Exposed: Misbehaving with the Magnate (13 page)

‘Er, Luc?’ Simone’s voice came as if from a great distance. ‘About our limit price…’

‘What about it?’

‘We’ve passed it.’

He was aware of that. ‘Gabrielle wants the vineyard,’ he muttered. ‘And that bastard can’t have it.’

‘Oh. Well, then,’ muttered Simone and settled back in her chair with a very feminine smile of satisfaction. ‘That’s different.’

L
UC
watched, his body tense as he waited for all the players in this room to make their moves. The auctioneer and his crew were seeing people out. The auctioneer had shaken Luc’s hand briefly, smiled broadly, and excused himself to make sure that all the other plump pigeons in the room knew what else he had coming up for sale. The auctioneer would get to Luc later, when Luc was ready. The wily auctioneer had no fear that the House of Duvalier would renege on the purchase.

Simone was mingling—graciously accepting congratulations on the purchase and cleverly disseminating the information that, yes, the vineyard would be renovated and returned to the proper growing of champagne grapes and that, yes, indeed, there would be work available and that people could drop their résumés off at Caverness, particularly if they were skilled local workers—saying all the things Luc should be saying and wasn’t.

Luc had more important issues to deal with.

Gabrielle stood over by the window, looking hesitant and wary as she finished her phone call and
slipped her mobile into her handbag. Her eyes were on Etienne but then she dragged her gaze away from the older man and, with a squaring of delicate shoulders, she turned to look at Luc. Her lips tilted but her eyes stayed sombre as she started towards him. Luc stood and waited, while blood thundered through his veins and he tried not to feel like a schoolboy caught doing something stupid for the sake of trying to impress a girl.

Or protect a girl.

‘Congratulations,’ she said when she reached him, and held out her hand for him to shake as she kissed him lightly on the cheek.

‘Gabrielle,’ he muttered, nothing more than a warning as every muscle in his body tightened at her nearness.

‘Relax,’ she whispered as her lips brushed his other cheek. ‘You’re only getting two kisses from me on account of this being a public place. Then I’m going to berate you for paying so much for that stupid vineyard.’

Luc barely resisted grabbing her by the waist and dragging her against him. ‘It’s not going to make the slightest bit of difference. I’m still going to want you just as much as if you
had
kissed me again,’ he said gruffly. ‘Possibly more.’

‘Something to remember for future reference,’ she said and stepped away from him with a smile that slid straight through him. ‘I need to talk to you.’

And he with her. But not here. There were far too many people watching them. One in particular. ‘Later.’

‘Now. Luc, I have my suitcases in the car and I find
myself in need of a place to stay.’ Her words were crisp but he felt her anxiety as if it were his own. ‘I was hoping to stay with you at Caverness.’

‘I’ll make space in my cupboard,’ he said gently. If he wasn’t mistaken she was attempting to address some of the issues that had plagued them last night. Awkward in a room full of people, but she attempted it nonetheless. ‘For your clothes.’

She still looked anxious. As if she wasn’t quite sure he understood what she was saying. ‘I have a lot of clothes.’

‘Caverness has a lot of cupboards,’ he countered.

‘Luc, I need to talk to you,’ she murmured. ‘When can that happen?’

‘I’ll be tied up here for a little while longer.’

‘An hour?’

‘Longer,’ he said. ‘Why don’t you head back to the chateau with Simone and get settled? I’ll deal with whatever needs dealing with here—’ his eyes flickered to Etienne ‘—and I’ll find you there.’

‘It’s a big castle,’ she said. ‘I’m thinking we should specify a time and place.’

She was absolutely right. ‘Seven o clock?’

‘Seven it is,’ she said. ‘Shall I dress for dinner?’

‘No. You should eat beforehand. Food should not be a priority.’ Fair warning.

‘Where shall I meet you?’ she asked. ‘Or would you prefer to collect me? You being a thoroughly liberated Frenchman and all.’ She smiled then, a wicked little smile just for him. ‘You may collect me from your bedroom.’

‘I’ll meet you.’ Luc smiled as he leaned closer and brushed her ear with his lips. A taste of her, and a
promise to keep. ‘At seven o clock, behind Caverness,’ he murmured. ‘In the caves.’ Etienne was heading their way. ‘Go. Get out of here.’

But it was too late.

‘Lucien,’ said Etienne, with the hint of a smile. ‘Not exactly a bargain.’

‘Satisfying though,’ said Luc, without the slightest hint of friendliness.

Etienne shrugged. ‘It amused me to see just how high you would bid, but then if the property had fallen to me I’d probably have had a great deal of explaining to do to the treasury and that’s never pleasant,’ he said. ‘It occurred to me, seeing you with the young lady here, that we might have been bidding with exactly the same purpose in mind.’

‘I doubt it,’ said Luc, but Etienne had turned his attention to Gabrielle. ‘Well bid,
mademoiselle
. I strongly suspect you have more good sense than either of us. Etienne De Morsay at your service.’

‘His Royal Highness, King Etienne De Morsay,’ added Luc grimly. ‘An old friend of my father’s.’

Gabrielle said nothing and Luc contemplated stepping in front of her and blocking her from the older man’s view. As it was he reached for her hand and twined his fingers in hers. Whatever she needed from him, whatever she wanted, all she had to do was say the word. Stay. Go. He would take his cue from her. Gabrielle glanced at him and sent him a tiny, grateful smile before lifting her chin and turning back to Etienne, her hand still firmly clasped in his.

‘I never thought I’d live to see a woman more beautiful than your mother,’ said Etienne. ‘I have now.’

‘I never thought to see an older version of my brother sidle up and smile,’ said Gabrielle baldly. ‘I hope never to again. What do you want?’

‘I see you inherited your mother’s charm as well,’ said Etienne.

‘You leave my mother out of this!’ snapped Gabrielle. ‘What do you want?’

‘A phone number,’ he said. ‘A contact address. For my son.’

‘You could have gotten that any time during the past thirty years,’ said Gabrielle. ‘You don’t need me for that.’

‘An introduction,’ he said next.

‘Not from me,’ said Gabrielle.

‘So like your mother,’ he murmured.

‘I am
not
like my mother,’ she said through clenched teeth. ‘I swear I will slap the next person who implies that I am. My
mother
has spent half her life considering herself to be of no significant value to anyone because of you. Not good enough, not polished enough, not rich enough or beautiful enough. For you. Whereas me…I don’t care what you think. I know my worth. And I know yours.’ Gabrielle speared Etienne with ice-filled eyes. ‘Rafael already has a father, thank you. One he loves very much. One who loves him. He doesn’t need you.’

‘But I need him,’ said Etienne.

‘I really don’t care,’ said Gabrielle and turned her back on Etienne dismissively. ‘Seven this evening,’ she said to Luc. ‘I’ll see you there.’ And with another icy glare for Etienne, she stalked away.

Luc waited until Gabrielle had gone before turning his attention back to Etienne. The older man was sharp. Too sharp for Luc’s liking.

‘She knew who I was,’ said Etienne thoughtfully. ‘You told her?’

‘No.’ Not entirely true in the strictest sense, but he would not discuss Josien and Simone with Etienne. Not now. Not ever.

‘Would I be right in assuming that Josien told her about me?’

‘No.’

Etienne sighed. ‘It doesn’t have to be this difficult, Lucien. I intend no harm.’

That was a matter of opinion. Lucien waited in silence. Etienne sighed again.

‘And Rafael…does he still know nothing of me?’

This question Luc would answer. ‘Rafael believes that Harrison Alexander is his biological father. No one has ever told him otherwise.’

Shadows crossed the older man’s eyes and he looked away; Luc followed the direction of the older man’s gaze. Gabrielle had made her way to the door and was speaking with the auctioneer. Simone was with her, and together they seemed bent on reducing the auctioneer to a blushing morass of flattered middle-aged manhood. A dangerous combination, those two. Luc would have to figure out some way of reining in the wilder schemes they were likely to come up with once Gabrielle settled into his life. That or direct them to his advantage. He predicted great changes to the running of the House of Duvalier in the coming months. Changes that would benefit them all.

‘So like her mother,’ said Etienne, and Luc returned his attention to the matter at hand.

‘No,’ he said simply. ‘She’s not.’

‘I still think you and I were bidding for the same reason,’ said Etienne. ‘You wanted to purchase the vineyard for Josien’s children,
non
?’ He smiled wryly. ‘So did I.’

‘Why now?’ said Luc, echoing Gabrielle’s question. ‘All these years you’ve been content to watch from afar. Keep tabs on your son from a distance. He needed you when he was a child, they all did, but you never came. Why turn up now?’

‘My wife died last year,’ said the older man with a smile that contrasted starkly with the sadness in his eyes. ‘She never bore me any children although heaven knows she tried.’

‘I’m sorry for your loss,’ said Luc curtly.

‘As am I,’ said Etienne. ‘I remained faithful to the wife that had been chosen for me for thirty years, no matter what the temptation. She was a good woman, a fine companion, and I grew to love her.’ Etienne turned those vivid blue eyes on him and the memory of Rafael’s eyes stabbed through Luc. ‘I’m dying, Lucien, and my wife can no longer be hurt by revelations of my youthful indiscretion. I have no legitimate heirs. I wish to acknowledge my son. There is the matter of succession.’

Luc shook his head and suppressed a bitter laugh. As a child Rafael had needed a father badly. And this man had stood back. ‘My kingdom for an heir.’

‘All I’m asking for is an introduction,’ said Etienne.

‘I can’t help you.’ Luc quelled the faint stirrings of
pity he felt for this man; for the duty-bound prince he’d once been, for the solitary king he’d become. ‘It’s not my introduction to give, and nor is it Gabrielle’s. It’s Josien’s.’

‘I need your help,’ said Gabrielle to Simone as together they dragged her two large suitcases across the gravel courtyard towards the kitchen door.

‘You’re getting my help,’ said Simone as she hauled on the suitcase and shifted it another three feet closer to the door. ‘Is this gravel driving you nuts? Because it’s driving me nuts. Crunch, crunch, crunch, and weeds popping up all through it. I’m thinking pavers.’

Gabrielle was thinking surrender, but she took the time to make a detour for the sake of a lifelong friendship. ‘Pavers would be good,’ she said. ‘Pavers would allow suitcase wheels to function. I need your help with selecting a wedding dress.’

‘A what?’ Simone dropped the suitcase she’d been dragging, dusted off her hands, and smiled broadly. ‘Simone is At Your Service,’ she said. ‘This day just keeps getting better. Luc can get these cases in for you later. Let’s go to Paris.’

‘Not a
Paris
wedding dress. An instant wedding dress. As in something from out of my suitcase that looks vaguely weddingy and virginal. I need it by tonight.’

Simone’s hands went to her hips and thunderclouds gathered in her eyes. ‘You’re marrying Luc
tonight
?’

‘I’m not marrying him at all at the moment,’ muttered Gabrielle, sweeping past Simone and making a grab for the handle of the suitcase Simone had
dropped. ‘Let me rephrase. Tonight is a very important night for me. An all or nothing night. It may not
be
an actual wedding night but that doesn’t mean a woman can’t prepare for it as if it were one. I need a frock a man will remember with pleasure. I need my hair up so he can take it down. I also need a shot of courage. Possibly Dutch, preferably French.’

‘You need to stop teasing me like that,’ said Simone as she came up and reclaimed the suitcase she’d been dragging along earlier. ‘You also need a bridesmaid. But first things first. Where’s he taking you?’

‘Nowhere,’ said Gabrielle loftily and then went and spoiled her bravado by blushing like a schoolgirl. ‘I’m meeting him in the caves.’

The caves behind the Chateau des Caverness had been used for many purposes over the years. During times of war they’d hidden people and their belongings, given them shelter and given them ease. So many names carved into the soft grey stone walls. Names of the people who had worked here and played here, names of the wines. Gabrielle had carved her own name into these walls as a child. If she looked in that corner she would find her name there, written in childish scrawl, all the more childish for being so carefully carved. A record of her passing this way all those years ago. A witness to what had passed between her and Luc all those years ago as well.

Gabrielle made her way along the narrow corridor, lit only by the occasional beeswax candle. She knew the way, knew exactly where Luc would be. The tiny grotto where they’d begun to walk this path all those
years ago. The tiny ancient grotto with its shelves of old wine and its hundreds of tiny tea-lights nesting in the walls. The little room with its black wrought-iron door and its worn wooden table in the corner—the kind that had endured for centuries.

She wore an ivory linen dress with wide shoulder straps and buttons all the way down the front. Her shoes were cream too and her hair was pinned up loosely. Cool air parted before her, caressing her skin as she drew ever closer to the place where it had all begun. This wasn’t about seduction and it wasn’t about sex, although the need for both burned fiercely through her. It was about finishing what she’d started, coming full circle. Candlelight drew her through the last of the big caverns towards the little grotto, soft yellow light, and she let it guide her as she had let it guide her all those years ago.

He was waiting for her, as she’d known he would be, his clothing dark but not as dark as his hair or his eyes. He stilled when he saw her, every muscle in his strong beautiful body tense and predatory. What would she find in her lover this night? What would he give?