Hot Basque: A French Summer Novel 2 (7 page)

The weekend was going to be short. And hectic. Margaret’s birthday lunch today. Flight back to Toulouse tomorrow. Caroline’s exams Monday.

And this afternoon...this afternoon he had something very special in mind.

With a sigh he let her go.

‘So, MacDonald, this is the way it’s going to be now, after only one year? ‘You’re creasing my dress, we don’t have time and oh, is that a migraine coming on?’’

He pounced on her again, pulled her close.

‘You do realise it’s a whole week since I’ve seen you?’

‘I know. And I’ve missed you too.’

Somehow Caroline found herself pulling Edward’s shirt out of his trousers and sliding her hands across his broad smooth back.

‘Maybe we’ve just got time...’

Downstairs, the doorbell rang.

***

‘Mmm these are exquisite Caroline.’

Julie popped another appetiser into her mouth, noted Caroline’s flushed cheeks, and tried not to smile.

‘Thank you Julie. They’re very easy to make.’

‘You must give me the recipe sometime.’

‘Oh it’s simple, you just boil Jersey potatoes in their skins, split them open and spoon in a mixture of cream cheese and herbs, top with a with a twist of smoked trout and a sprig of dill
et voilà!
’

Caroline took a gulp of champagne hoping the chilled bubbles would cool her fevered blood.

A laugh came from the other side of the room, where Adam and Edward were sitting next to Margaret.

‘You never told me about your theatrical career.’ Edward was grinning. ‘Scarecrow in the third-form production of ‘Wizard of Oz’, I’m impressed.’

‘I have a lovely photograph somewhere,’ said Margaret. ‘I’ll look it out for your next visit. She looked so fetching, her overalls were stuffed with straw and she had two blacked-out teeth.’

Caroline threw a death stare at Edward. He winked and smirked. He looked very handsome, she thought, all dressed up in Armani trousers and a white linen shirt. Not at all rumpled, whereas she was sure that everyone had noticed her creased skirt and mussed hair. But he was totally unruffled, damn him. And how did he manage to be so brown the whole year round? Of course he was often out on the river, rowing, and they had taken a week off in winter to go skiing. That was when they had done a detour via
Frankfurt to see the new baby. Sweet Baby Joshua. Kissable Baby Joshua. She hadn’t seen him since. And Margaret and Birdie hadn’t seen him at all.

The sound of the telephone made her jump. Edward had just started to help Margaret out of her chair to escort her through to the dining room. Caroline saw that her aunt almost fell as she turned too quickly to pick it up.

‘Annabel dear, what a lovely surprise, how nice of you to remember...’

Breathing a sigh of relief, Caroline collected the empty champagne glasses.

‘We’ll go through in a minute,’ she said to Julie.

‘No hurry my dear.’

Julie patted her arm and gave her an understanding look. Caroline didn’t know how much Edward had told his parents about her sister, but Julie was no fool, and picked up on even the smallest hints. Earlier, admiring the array of birthday cards that adorned the fireplace, she had maybe noticed there was nothing from Annabel.

Caroline carried the tray of glasses into the kitchen, Edward following with the plates.

‘See,
ma petite chérie
? Nothing to worry about. Just late, as usual. You know your sister. Now relax, enjoy Margaret’s birthday, and give me my orders. You look positively ravishing by the way. I love that new look for your hair. The ‘just out of bed’ look. Careful with that knife, now...’

***

The lunch was a huge success. The beef Wellington was melt-in-the-mouth tender, the insides of the pastry perfectly cooked, ‘not soggy at all dear, I told you not to worry,’ said Birdie, beaming. The Madeira sauce was ‘heavenly’, according to Adam. Edward and his father fought over the last roast potatoes, getting into a duel with Margaret’s silver forks. ‘I knew I should have made more!’ said Birdie half disconsolate, half proud, glad to see she hadn’t lost her touch.

Edward’s parents didn’t leave till almost four o’clock. They’d been sitting out on the terrace over coffee, enjoying the fine weather. It had been unusually warm, but now the sky was becoming overcast.

‘I think we might be in for a storm,’ said Margaret, eyeing the clouds.

‘Better be making tracks, what do you think darling?’

Adam stood up.

‘We’ll see you for a drink this evening then? About half past seven?’

He turned to his son, who nodded his agreement. Birdie and Margaret cried off, saying they were just too full of food and drink to face anything else that day. But Edward was leaving the following morning; he had an early afternoon flight and would go straight to work from the airport.

‘Working on a Sunday afternoon, it’s too much,’ Birdie had cried, horrified.

‘Captain of industry, Birdie,’ said Margaret. ‘Example to the troops.’

Edward and Caroline had cleared things away while the others were chatting outside. As soon as his parents left, Edward proposed a walk while Birdie and Margaret had a snooze.

Caroline tried to hide her disappointment. She’d been in a state of suppressed arousal ever since Edward had arrived and was hoping they could get a private romantic interlude before going over to The Limes.

But Edward seemed bent on some outdoor exercise.

‘There’s a place I want to show you, in the wood,’ he said innocently. ‘The Green Pool, do you know it?’

‘Ah, that one,’ said Caroline. ‘How could I ever forget it? That was where someone once told me I was the ugly sister out of the two MacDonald girls.’

Edward laughed and grabbed her round the waist. One year ago, at the Green Pool, he had made a thoughtless remark, put his foot firmly in his mouth and Caroline had rushed off, mortified.

‘You don’t think it’s going to rain?’ said Caroline dubiously, looking up at the sky.

‘Not yet. Come on, there’s something I want to show you.’

But Edward stopped before they got to the pool, next to a stately chestnut tree which dipped its branches almost to the ground.

They were both silent. He led her underneath the boughs, into a dim bower where the light filtered through the green leaves.

Caroline looked up at him. This was where she had first set eyes on Edward exactly one year ago. She’d been in a deckchair, under the tree, had fallen asleep. She opened her eyes just as he was walking out of the woods. Seeing her under the tree he had stepped beneath the branches and walked straight into her heart.

Now he sat down on the grass, leaned against the enormous trunk and pulled her onto his lap. She could feel the hardness of him through the flimsy material of her dress and her heartbeat accelerated.

‘You were sitting right here. Sprawled out, snoring, with your mouth open. Your hair was a mess and your feet looked as though they hadn’t seen a bathtub for at least two weeks.’

She leaned her forehead against his.

‘I thought I was dreaming .You looked like a dangerous hunter, someone out of a Greek myth, who was it who always had a bow and arrow? Except you were holding a big bouquet of flowers which sort of ruined the effect.’

‘Yeah. I was the unwitting God Interflora and you were the dangerous huntress goddess with the bow and arrow. Invisible arrows. One of them shot straight into my heart. Bam. I’ve never been able to get it out. Wounded for life.’

He tilted her head and kissed the little hollow at the base of her neck. She drew in her breath. He moved his mouth upwards, nibbling, licking, making her skin break out in gooseflesh. As her breathing quickened, he pulled her closer, moved his lips to her mouth, forcing her lips apart.

She was flooded with a delirious happiness for everything that had happened, for what was happening now, feeling her body respond to his touch. She arched her back, rubbed herself against him, wanting to pull open his shirt, and press herself against his warm bare flesh.

A row of tiny silk-covered buttons ran down the bodice of her dress. He moved her back slightly, began to unbutton them one by one, bending his head to kiss the exposed flesh. Then he slid the bodice off her shoulders, leaving her just in her bra. It was low-cut, pale pink satin edged with lace. Her pearly, perfect skin still held the faintest tinge of summer sun. He looked at her, desire filling his eyes.

‘Edward,’ she said.

He slid the straps off her shoulders and she shuddered as he took one breast in his mouth. Her skirt had ridden up, he pulled her closer to him, his hands cupped her buttocks, lifting her. She threw back her head.

‘This is what I wanted to do.’ His voice was low, slightly hoarse. ‘That day last year, the very first time I saw you. I wanted to hold you like this, take you, right here, under the tree. I had a demon in my head.’

He raised her higher, his large strong hands cupping her hips, then lowered her, with infinite gentleness, until he was fully inside. As her body opened and became one with his they both shuddered violently, then stopped, not moving for a few seconds. Then those strong hands were lifting her again, controlling her movements, bringing her down close then raising her again, slow at first then with mounting urgency. She was encircled, possessed, lost on a tide of desire so strong that she felt she might drown.

They climaxed at the same time. He threw back his head, and she fell forward against his chest. They were both panting as though they had run a race. He was holding her so tightly against him that she could hardly breathe. They stayed entwined in each other’s arms for an infinite moment.

Finally Caroline managed to lift her head and look at him. He was leaning back against the tree, every muscle relaxed, eyes closed. Feeling her move, he opened his eyes and looked at her with such blazing tenderness the tears sprang from her eyes.

‘I love you Caroline.’

She gulped, nodded, managed to say the words.

‘I love you too, my only darling.’

He hugged her close, murmured in her ear.

‘You’re not going to believe me, but this was not exactly what I’d planned.’

He reached out a finger and ran it delicately down the inside of her thigh, where a faint reddish mark was beginning to show against the tender flesh.

Then he took her hand and slipped it inside his trouser pocket. She felt the outline of something hard and square.

‘The scenario I had in mind involved a certain dropping onto one knee, sort of the devoted knight before his courtly lady. I’d even rehearsed, my left knee’s killing me actually...’

Mystified, she looked at him, then as her fingers closed round the object, her face changed.

Slowly she withdrew a small black box inscribed with the words
Michaud et Ferraud
.

Instinctively her right hand went to her neck, to the small Basque cross she never took off, gleaming gold against the whiteness of her bare breasts.

‘Aime-moi comme moi je t’aime.’

The cross that he had given her last summer to seal their love.

‘Love me as I love you,’ he had said, coming to find her in Margaret’s garden, and she had given him her answer.

She stared at the box. Her fingers were trembling so much she could hardly lift the lid.

‘Oh!’

‘I can change it. If you don’t like it. I know I should have asked you first. It was an impulse buy. I just thought, when I saw it, that’s the one for my girl.’

The sapphire was in a simple gold setting. In the dim green light under the chestnut boughs the colour glowed dark and intense, a sombre blue shot through with flashes of light as she turned it in her fingers.

‘Like our ocean. Like your eyes.’

She looked at it again, mesmerized.

‘It’s...oh Edward!’

She flung her arms round his neck, kissed him with all her heart.

‘Truly, you really like it? You wouldn’t have preferred a diamond? I can get you a diamond my darling if you’d prefer, I know that’s the usual thing.’

‘I love it, love it, nobody is ever going to take it away from me. My piece of the sea. The colour of your eyes.’

His face relaxed. He took it from her fingers, took hold of her left hand.

‘Maybe the down on one knee thing would have been nice.’ He kissed her naked breasts. ‘But I like this way better. Will you marry me, sweet Caroline, and make me happy ever after?’

The sapphire disappeared in a blur as the tears fell from Caroline’s eyes. Unable to speak, she gulped, shook her head.

‘What? Is that a no?’

‘Oh my sweetheart,’ she raised her head, looked straight at him, tears streaming down her cheeks. ‘It’s a yes. The answer is yes. A huge resounding yes!’

As if on cue, there was a rumble overhead, a flash of lightning, and the heavens opened.

They clung together, gasping, as the rain came down in sheets, streaming through the leaves and branches, pouring down their faces, soaking their skin. Caroline and Edward couldn’t have cared less, kissing and embracing passionately like two lovers who Destiny has kept apart for years and who have at last found each other.