Wronged (The Cuvier Widows Book 1) (14 page)

“That may be, but my business doesn’t have
the money to give to you and the other workers.”

“Cuvier Shipping is the second largest
shipping company in New Orleans. I find it hard to believe that you
can’t give your workers a ten-cent pay raise,” he said.

“I can’t do it without letting some of them
go,” Louis said.

The man shrugged and Louis felt certain he
didn’t believe him. They sat there in silence a few more moments
and finally the man stood.

“I appreciate your time. Good day, Mr.
Fournet.”

“Good day,” he said, and watched him walk out
of his office.

A strike. Damn, but that’s all he needed was
labor problems to complicate the selling of this company. Worse, if
Marian found out, she’d probably give the man exactly what he was
asking. Maybe it was a good thing she’d already gone home for the
day. This little matter fell into the shadowy area that Louis kept
from his partner. Marian need never know about the union leader’s
visit.

Maybe the business would be sold before any
strike could be called.

L
ouis stared across
the table at Marian and watched the candlelight shimmer on her pale
skin. From the moment he’d first seen her this evening, he’d found
his eyes returning again and again to the woman he’d never really
examined before tonight. Certainly he’d noticed her beauty, but
this evening she no longer hid behind her matronly image and
widow’s weeds. Tonight an elegant gown wrapped around her figure,
framing her full hips and trim waist in such a way that he wanted
to skim his hands over her shapeliness.

She appeared graceful, almost regal, with her
hair dressed high on the top of her head, a few curls soft and
tempting around her face. The unexplainable urge to release her
midnight tresses and tangle his hands in all that hair, or better
yet entwine them together in her silken mass of curls tempted him.
Since the first time he met her, she had worn only black dresses,
her hair carefully coiffed in a more dowager style than the way she
looked tonight. Still, just once, he’d like to see her with her
hair down, loose and flowing around her.

Tonight, the widow’s black garb was gone.
Dainty white lace curved around her delicate throat crossing over
her breasts in a teasing display of cleavage that drew his gaze and
every other man’s in the building.

He didn’t know much about women’s fashion,
but Marian’s dress flaunted her figure to womanly perfection. And
Louis had the job of keeping wayward George Morgan under constant
surveillance this evening. Instead of a business dinner, he felt
more like a duenna protecting an innocent charge. Though being
married to Jean Cuvier certainly couldn’t leave Marian naive, she
didn’t appear to be accustomed to the flirtatious games George
engaged in.

An old fuss budget, married, yet known for
stepping out with single ladies who lived on the fringes of
society, George Morgan’s taste in women obviously included widows.
And Marian’s defiant show of backbone had whetted the man’s
sexually charged appetite.

George raised his champagne glass in a toast,
dragging Louis’s attention from the pearly swells of Marian’s
breasts. How do you protect a woman when she is in even greater
danger from yourself?

“To Mrs. Cuvier, whose beauty and charm are
both a delight and a temptation,” George said, his eyes ogling her
bosom. Louis wanted to toss his champagne in the man’s face to cool
him off.

Louis promised himself he’d feel that way if
it were any woman. Mr. Morgan had a wife and, until death did them
part, his eyes had no business straying to Marian’s décolletage or
his hands to her slender waist.

Where could Mrs. Morgan be this evening?

“So, George, why didn’t your wife join us
tonight?”

Louis asked, doubting that George had
extended his wife an invitation.

The man directed his annoyed gaze at Louis, a
frown on his weathered face. “She wasn’t feeling well and decided
to stay home and rest”

“Pity. I hoped she would join us tonight.
Mrs. Cuvier would enjoy meeting the charming woman you’re married
to,” Louis said trying to remind the man of his marital status,
though vows probably meant little to him.

“Yes, sometime I’ll bring her.” He turned his
body toward Marian, shutting Louis out “Tell me Mrs. Cuvier, why
did you take over your husband’s position in his company?”

Louis shook his head, determined to protect
Marian from this old geezer, who he could tell wanted more than
just a business relationship with his partner. He watched as George
leaned toward Marian and picked up her hand, giving the appearance
of listening intently.

“After Jean died, Louis tried to convince me
to sell, but my son is only ten and I wanted to save his father’s
business for him. I felt I needed to be involved, to stay in touch
with the business until my son is old enough to take over,” she
explained.

“Don’t you trust Louis?” he asked.

Marian glanced at Louis and their gazes
locked as he wondered what her response would be. How could she
trust him? They had been adversaries almost since the moment they
met. Their agreement to work together was yet new and fragile.

She smiled and discreetly pulled her hand
away from George, picking up her champagne glass. “It’s not that I
distrust Louis. By being involved, I know that my interests in the
company are protected.”

She grinned at Louis as if to say,
I had
you worried for a moment, didn’t I?
Her gray eyes were clear
and luminous and twinkled at his obvious discomfiture.

He breathed a sigh of relief. She’d responded
brilliantly without saying she distrusted him, but she hadn’t said
she trusted him, either.

George laughed. “Very smart of you. Louis is
a good manager, but looking after your own interests is indeed the
best. You strike me as a very intelligent woman, Mrs. Cuvier.”

“Why thank you, Mr. Morgan.” She set her
glass down, and he picked up her hand again.

Intelligent wasn’t a word most women wanted
to be associated with, but Marian responded favorably.

He bowed over her hand and pressed his lips
to her fingers, which he held in his large hand. “Mrs. Cuvier,
you’re a bright woman and I’m honored you’re handling my
account.”

Louis felt ill watching the older man fawn
over Marian, though she didn’t appear to discourage his attention.
She must realize that George’s attempt at charm would conclude with
an attempt to seduce her! Hell, Louis had used the same tactics
often enough himself. A lot of women enjoyed the flirtatious
compliments and hand stroking. The next step would be to get her on
the dance floor with him, then into a carriage with him, and from
there wherever or whatever the woman was willing for.

“Would you care to dance?” George asked.

Louis cursed to himself. He intended to ask
her to dance and while they were on the floor, he would enlighten
her as to George’s maneuvers. After all, she’d been married to Jean
for over twelve years and he doubted that during that time she’d
even considered another man. She may be susceptible to someone like
George, who would soon have her in a nice little lover’s cottage,
meeting her twice a week because his wife didn’t understand
him.

“I would love to,” Marian exclaimed.

George jumped up out of his chair faster than
most twenty-year olds. He moved Marian’s chair back and Louis
watched with dismay as George took her hand and led her to the
dance floor. Louis stared at them waltzing around the floor,
George’s lusty gaze focused on Marian’s cleavage. He held her
closer than Louis liked and when his hand slid below her waist,
Louis stood. One more inch and George would find himself dancing on
his butt. Just then, Marian pulled back, forcing George’s hand back
around her waist.

Louis eased back down in his chair still
ready to jump to her rescue. This was the reason women were not in
business. They tainted a man’s thought processes and created
problems of jealousy and possessiveness that didn’t belong in the
workplace. If Louis had met George for dinner alone, none of this
would be taking place and he wouldn’t be ready to tell his largest
account their last shipment with Cuvier Shipping just left the
harbor. Marian was not a permissive woman for George to maneuver
into his bed and Louis wasn’t going to sit back and watch him
try.

At the end of the dance, the couple strolled
back, laughing, to the table, where Louis sat scowling at the two
of them.

“More champagne?” George asked Marian.

“Oh no, thank you, I can’t. One glass is more
than enough,” Marian said breathlessly.

“How about you, Louis? You look like you
could use some more refreshment,” he said.

Louis raised his brows and returned the man’s
gaze. George had noticed his displeasure. “Thank you, I think I
will. So George, tell me how your sugar mill is doing. I hear that
most plantations are closing their mills and moving toward
centralized mill operation.”

This was Louis’s dream: owning a mill where
all the plantations in the area brought their sugar cane to refine
and sell. He would buy their crop, mill it, and ship it down
river.

“We’ve been considering it, but so far we’re
still operating our own. It could be that I close it down in the
next few years. It’s expensive to run, and letting someone else
have that part of the business seems to work for a lot of
plantations,” he said to Louis.

Instead of George focusing his attention on
Marian, maybe now they could discuss their business interests. The
waiters brought their food, placing the steaming platters before
them.

“How are your children doing since their
father passed away?” George asked turning his attention once again
to Marian as he speared a bite of his steak.

Marian glanced down at her hands and then up
at George, her eyes big and shining luminous gray in the glow from
the lone candle on the table.

“Philip, my son, has had some problems, but
he’s doing better. For the first time, he got into a fight at
school.” She shook her head. “Mothers don’t quite know how to
handle fighting.”

“He’s a boy, Marian.”

“Fighting never solves a disagreement, but he
let his temper get the best of him. I hope that next time he’ll
think before he jumps into a situation with his fists.”

“Never stopped my sons,” George
acknowledged.

“I want my son to use his brains to solve his
problems, rather than his fists.”

George laughed. “Spoken like a woman.”

Louis didn’t know how much longer he could
sit here and listen to George’s honeyed phrases and watch the
philanderer pursue Marian. He wasn’t jealous; he simply had too
much pride to watch her be treated like a prize worth taking.

And she was a prize. Intelligent, beautiful,
kind, and caring, Marian would be a man’s full partner in many
ways. As her business partner, he could barely stomach the old man
gawking at her bosom, trying to charm his way into her bed.

“How about your children, George? Are your
sons still living at home?” Louis asked, once again hoping the
subject of his family would help the man see reason, though
George’s family had never slowed him down before.

“No, my boys are all grown and have moved
away, except for the oldest one who is helping me with the
plantation. I’ll have to bring him in to meet you, Marian.”

“I’d love to meet your son and your wife
too,” she said, eating the last of her fried shrimp.

“How about dessert, and then we’ll take
another spin on the dance floor,” George said, pouring more
champagne into everyone’s glasses, not asking this time.

“Dessert? No, thank you,” Marian said and
Louis felt a sense of relief.

George glanced at her. “Now don’t tell me
you’re watching your figure. From what I can see, it looks just
fine.”

Louis bristled at the man’s remark.

“George, how was your steak?” Marian asked,
obviously trying to divert the old man’s attention.

“I get the hint, Mrs. Cuvier. But I have to
tell you, I may be sixty years old, but I’m not dead. And I’d have
to be dead not to notice what a fine looking woman you are,” he
said as Louis ached to wipe the man’s smile away with his fist.

“Thank you, Mr. Morgan. You food will get
cold if you don’t eat,” Marian said pointing to his almost
untouched plate.

Louis breathed in and slowly released the
cleansing air from his lungs, hoping it would clear the rage he
felt while trying his best to let Marian handle this situation. One
more crack like that and Louis feared he would be defending
Marian’s honor with his fists.

“Would you care to dance, Marian?” Louis
asked needing to speak with her alone.

“Yes, I’d love to,” she said, throwing down
her napkin.

He pushed back his chair and offered her his
hand. She rose slowly from her chair and took his proffered arm.
They walked to the dance floor and began to waltz.

“You know he’s trying to seduce you, don’t
you?” Louis questioned, not wasting any time or holding back any
punches. He had one waltz to convince Marian to conclude her first
business dinner.

“Louis, don’t be ridiculous. He’s being
friendly, maybe a little too friendly, but actually I blame that on
the champagne.” She shook her head. “I may have had a wee drop too
much champagne myself.”

“Don’t Marian,” Louis said, stronger than he
intended. “George has turned his charm on you and he will probably
offer to take you home and then in the carriage he will make his
move to get you into his bed.”

Marian stared at him with surprise, and then
began to laugh. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“I’m not,” he said his voice rising.

She gazed at him a moment, her face showing
surprise. “I think you’re jealous, Louis.”