Free Blazing Love: A Hot, Romantic Suspense Series, Book 2 (The Carlisle Sisters) by Kay Brody

advised.
    Beth went into the next room to make the call while Blaze went to grab their bags.
    “What are we walking into?  It could be some kind of crazy trap for all we know,” Tracy asked Blaze worriedly.
    “It could be.  But, so far, Hélène has been truthful.  I did a background check on her and she is who she says she is,” Blaze said.
    “But is Grey who she says he is?”  Tracy asked in concern.
    “That’s what we are about to find out,” Grey said upon returning to the room.  “I have a lot of questions that I want answered.  And going there seems to be the only way to get those answers.”
    Beth came into the salon looking disturbed.  Grey noticed her mood.
    “What’s wrong, babe?”  Grey asked.
    “When I called Hélène to tell her we were on our way she insisted that we stay at her home.  She said that you’re family and it is where you belong.  I tried to say no but she insisted,” Beth said anxiously.
    “OK.  Where did you leave things?”  Grey asked.
    “I guess I left it with us staying at Victory’s End,” Beth said.  “I’m sorry if that’s not what you wanted.  But Hélène was so insistent; almost desperate for us to stay with her.  Every reason I gave for why we should stay at the hotel she dismissed categorically.  I finally just gave in.”
    “Why was she so determined that we stay with her?”  Tracy asked.
    “Whatever the reason,” Blaze said, “if there is a mystery to be solved, where better to solve it than right there at the castle.”
    “Is it really a castle?”  Tracy asked.
    “It sure is,” Blaze said.  “And it’s been in the Lemaire family for over three hundred years.”
    “I bet it holds a great many secrets,” Beth said.
    “Some of which we are about to uncover,” Grey said.  He looked out the window and saw the mini bus rounding the half-moon drive.  It stopped in front of the portico.  “The bus is here.  It’s time for the adventure to begin.”
     
    *****
     
    Hélène knelt in the herb garden and gathered parsley, sage, thyme and rosemary.  As she was laying the herbs in her basket she thought of what was to come.  Greyson and his friends were finally on their way and would arrive late that night. 
    Hélène was excited yet apprehensive.  Greyson would be walking into danger but it could not be helped.  He had to come to secure his birthright; a legacy he knew nothing about but one that would change his life forever.  She just had to convince him that the change would be for the better.
    “Aunt Hélène, I thought I would find you out here.”
    Hélène looked up at the smiling face of her nephew, Jehan.
    “Bonjour, Jehan.  How good it is to see you,” Hélène smiled.
    Jehan knelt beside Hélène to kiss both of her cheeks.
    “You look beautiful, as usual, dear Aunt,” Jehan grinned.
    “Nonsense!  I am an old lady whose beauty is of yesteryear; if I ever had any at all!” she smiled wanly.
    “How modest and terribly incorrect you are.  You were a ravishing star in your youth and the light still shines bright today,” Jehan complimented lavishly.
    Hélène looked at him in awe.  How unlike his father he was.  Claude would scarcely pay a woman a compliment unless there was something in it for him.
    How Claude had sired such a fine man as Jehan was almost unfathomable.  It was obvious that Jehan took after his late mother; a loving, kind and gentle soul.  A woman whose death Hélène always blamed Claude for.  His callous and brutal treatment of Elyse had driven her to the cliffs of Étretat.  She had chosen suicide over the prospect of spending the rest of her life under the thumb of her tyrannical husband; even though it meant leaving her son behind with that very man.
    “What brings you to La fin de la Victoire,” Hélène asked Jehan.
    “Just a visit to see how everyone is.  I know it can be difficult dealing with père,” Jehan said gently, speaking of his father.
    “Your père can be a