The Frenchman's Bride

by Imani King

  And that’s what I had to remind myself.

  I’m in this for the career.

  In a few days, this arrangement would be over, and I knew full well that Blaine would walk away without a second thought. I wondered how many girls were out there who spent a few days with Blaine and hoped it might last forever…

  I had been such a fool. It had been all too easy to fall under his spell, sailing across the world on his personal mega-yacht. Maybe I lost a little of myself during this trip – some grounded foundation, keeping my feet on a solid surface. Blaine had effortlessly swept me off my feet and into his strong, sculpted arms, and I’d fallen harder than I had any right to.

  The professional side of my brain pushed my young, naïve side away. I felt the cogs in my mind twist as the stronger part of me – the part of me who knew this wouldn’t last forever, and that I had work to do – pushed for dominance in my head.

  I’m not here to have a blast. I’m here to do a job, I reminded myself. After my time with Blaine Winguard, I need to move on to the next member of Discreet Companions. I can stretch this thing into a running article that will make me a success…

  Soon, Blaine wandered back into view with a distinguished, older fellow, patting him on the shoulder and shaking his hand. After they parted ways, he came my way, clasping his hands together with a wide grin on his face. “Well, everything’s settled with the owner,” he told me enthusiastically. “We’re going to move the Miss Victoriana little over and park it in a more appropriate dock. Apparently, it’s a bit of an eyesore where it is…but that’s fine by me. I’m a reasonable man.”

  “As simple as that, huh?” I asked.

  “Well, the crew’s not going to be happy – and Jensen’s liable to give me an earful – but otherwise…yes.”

  I nodded, following him through the corridors back towards the yacht. I waited on the dock and surveyed the beautiful environment – the sandy beaches, the crystal-clear water, and the lush trees – as Blaine disappeared back into the ship for some time.

  After what must have been at least twenty minutes later, the walkway was pulled back into the ship, and the vessel began to drift towards another dock within walking distance.

  Meanwhile, I checked my phone again.

  > There had better be a good explanation for this. It’s not suitable for an upcoming reporter to allow undisclosed radio silence for a week. – KVC

  With a large sigh, I considered what my response should be. How much should I divulge about what was going on? If I told him everything, what kind of position would that leave me in – and would he be furious, or ecstatic?

  > Blaine Winguard offered me a position on his yacht. We’re early for the Cannes Film Festival, stopping in Greece. Just touched land. Here in Europe a week maybe, then sailing back.

  I hit send again, nervous about what this meant. Kenneth was furious, and my entire situation could be in serious jeopardy – but I wondered if he might think I’m overstepping my bounds. After all, I was only supposed to lure in some of the local members of the site and look for any evidence of illegal activity. Disappearing for several weeks to Europe with one of the highest-profile bachelors in the States wasn’t part of the plan…

  > Pull the other one. You’d better have some proof. – KVC

  How was I going to prove that–?

  Oh, I thought to myself, looking down at my smartphone. Right. I can just snap a picture!

  Problem solved.

  I was suddenly impatient for Blaine to return, and I situated myself on a nearby log, watching the ship finish docking procedures in the distance. Meanwhile, a pair of young, foreign lovebirds – by their accents and dialects, probably from Sweden or Switzerland – wandered from the trees with a heavy basket between them.

  I smiled politely at them as they customarily waved, then unpacked their picnic a short distance away. While they laid out their blanket and sorted out a few wrapped dishes and plates, I turned back towards the distance.

  A small smile crossed my lips when I saw Blaine casually jogging across the sand. I wondered to myself briefly what it might be like to give it up – the career and its unglamorous hours, thankless work, and backstabbing atmosphere.

  Maybe I could just stay and do this, with him…

  Instantly, I shook my head. No. That’s crazy talk. I was furious at myself for even considering the notion; I had a long and healthy career ahead, and he had enraptured me so much that I’d briefly forgotten that this trip would be another footnote in his endless notebook of sexual conquests.

  But…was it just that?

  As he approached, slowing down his pace to a casual stroll, I realized that I didn’t have an answer for that.

  “So, everything’s taken care of,” Blaine told me, gesturing towards the dock. “We have our dock over there, with plenty of local amenities. There’s even a wing of the resort out that way, and plenty to do nearby. Probably should have just swung over there to begin with, now that I’m thinking about it…”

  “Oh yeah?”

  “Yes. Want to take a walk?”

  I stood up and dusted myself briefly off, but not before noticing that the two picnickers had paused in their lunch. They were staring over in our direction, specifically at Blaine.

  “Even out here? Really?” He asked himself, perplexed.

  We gave them a quick wave; they reciprocated, and then began talking excitedly amongst themselves. Blaine and I turned away and began the walk across the edge of the surf…ignoring those two, it was just the pair of us out here, under the sun and ambling along the edge of the Mediterranean Sea.

  “Have you been enjoying yourself?” Blaine asked suddenly, his hands in his pockets as he walked by my side.

  I realized that this was the first time he’d ever asked.

  “Actually, yes,” I told him. “This has been such a fantastic little get-away for me…and a lot of fun,” I replied, putting my arm around his chest. He responded in kind with slipping his arm around my shoulder and smiling.

  “I’m glad you think so,” he told me. “I’ve had such a satisfying time with you, and we’ve still got the festival ahead of us. These have been some of the best days of recent memory…”

  “Do you really mean that?” I asked, looking up at him.

  “Of course. I am many things, Sierra, but a liar isn’t one of them. I assure you that I mean every word of anything that I tell you…”

  I pulled out my phone, flipping open to the camera app. Holding it out in front of us, I snapped a picture of us together, our faces close and smiling. After it had snapped, I thought about slipping it back into my pocket, but simply held it down by my side.

  “You know, I usually don’t like people trying to take selfies with me,” he responded aloofly.

  “Sorry, I just couldn’t resist,” I told him.

  It was true, but not for the reason that he thought.

  We walked all the way back to his yacht, holding an arm around each other and walking in tandem. But when he glanced over the surf, his blue eyes watching the rolling tides, I pulled my phone back up. Although I felt like I was betraying him for just a moment, I pushed my anxious thoughts away, flicked back to the texts with Kenneth, and fired the photo off.

  16

  Blaine

  * * *

  The Grecian Archipelago had turned out to be an excellent choice, and this was incidentally a fantastic time of year to visit the islands. I had carefully selected one of the smaller, yet still mildly touristy ones – a small isle by the name of Zinoi.

  The island boasted a few villages and towns, a large tourist resort, and a bridge across the water to the nearest island – a much larger, less intimate place. The amenities offered between my ship and this speckle of land in the sea were going to keep us satisfied for the two days that we would be here – and it was nice to be able to stretch my legs again, in all honesty.

  I imagined that Sierra probably felt the same way.

  After clearing up the co
nfusion with the resort, then walking Sierra back across to the wharf that my ship would call home for the next forty-eight hours, I decided to delight in some of the local color. My guest accompanied me as I walked into the closest town – the largest on the island, and almost a small city. There, we found a Greek translator to help us learn the island, interact with the locals, and determined a few particular points of interest.

  With him as our guide, we first enjoyed a few plates of delicious local cuisine – a lightly boiled dish of octopus slices and leek stew for myself, and a chicken feta romaine salad for Sierra.

  Afterwards, he led us towards a low, nearby cove, with a small natural waterfall from the river that cut across the jungle. Even in its modesty, there was a certain power to the sight – and I felt invigorated just watching the crisp water flow.

  We hiked along the forest and up a nearby set of crags, which wrapped through this portion of the island. After an hour or two of climbing, Sierra and I enjoyed a decent vantage point from above the treeline. Our guide pointed out the towns and cities of this island, and I came to respect how comparatively small, yet cultured Zinoi was.

  After a swifter hike back down, he took us up a few paths into the forest – and after a short while, we came to a clearing in the trees. Here, the river cut through again, but the access to sunlight, plus the unique nature of the local vegetation, sprung up a lush hodgepodge of colorful, sensual flora.

  While Sierra and I remained silent at his behest, the guide pointed out movement nearby.

  “Stay quiet,” he whispered. “We have a guest…”

  Sierra and I stopped, gazing in the direction of his finger. There was the slight sound of a distant rustle. Have we been followed? I thought to myself. I cursed my obviously expensive clothes, and quickly thought of how best to defend us. As I studied the nearby environment, figuring out where I might lose my footing in a brawl, I held my breath…

  A stag galloped out from the trees, bolting towards the water before slowing to a short trot. He lowered his face to the water, taking in a few hearty gulps before rising back up on alert, staring straight at us. For a moment, it was frozen in place – but the majestic creature fled back to the safety of the forest, leaving us alone and awed by the sight.

  Just the wildlife, I sighed in relief.

  Our guide led us back towards the resort, and I tipped him a highly generous amount in American dollars, trusting that he could handle the conversion himself. With repeated bows and praises, he departed back for home, and we decided to settle in back on the Miss Victoriana for the evening.

  After telling Sierra that I needed to check on a few things, I quietly and discreetly returned to my private office. Innocently tucked away behind a door that Sierra had passed a hundred times, it was a fully-featured workroom – although much smaller than my own executive suite – and came complete with soundproofed interior and the only internet connection on the ship.

  The medium white globe atop the highest peak of my vessel was one of several, but it secretly housed an antennae pointed upward. Through the same organization that powered Wi-Fi coffee shops on half the cruise liners in the world, I was able to direct a centralized beam of reasonable interconnectivity to the world down to this single chamber and nowhere else.

  And I had ensured that I spent at least half an hour a day in this room, checking in with Ivy from across the ocean.

  The same walls that soundproofed this office also contained my wireless Internet. This allowed me to continue taking phone calls within these four walls, as I liked to do for fast, thorough communication with my personal assistant. I’m sure there could have been a way to set up a direct line to my smartphone and shirk the bothersome Wi-Fi anyway, but I wasn’t interested in that kind of fuss.

  “Update me,” I told her once she connected to the line.

  “Good evening, Blaine,” she chirpily chimed in. “Everything is running as smoothly as planned. I’ve been delegating a number of your hands-on duties to relevant departments and partners, and estimates show everything running as if you were here yourself.”

  “Splendid,” I replied, kicking my feet up onto the desk.

  “If I might be so bold, is your trip still running well?”

  “Couldn’t be better,” I grinned. “We’re making excellent time, so I’ve had the bridge redirect us to Greece for today. They’ll be pulling us back out early tomorrow morning.”

  “I hear that Greece is nice this time of year.”

  “It is marvelous.”

  “And Sierra?” Ivy asked politely, intentionally reminding me of my agenda. “Have you deduced what she’s been up to?”

  “So far, no,” I thought aloud. “It seems like maybe this is all that there is to it. She hasn’t given me any indication that she’s up to anything…well, besides acting kind of funny yesterday, but that was about it.”

  “Funny?”

  “Yes, right after dinner.”

  “Did you say something to her? Something that might have triggered that sort of response?”

  “Let me think…” I pondered for a moment. “Well, I suppose I had just thanked her for clearly having no sort of ulterior motive…”

  It dawned on me in a heartbeat.

  “I don’t have to say it, do I?” She asked.

  “I don’t know how I didn’t see that,” I sighed, rubbing my forehead. “I’ve been so wrapped up with this week, and pleased about the festival, that I completely overlooked that. It sounds so stupid when I say it aloud.”

  “You’re not in your element,” Ivy reassured me.

  “But I am. I’m completely in control. I’ve gotten her onto this ship, and I hold all the keys. It was my decision to take us here to Greece. I have been calling all the shots from the start…no, this is exactly my element.”

  “But it’s her.”

  I couldn’t argue that.

  “I was surprised when you told me you two had become sexual,” Ivy quietly chastised me with her sweet, soothing voice. “But I didn’t say anything. You know what you’re doing, after all. But you were so vehement before that this wouldn’t happen…and now you’ve fallen under her spell, haven’t you?”

  “I have done no such thing.”

  “I know you, Blaine,” she told me. “And I know how much she means to you. You have a lot riding on this…and all the years that you’ve spent prodding her in the right direction. Why don’t you just consider telling her that? She still doesn’t remember you at all, does she?”

  “No, I don’t believe so. Everything is completely one-sided here…she has no idea.”

  “Would it really be that damaging to come clean with her?”

  “You don’t know her like I do, Ivy. She hides it well, but she’s very proud. It’ll crush her if I ever tell her.”

  “Yet, you knew that, and you did it anyway. And the moment that she deviated from the opportunities she placed in front of you, you snapped and leapt into this entire charade.”

  “You’re treading into some dangerous waters here, Ivy,” I reprimanded her. “I’ve fired people for less.”

  “I’m not saying anything you don’t already know.”

  A heavy sigh left my chest. She’s right. Unfortunately. She’s always goddamn right. It’s why I keep her close.

  “What are you going to do?” She asked, kinder.

  “I’ll play this by ear,” I replied after a moment’s reflection. “I don’t think she’s up to anything…and the circumstances have been stacked in my favor from the start. She’s not just trying to manipulate me, I joined that stupid site after she did. Nothing that’s happened between us implies in the slightest that she’s about to turn tail to the tabloids…and if she does, then she’s a damn good actress. Should have her put in a movie.”

  As I said this, I remembered the selfie she took of us earlier in the day – and a small pit formed in my stomach. I noticed it briefly, pushed it down, and carried on.

  “I have a film festival to enjoy, and a beauti
ful woman on my arm. For now, that’s all I’m focusing on. As for the other details…time will tell what will happen.”

  “That might be for the best, although you know that she’ll figure things out eventually.”

  “And I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it,” I told her. “But I do appreciate your input. You’re the best little sister I could have ever asked for.”

  “You’re damned right I am,” Ivy laughed. “Now that that’s all out of the way, are you ready to continue on with actual work?”

  “Fire away.”

  “Good, because you being on a boat halfway across the world leaves me with some numbers we need to discuss. You and I should go over the weekly figures, recent labor costs, and finalize our trajectories for the next few weeks…”

  17

  Sierra

  * * *

  While the crew effortlessly navigated us into position in Cannes, I stood on the rooftop with Blaine and surveyed the portside city. The docks were lined with yachts already, much smaller than ours. Beyond them, a major road stretched across, bustling with traffic and lined with picturesque trees and what appeared to be a small park. Pale and off-colored buildings, standing five and six stories tall, immediately walled off my visibility.

  “Welcome to France,” Blaine whispered into my ear. I felt another little burst of electricity at the sensation of his breath, and I involuntarily shivered.

  “If you’d asked me a few weeks ago if I thought I’d ever be here, I’d tell you that you’d lost your mind,” I observed, a wide beam on my face.

  I dressed myself in the single beautiful dress that I owned – a tight, black dress that showed off my figure – and met Blaine on the outer deck. He was dressed in his fashionable best – a black tuxedo that only seemed to magnify his incredible physique.