Page 85 of The Prince Who Loved Me

Why would he think that? “I have a temperature gage in there and I’ve been checking it almost daily.” Sometimes more than once. When she arrived at work, and when she left. She had wanted to make this work.

“Possibly something happened with the yeast.”

“Possibly.” Something went wrong, obviously, but it would take a review of her notes and some research to figure out what. His tossing off reasons wasn’t helping.

“I can get an expert in here to guide you the next time. We keep vineyards in France.”

“Can you at least give me a chance to try to figure out myself what I did to my wine before suggesting ways to fix it all for me?” How could she run Belle’s or be in charge of anything if she didn’t track her mistakes? She continued with a confidence she didn’t feel. “I took meticulous measurements and notes and I’ll be able to find what went wrong.”

Experience laughed at her. She could give up on the idea. That made more sense. And it would be so much easier.

There was beat of silence before Sebastien spoke again. “I didn’t mean to imply you couldn’t figure it out.” His voice was low. “I’m used to helping wherever you’re concerned. You’ve grown so much over the past year. I have to remind myself you don’t need a Prince Charming to save you anymore.”

A cold rush flowed through her body. “Is that why you loved me?” Tears threatened behind her eyes. Apparently pushing her self-doubt into a far corner of her mind hadn’t been the best of ideas if it could take control like this. “Because you needed to be needed?”

“That’s why I waited.” He enveloped her in his arms. His scent tickled her nose. “I waited for the day where you wantedme. But not for a day when you needed me.” He brushed back a lock of her hair.

She needed him now, his love, his support. Not like before when she needed his help to get back on track with her life.

“Whether it’s with the wine, or with your mom, or if you want me to back off. You just have to tell me.”

The mention of her mom made her flush, and she turned away, hoping Sebastien wouldn’t see anything on her face.

His voice hardened. “What happened?”

“It’s nothing.”

He pressed his lips together, his gaze intent on her, before he spoke. “I can’t read your mind,mon ange. Is this one of those times where you’re telling me to back off? Your face turned five shades of red, Brandilynn. You can’t tell me it’s nothing.” He kissed her hands. “You’re allowed to have secrets, but no holding something back because you think I won’t like it.”

She took a deep breath, sorting out the words, and went with the simplest explanation. “She took my money.” The words came out barely a whisper.

Strangely, she felt better for saying them. For sharing her secret.

“You mean a few dollars from your desk?”

Brandi could tell in his tone that he didn’t really think that.

“The check from Grandma.” She pulled her hands away. “She took my license and went to the bank drive-through. We look enough alike that the tellers didn’t question it.”

“She stole your inheritance?” He clenched his fists.

“Half. The bank didn’t have enough cash on hand so she had them put the rest into my account.” Brandi barked out a laugh. “Wasn’t that nice of her?”

A muscle clenched in his jaw. “Did you call the police?”

“I kicked her out of my life instead. I’m not going to sendmy own mother to jail, Sebastien.”

He gave a half-nod of acknowledgement. “But your plans for Belle’s. You needed that money.”

“I still have a lot.” She lifted her hands, incorporating the space. “I’ll be able to do something.”

“I can give you the rest.”

The night air closed in on her. He was so sure, so confident, even after Brandi explained her feelings. She opened her mouth, closed it again, before taking time to think before she spoke. “That’s not why I told you.”

“No, listen. I can invest in Belle’s. I have income from property, from investments. You’ll have everything you need and won’t have to worry about capital.” His blue eyes lit up with the idea.

Was this arrogance or ego? She speared him with a look, hoping he’d drop his single-mindedness. “No.”