Free Wronged (The Cuvier Widows Book 1) by Sylvia McDaniel

sudden
realization making him nervous.
    “Wait” he hissed.
    He peered through a crack between the door
and the frame and watched Marian approach Jane, who stood looking
in at his office.
    “May I help you?” she asked the young
woman.
    Tall and graceful, Jane Fitzwilliam was on
the prowl for a husband and she’d decided Louis was her mate of
choice. The grand prize was to be a trip to the altar, but Louis
had already visited the inside of her bedroom and had no desire to
go to church with her.
    “Do you work here?” the woman asked.
    “Yes, I’m Marian Cuvier.”
    The woman’s eyes grew wide at she recognized
Marian’s name. “I’m looking for Louis Fournet”
    “Is there anything I can help you with?”
Marian asked.
    “No. I need to speak with Louis.”
    “Didn’t the men up front tell you?” Marian
asked her voice filled with concern.
    “Tell me what?” Jane questioned.
    “If you’re a friend of his I’m sure he would
want you to know,” Marian said with sympathy.
    “What are you talking about?” the woman said,
beginning to look worried.
    “Well, I don’t know how to say this. It’s
rather an indelicate subject that normally I wouldn’t discuss, but
since you’re his friend, you should know,” Marian said, taking
Jane’s elbow and drawing her closer to the door.
    Oh God, what was she doing? he
wondered.
    “What’s wrong? Is it Louis?” she asked.
    “There’s been an accident,” Marian said, a
solemn look on her face.
    “Accident? What kind of accident? Is he
hurt?”
    How could he stop her? She intended to ruin
him. Yet if he went running out there, he would look like a fool.
But if he stayed behind the door he feared what Marian’s next words
would be.
    The woman had a mean streak in her!
    Marian leaned closer to the woman. “I only
know because I overheard the men talking about—what happened. And
even then I didn’t get all the details. They hushed when they saw
me listening.”
    Jane leaned forward, closer to Marian, whose
voice was just loud enough that Louis caught every word.
    “Seems like he was hurt,” she said, pausing,
her face a frown. “You know ... down there.”
    How could this get any worse? Louis thought
as he watched Marian ruin him.
    “No,” Jane gasped. “How bad is he?”
    Marian half closed her eyes and shook her
head. “Bad.”
    He was going to wrap his hands around her
throat and slowly choke her. The liquor had obviously dulled his
brain for him to ask Marian to speak with Jane!
    “The men said that the doctors don’t know if
he’ll ever be the same. It’s doubtful he’ll ever have children.”
She paused, stumbling with her words. “Because ... because, well,
these things can be so uncertain.”
    Oh God! It was bad enough his head was
splitting, his mouth tasted like cotton, and his stomach was riding
the high seas, all because he’d gotten drunk trying to forget the
feel of her lips against his. All because watching her every day
for the last three weeks was driving him to distraction. How could
such a simple plan to drive her from the business have gone so
wrong? And now look what she was doing to get even.
    She had just told one of the biggest gossips
in town that he had been—damaged. Up to now he’d enjoyed a very
active sexual life, which now seemed to be ending.
    The brunette backed away from Marian, her
hand on her mouth. “Oh, dear! What a shame!”
    Marian nodded her head. “I didn’t want to say
anything, because it’s just something you don’t talk about. But I
thought you would want to know.”
    The woman blinked her eyes rapidly and shook
her head sadly. “You’re right, it’s certainly something I could
never discuss with him.”
    “No. We just need to remember him in our
prayers.”
    Louis almost groaned as a bout of nausea
gripped him. If the sickness from his hangover hadn’t held him in
its grip, he would have come around the door and strangled
Marian.
    “Oh yes,” Jane said. “I’ll be sure to put