‘Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats.’ He raised an eyebrow at her obvious surprise. ‘Do you think I don’t know what they are already?’
She looked deflated. And suddenly Xavier could see the vulnerability in her. On the surface, she was bright and polished and professional. But underneath she was as fragile as hell.
He could break her right now and make her sell her half of the vineyard to him.
But he’d hate himself for doing it. And, weirdly, he suddenly found himself wanting to protect her. How ironic was that? She’d broken his heart, and he still wanted to protect her; even though he couldn’t protect himself from her. ‘So are you telling me you’re planning to run half a vineyard from London?’
‘No. From here.’
She was planning to live here? So he’d have to see her every single day? Dieu—that would take some coping with. While she’d been in another country, he’d been able to push any thoughts of her to the back of his mind. But living next door to her, working with her…that would be a completely different matter.
And something didn’t quite add up. ‘Two minutes ago you were telling me that your roots were in London.’
‘They are.’ She sighed. ‘I didn’t say this was rational, Xav. It’s just how it is. I want to step into Harry’s shoes. As you just suggested, I can’t do that from London. And the Ardèche was home to me in the summer, many years ago. I can settle here.’
Ten years too late. He’d wanted her here, by his side, back then. As his wife. Now, he’d be a lot happier if she flounced back to London and left him alone.
‘What about your job?’
‘Ex,’ she said succinctly.
‘Since when?’
‘I resigned yesterday. After my meeting with my lawyer.’
So she was using the vineyard as some kind of getout? In some respects, Xavier knew he could relax because it meant she wasn’t planning to sell the land to someone else; but, in other respects, her statement made him even more tense. Was that how she reacted to pressure—by walking out and launching herself into something else? So what would happen if the going got tough here? Would she bail out, the way his mother had bailed out on his father? ‘What about your notice period?’
‘In my profession, you can do too much damage if you stay. If you decide to leave, you leave there and then.’ She shrugged. ‘My assistant’s clearing my desk for me and I’ll pick up my personal effects later.’
‘Bit of a spur-of-the-moment decision, isn’t it? How do you know this is going to work out?’
‘Because I’m going to make it work out.’
Stubborn and determined: both were points in her favour. In this job, she’d need them. But he still couldn’t believe that she’d stick to this. ‘Running a vineyard isn’t a nine-to-five job,’ he warned. ‘There are times when we all need to muck in and work on the vines—and what you’re wearing right now is completely impractical for working in the fields. Your clothes will be shredded and your shoes—well, you’ll turn your ankle or get blisters. And then there’s the risk of sunstroke.’
‘I’m not afraid of hard work or putting in the hours. Show me what needs to be done, and I’ll do it. And I’ve already told you, I can do jeans and boots and a sunhat, if I have to.’
And doubtless hers would all be designer.
‘I don’t have Harry’s knowledge or experience, so of course I’m not going to be able to fill his shoes,’ she said. ‘But I learn fast, and if I don’t know something I’ll ask—I won’t just muddle through and hope for the best.’
‘Perhaps I should also tell you that Harry was a sleeping partner in the business,’ Xavier mused.
Her face shuttered. ‘So you’re not going to give me a chance.’
‘That isn’t what I said. Allegra, he was almost eighty. I was hardly going to make him work the same hours that I do. And he was happy to let me run the vineyard my way.’
‘So what are you saying? That I can stay, but I get no input in anything?’ She shook her head. ‘No deal.’
‘I wasn’t offering you a deal. I’m telling you the way it is. Sure, I asked Harry for advice on some things—but I can’t do that with you because, as you just said yourself, you don’t have his knowledge or his experience.’
‘And I also told you that I have other skills. Useful skills. If you give me the information I asked for, I’ll work up some proposals. I can bring other things to the vineyard. Added value.’
Xavier took a deep breath. ‘The information you’re asking for is commercially sensitive.’
‘And, as your business partner, I have no intention of letting that information out of my sight—because if it affects the business, it affects me.’
She really wasn’t going to give up. He stared at her for a moment, weighing her up: could he trust her, this time round?
Harry had obviously trusted her, or he would’ve left instructions to handle his estate differently.
This was a huge, huge risk. But Harry had never steered him wrong before; and Marc had argued in her favour, too, in their phone call the previous day. And Guy had actually left his precious lab for a few minutes to bring her over to the office. Harry, Marc and Guy were the three people Xavier trusted most, and they didn’t seem to share his wariness of Allegra. So perhaps his best friend and his brother could see things more clearly, their judgement of her not clouded by emotion and the ghosts of the past. Maybe he should let them guide him, here.
Or maybe he was just making excuses to himself, looking for reasons why he should let her back into his life. Because, damn it to hell, he’d missed her, and seeing her again made him realise what a huge hole she’d left in his life. A hole he’d told himself was filled perfectly adequately by work, and now he knew for certain that he’d been lying to himself all along.
‘What’s it going to be, Xav?’ she asked softly.
Knowing that he was probably making a huge mistake, he nodded. ‘I’ll print out the papers for you now. Read through them, call me if you have questions, and we’ll see what you come up with.’
‘Thank you.’ She paused. ‘You won’t regret this.’
He’d reserve judgement on that until he’d seen her in action. ‘It’s two months until harvest. Let’s use it as a trial. If we can work together, then fine. If we can’t, then you sell your half of the vineyard to me. Deal?’
‘So you’re expecting me to prove myself to you?’ Her eyes widened. ‘Even though I own half the vineyard?’
‘I’m saying that I don’t know if we can work with each other,’ Xavier said. ‘Look, if you took a job somewhere, you’d have a trial period to see if you and the new company suited each other. This is no different.’
‘And if it doesn’t work out, I’m the one who has to walk away? I’m the one who loses?’
‘My roots are here,’ he said simply. ‘Would you rip me from them?’
She was silent for a long, long time. And then she stood up and held out her hand. ‘Two months, and then we’ll discuss our options. Including the possibility of me selling to you, but also including the possibility of dissolving the partnership and me keeping my part of the vineyard.’
Xavier wasn’t sure whether he wanted to shake her for being obstinate, or admire her backbone. In the end, he stood up, too, and took her hand.
And the feel of her skin against his took him straight back to the days when he’d driven her to all the beauty spots in the region, and they’d