Capturing the ceos guard.., p.1
Capturing the CEO's Guarded Heart, page 1
Sons of a Parisian Dynasty
Claiming their legacy.
Finding their family.
Meeting their match!
With the retirement of their patriarch, the renowned Causcelle triplets are taking over an aristocratic empire! These gorgeous yet media-shy billionaires are stepping into the spotlight to make their mark on Paris.
Firstborn Nic has taken over the hotel branch of the business—and immediately caused a scandal with the company’s new attorney! While Raoul is heading up the rest of the corporation—at least until mysteriously absent Jean-Louis can be found...
But while these brooding siblings are taking the business world by storm, their hearts are completely off-limits—when you’re this wealthy, love always comes with a catch, right? Until they meet the women who show them just how wrong they are!
Find out who tames Nic in
Capturing the CEO’s Guarded Heart
Available now!
And look out for Jean-Louis’s and Raoul’s stories
Coming soon!
Dear Reader,
In the past I’ve written about twins, but this new series, Sons of a Parisian Dynasty, is the story of triplet brothers. I’ve never known or met anyone who’s a triplet. I’ve had to use my imagination to get inside their psyches to understand how they feel and react to being part of a set. I’ve had a lot of fun working out their stories, their struggles, their triumphs, their loves. I hope you’ll like this first book, Capturing the CEO’s Guarded Heart. It is here you’ll meet Nicolas Causcelle, known as Nic. He is the triplet who was born first in that amazing birth.
Enjoy!
Rebecca Winters
Capturing the CEO’s Guarded Heart
Rebecca Winters
Rebecca Winters lives in Salt Lake City, Utah. With canyons and high alpine meadows full of wildflowers, she never runs out of places to explore. They, plus her favorite vacation spots in Europe, often end up as backgrounds for her romance novels—because writing is her passion, along with her family and church. Rebecca loves to hear from readers. If you wish to email her, please visit her website at rebeccawinters.net.
Books by Rebecca Winters
Harlequin Romance
The Baldasseri Royals
Reclaiming the Prince’s Heart
Falling for the Baldasseri Prince
Second Chance with His Princess
Secrets of a Billionaire
The Greek’s Secret Heir
Unmasking the Secret Prince
Escape to Provence
Falling for Her French Tycoon
Falling for His Unlikely Cinderella
The Princess Brides
How to Propose to a Princess
Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.
Dedicated to my dear siblings. I came from a family of six children, five girls and one boy. Everyone should have come from a family of six siblings as marvelous and great as mine.
Praise for Rebecca Winters
“This is the first book that I have read by this author but definitely not the last as it is an amazing story. I definitely recommend this book as it is so well written and definitely worth reading.”
—Goodreads on How to Propose to a Princess
Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
EXCERPT FROM THE MILLIONAIRE’S ITALIAN INVITATION BY ELLIE DARKINS
CHAPTER ONE
THE PARISIAN JUDGE of the Third Civil Division—the man otherwise referred to as President of the Land Court—tapped his gavel.
“In the case of Causcelle vs. Mercier, the court finds for the plaintiff.”
Yes!
“The defendant will pay the penalties for fraud. If opposing chief counsels will meet with me in chambers, this court is adjourned.”
Thank you, Monsieur President.
Anelise Lavigny had won her first case for the Causcelle Corporation and couldn’t be happier. Soon she would call her father, Hugo Lavigny, and tell him the good news. Three years ago her father had become good friends with the world-famous Louis Causcelle. Apparently they’d met through business, but she’d never learned why their relationship had become so important to him.
After graduating from law school, she’d gotten her start working as an attorney in her father’s office. He was known for developing polymers and electronics. Yet she’d only been working for her father a few months when Louis Causcelle came to her father’s business and offered her a position at his corporation. She would be one of the attorneys for the hotel division. The Causcelle empire was worth billions and had been touted as one of the top five that drove the French economy.
Her parents immediately urged her to consider joining Louis’s corporation. They told her they thought it was an honor that Louis had sought her out. Her parents assured her she’d be an asset at Causcelle.
In a way their encouragement had surprised her because they’d been very protective of her since the death of her fiancé. They’d done everything to show her their love and shield her from the intrusive press since her father was a prominent man. She’d leaned on their support. It went without saying that because she was their only child, they’d all been very close. Maybe a little too much?
Winning the case today had given her more confidence that she’d made the right decision to work for Louis Causcelle. Anelise had to admit to a surge of excitement at becoming more independent. She liked the feeling and enjoyed living on her own.
Serge Thibault, the chief attorney in Causcelle’s hotel division and her immediate boss, nodded to her that she should leave without him because he’d be a while. Under the circumstances she’d go to her apartment to eat before she went back to the office.
Anelise left the courtroom of the Palais de Justice with her briefcase and headed for the company limo waiting for her across the Boulevard du Palais bridge.
A delightful May afternoon brought out the usual hundreds of tourists visiting the Ile de la Cité, where the Palais de Justice was located in the heart of Paris.
The boat-shaped island in the middle of the Seine River contained much of the history of the city of lights. Never could she forget she was walking over the ground of the former royal residence of the kings of France. One could still visit the Sainte-Chapelle, built in the thirteenth century by King Saint Louis. The sacred place was known for its exquisite stained-glass windows portraying Biblical scenes. So much history...
She savored her surroundings as she climbed in the limo and asked the chauffeur to take her to her apartment in the Marais area of Paris. It contained the gorgeous stone buildings and cobblestone streets that made her feel she was living in a more romantic time in France. The Causcelle family owned several properties there. One was a sprawling, former two-story royal palace that had become their corporate headquarters.
A block away stood another former royal palace that had been modernized. Various members of the large Causcelle family lived there at times, including Louis Causcelle when he was in town. A staffed kitchen provided their meals. Louis called it the palais.
He’d insisted that Anelise stay in the vacant suite on the main floor where his eldest daughter stayed when she came to Paris. Louis had insisted Anelise move there, so she only had to walk a short distance to work. Otherwise, she’d have to commute for a half hour from her parents’ home in the posh sixteenth arrondissement.
Joy, joy.
After losing Andre Navarre in a fatal car crash eighteen months ago, she hadn’t thought she could be happy again. He’d brought such love into her life, for him to have died at the scene had sent her into shock for days. She withdrew from people and hadn’t wanted to finish law school. Her dreams of being Andre’s wife and working with him when they traveled had died with him. Her darling Andre who’d just graduated in engineering no longer existed.
The media had exploited the crash because she was the daughter of multimillionaire Hugo Lavigny. They’d intruded in her life, even speculated that his death might have ended a promising career in law for her because of her heartache. But they callously suggested that it didn’t matter because she would inherit her father’s money one day.
When Anelise had read those cruel, disgusting words, she’d been sickened and angered by them. How dared they? That comment roused her out of her grief long enough to finish up her degree, but many nights she’d cried, most of them longing for him.
Thankfully enough time had passed since then that she didn’t feel that way today. This new position at Causcelle had pulled her from that dark place and given her fresh focus. Ferreting out the fraud in the Mercier case meant Louis Causcelle wouldn’t regret hiring her. Not yet anyway. Not if she could help it.
Her limo driver drove her through the courtyard, past the fountain and around the side to the main entrance. She got out, thanking him before she hurried past two more security guards and entered the building.
A fiftyish male guard at the front desk of the entrance monitored who went in and out. She couldn’t help but notice an attractive brunette having a heated conversation with him. Something was wrong.
The flustered man nodded to Anelise. “Your father called and hopes you’ll phone him when you can, Mademoiselle Lavigny.”
That’s right. She’d turned off her cell in court. Her parents, especially her dad, were anxious to know how her first case had gone. “Merci, Guy. I’ll do it now.” Anelise started walking down the hall to her suite when she heard footsteps behind her.
“Wait, Mademoiselle Lavigny!”
She turned around as the other woman hurried toward her. Anelise thought she recognized her as a French television star featured in some drama series. She couldn’t recall its name or that of the actress.
The vedette’s brown eyes with long dark lashes did a quick inventory of Anelise. “I take it you live here.”
“Yes.”
“How did you accomplish that?” She folded her arms like a schoolteacher waiting for an explanation from her naughty student. It sounded like the woman wanted to move in here. Guy must have told her she would have to be invited. Anelise was surprised the star hadn’t asked her agent to help her.
The more she thought about it, the more she wondered why this woman felt she had a right to access an apartment here. This place existed strictly for the Causcelle family and their friends. Maybe the woman was a friend. A very special friend, like a former lover of one of the Causcelle men perhaps?
One finely arched brow lifted. “In other words, you won’t tell me.”
Good heavens. The woman really was upset. “I don’t know what it is you want.”
“A suite, of course, but the man at the front desk is no help.”
“This isn’t a hotel. I’m afraid you would have to talk to the head of the Causcelle Corporation.”
“Is that what you did?” Her peremptory attitude might explain why Guy had seemed out of sorts. “Isn’t he as old and impossible as Methuselah?”
Not Louis Causcelle. He was young at heart. Anelise liked him very much, but none of this was her business. “He’s a wonderful man. If you’ll excuse me, I need to make a phone call.”
The minute Anelise entered her apartment, she ordered room service and freshened up, then called her dad at his office to explain what had happened in court.
“As you know, I discovered that the agent for the Mercier Company failed to transfer the stock certificates in a timely manner following the merger with Causcelle. The discovery resulted in a six-million-euro settlement for us.”
“That’s my daughter! I’m so proud of you I could burst.”
She’d never heard him so happy. “Thanks, Papa. I’m pretty excited about it too.”
“What’s the rest of your day like?”
“I’m going back to work, but I’ll be over tonight to see you and Maman. A bientôt.”
* * *
The landline rang as Nic Causcelle emerged from the shower in his suite at the palais. He’d just flown into Paris on the company jet from Chalon Champforgeuil in eastern France. It was the closest airport to the Causcelle ancestral home in La Racineuse fifteen miles away. His father, Louis, had become ill and would be living there from now on where his married daughters and their families would take care of him.
As for Nic, his father had put him in charge of Causcelle Hotels, a job he didn’t relish. He much preferred continuing to work with his brother Raoul in the other divisions of the corporation here in Paris. They included exports, manufacturing, luxury cars and a trucking firm. But with their other brother, Jean-Louis, having left the family ten years ago to serve in the military, it meant either Nic or Raoul would be required to head the hotel business from now on.
Their father had flipped a coin. Nic called heads, Raoul tails. Up came heads. Raoul wasn’t happy about it either. The two brothers were thicker than proverbial thieves and enjoyed working together. Nic couldn’t understand why his father didn’t ask their cousin Pascal to take over, but it didn’t happen. At least Nic and Raoul would do business in the same place. And they both slept here in the palais so they could see each other, but only coming and going, unless they arranged for time off to be together.
He walked over to the phone and picked up. “Oui?”
“Pardon, Nicolas. Welcome back. It’s Guy in the lobby. Mademoiselle Lafrenière has just been here asking about you again. She’d like to move in here. I told her that wasn’t possible. It’s not the first time she has asked, if you know what I mean.”
Unfortunately, Nic did know.
“She thought you were coming back to Paris last week and has been here every day to inquire. She expects a call from you.”
His dark brows furrowed. “Do you have the number?”
“Yes.”
“Give it to me and I’ll take care of it. Merci, Guy.”
Once that was done, he hung up. Babette Lafrenière. That was all he needed. An actress with stars in her eyes and so ambitious, it oozed out of her. He’d met her over a month ago at one of their car dealerships while he’d gone there to straighten out a managerial problem.
The middle-aged manager, Pierre, always went overboard when Nic or Raoul met with him. On this day he was so dazzled by the TV star who’d come to look at the luxury cars, he couldn’t contain himself introducing her to Nic. The second she set eyes on him, she ignored the manager and wanted Nic to do the honors of helping her with her purchase.
She had a brazen side to her nature, asking him to take her for a ride in the Bugatti she’d decided to buy. Her exotic kind of beauty couldn’t be ignored, but her hunger for everything turned him off and he excused himself.
Somehow—perhaps through the car manager—she’d found out where he lived. Poor Guy at the desk had been haunted by her phone calls and visits ever since. Nic needed to do something about it today, but would leave it until after he’d been to the office where his father had worked for years. Once he’d said hello to everyone in his capacity as their new CEO over Causcelle Hotels, he would call Mademoiselle Lafrenière and say something that would put her off for good.
After dressing in a suit and tie, he left the palais and started walking to the office. A way off he noticed a light brown-haired woman with slender curves in a two-piece dark blue business suit headed in the same direction. She carried a briefcase and her hair had been caught back in a tortoiseshell clip, but he couldn’t see her face.
Something unique about her had drawn his attention. She walked with a spring in her step on those long legs of hers, seemingly excited, maybe happy even because it was Friday. How would it be to feel like that?
To his surprise she entered the Causcelle Corporation and went right up the stairs as if she knew exactly where she was going. More curious than ever, he didn’t use the private entrance with the elevator that took him straight to his office. Instead he walked behind her to the hotel division that took up the whole second floor. She entered the reception area of the front office and shut the door.
Within seconds Nic opened it quietly and heard the voice of George Delong, the executive assistant to Nic’s father for years. The man could run the place blindfolded. “Bon après-midi, Anelise. Any good news?”
“We won!”
“Felicitations!”
“Merci.”
“Where’s Serge?”
“Talking with the judge.”
His gray brows lifted above his glasses. “While you’ve been gone, our new boss has come back from his vacation in La Racineuse.”
“New? What do you mean? Where’s Monsieur Causcelle?”
Nic came all the way in. “I’m right here.”
She wheeled around, catching him off guard because she was lovelier than he could have imagined. Her sea-glass blue eyes stared at him out of an oval face that needed no makeup.
George got to his feet looking surprised that Nic had appeared at all. “Mademoiselle Lavigny, may I present Nicolas Causcelle, the new CEO of Causcelle Hotels and son of Louis Causcelle.”
Lavigny? It all made sense. She had to be the daughter of Louis’s friend Hugo, the one he’d mentioned the other day back in La Racineuse. Nic thought back to his father’s friendship with the other man. Odd how none of their family had ever met Hugo, but Nic’s father kept his cards close to the chest on occasion.
