Free Heirs Book Two: American Lady by Elleby Harper

She had
wanted to punish Alex for his infidelities, but instead she was the
one who would suffer the backlash if the truth were known. Even if
Alex cared enough to support her, Paddy would never let him ruin
his political career. And she could too easily envision the distain
on her own father’s face. The freezing Paris wind was nothing
compared to how bleak her life would be once they knew.
    Her shivering grew frantic and a mantra
throbbed in her head. No one must ever find out. No one must ever
find out.
    So she vowed to keep their secret.
    Dumbly, she had followed Leigh’s orders to
scrub the hotel room carpet of the few drops of incriminating
blood, luckily melding into the woven pattern. They had hunted over
every inch of the room to track down the bullet, Leigh refusing to
leave until that last piece of evidence was found, lodged in the
back of an upholstered Louis XIV chair.
    Even as Leigh was leaving, her eyes had
bored into Nikki. “Remember your promise,” she hissed. Nikki closed
the door on her, shutting her out of her life forever.
    Exhausted both emotionally and physically,
Nikki dropped almost comatose into bed, about an hour before
sunrise. She had one more day in Paris before catching the steamer
across the Atlantic. At mid-morning, which seemed like no more than
minutes since she had closed her eyes, frantic knocking finally
penetrated her fog-deadened sleep. What now? Was it Leigh? Was it
the police?
    Heart hammering guiltily, she cracked the
door open, leaving the chain in place. The last time she had opened
the door it had been to Jean-Luc and that had lead to her worst
nightmare. Then she had hoped to see Alex. When she actually saw
her husband standing before her, she had to rub her eyes to be sure
she wasn’t hallucinating in her tiredness.
    Wearing a huge political campaign grin, he
stood in front of the door with his arms open in invitation, an
enormous bouquet of red roses in his right hand.
    “Wake up sleepyhead. It’s nearly ten am. Are
you going to let me in?”
    Self-consciously, Nikki had opened the door,
very aware that she was wearing the negligee that she had worn with
Jean-Luc and which she had just scooped on as the closest garment
to hand before falling into bed.
    “Not quite the reaction I was expecting.”
The grin had been replaced with a puzzled frown. “Are you still mad
at me for not attending your friend’s wedding?”
    Momentarily, Nikki wished the autocratic
Leigh was still around to take charge of the situation. Desperately
she tried to round up some coherent thoughts to make a sentence as
she stared blankly at Alex, who handed her the bouquet. He moved
easily into the room, filling it with his personality. Alex removed
his homburg and overcoat, dropping them on the nearest armchair
along with the small portmanteau he had brought with him.
    He was now facing her with the window behind
him. “Happy to see me, at least?” She had forgotten to draw the
curtains last night and the morning light fanned out around him,
leaving his features in darkness so she couldn’t read his
expression.
    With a heroic effort she pulled herself
together enough to smile at him. “Of course. I’m just stunned to
see you. What are you doing in Paris? I thought the Suez crisis
meant you couldn’t possibly visit Francophile countries at this
time?” She held the roses in front of her like a shield, lowering
her eyes and burying her nose in their sweet, heady buds to avoid
eye contact.
    “Eisenhower managed to sort out the crisis
and both the English and French are withdrawing their troops as we
speak. The mess will be yesterday’s news by the time McAllister and
I take office next month.”
    He moved toward her and she stepped back
awkwardly, keeping herself out of reach. “Nikki, honeybun, I’ve
been feeling bad about making you cancel your plans for your
friend’s wedding. I know it meant a lot to you. I wanted to make it
up to you. I spoke to Paddy and he suggested I book a