Jonquils for Jax (Blueberry Lane 3 - The Rousseaus #1) - Katy Regnery Page 0,76
like a disabled person. She didn’t patronize him or look down at him. In fact, it was her confidence in him had given him the courage to get on a plane in the first place. Her confidence in him and the fact that he wasn’t going to let Liliane-fucking-Rousseau, or anyone else, break his woman’s heart. No, sir. Her heart belonged to him, and he took care of what was his. Gard was learning that there were ways to keep someone safe and protect them that had nothing to do with being—as Jax had put it—a “Neanderthal goon with a club.” Sometimes keeping someone safe was about keeping their heart safe and making their life easier. Sometimes it was just about making sure that you stood as a buffer between them and any ugliness in the world, even if that ugliness issued from their own mother.
The negotiation hadn’t been simple. Liliane had asked for a ridiculous and astronomical eight million dollars. Gard had volleyed back with six point three. She had come back with seven. He had offered six point four. She had finally come back with six point six and they’d settled and the house had gone to contract. From his trust, he’d withdrawn three point three million dollars for a fifty percent down payment on Le Chateau, which was presently being held in escrow with the First Bank of Philadelphia. After disclosures and inspections, they’d close the escrow, the down payment would be made, and Gardener Thibodeaux would be the owner of Le Chateau, including a brand-new thirty-year mortgage with payments he’d never be able to make on his own. However, if Jax was still willing to offer him the job of estate manager, his salary would cover it.
I’ve learned a lot about faith over the past few days, he thought as the taxi zoomed toward Haverford. He’d also learned a lot about the depth of his love for Jax and the hope he had for their future together. From the very beginning, he’d known she was different, singular. But until four days ago, he hadn’t yet learned the lengths to which his heart was willing to go to secure what belonged to him. He hadn’t known that falling in love with her meant that he’d do anything—beyond reason or common sense, beyond prudence—to make her happy. And since money didn’t mean a great deal to him but Le Chateau meant a great deal to her, it made sense to him to buy it for her, to keep it safe for her, to protect her heart, to make her happy. In fact, nothing—not anything in the whole world—could possibly make more sense to him than that.
As the taxi approached the gates of Le Chateau, they opened for him, and his heart leapt because it meant she was waiting for him as he’d requested. The contract was folded in his blazer pocket, and all that was left was to tell her this:
Le Chateau is yours.
***
Jax had already dressed for the party in a blue-and-white pinstriped sundress and white heeled sandals. She had a silver chain around her neck and a matching bracelet, and her hair was down, tumbling in waves around her shoulders. She’d checked herself in the mirror ten times, much good it would do her. If he’d decided that they were over, she refused to beg. In fact, she’d opened the gates so that she could step outside and meet him. Once the conversation started going south, it would be easier to tell him to leave if they were already outside.
Her hands trembled as she rose from her father’s desk. Her heart had broken this afternoon when she discovered Le Chateau had been sold, but she feared that losing Gard would shatter it into a million pulverized pieces that could never be put back together again. It had been hard to think of leaving Le Chateau, but with Gard by her side, it had been bearable. Now? She may as well return to LA. She couldn’t possibly be more miserable there than here without him.
Stepping outside, she walked to the top of the steps that led to the driveway and stood there with her hands clasped before her. As the taxi pulled up in front of the house, she blinked her eyes and held her breath, unprepared for the strong wave of pure, unadulterated love she felt for the man who exited from the backseat and stood before her as the car pulled away.