“A bit of fun?” I repeated.
Guillaume nodded. “He obviously likes you,” he said, as if it was the plainest thing in the world. I stared at him. “I just thought I’d see if I could get under his skin a little,” he added. “I guess it worked! Good for me!”
Chapter Thirteen
I tossed and turned all night worrying about what horrible things Gabe would write in the UPP article. Would my career be ruined? Would Guillaume’s? Exactly how far would Gabe go? Poppy had tried to calm me down by serving a slightly overdone baked chicken for dinner and filling me up with wine, but I only wound up feeling more nervous. I was at work the next day by 7 a.m., and I quickly logged on to my computer to see what KMG’s in-house electronic clipping service had pulled up for the day. I was anticipating the worst from Gabe. After all, Guillaume—and I—probably deserved it.
As the results came in, I saw that Guillaume had been mentioned in 123 publications in the past twenty-four hours; that 119 of them were different versions of the same article (undoubtedly Gabe’s, sent over the UPP wires and picked up in entertainment sections worldwide). There would certainly be more additions popping up over the course of the day as papers in the States began to add us. It was only 1 a.m. in New York and 10 p.m. in LA, and many papers hadn’t closed yet.
Gulping and steeling myself for the worst, I clicked on READ TEXT and waited for the first article, from the Sydney Morning Herald in Australia, to load. When it came up, it was indeed from the UPP wire service, with Gabriel Francoeur’s byline. The headline screamed at me from the page.
CONTROVERSIAL CROSSOVER ROCKER OPENS UP ON EVE OF DEBUT ALBUM!
I gulped. I wasn’t ready for this. Not yet. Not now. I loved my new job. I was falling in love with Paris. I was even learning to consider that there might be life after Brett. Now Gabe would probably bring it all to a close. I braced myself and began to read.
Celeb bachelor Guillaume Riche’s debut album hits stores worldwide next Tuesday, and his first single, “City of Light,” is already burning up the charts across Europe as well as in the United States and Australia. But although the buzz about Riche’s album is strong and he’s already being hailed as “the greatest European export since the Beatles” by Rolling Stone magazine, the eccentric star is perhaps currently better known for his many mishaps than for his music.
From getting trapped in the Eiffel Tower—reportedly without his clothing, although publicists for Riche deny it—to getting trapped in midair between two high-rise apartment buildings earlier this week, Riche is anything but your typical rock star.
“Sure, Ozzy Osborne can eat bats and Pete Wentz can wear eyeliner,” Riche said in an exclusive interview yesterday. “But no one can be Guillaume Riche.”
Antics aside, though, Riche has the musical muscle to back up his record label’s claims that he’ll be the next big worldwide sensation. Not only do his vocals span the range from early Paul McCartney to Coldplay’s Chris Martin to John Mayer, but he has a writing credit on all the songs on his much-anticipated album, called simply Riche.
“Music just speaks to me,” Riche says. “And if I can channel that into something that touches other people, then that’s a gift, isn’t it?”
Riche is, of course, a French television star better known for his status as one of Europe’s most eligible bachelors. The actor-turned-playboy has been widely linked to women including Dionne DeVrie, Jennifer Aniston and Kylie Dane.
Born in Brittany, France, to Pierre, an accountant, and Marie, a stay-at-home mom, Riche began taking piano lessons at the age of four and was proficient on piano, guitar, trumpet, saxophone and percussion by the age of seven. He wrote his first song when he was nine, and after spending two months in the hospital following a serious car accident that claimed the life of a schoolmate, he was performing in pubs by 15. A short stint in jail after a public disturbance charge just before his 17th birthday exposed him to famed producer Nicolas Ducellier, imprisoned in the same jail on a drug charge, and Riche’s musical formation was complete after working with this mentor for 30 days. His informal recordings lit up northern France’s airwaves around the time he turned 18, and he had earned a cult following by 20. Now, 10 years later, he’s finally about to make his musical debut on the world stage.
“I’m excited,” Riche says. “This is quite an opportunity. I think that music is the universal language, so if I can bridge the gap between English speakers and French speakers through my songs, then perhaps that’s one step closer to global harmony.”