Darkest Longings (40 page)
back at him, and though neither of them moved she could
feel herself going to him as though he were pulling her into
his arms, enclosing her in a passionate tenderness he had
never shown her before. But as quickly as it had come, the
feeling between them vanished and he said, ‘You are free to
live your life as you please, Claudine. You may even leave
the chateau and live elsewhere if you wish. My son, of
course, will stay.’
Her cheeks were suddenly suffused with colour, and fury
flashed in her eyes. ‘Nothing on God’s earth will part me
from my son,’ she said, ‘not even you. And if you’re hoping
to be rid of me, if you think you can throw me off now that
I’ve served my purpose, then you’re seriously mistaken. We
will call him Louis, we will have him baptized and brought
up the way you want - not because I’m afraid to stand up to
you, but because I know that you’ll do what is best for him.
But you will never again refer to him as your son, Francois,
because he is not your son. He is our son.’
‘Indeed,’ he conceded. ‘And I’m glad that you have
decided to stay at the chateau. Our son will need his mother.’
‘I’m staying because I have no choice. I resigned myself to that some rime ago.’
‘Very wise. Now, if there’s nothing I can get you I shall bid
you goodnight.’
‘Goodnight,’ she snapped.
But when he reached the door, he turned back. ‘In case
you are interested,’ he said amiably, ‘I thought I should let
you know that Armand will not be returning from Tours. He
will be taking the train to Burgundy, and when he has
finished his business there he will go on to Bordeaux. But
before you accuse me of trying to come between you,
perhaps you should know that, though it is de Lorvoire
business he is engaged on, he is doing it at his own request.
It seems that he wanted to be away from Lorvoire for a
while.’
Then, treating her to one of his more odious smiles, he
closed the door.
As soon as she was able, Claudine went to see Liliane. She
had intended to make her enquiries very casual, but she
should have known that there was little point in pretending
with a woman like Liliane St Jacques.
‘He has left a message for you, cherie,’ Liliane said, the
moment she saw Claudine’s anguished face. ‘Now sit down, and I’ll pour you some coffee before I tell you what it is.’
Struggling with her impatience, Claudine pulled out a
chair and took off her hat and gloves. Liliane seemed to take
an age, and suddenly, unable to bear it a moment longer,
Claudine said, ‘Can I have the letter now, Liliane? Please!’
Smiling, Liliane put the coffee on the table. ‘I didn’t say a
letter,’ she answered, ‘I said a message, and it is here.’ She
tapped the side of her head, then pulling out a chair for
herself she sat down next to Claudine. ‘He has gone away
for a while,’ she began, ‘because he is afraid. Afraid of his
feelings for you, and yours for him.’
‘But why should he be afraid? I love him, Liliane. I know it
might sound crazy when …’
‘No, it doesn’t sound crazy. I knew, probably before
either of you, what was happening between you. I saw it, and
knew that you were powerless to stop it. I don’t know if there
is a solution for you, I cannot even begin to predict a future
that would see you together, especially now you’ve had the
baby.’ She sighed. ‘Of course, it is wrong even to be thinking
like this - but we none of us can choose with whom we fall in
love.’
She stared distractedly down at her hands. ‘He wanted to
give you both some time to think,’ she went on. ‘He wanted
you to have the chance to see how it would be if he were no
longer here. He has the freedom to leave Lorvoire, and you
do not. That’s why he is prepared to leave for good if that is
what you want.’
‘But how could I want that?’
‘You don’t now, but you might one day. Armand believes
that you will always love each other, but that your love might
destroy you. You are married to Francois, Claudine, and Francois will never let the baby go, and nor will you. That means you will always be married to him. Armand is
prepared to live with that, to settle for whatever you can give
him, but he is afraid that what he can give in return may not
be enough for you. He will return to Lorvoire sometime in
August, by which time you may have decided what you want
him to do. If you decide he must leave, I shall do nothing to
stand in his way …’ She bowed her head as her eyes filled
with tears.
‘Please don’t be afraid,’ Claudine whispered, reaching
for her hand. ‘I won’t ask him to go, I couldn’t. Perhaps it’s
selfish of me, but…’
‘You may think it is selfish, but it isn’t, cherie, not really.
You deserve to be loved, and so does my son. But my poor
Armand has been through so much already … I can’t help
wishing that Francois had found it in himself to love you, for
then, perhaps…’ She smiled sadly and squeezed
Claudine’s hands. ‘The ways of fate are strange, Claudine.
Who knows, maybe one day you and Armand will find
happiness together. One day…’
She stopped, and as Claudine met her wise, knowing eyes
she suddenly had the feeling that Liliane was holding
something back from her.
‘What is it, Liliane?’ she whispered softly.
Liliane shook her head. ‘Nothing,’ she answered.
‘Nothing more than the silly fears of an old woman.’
‘Fears? Oh, Liliane, I will never do anything to hurt him, I
swear to you …’
‘That’s not what I’m afraid of. It’s …’
Again she looked into Claudine’s eyes, and instinctively
Claudine knew what she had been about to say. ‘It’s
Francois, isn’t it?’ she said.
Liliane looked away, but Claudine knew she had been
right. She knew because suddenly she could sense
Francois’ presence, as though he were sitting there in the
room with them.
She didn’t press Liliane any further that day, but she was
sure now that in some way she didn’t yet understand,
Francois was manipulating all their lives.
Elise had never been so relieved to see anyone go. Monique
had been in her drawing-room the whole afternoon,
harping on about her conscience in a way that made Elise
want to slap her.
‘I don’t have the stomach for this sort of thing, Elise,’ she
had wailed. ‘I can’t carry on with it. If you’d seen her body
lying there at the foot of the stairs you’d know how I feel. I
should never have talked Jean-Paul into employing
Philippe, I should never have allowed you to talk me into any
of it. I…’
‘Just a minute!’ Elise interrupted. ‘As I remember it,you came to me asking how we might be rid of The Bitch.’
‘Yes, but I was angry then, and jealous. I suppose I still am
jealous of her, but I didn’t want the baby harmed, not really.
I know that now; just holding him in my arms, I could die to
think of what almost happened to him, and that I was partly
responsible. I hope you don’t think that Philippe can come
back to the chateau, because …’
‘He’s not coming back!’ Elise snapped.
‘That’s good, because if he did I should feel obliged to tell
Francois who he is.’
‘You’re too late for that, Francois already knows.’
Monique’s eyes rounded With horror. ‘He knows?’ she
gasped. ‘Oh my God, he doesn’t know I had anything to do
with it, does he? Elise, you didn’t tell him?’
‘Of course I didn’t tell him. And as far as I know, he has
no idea of your involvement. Now, if it’s all the same to you
I’m expecting a visitor.’
Monique stood up and pulled on her gloves. ‘Before I
leave I should like to have your word that no more harm will
come to Claudine,’ she said.
Elise didn’t even bother to hide her contempt as she
swept her eyes over Monique’s petite frame. ‘You have my
word,’ she said, ‘for what it’s worth to you.’
‘I confess, not a lot,’ Monique retorted stiffly. ‘In fact, if
anything does happen to my sister-in-law I shall know
where to come.’
‘Go home, Monique,’ Elise sighed. ‘Go home and
ponder on what Francois would say if I were to tell him how
his precious sister tried to kill his son. And while you’re
about it, do something about that pathetic jealousy of yours.
If you haven’t got the guts to use it, Monique, it’s not worth
having.’
‘And you would know, wouldn’t you, Elise?’
‘That’s right.’
‘And if I were to tell Claudine about you?’
Elise burst out laughing. ‘Is that the best threat you can
come up with? Go home to your precious nephew, and if I
were you I would start guarding him with my life.’ She
smiled at the way the blood drained from Monique’s face.
‘Now that’s what you call a threat!’ she sneered.
Of course, Elise thought when she had slammed the door
behind Monique, she would have to make it up with her.
After all, who knew when she might need her again? But this
afternoon she wasn’t in the mood to soothe Monique de
Lorvoire’s peevish conscience.
She had been on edge ever since she had received the
mysterious telephone call from a man with a German accent
telling her someone would be coming to see her on a matter
concerning Francois de Lorvoire. She wasn’t too sure why,
but a sixth sense seemed to be warning her that whatever her
visitor had to say, she should have nothing to do with it…
But she had been intrigued, all the same, and had arranged
the meeting for this afternoon. Her unknown visitor was
due in less than fifteen minutes.
An hour later, Halunke let himself quietly out of Elise’s
apartment. He noted with distaste the blood on his gloves,
and peeled them off, looking cautiously along the grey
marble landing as he did so. In an apartment downstairs
someone opened and closed a door, and he moved
instantly back against the wall. Then, when all was silent
again, he stripped off the black woollen mask and tripped
lightly down the stairs. As he reached the bottom his
stomach growled with hunger, and he chuckled quietly to
himself; raping de Lorvoire’s mistress had given him quite
an appetite.
A fleeting image came to him then, of the way he had
left her; sprawled across the floor, her mouth swollen and
bloody, her clothes in tatters and her eyes still glazed with
terror. He had given her a taste of what would happen if
she ever double-crossed the Komitee. But she wouldn’t do
that, not now they had guaranteed the death of de Lorvoire’s
wife in return for her services.
He grinned. The Pascale woman might have thought
herself clever and cunning enough to accomplish that alone
- and who could say, perhaps she would have succeeded but
she could be in no doubt now that there was a far, far
greater force controlling the fate of de Lorvoire and his
family than Elise Pascale. She, like him, was no more than
an instrument, a card in the pack, to be played when von
Liebermann judged the time right. But he, Halunke,
constrained as he was by von Liebermann, would deal the
final hand, because for him this vendetta with de Lorvoire
was as personal as it was deadly.
He got into his car and started the engine. Checking his
mirror to pull away, he was surprised to see de Lorvoire’s
sister making her way along the street towards the Pascale
woman’s apartment. He’d seen her leave, just as he arrived,
and wondered what had brought her back. But then he
dismissed her from his mind. His main concern now was
Armand St Jacques, the vigneron, who, according to the
villagers of Lorvoire, was somewhere in Burgundy. Laughing
at that he pulled out into the traffic, and wondered how
long it would be, now that the child was born, before St
Jacques succeeded in seducing de Lorvoire’s wife. Not
long, he decided, as de Lorvoire himself had seen to it that
she was easy prey. Halunke’s laughter died and his hands
tightened on the wheel. The situation between the vigneron and de Lorvoire’s wife suited him perfectly, for now, but what he really wanted to know was how long would de
Lorvoire allow it to continue?
- 15
Armand had been away from Lorvoire for almost three
months, but now he was back. He had returned three days
ago. Claudine knew because Liliane had told her, but she
hadn’t seen Armand, nor had she heard from him. She
knew he was deliberately avoiding her - and today she had
decided to put an end to it. She had left the chateau half an
hour ago and come to stand here, in the shade of the forest,
just beyond the waterfall. At the heart of the valley the
church clock rang out the midday hour, and a few minutes
later, just as Liliane had told her he would, Armand started
up through the vineyards.
Claudine watched him as, engrossed in thought, he
strolled towards her. He couldn’t see her, the sun was
behind her; and besides, he was staring down at his feet as
