up the specifics of the sale. In the meantime, I’ll give you
several months to sell Cuvier Shipping.”
    Louis smiled and held out his hand. “It’s a
deal.”
    The older man glanced at his hand. “You’re
sure this is what you want and that you’ll be able to sell the
shipping company?”
    “There won’t be any problem selling Cuvier
Shipping,” Louis said, thinking of how Marian would probably jump
at the chance to sell the business and bring in money to replenish
the family coffers.
    The older man shook his hand and then lifted
his wine glass. “Here’s to a quick sale of Cuvier Shipping.”
    ***
    Jean had been dead for almost two weeks and
the newspapers had yet to forget about the three women. After the
incident with the newspapermen, Marian had kept her children home
from school. The thought of her babies surrounded by a crowd of men
shouting questions left her shivering with fright. Soon there would
be some new scandal to report and hopefully the newspapers would
forget about Jean Cuvier’s wives and her children could return to
school. But until she thought they were safe they would stay
home.
    Marian looked up from her correspondence to
see a servant in the doorway.
    “Mrs. Cuvier, a Louis Fournet is here to see
you,” the maid announced.
    “Thank you, show him into the study. I’ll be
right there,” she said. The servant nodded her head and backed out
of the doorway.
    Marian stood and brushed a piece of lint from
her black skirt. She wore the color of mourning in deference to her
children’s feelings, not because she was honoring Jean’s memory.
Philip and Renee would know the truth regarding their father soon
enough, but for the time being she would protect them and their
memory of Jean.
    Pulling her hem aside, she made her way down
the hall to the study.
    As she entered the room, Louis Fournet stood,
his back to her, gazing out upon Josephine Street.
    “Good morning, Mr. Fournet,” she said,
standing behind him. He turned and glanced at her, his dark blue
eyes assessing her with a look that reminded her of warm, lazy,
summer days. The compassion of that look seemed to linger,
spreading through her.
    “Mrs. Cuvier, I hope you are well