She hurried to keep up with him as he crossed the foyer.
“I’m sending Robert and Marie to Vasaro tomorrow with the paintings and the statue. I’m not sure they’ll be safe in Paris after we’ve gone. If everything goes well, Catherine and François’s part in this may not be discovered and Vasaro will be a safe haven for all of them.”
“Them? We’re not going to Vasaro, Jean Marc?”
He shook his head. “Charleston. I’ve just come from Bardot’s offices to make final arrangements for the channeling of money to François to help free some of those poor devils headed for the guillotine and to pick up the Andreas jewels. I hadn’t seen some of them for years. I think you’ll look quite fetching in the rubies.” He pulled her into the study and slammed the door behind them. “Do you wish to see them?”
“No.” She gazed at him in bewilderment “Charleston? Is that what all the packing is about? Why Charleston?”
“It seemed a good idea. America has hordes of savages, but their government doesn’t cut heads off and has the greatest respect for bourgeois businessmen suchas myself.” He released her wrist and crossed the study to the desk stacked high with ledgers and papers.“Merde, I don’t know where to start.” He frowned down at the ledger on top of the stack. “And the boy will be safe there.”
She went still. “Boy?”
He looked up and smiled at her. “Vasaro’s hardly a safe place for Louis Charles. If we stayed anywhere on the Continent, they’d find him eventually. He’ll be much safer in Charleston with us.”
“You’re going to…keep him?”
“My dear Juliette, I have no intention of undergoing any more of these tiresome plots ever again. I know very well that if the boy were recaptured, you’d insist on going to his rescue. I’ll be much more comfortable having him under my eye.”
“And under your protection.” Juliette added huskily, “You know that as soon as you leave the country, the National Convention will seize everything you own.”
“Everything they can lay hands on,” he agreed. “I’ve tried to modify their seizures in the past few weeks by discreetly liquidating and sending everything I could to my agents in Switzerland. But the losses will still be enormous.”
“Yet you’re willing to accept them?”
“Oh, I fully intend to be recompensed.” His dark eyes were suddenly twinkling. “After all, I wouldn’t be a good man of business if I didn’t demand my price.” He paused. “I want a son, Juliette.”
She stared at him silently.
“And a wife. Do you think you can bring yourself to oblige me?”
“Why?” she whispered.
The laughter disappeared from his face. “Because I’m not at all sure I could live without you. You should be happy. You’ve won the game, Juliette.”
“There is no game.” She took a step toward him, her gaze desperately searching his face. “Don’t hide from me. I need you to say it.”
“I don’t want to say the words. They will strip me naked.”
“I enjoy you very much without clothing.” Juliette took another step. “And I’ve been naked for months.”
“To my infinite delight. You won’t spare me?”
“No, Ican’tspare you.”
He gazed at her silently for a moment. “I…love you.” He paused. “I love you as completely and foolishly as my father did Charlotte d’Abois.”
Joy surged through her, filling her with light. “Not foolishly.” Juliette smiled radiantly. “We’re quite different. She was not a nice woman and I’m well worth loving.” She launched herself into his arms and hugged him with all her strength. “And I’ll give you so much love that you won’t—When did you know? It was very wicked of you not to tell me before this.”
His arms went around her and his dark eyes glittered with a suspicious moisture as he looked down at her. “That shouldn’t surprise you. I’ve never been overly kind to you.”
“Yes, you have.” Her smile faded and her expression became grave. “Even when you didn’t want to be kind, you couldn’t stop yourself. You have a great heart, Jean Marc. You gave me understanding and compassion and—Now, tell me when.”
He cradled her cheeks in his hands. “You never give up, do you? It didn’t come with a crash of thunder. It just…came. I suppose I always knew. Since the time you cared for me at the inn at Versailles. You walked into a room and it became your room. You left a room and it became…empty. You moved me and tormented me yet gave me peace.” He kissed her tenderly on the lips. “And if I had the great heart you mistakenly think I have, I would have been able to force myself to say these words long before this.”
“It doesn’t matter. You’ve said them now.” She slipped back into his arms and laid her head contentedly on his shoulder. “I can’t believe it. You truly care for me? You’re not toying with me? Truly, Jean Marc?”
His arms tightened around her and he didn’t answer for a moment. When he did, the words were soft and muffled in her hair.
