Free Accidental Heiress by Nancy Robards Thompson Page A

hassles of summer tourism.
    â€œMmm…do you smell that?” A.J. said.
    Margeaux drew in a deep breath and was treated to the tantalizing aroma of chocolate mixed with a hint of cinnamon, vanilla and…something magical. The scent was so tempting it made her mouth water.
    If she remembered right, Maya’s Chocolate was just around the corner. It was the shop where Sydney had purchased the delicious chocolate she’d brought to dinner that night she came over. Maya’s was a legend and after sampling her wares, the girls couldn’t wait to go and purchase some to take home.
    Pepper inhaled greedily.
    â€œI can almost taste that chocolate. It has to be close by.”
    Her friends were leaving the next day, so Margeaux had decided they needed a day of shopping and sightseeing. Plus, she owed Pepper big. After her friend learned that Sydney was interested in moving to Dallas, Pepper saw an opportunity to relocate Margeaux’scompetition and called her daddy and told him she had a friend who needed a job. He said any friend of Pepper’s would be an asset to Texron, his billion-dollar corporation in Dallas, Texas, and hired her sight unseen. On one hand, it was good to know that Sydney was out of the picture—at least in St. Michel, and because Sydney had been so grateful for the job, she was sure to be Pepper’s new best friend in Dallas.
    On one hand, Margeaux was grateful, but on the other, she didn’t want to have to remove women from Henri’s life in order to be his number one. In fact, she didn’t want to be his number one if there was a number two. But right now, Sydney was the least of her worries. She still had to tell Henri the truth—that she had been pregnant before her father sent her off to boarding school. Not even her father had known. So, she had no idea how that tabloid reporter, Rory Malone, had.
    The thought of that vile man made her shudder. Henri hadn’t said a word about Malone’s story. He hadn’t asked if it were true. Therefore, she had to believe he’d written it off as tabloid trash.
    Now, she had to decide whether to tell him the truth or to leave it alone. Right now, she was leaning toward letting everything be. She’d always imagined that they would have had a son.
    Yes, a boy, because she was living proof that daughters were too much trouble. Or at least she’d been. The boy would be about fifteen now. Every once in a while, she’d spy a tall teenage boy with dark curly hair and imagine for a fleeting moment that he was their son.
    Of course, the fantasy ended as soon as the boy walked by. It was the most bittersweet way to torture herself, because she hadn’t known if the baby was a boy or a girl.
    She never would know.
    She picked up the pace and led her friends around a tight corner that led them to a street that was more of an ancient alleyway than a road built for anything other than pedestrian traffic.
    â€œHere it is,” Pepper said, pointing upward toward a sign.
    They gathered around a window that was adorned with white lace curtains and was brimming with tins and boxes tied with colorfulribbon. Pyramids of chocolate were arranged on several glass-dome-covered stands. Chocolate-dipped fruit, bonbons, truffles and petit fours were set out in bountiful array on doily-covered trays.
    It was a feast for the eyes that tempted Margeaux to press her nose against the glass. It was just like she remembered.
    Maybe it was the allure of decadence, or perhaps just the promise of what they’d tasted the other night, but they were drawn to the shop like starving men were pulled to a buffet.
    As Caroline held open the glass shop door and they filed in, a wind chime sounded. The sumptuous scent of chocolate tantalized their senses.
    â€œBonjour!” a lilting voice rang out.
    â€œBonjour,” they answered in unison.
    â€œYou’ll have to be our interpreter,” A.J. whispered. “Can you