Read Online Elusive by Linda Rae Blair - Free Book Online Page A

oblige
her.
    “Yes, I am she. I am sorry, Monsieur, but I
am really very busy right now. If you are selling something…” She
did not realize until after he was gone that, had he been a sales
person, he probably would not have known her name. Her mind simply
was not functioning as clearly since…Roddy.
    “No, no…” he cut her off waving his hand in
the air, flustered by her misunderstanding. “My name is Pierre
Bruyére. I was your uncle’s avocet…um, how you say in
English… lawyer ?”
    “Ah, yes, please come in,” she stepped back
and let the strange little man enter. “I was unaware that my uncle
had a lawyer, but, of course, he would need one from time to time.
Most business people do, I suppose.” Her mind was unfocused, and
she tried to rein it in. She showed him into the parlor and, when
he was seated, she offered him tea or wine which he declined. She
sat opposite him and waited for him to continue. He was obviously
here on some matter of business.
    “Mademoiselle, I handled some of your uncle’s
legal affairs such as his Will, which I have brought with me as
well as a package he wished me to give to you in the event of his
death.”
    “You knew him well, then?” She dried her eyes
one more time.
    “In a business sense, oui,” he responded.
“However, he had another…lawyer… in Edinburgh that handled his more
personal affairs.” He had been forbidden by Roddy Delamare to
discuss any of his business in Scotland with her, and, although he
was aware of some of it, he would obey those wishes.
    “I do not understand,” she blinked as she
looked at the package he handed her. “What business could he
possibly have had in Edinburgh? There was a Scottish heritage, of
course, but he had never been to Scotland. We moved here from
Cavalos, near Caen, though I don’t remember it. We moved to Paris
when I was just a small child—after my parents’ deaths.”
    “I’m sorry, Mademoiselle, I am not privy to
those matters. My understanding is that there are instructions for
you within the package you are holding. They will direct you to the
correct person in Edinburgh.” He had avoided that issue rather
well, he thought.
    “As to his Will, you will see that he has
left everything to you. He had a nice little account at Le Banc
Royale, and those funds will be put into your name as soon as you
sign the papers I have brought with me. As to the other accounts,
you will need to discuss them with the party in Edinburgh. You will
find that some of these documents may reflect a name other than
Roddy Delamare.” He could see that she was still in shock from her
uncle’s death and probably understood little of what he was
explaining to her.
    “I can tell you from my own family history,
that many Scots who came to France in the eighteenth century used
false French names so that their properties would not be seized by
the French. I, for example, am—perhaps I should say would have
been—a Campbell. Of course, some used French names for other
reasons,” he explained. Realizing he was getting too near to a
subject he should not discuss with the girl, he left it at
that.
    “I see,” she answered. She really did not see
at all, but she supposed she would sort it all out later. Right now
she was still raw from her loss. She signed the papers he held out
for her and kept one copy for herself. She was slightly dazed by it
all and did not really read the details. She would realize later,
much later, that she should have done so.
    He rose and reached for her hand, which he
raised to his lips for a polite kiss. “It has been my pleasure to
meet you at last, Mademoiselle. Your uncle had only the nicest
things to say about you. He loved you a great deal.”
    “Yes, it was mutual,” she said, as her eyes
filled with tears once again.
    Having the usual male response to a woman’s
tears, the poor man made the quickest exit possible, and left her
standing there holding both the large envelope in which,