“Connolly?” He glared at Nurse Ann. In her two years working there, Pierre had never heard him address anyone by their surname before.
“As you wish,” Nurse Ann said, her eyes lowered.
“Hazelwood?” Lord M turned his cold eyes on Liam.
“Yes.” Liam crosses his arms, hugging himself.
Lord M’s face swivelled to Mrs B. “Mrs Baxter, you have been with my family for decades. Can I rely on your loyalty?”
Her eyes filled with tears. “Of course, Mr M.”
Next to her, Gabriel remained very still.
“You.” Lord M fixed him with a steady gaze. “I barely know you and have no authority to compel you. If you can’t respect my wishes, then you are free to leave La Canette.”
No!Pierre stared at Gabriel, willing him to be careful, to not talk himself off the island.
Gabriel’s mouth twitched with the tiniest reassuring smile for her, then he faced lord M. “I apologise if I spoke out of place yesterday. But I will respect your wishes. You have my word that I won’t mention it to anyone outside of this room.”
Whether the answer satisfied him or not, Pierre couldn’t tell. He just leaned back in his chair and waved a hand at them. “Now get out, all of you.”
They began to file out. Gabriel hung back, waiting for her and fell in step as they approached the double doors.
“Pierre,” Lord M called. “Stay.”
She had no choice but to come back. Gabriel went out without her.
Lord M nodded towards the empty chair by the window where Nicole had been sitting earlier.
Nicole.
What had she told Lord M to make him think they were all plotting behind his back? The meaning of her chilling smile at the door was now clear; she’d been furious last night at being excluded from the discussion with the “ragtag of servants” and had taken her revenge.
Pierre dragged the chair over to Lord M’s side as she often did. He seemed a little calmer as he watched the double doors close after everyone exited his room.
“I would have sent that photographer away.” He sighed. “By far the best way to avoid trouble and keep him quiet. But I am afraid it would also upset his fiancée. So, I’m relying on you to help me.”
“Me?” Her heart hammered.
“Yes, you.” Lord M was no longer shouting.
“Why? How?”
“To begin with, stay away from him.”
Her face heated with guilt. “Why?”
Had Nicole accused her of something? But what? She hadn’t done anything. “I mean, we don’t work together anyway, and I think—”
“Never mind what you think,” he interrupted calmly. “I want Nicole to complete her organisation of the wedding and the last thing we need now is trouble between her and her man.”
“Why…” That was her third ‘why’ in less than three minutes.
His eyes settled on her. At last, here was the man she knew. Gradually, his blue eyes warmed with kindness and affection and even a tinge of sadness. “I’m not a stranger to emotional complications. You’ve been here long enough to have heard the rumours about my past.”
Pierre had heard plenty. Many years ago, the young and newly widowed Lord Du Montfort had turned to women and wild living. A playboy with a string of affairs to put any sex addict to shame. It was hard to see him as the same elderly, half-paralysed man beside her now.
She shook her head. “I don’t listen to rumours.”
