Susan Stephens - Susan Stephens Selection - The French Count's Mistress / The Spaniard's Revenge / Virgin for Sale / Bedded by the Desert King

‘And you really think you can do that?’

‘What?’

‘Pull the wool over his eyes,’ Megan said, clearly unconvinced.

‘Well, I can try,’ Kate said, feeling dejected too suddenly as she contemplated the enormity of the task she had set herself. It was one complication she could certainly do without.

‘Have you not tried to talk him round?’

‘There’s no point,’ Kate said. ‘He’s absolutely adamant.

‘Ah, well then.’ Megan sighed with a frown. ‘If direct confrontation won’t work, we’ll just have to let him get used to the idea slowly.’

It was perhaps as well Megan had no idea what they were up against, Kate thought. Even without Guy’s disapproval, it was one thing expecting Megan to see her way around the cottage with candles in the evening, but it was quite another to expect paying guests to do the same. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll work something out,’ she said, hoping to sound more confident than she felt.

‘That’s my girl.’

As she gave Megan a quick hug, Kate remembered how much was at stake for her friend. ‘I’ll show you,’ she promised fiercely.

‘Of course you will,’ Megan murmured soothingly. ‘Of course you will, my pet.’

The single imperative bleep of Kate’s mobile phone drove them apart. ‘I don’t suppose you’d like to answer that?’ Kate suggested wryly.

‘Not a chance,’ Megan retorted, matching her mood with a lopsided grin.

Kate hesitated a moment and then picked up the phone.

‘Well?’ Megan demanded after a lengthy period of thoughtful hums from Kate, mingled with some muted agreement. ‘Who was it?’

‘Madame Duplessis,’ Kate revealed in a voice taut with surprise and pleasure. ‘ Madame le Comtesse has asked whether she might pay us a short visit…’

‘I told you,’ Megan broke in excitedly. ‘She’s going to take the first step to recovery, thanks to you.’

‘That’s overstating my involvement,’ Kate said. ‘It was Guy who brought us together.’

‘But it’s up to us now to do all we can to help her,’ Megan pointed out.

‘I know,’ Kate agreed.

‘That poor woman hasn’t been out of doors since the accident,’ Megan went on, ‘and that’s more than six months ago now.’

‘I’m as anxious about her as you are.’

‘It’s up to us to heal her spirit—bring her here and then…’

Megan’s eyes were dancing with enthusiasm and Kate hated to bring her down to earth. ‘Take her into our confidence?’

‘Yes, why not?’ Megan agreed passionately. ‘Maybe she can talk Guy round for you.’

‘No,’ Kate said firmly. ‘The last thing Guy’s mother needs is to be drawn into a dispute between us.’

‘She’s made of stronger stuff than you think,’ Megan said directly.

‘I’m not prepared to risk upsetting her,’ Kate said. ‘And, whatever you say to try and make me feel better about all of this, just remember, I’m misleading her son.’

‘Oh, pish!’ Megan said dismissively. ‘Guy will survive.’

‘Maybe,’ Kate murmured, unconvinced, wondering if her friendship with him would too. When she had inherited the property she had taken Guy’s support for granted. Now she could see how rash she had been. But the last thing she had been expecting was for him to forbid her the right to develop the cottage as she wanted. Suddenly it seemed as if Aunt Alice’s loving gesture might well backfire and be the one thing that drove Guy away from her. ‘I can hardly pretend I don’t know anything about the covenants,’ Kate reasoned. ‘But to be honest with you, Megan, I haven’t even read through them properly yet…’

‘What?’ Megan exploded. ‘Now, that really isn’t like you, Kate. You must be either ill or in love.’

‘I don’t need to read them to know—Guy’s issued more than enough warnings and I’m certain he’s absolutely determined to enforce them,’ Kate protested.

‘Ach!’ Megan said dismissively. ‘Guy’s used to issuing instructions, that’s all—used to having them obeyed too, I dare say. But then he’s been spared your company for ten years or so, Kate. He’ll just have to get used to big-time confrontations all over again.’

Kate’s laugh was dry and humourless. She knew it wasn’t going to be that easy. Megan had no idea how strong-minded Guy could be when he had the bit between his teeth. But now the thought of Guy with anything between his teeth brought the blood rushing back to Kate’s cheeks—something Megan picked up right away.

‘Guy didn’t—you know? Last night,’ she began awkwardly.

‘You didn’t miss a thing after you were carted back here,’ Kate said reassuringly.

‘Carted back?’ Megan exclaimed. ‘Well, I suppose a taxi, however comfortable, can’t compare with Guy’s limousine.’ Her eyes went dreamy for a moment. ‘Not when that limousine is chauffered by a very nice man wearing uniform—and a cap, if you please.’

‘I can see you enjoyed the night at least,’ Kate said dryly.

‘Don’t try and tell me you didn’t,’ Megan countered shrewdly, and then her eyebrows lifted almost to her hairline when Kate’s mobile rang again. ‘Aren’t you going to answer that?’ she prompted, watching Kate hesitate. ‘You’ve certainly perfected the art of the silent phone call,’ Megan observed dryly when Kate finally broke the connection. ‘And now have you taken the vow of silence?’ she prompted hopefully, exhibiting more than her usual degree of amused frustration.

‘I’m sorry,’ Kate murmured distractedly, thinking about the call. Guy had been brief, noncommittal. On the face of it he had called just to make sure she had enjoyed the evening. Her thank-you note was already written and waiting to be posted. She had hoped to keep things formal. But in his voice she had detected a chord she hadn’t heard before—hard to explain, but like a seedling in the grit. He was prepared to forgive her. He had taken for granted the fact that she would accede to his demands not to run a business at the cottage. After all, why should she? She had made plenty of money already. But Freedom Breaks was a lot more than just a commercial venture for her. It was a mission to bring life back to the cottage; to restore the sanctuary Aunt Alice had once created for her and to try and rebuild everything that had been lost six months earlier when Guy’s father had come to take Aunt Alice to the château in his new car and had lost control… But that was all in the past. Guy’s eye was on the future. And Kate knew his business plans didn’t allow for sentimentality.

Suddenly she had to get away, to try and make sense of it all. ‘Do you mind if I go for a walk?’ she said distractedly. ‘I won’t be long.’

‘Be as long as you like,’ Megan said staunchly. ‘There’s plenty here I can be getting on with.’

Kate took herself off to the place where she had enjoyed her first impromptu picnic with Guy on her return to La Petite Maison. She needed to be alone and there was something therapeutic about the cottage and its lovely gardens, gardens that stretched down to the stream and, now that they were loved again, combined just the right degree of informality and design. She only had to walk through them to feel the benefit—to soak up the calm. The days were drawing out, becoming warmer, while the sounds and the scents around her were stronger, more evocative… Childhood seemed close, almost within reach.

Those long days in the sun, viewing Guy from a discreet distance as he talked with his friends… Listening to the pitch of his voice as it rose and fell against a background of bee drone and adoring female laughter. How she had hated them, Kate remembered—those beautiful girls, so grown up and so sophisticated and every one of them vying for Guy’s attention, whilst she was still a child and a tomboy at that, with dirty knees and grass in her hair. But his voice had soothed her, lulled her, hypnotised her with its resonance and humour. And now since their talk at the château something much deeper than the tone of his voice was drawing her in. There was an intimacy between them that had not existed before. And with it came an understanding that only increased her longing to turn their lifelong friendship into something much more. But while he still saw her as a young tomboy that was never going to happen. She shook her head as she realised what a fool she had been.