The Sheik's Son(86)

“You have been following me for quite some time,” she said quietly.

“Yes.” He didn’t deny it. “I keep an eye on the popular salons. I was only for a moment distracted by Marie as the writer before I returned to you. I even thought there might have been an upstart governess in your father’s home, but no. It turned out so much better.”

“Why have you been watching me?”

“As I said, a means to an end. No. Not an end. My beginning,” he finished cryptically.

“Your beginning?” Sophie shook her head.

“To achieve what I must requires bringing down powerful people. And, my dear mademoiselle, as much as you like to write your drivel, you are in no way powerful. But your father is.”

“My father?” she asked, confused.

“Yes. As he works with the Ferme générale he has access to papers and knowledge that could be very useful to an ambitious man.”

“A man such as you?”

“Yes.”

Sophie began to see through the words he was weaving. “You will not arrest me but in return you want me to help you gain access to my father’s office,” she completed.

“Intelligent and beautiful. What an awful combination,” he said, smirking.

“Are you looking for something specific?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Against my father?”

“No.”

“But he has the papers you need?”

“Yes. The specifics of our little agreement here are such that you do not need to ask any questions. I hold all the cards.”

“So you do. But if I am to help you, I need a little information.”

“You have all you need, Sophie. In return for my not arresting you, I require your help in gaining access to your father’s office. I will contact you in the next week or so to set my plan in motion.”

“When you succeed in becoming commissioner, what will stop you from arresting me then?”

“Such little faith in me, mademoiselle.”

“It’s madame,” she corrected him, as she was now married.

“Madame. Yes, of course it is. A newly married couple who sleeps in separate rooms. Madame indeed,” Alain said lightly.

Sophie jerked her head up. “What did you say?”

“So odd when a newly married couple sleep in different rooms, don’t you think?”

He was spying on her, she thought. He was spying on every movement she made.

“I don’t sleep at night,” she said quietly, lying to the inspector.

“I’m sorry to hear that. As commissioner I will have much more important people to occupy my time than a little girl who plays revolutionary,” he said with a laugh. “I plan to be the most powerful commissioner Paris has ever seen. And I will not waste my time or energy on trifles.”

“I will fulfill my end of the bargain.”

“Of course you will. You have no choice, madame,” he said, placing extra emphasis on the title.

“Is that all?” She sensed his dismissal.

“I will be in touch soon. And of course, this will remain our little secret. There is no need to tell your husband or father of our little talk.” Alain watched her face as she picked up her small bag.

“Yes, I understand.”

“Bonne journée,” he said to her.

“Inspector.” She nodded slightly.

Sophie left the small room atop the tavern and came down the wooden staircase, shivering in the sun’s warm light. She had set her own trap and there was no backing out now.





Chapter 23

She closed her eyes in the carriage ride home. Inspector Vennard was ambitious. Sophie had known he was, as he had told her so himself. But now she was trapped in his web and her own rash behavior had placed her there.

She would not be able to tell Sebastian, and her father was ignorant of her writings. She was alone in her own creation and she feared the eventual note that would come to summon her to the inspector’s side. Though he claimed he would not hurt her once he achieved his goal, she remained concerned.

Alain seemed to be a man who did not choose sides but kept to himself. She must be very careful. She was completely out of her depth with a dangerous man.

She did not care about the mysterious papers he sought in her father’s office. If the man was embezzling money or committing a crime, he deserved to be brought down. Her father’s office was in an older building surrounded by many different offices. Indeed, the entire Ferme générale was scattered throughout the city, but plans were being made to centralize their premises. She assumed the inspector would be using her as a decoy while he entered the office and looked for the papers he needed. The building was guarded, but not overly so, and though she wondered at her usefulness, she knew she was at his mercy.