Page 59 of The Billionaire's Temporary Governess (French Conquests 2)

“Whatever has you laughing like that, I want in,” he said, grinning.

Alex looked a little guilty, but Willa was unabashed. “We’re playing Cards Against Humanity, Papa!”

He pretended to be aghast. “What! Aren’t you a little young for that?”

She drew herself to her full height of five-foot-nothing and said with great dignity, “I amalmosta teenager!”

“And that game is stillalmosttoo old for you,” he said, gathering up the cards and stuffing them back into the box. He gave his brother a mock scowl. “And you should know better. Alex.”

Alex threw up his hands. “Don’t look at me! One of the girls snuck it in at her slumber party.”

“No wonder you guys were screaming your butts off at three in the morning.”

Willa still looked pouty, so he gave her a comforting kiss on the nose. “Sit down,choupette.I need to talk to you about something, okay?”

Alex rose to go, but William signaled him to sit down again.“Non, frère, reste.”

By some innate fraternal communication, Alex seemed to understand what was about to happen, and sat, his face serious.

Willa looked from one to the other. “Did something bad happen? Am I in trouble?”

She looked so about to cry that William wrapped her in his arms and looked down into her pale little face. “No, sweet. You could never be in trouble with me. I just wanted to talk to you about something Naisha told me.”

“Okayyyy.”

“She told me you heard from your mom that I’m not your biological father. Is that right?”

She nodded gravely.

He braced himself to explain. “Well, it’s true. And I’m sorry I never talked to you about it before—”

“But you look just like me! Grandmaman showed me our baby pictures, yours and mine. It’s like we were the same baby! How—”

He and Alex exchanged looks. “I know. We do look alike. And there’s a reason for that—”

She burst in, “If you aren’t my father, then who is?” The fear and uncertainty in her eyes was palpable. His heart went out to her. It must be awful not to understand your own identity.

“Willa, a long time ago, your mother and my father,” he pointed at Alex and then himself, “our father, I mean, had a relationship.”

Her golden-brown eyes were wide, bugging in astonishment and incomprehension.

He went on. “Your mother got pregnant, and she was afraid of what would happen to her if everyone knew she was having a baby out of wedlock. She didn’t want to raise a baby on her own. She managed to convince me and everyone else thatyouwere mine.”

“How? Were you—I thought she was Ton Alex’s girlfriend?”

The two men looked at each other. William cringed. How could he tell this little girl that her mother willingly slept with his father, then his younger brother, and then roped him into accepting her child and eventually sleeping with him as well?

It was Alex who stepped in. “It’s complicated, Willa. We don’t think it’s a good idea to get into that now, but you have to trust us that we’ll talk more about it when you’re older, okay?”

She looked at him doubtfully, but still nodded.

Good girl,William thought. He continued. “I never knew you weren’t mine biologically. Nobody knew you weren’t mine, until a couple of years ago, just before your mother passed away. There was a lot going on between Sofia and me, and I’m sure you knew that. And I’m sorry that our grown-up problems made your life harder.”

“You’re my brothers? Both of you? I’m not your child, I’m yoursister?”

He saw the glimmer of tears growing in her eyes. “Willa, if you remember only one thing from this conversation, remember this. You are my daughter. I have loved you since the day you were born. Everything I have built has been for my family, especially you. Those facts can’t be changed. What matters is what goes on in the heart, understand?” He took her little hand and pressed it against his chest. “And in here,choupette,you will always be my daughter. And I will love you and protect you as such until the day I die.”

She was full-on crying now, so he pulled her closer and rocked her. She said against his shoulder. “Everybody says that grandpapa, my father, oh, I don’t know what to call him—”

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