Katrina Cudmore - Second Chance With The Best Man

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Laurent stood and jumped onto the landing steps, jealousy coiling in his stomach. For the past year he’d immersed himself in work, driven by the need to prove himself as a worthy CEO, but now as he turned to find Hannah’s eyes sparking with anger he realised it was also to distract himself from the pain he’d caused her. He held out his hand and Hannah reluctantly took it. When she leaped, her hand tightened for a split second on his but the moment her foot touched the step she snatched it away.

They stood facing each other, the air between them dense with tension.

Hannah’s jawline tightened. ‘So, are you dating someone?’

‘I’m too busy with work.’

‘You worked crazy hours in London—it didn’t stop you dating then.’

‘It’s different now.’

‘In what way?’

She was testing him, pushing him for an answer and he wasn’t sure what her question really was.

‘Running a family business is complicated.’

Her nose wrinkled at that.

He pulled in a breath and admitted, ‘After what happened between us, I don’t feel like dating.’

‘Yet?’

Would he ever want to date again? Right now, he couldn’t see himself wanting to ask another woman out. But he couldn’t admit that to her so instead he simply shrugged.

She looked at him with a puzzled expression. ‘You’re the one who ended it.’

When he’d ended their relationship, he’d used the excuse of needing to focus on his new life in France. And the fact that they wanted different things in life, namely that he wasn’t interested in marriage. He’d kept from her the actual reasons why he would never marry, how his trust in others had been destroyed as a teenager, because to do so would have meant revealing his true self to her, a self he spent most of the time trying to avoid.

They shifted apart at the sound of footsteps behind them. Gabriel, the owner of La Belle Epoque, greeted them warmly and guided them to an outdoor table with views of a weir and an old mill.

Local teenagers were playing in the river, laughing and calling to one another in the evening sunshine.

After Gabriel had taken their order and poured them a glass of white wine each, Hannah smiled as one of the teenagers swung over the river, whooping loudly before landing with an enormous splash in the water, which earned her applause from her gang. ‘When we were teenagers and the weather was fine, I used to go down to the river that ran through our land with Cora and Emily to swim and hang out. Did you and François do the same?’

‘We spent our summers with my grandparents in Paris.’

She placed her elbow on the table and balanced her chin in the cup of her hand. ‘I thought Parisians left the city for the summer. Why didn’t they come here?’

‘My grandparents moved to Paris after my father took over the family business.’ He stopped with the intention of saying no more, but thanks to Hannah’s expectant silence he found himself eventually admitting, ‘There were arguments. My grandfather didn’t approve of how my father was running the business, so they moved away. When we were old enough I asked my grandfather if François and I could spend the summers with them in Paris.’

‘Did your parents not mind?’

He couldn’t help but give a rueful laugh. ‘They were too busy to even notice we weren’t around.’

She grimaced but then, ever the optimist, asked with excitement, ‘Did you like Paris?’

‘We both loved it. François even stayed and finished his final years of school there.’

Her brows shot up. ‘Wow, I couldn’t see my parents agreeing to that—they even struggled when we left for university. Your parents obviously encouraged you to be independent.’

She was reading the situation all wrong. Not surprising given her background. Once again this evening he felt torn between changing the subject and telling her about his family. Before, he’d never felt that compulsion. In London, he’d been able to block out his past, but being back in Cognac for the past year had stirred up all the memories and emotions of how betrayed he’d felt by his parents’ affairs.

‘Is everything okay? You seem upset.’

He started at Hannah’s words. She’d always been so good at reading his moods.

‘Our family life was rather chaotic. I persuaded François he would do better in a calmer environment.’

‘Have you always been the protective older brother?’

He grinned at the playfulness of her question. ‘Probably.’

Hannah grinned back and then in a flash memories and attraction danced between them.

His throat tightened.

Hannah twisted her wine glass around and around. ‘It was a shame you couldn’t make Lara and François’s civil ceremony in London last week. I know François was disappointed but at least your father was well enough to travel with your mother.’

‘I was travelling in Asia—promoting the House.’

She snorted, clearly not buying his answer. ‘I reckon, given your views on marriage, that you were simply avoiding the ceremony.’

‘That’s possibly true too.’ Seeing her smile of satisfaction that she’d called it right, he added, ‘But before you accuse me of disloyalty or not playing my part, can I point out that there is no tradition here in France of there being a best man at weddings? But as Lara is keen to have her sister as her bridesmaid, to keep some British traditions, I have agreed to be the best man.’

She laughed at that. ‘You make it sound as though you have agreed to take a place on a battlefield.’

Was marriage, commitment, trusting in others, so easy for her? ‘Did you mind being asked to be the wedding celebrant?’

‘I was honoured. What else did you expect?’

He wanted to say that he thought she should have said no to François and Lara. But instead he said, ‘Are you actually enjoying the work? It can’t be easy combining it with your day job.’

‘You still don’t understand why I want to be a celebrant, do you?’

‘It’s not the career direction a young and successful finance director usually takes.’

Their conversation was interrupted by one of the waiting staff arriving with their orders: salade au saumon et l’avocat for Hannah, double carpaccio de boeuf for himself.

After they had eaten for a few minutes in silence, Hannah placed her cutlery on her plate and said, ‘I love being a wedding celebrant because I want to contribute something meaningful to people’s lives.’ She paused and looked at him with a determined pride. ‘I need something positive and uplifting in my life.’

He lowered his own cutlery. ‘I’m sorry that I hurt you.’

She sat back in her chair, folded her arms and stared towards the teenagers who were walking home through the meadow on the other side of the river. ‘It’s in the past.’

‘We’ll see each other in the future. I don’t want to cause you any further hurt.’ For reasons he didn’t understand he felt compelled to add, ‘Nothing has changed...there can be no future for us.’

Her gaze flew back to him. Anger now sparked in her eyes. She stood. ‘It’s been a year. I’m over it... I’m over you, Laurent. I’ve moved on. Don’t overinflate your importance in my life.’

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