The Billionaire's Desire Read Online Free Page B

room.
    “You!” she burst out. Several partygoers glanced their way for a moment, smiled at Luc and then went back to their conversations.
    “ C’est moi, ma petite . Have you missed me?”
    “I’m not your petite, Luc. What were you thinking sending me all those gifts? That must have cost a fortune and I’m giving them all back.”
    He’d caught her off guard; he was devastating in a tux, infuriatingly nonchalant and her only refuge against the urge to beg him to carry her off was to go on the offense.
    “Ah, Ally, don’t be silly,” he said, his accent caressing her name: Ah- lee . “They were nothing, just things I had laying about that I thought you would love. And I must have been right – otherwise you would not be wearing that exquisite necklace and those earrings?”
    His voice had merriment and laughter in it and Ally held his gaze for a long second before letting herself chuckle. She hadn’t been able to resist, that’s what it all came down to. She’d had a dress, a slim-fitting floor-length strapless gown bought on a whim when she learned she’d gotten the job with Mr. Roberts. It was sumptuous black satin, fit for a duchess, and plenty regal on its own, but when she’d tried on the jewels with it...well, there was no other way. She wouldn’t cheapen it by wearing fake department store baubles. It deserved the sapphires and the diamonds, with its sexy sweetheart neckline, fitted bodice and alluring, just-right A-line mermaid-style skirt that fell from about mid-thigh.
    “You…fine. You got me, Luc. But I’m giving them back after tonight, I can’t possibly keep these.”
    “Then we’ll discuss it after tonight, yes?” Luc said.
    Is there an “after tonight” ? Ally wondered.
    “Come, I am badly in need of champagne, as are you. Come, let us chit-chat like all these bozos in penguin suits.”
    Mr. Roberts caught her eye and seemed vastly impressed that she was in the company of one of the world’s premier fashion leaders. He left her alone for the next hour while she and Luc stood near the open bar and shared a conversation that surprised her with its honesty and intimacy when she asked about his childhood.
    “I was born and raised in Paris, did you know? Have you been?”
    “To Paris? No. Only in my dreams.” Ally took a sip of champagne and studied him as he spoke.
    “It is a family of great wealth I come from, descended from old nobility whose fortunes survived the Revolution; a cadet branch who kept their heads down. They passed depression, alcoholism and, in some cases, madness to the following generations. You have my father, a hurricane of a man, who left my mother when she was enceinte with me, never to return. My mother was taken in by his family when he disappeared…I suspect they knew where he was and they were secretly funding his adventures. Their constant disapproval of her…their demands that she conform to their ways, made her a wreck, abusive at times, though you would think her as gentle as a fawn, and always, ah, so they tell me…always giving her favors freely among the estate staff.” He made a wry smile and gulped back his champagne. “Her body, in exchange for their kindness, to bribe them into keeping her secrets. The rot of the drink on her soul, I mean. Alcoholism was not such a rare thing, of course, but I think my mother feared the family would turn her out if they knew how deeply she was affected by it.”
    Ally’s eyes were wide as saucers as his tale grew more and more sordid. “I…I would never have guessed.”
    “No? Then that is for the good.”
    “I don’t enjoy a very close relationship with my mother. I know how that is. We haven’t seen each other in years.” Though Luc had opened to her, she couldn’t bear to share as much. “I know what it’s like to want to love someone so much but find the road is difficult.”
    “You do,” he agreed. “And then we carry those scars into our adulthood, do we not? And we find it difficult