Page 56 of The Billionaire's Temporary Governess (French Conquests 2)

“This wonderful man flew us in the very next day,” her mother said, glancing at William. “Your sister couldn’t get away this week, but she’ll be here by the weekend.”

Naisha felt so comforted, so safe, so loved. And William had set this all up.

A soft sound drew her attention away, a mewling like a kitten. She knew that sound at once. Alex and Jacyn stood off to the side, and in her arms, Jacyn held a small bundle wrapped in a pink blanket.

Jacyn came closer, holding the precious new family member, a beautiful creature with almond skin and a full head of puffy hair, and Naisha felt something inside her rise like the morning sun. A longing, a need.

A baby. A tiny, helpless creature, conceived in love, opening her eyes to a fresh new world.

Above Jacyn’s head, Naisha searched for William’s eyes.

He smiled at her and nodded. Tremulously, she smiled back.

Finally.Finally,they were alone. William had stood patiently by for the rest of that day as Naisha visited with her parents and held Jacyn’s baby and joked around with Willa. Yvette turned up with a light soup, making sure Naisha knew that the leeks had come from the château’s herb and vegetable garden, which was managed by her son.

When night fell, he’d wanted nothing more than to squeeze into bed beside her and hold her in his arms, but she was exhausted from the excitement of her first day awake, so with great effort he kissed her lightly and went to his room. The adjoining door remaining open.

Patience.

You didn’t survive and thrive this long in business and an unhappy marriage if you didn’t have patience.

And now, the next day, the early morning hordes had come and gone. Willa had come in, yapped like a puppy for an hour, and then he’d sent her packing. Naisha’s mother and father came in and shared breakfast with her, and then Jacyn and Alex’s brand-new daughter, Alicyn, had come to visit, at which point he and Alex had left the women to it, and gone for a walk in the garden.

He loved it whenever his brother was back in France. It was good to have a sounding board, someone to turn to when he needed advice. It didn’t matter whether it was business, family or life: Alex was always ready to listen to him and offer advice. And after yesterday’s conversation with his brother, who had been positive and encouraging, he knew just what he had to do.

He’d also had a talk with Willa the previous night. He didn’t tell her everything—his daughter couldn’t keep a secret—but he told her his own feelings concerning Naisha so that anything that followed his talk with Naisha wouldn’t surprise his daughter.

Today was the day he talked to Naisha, opened his heart, told her everything. Explained about all the mysteries surrounding his life, his marriage and Willa's conception. Let her know why his heart had been so closely guarded over the past years—and why it was free to love her again.Had he ever stopped loving her?

He smiled to himself when he remembered the conversation he’d had with Alex a couple of years ago—well, maybe not aconversationso much as a full-on brawl, complete with black eyes and cut lips. He managed to open his brother’s eyes to the fact that he was being a jackass in denying that he had found the woman who he was meant to be with: Jacyn. And that he had to do whatever it took to win her back. And now, the tables had turned, and William was on the receiving end of the same conversation.

Minus the fighting, of course.

“Are you just going to stand there staring at me? Or are you coming in?” Naisha was sitting up in bed, without many of the tubes and wires that had been keeping her alive—keeping her and his baby alive—over the past week. There was color in her cheeks and her mother had braided her hair. He wouldn’t go as far as to say she was glowing, as they said pregnant women did, but she was getting there.

He came over to her and bent to kiss her. “Sorry, I was lost in thought.”

“I hope I was able to bring you back,” she said coyly, looking up at him through her lashes.

You’ve brought me back from a lot more,he thought.

“Lim?” she asked tentatively.

Oh, how his heart soared when she called him that! “Hmm?”

“Can I ask you something? Tell you something?”

“Of course.”

She hesitated, searching his eyes. “It’s sort of awkward.”

He took her hand, kissed it, and pressed her palm against his heart. “Nothing’s awkward between you and me. You can say whatever you want to.”

She swallowed and began. “When Abe had us in that awful place, Willa said something odd.”

“Okay.”

“She said she’s not, uh, not your child. She said her mother told her.”

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