Second Chance With The Best Man. Katrina Cudmore

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СКАЧАТЬ always been petrified of them, it’s just one of those things.’ Which wasn’t true. She could remember a time when she wasn’t scared. But like so much of her early childhood, the story of why she feared dogs was one she’d locked away inside herself years ago.

      Laurent’s gaze narrowed. For a moment he looked as though he was going to probe further but then, putting the car in gear, he sped off down the drive and out onto the narrow lanes of the Cognac countryside.

      The wind whipped against her hair. She tied it back with an elastic band from her handbag. Despite her anxiousness about the entire weekend, for a moment she felt exhilarated as they zipped along and she smiled to herself as the force of the warm air blasted against her skin. The car was small. Laurent’s thigh was only inches away from hers. She tried to focus on the low hedges they sped by, the endless bright fields of smiling sunflowers, the gorgeous order of vineyards with their row upon row of vines, and not the way Laurent’s large hands clasped the wheel, the assured way he handled the car. They slowed behind a tractor. Hannah felt a jolt of nostalgia for her Shropshire childhood. The rides with her dad out on his tractor. The carefree days filled with her dad’s laughter, the late evenings of drawing in bales of hay. But even then a part of her could not help wonder how she’d managed to escape from what came before, wondering if one day she’d have to go back to it.

      Laurent slowed as they approached a village. The road narrowed even further to wind its way past pale stone houses with light blue shutters, then a boulangerie shut for the evening, a bar with some locals sitting outside who waved to Laurent as he passed by. At the other end of the village he pulled into a narrow driveway, a plaque with the name Villa Marchand on the entrance pillar, the viburnum hedging dense with white delicate flowers brushing lightly against the sides of the car. And then a two-storey house appeared, its blue shutters tied back. Jasmine and wild roses threaded their way up the outer walls, curling around the Juliet balconies on the upper floor. To the side of the house stood an ancient weeping willow tree on the banks of a river.

      Laurent parked the car and got out. Hannah followed him to the front door. He opened it to reveal a stone-flagged sitting room, large white sofas surrounding a heavy teak chest that acted as a coffee table. The walls were painted in a soft white; a large grey painted mirror hung over the open fireplace.

      ‘Why are we here?’

      He frowned at her question as though he’d expected her to already know the answer. And then, stepping into the room, he said, ‘This is my present to François and Lara. A summer home. It’s where François proposed to Lara. I’m hoping it will tempt them to visit more often.’

      She followed him into the room, leaving the front door ajar. ‘You miss François?’

      He turned at her question. Her heart lodged in her throat as his blue eyes twinkled and his wide generous mouth lifted in a smile. ‘Don’t tell him.’

      Before she could stop herself she heard herself say, ‘You could always move back to England to be closer to him.’

      She turned away from how his expression fell, winced when he said, ‘My life is here now. I’ll never leave Cognac again.’

      Picking up a small bronze figurine of a cat from the side table, she said, ‘That’s quite a turnaround from before.’ She lifted her gaze to study him. ‘You used to say that there was nothing here for you.’

      ‘Things change.’

      ‘But not people. They just reveal their true selves to you.’

      ‘I never—’

      Regretting instantly the bitterness of her voice, that she’d revealed her upset with him, Hannah interrupted with a forced laugh, ‘You’re certainly putting my wedding present of a set of organic cotton bath towels into the shade with this villa.’

      Laurent shook his head. ‘The infamous wedding list.’ Pausing, he gave a smile. ‘It has caused a lot of amusement amongst my parents’ friends.’

      Hannah swallowed a giggle, imagining the other guests’ bewilderment at some of the items Lara and François had listed. ‘I think water filters, recycled furniture and garden equipment for their allotment are very practical gifts to ask for.’

      Laurent’s eyebrow lifted. ‘My father had to explain to a friend of his who’s a guest at the wedding what a wormery is. Trust me, it was a very long telephone conversation.’

      Hannah smiled, trying so hard to pretend that she was finding all this easy, a bittersweet thickness forming in her throat at how easily they fell back into their shared humour and banter.

      Silence fell between them. Laurent’s smile receded. The room closed in around them. She looked away from him. But even then she felt the force of his gaze. Heat grew on her cheeks, a rumble of attraction stirred in her stomach and, when she glanced back at him, it exploded at the rigidity of his expression—his square jawline fixed, his dark thick brows drawn downwards, his mouth stern. She’d at first been drawn to his easy charm but it was this more private, serious-minded side of him—the responsible older brother who was so protective of his only sibling—this self-assured and professionally astute man she’d fallen in love with.

      His jaw moved a fraction. The chemistry that had always been so strong, so potent between them was at work again.

      She willed herself to walk away, to break the silence, regretting having come here.

      His mouth tightened. The knot of fear and anticipation twisted even tighter in her stomach.

      ‘How have things been for you?’

      She jolted in surprise at his question. His voice, as always, like warm honey trickling through her insides. For a moment she was about to answer in a similarly low intimate tone, but caught herself in time and instead, with a flourish of bonhomie that took even her by surprise, she walked away, pretending to inspect the books in the bookcase. ‘Great. I’ve been busy. Emily married late last autumn in Granada in Spain. We had a great week there—it really is a beautiful city and it was so nice for all of my family to have spent the time together.’ Her forced smile was replaced by a genuine one when she added, ‘And Cora had a little girl. She’s called Diana. She’s gorgeous. I’m totally smitten by her.’

      Laurent smiled at her description. For the briefest moment, the old ease that had existed between them flared. Hannah was thrown; her smile faded, and disappeared altogether when she thought of her sisters’ happiness. She loved her sisters with all her heart and would never begrudge them anything...but faced with how content they were, how successfully they managed their personal lives, Hannah not only felt lonely but also doubted she would ever manage to achieve a similar happiness.

      * * *

      Laurent winced as the wistfulness in Hannah’s expression was replaced with an unsettling sadness. She wanted what her sisters had. Marriage, children, a united family. The things he could never give to her.

      He gestured for her to follow him into the kitchen, a sudden urge to keep moving, to be distracted by doing things, taking hold. ‘Let me show you around. I had an interior designer manage the renovations and furnish the rooms but I could use your advice as to whether there are additional items Lara would like.’

      Hannah walked around the island unit of the hand-painted kitchen, her gaze shifting out onto the garden and the river beyond. ‘Have they seen the villa since you redecorated?’

      Earlier, when she’d asked СКАЧАТЬ