Heaven Scent (46 page)

She realised Seraphina was talking to her about Max’s mood. Putting Xavier firmly out of her head, she turned to her. ‘What’s wrong with him? Why is he so angry?’

Seraphina sighed. Leaning over the fence, she surveyed the lavender fields. ‘God knows. I think he’s mostly annoyed with Dad but you know Max, he’s not talking to anyone.’

‘That’s teenage boys for you,’ Cat said, joining her at the fence. ‘I really hope you’ve forgiven me for betraying your trust. I . . . I didn’t do it lightly; I just wanted to protect you.’ She stared straight ahead of her, hoping she’d get a chance to see the lavender flowers; they were supposed to look glorious before the harvest. Cat noticed a hangar beyond the fields and wondered what it was for but she didn’t like to ask Seraphina when they were discussing the Yves issue.

Seraphina shook her head then rested her chin on her arms. ‘There’s nothing to forgive, honestly, Cat. You did the right thing. I mean, I came to my senses anyway and bashed him with the bottle but . . .’ She closed her eyes, scrunching her face up. ‘I can’t be sure but I can’t help thinking Yves still might not have taken no for an answer.’

‘Don’t, Seraphina.’ Cat put her arm round the girl’s shaking shoulders. ‘What a bastard. Thank God Max arrived when he did.’

Seraphina opened her eyes and nodded. ‘I think I knew deep down that Yves wasn’t right for me, especially when he kept putting the pressure on, but I just wanted to please him. Isn’t that sad?’

‘Of course not. It’s normal. It’s Yves who was in the wrong. He took advantage of you, that’s all.’

‘It was terrifying, Cat. I’d drunk so much and I felt so woozy . . . I threw up and still he wouldn’t stop.’ She started to cry, suddenly looking very much like the sixteen year old she was. Her bottom lip quivered and tears slipped down her cheeks. ‘What kind of person does that, Cat? I thought he cared about me, I really did. But he was just after what he could get.’ She wiped her eyes. ‘He just wanted all of this, I think.’ She swept her arm wide, encompassing the grounds of the Ducasse estate. ‘He talked about it constantly.’ Seraphina glanced at Cat, realising she probably knew nothing about why Yves had been on the scene in the first place. She changed the subject, thinking about Angelique.

‘And what about Angelique? What was Grandmother
thinking
? I mean, I know she hasn’t a clue what happened and she was just doing what she thought was best for Xavier . . . but God, how wrong could she be?’ Seraphina drained her can of Coke. ‘I can’t believe Grandmother asked you to invite Angelique here. Xavier can’t stand Angelique.’

Cat felt her heart constrict. ‘I wouldn’t be too sure about that.’ Loath to tell Seraphina about the kiss she’d witnessed, she kept quiet.

Seraphina didn’t seem to hear. ‘She’s awful. She might be beautiful but it’s definitely only skin deep. Underneath all that hair and those big blue eyes, she’s a viper. And I’m sure she’s had her ribs removed. No one has a waist that tiny, not even a child. And quite frankly I can’t even understand what Xavier saw in her in the first place – apart from the obvious, of course, but even then, you’re far prettier than she is, for a start.’

Cat couldn’t even raise a smile.

‘I saw you working with Leoni yesterday,’ Seraphina commented. ‘Are you two best buddies now?’

Cat stared straight ahead. ‘Not best buddies but we’ve cleared the air. We sorted out her pitch for the home fragrance line and we talked a bit.’ She looked up as Max strode over to them.

‘Have you seen Dad?’ Max asked Seraphina, his dark eyes moody and truculent.

Seraphina shook her head. ‘I think he must be shut away in his office.’

‘Of course, where else would he be?’ Max’s lip curled contemptuously. He kicked the fence with his riding boot, clearly needing to vent some frustration. The fence obediently buckled and gave a satisfying crack.

‘Are you . . . are you angry with me?’ Seraphina said, her brown eyes concerned. ‘I know I was stupid but I honestly didn’t realise Yves was such a creep until it was nearly too late . . .’

Max grabbed her shoulder. ‘Of course I’m not annoyed with you!’ he cried. ‘It’s Dad I’m furious with. I don’t even know what to say to him but I want to have it out with him. At the very least to let him know how fucking useless he is.’ Giving the innocent fence one more boot for good measure, Max headed back to the stables, his dark head bent.

Seraphina gulped. ‘He means it, I can tell. I’m worried, Cat. They both have such terrible tempers, who knows what might happen if they confront each other properly?’

Cat took her arm. ‘Let’s go to the beach or something and take our minds off it. Or we can talk about it, if you want to.’ She was desperate to get away from La Fleurie for a while; anything to avoid the agonising sight of Xavier and Angelique together. Unaware of Cat’s inner turmoil, Seraphina smiled gratefully and took her arm.

Throwing clothes into a bag haphazardly, Xavier caught sight of Cat as she walked past his open window. She was wearing an aquamarine bikini under one of Seraphina’s robes that he knew would match her eyes exactly. Her shoulders drooped dejectedly and for a moment Xavier had the urge to run out and gather her up in his arms. He resisted; they needed some time apart. It wasn’t her fault, none of it was, but the fact that Angelique was here, screwing with his head again, was down to her. It occurred to him to wonder what had made her think of approaching Angelique, but he didn’t pursue the line of thought. Right now he just wanted to get away.

Glancing out at Cat, he saw her chatting quietly to Seraphina and he was glad his sister had someone to talk to. His grandmother seemed to be keeping her head down for some reason – always a bad sign, in Xavier’s opinion – and Max, with characteristic belligerence, had resorted to stomping around the château and riding all day long. Xavier would have expected his father to immerse himself in work in lieu of facing up to the magnitude of Seraphina’s actions, but in fact, bewilderingly, Xavier had found him pacing his office in a state of pure rage about Seraphina’s so-called horrendous behaviour. He appeared to be blaming everyone but himself.

Xavier tossed a pile of lightweight shirts into his bag and then threw himself into a chair. A moment later, he was surprised when Leoni knocked on the door. Beckoning her to come in, she took a seat opposite him, pushing her glasses more firmly up on to her nose.

‘Hey.’ She glanced at his bag. ‘Where are you off to?’

‘Morocco,’ Xavier replied shortly.

Leoni frowned.

‘It’s work related,’ he added, looking irritable. ‘Did you need me for something?’

She leant forward. ‘I . . . I just think there’s something you have to know before you go. Well, a few things, in fact.’

‘Go on,’ Xavier said, rubbing his eyes wearily. He really didn’t think Leoni could tell him anything significant enough to change the way he was feeling but he was willing to hear her out.

Leoni counted on her fingers. ‘All right, well, firstly, this Yves person Seraphina was seeing? He was Grandmother’s private detective.’

Xavier looked stunned. ‘Her
what
?
’

‘I know, crazy, right?’ Leoni nodded, her brown eyes glittering. ‘That awful friend of hers, Cybille, recommended him, said he helped her out with her divorce or something. Anyway, Grandmother hired him to investigate Cat.’

‘You’re not serious?’ It was outrageous, even for his grandmother. Xavier frowned. ‘So that’s how Seraphina met him – she bumped into him here, I’m assuming.’

Leoni raised her eyebrows. ‘Exactly. Grandmother must be feeling pretty guilty about that but if she does, she hasn’t come out and said it yet. And the other thing I wanted to tell you was also about Cat. Angelique turning up here like that? Grandmother engineered the whole thing. She approached Angelique in the first place and then used Cat to sort out the ad campaign.’

Xavier put his head in his hands. It made sense. He had known Cat wouldn’t have approached Angelique off her own back – why would she? But why would his grandmother do such a stupid thing in the first place?

‘She was playing at matchmaker,’ he realised. ‘She doesn’t know what happened when we split up and she thinks I wanted Angelique back.’ Xavier groaned.

Leoni watched him. She wasn’t about to let on that Cat had filled her in about Xavier’s relationship so she stared back at him silently, pretending she was still in the dark. ‘By the way, Cat only did what Grandmother asked her to do because she thought it might mean the old lady was finally accepting her. And she didn’t want to say anything to you because Grandmother asked her to keep it a secret, though knowing you, you probably didn’t give Cat a chance to say anything much. Frankly, I think she should have blown the whistle on Grandmother immediately but as you’ve probably seen, Cat isn’t like that.’

Xavier sat back, trying to process all the information Leoni had given him. Everything made sense; it was just a case of rearranging perspectives in his head and getting his emotions sorted. He glanced at Leoni, not sure what she knew. He hadn’t spoken to her about Angelique’s pregnancy at the time so it was unlikely she had been aware of it, although . . . Xavier paused. Olivier had known. Somehow, Olivier had overheard something and he had seemed oddly keen to make sure Xavier wasn’t about to top himself over the incident, although why he had been so concerned was beyond Xavier.

Had Olivier spoken to Leoni about it? Xavier wondered. It was possible but his gut feeling was that he hadn’t. Leoni might not be the most emotional of women but he was certain she would have said something about Angelique’s pregnancy if she’d known. Still, Xavier wondered why Leoni was fighting Cat’s corner all of a sudden and he said as much.

Leoni smiled. ‘She helped me out with my home fragrance campaign . . . we talked about . . . oh, girl’s stuff mostly. She’s not as bad as I thought she was,’ she admitted, seeing Xavier’s amused expression. ‘In fact, she’s lovely, all right? I just couldn’t see past my own jealousy, that’s all.’

Catching sight of the time, Xavier stood up and finished packing. ‘That’s a bit deep and meaningful, where did all that come from?’

‘Ashton, actually,’ Leoni said a shadow crossing her face. ‘Back in the days when we were talking.’

‘Why, what’s up?’

Leoni sighed. ‘I don’t know. Since I met Jerard, I think I might have shut Ashton out a bit. I thought he might have been seeing this woman Marianne in Paris – long story, but she’s totally wrong for him.’

Xavier met her eyes. ‘That’s his choice, though, isn’t it? I mean, I’m not saying I think Jerard isn’t the man for you, am I?’

‘Is that what you think?’ Leoni was astonished. She wasn’t even aware that Xavier knew Jerard.

Xavier looked non-committal. ‘I just want the best for you, that’s all. Jerard is . . . he’s very focused on work, to the exclusion of everything else.’

‘How do you know all this?’

‘An ex-girlfriend of mine dated him and she got thoroughly fed up with being cast aside in favour of his BlackBerry,’ he explained, hoping he wasn’t trampling all over Leoni’s heart.

‘Really?’ Leoni looked dismayed. ‘That sounds familiar. At least it’s not just me. I was beginning to think there was something wrong with me because Jerard kept choosing work over spending time with me.’

Xavier zipped his bag up smartly and kissed her on the cheek. ‘Don’t be silly. And I hope I haven’t hurt your feelings, L. I just want you to be happy. You deserve to be adored, you know? By someone who puts you first . . . who worships the ground you walk on.’

‘I wish. Let me know if you know anyone who might do that, won’t you?’ Leoni wondered why Xavier had used Ashton’s old nickname for her.

Xavier stared at her before be answered. ‘Yes, yes, I will.’

Leoni frowned. What was eating him? ‘Do you think I should get in touch with Ashton?’ she asked as Xavier headed downstairs.

‘Definitely.’ Xavier paused and looked up. ‘And I doubt very much he’s dating that woman you mentioned.’

‘How do you know?’

‘Because he’s been in love with the same woman for years.’ Xavier fervently hoped he was doing the right thing. ‘Ashton’s definitely a one-woman man, and he cares more about romance than business, that’s for sure.’

Seeing Leoni staring down at him in bewilderment, Xavier hurried to the pool but Cat was nowhere to be seen. Damn. Now he was going to have to go to Morocco without speaking to her. Xavier grimaced. He just hoped she stayed at La Fleurie until he had done what he needed to do in Morocco. He had to be sure of his feelings and then things needed to be sorted once and for all. Xavier made for the front of the house and slid into the car waiting to take him to the airport.

 

Sitting bolt upright in a rigid chair in her private quarters a few days later, Delphine felt absolutely wretched. She had started out with such good intentions but she had inadvertently caused a dreadful mess. Boundaries had become blurred and lines had definitely been crossed. Delphine felt uncomfortable as she recalled the almost triumphant way Leoni had informed her that Xavier knew she was behind Angelique’s involvement in the ad campaign. She supposed it was bound to come out sooner or later but she had half expected Cat to spill the beans. The fact that she hadn’t was to her credit; it had been Leoni who had finally informed Xavier.