I checked,’ he said, his voice deceptively mild, ‘Luc, not Josien, was master of Caverness. There’s room for you here. There’s no need for you to stay in the village. Simone, I’m sure, will be glad of your company.’
‘And you?’ Gabrielle lowered the glass from her lips, and pinned him with a grey-eyed gaze that held more than a hint of pain. ‘Will you be glad of my company too? There was a time when you couldn’t wait for me to leave.’
‘You were sixteen, Gabrielle. And if you don’t know the reason behind my encouraging you to finish growing up elsewhere then you’re not nearly as smart as I thought you were. One more week and I’d have had you naked beneath me. In your bed or mine or halfway up the stairs, I wouldn’t have cared,’ he said bluntly. ‘And neither would you.’
He’d surprised her. Shocked her. He could see it in her eyes. ‘Well, then…glad we cleared that up.’ She took another sip of her brandy and set her glass carefully on the bench, as if even that small motion took up all of her control. ‘I suppose I should thank you.’
But she didn’t.
‘I lost my virginity to a handsome Australian farm boy when I was nineteen,’ she said in a low, ragged voice. ‘He was charming, and funny, and he made my pulse race and my body ache for more of him. He was everything a girl could wish for when it came to her first time, and it still wasn’t enough.’ Gabrielle headed for the door. Luc stood rooted to the spot. ‘I’ll be staying at the old flour mill for the next three weeks. If you could send word to me if my mother’s condition changes, I’d be very grateful.’
‘Why wasn’t it enough?’ Luc’s throat felt tight, the words came out raspy, but he had to know. ‘Gabrielle, why did he disappoint you?’
He didn’t think she was going to answer, but then she turned as she reached the door and speared him with a glance that held more than its share of self-mockery. ‘I really don’t know. Maybe he just wasn’t you.’
Luc waited until she’d shut the door behind her before he let his curses fly. He was a man who took pride in his self control. He’d worked hard for it; fought against his deepest nature to secure it. Only one woman had ever made him lose it. The results had been disastrous for all concerned. Josien had been hysterical, his father aghast, and Gabrielle…innocent, trusting Gabrielle had been exiled.
She’d lost her virginity to a handsome Australian.
Fury roared through him as he picked up his glass and flung it at the fireplace, his temper only marginally appeased when the glass exploded in a burst of glittering crystal shards.
CHAPTER TWO
‘YOU shouldn’t have said that.’ Gabrielle had a habit of talking to herself whenever she felt stressed. She’d been talking to herself ever since she’d set foot back in France. Her footsteps made a crunching sound as she hurried across the gravel courtyard towards her hire car, every step taking her further away from Caverness and the people in it. She needed to leave before she broke down completely. She needed to leave this place now.
Gabrielle made it back to the village without mishap. She drove on the correct side of the road and didn’t lose her way. She even observed the speed limit. And when she got to the old mill house she locked herself inside her room before finally giving in to weariness and sinking back on the bed with her forearm across her eyes, as if by blocking her sight she could block out the memory of her conversation with Lucien. ‘You should not have said that.’
It had been seven years since she’d last seen Luc. Seven years of complete indifference on his part. No phone calls, no letters, no contact. Not once. A sixteen-year-old girl had deduced from Luc’s actions that he’d simply been playing with her when he’d kissed her all those years ago. That the housekeeper’s daughter had meant nothing to him.
Not once, not once, had it ever occurred to her that Luc had been trying to protect her from a relationship she’d been nowhere near ready for.
Still wasn’t ready for if her recent reaction to him was anything to go by.
So she had money behind her now, and self-esteem, and a good deal more to offer a man on an intellectual level. That still didn’t equip her to deal with the likes of Luc Duvalier. Luc, whose brooding black gaze could make her forget every ounce of self-preservation she’d ever learned.
How many minutes in his company had it taken her to test the strength of her physical reaction to him? Two minutes, or had it been three? How long had it taken her to lay herself bare for him? Telling him that her first lover had been a disappointment to her. Gabrielle groaned and rolled over onto her side, burying her head in a pillow and pulling the blue chenille bedspread around her for comfort. What kind of woman told a man that?
A woman who’d never quite forgotten the ecstasy and the agony of a single stolen kiss, said a voice that would not be silenced.
A woman who’d known all along that no one at Caverness would bid her welcome and mean it.
A fool.
Luc didn’t usually wait impatiently for his sister to return home from her work, but this day he did, seeking Simone out in the kitchen, never mind the box of fresh fruit and vegetables in her arms or the fact that she hadn’t yet managed to put the box down.
‘Bonjour, brother of mine,’ she said cheerfully. ‘I come bearing good food and even better news. The sales figures are finally in and we,’ she said, setting the bags on the counter with a flourish, ‘had a very good quarter.’
‘Congratulations,’ he said, but something in his voice must have alerted Simone to his turmoil for she turned sharply, set the box down on the bench, and took her time looking him over.
‘Something’s wrong,’ she said warily. ‘What is it?’
‘Josien had a visitor this afternoon.’
‘Who?’
‘Gabrielle.’
Luc watched his sister’s face light up with wry resignation. Simone and Gabrielle had been close as children. Closer than sisters, never mind the huge gap in social standing between them. ‘Gaby is here?’ asked Simone. ‘Here as in here at the chateau? Where?’
‘Here as in staying in the village, and before you start in on my manners, yes, I offered her a room, which she declined. Dammit, Simone! Why didn’t you warn me that you’d sent for her? And why the hell didn’t you tell Josien?’
Simone’s expression grew guarded. ‘I left a message on Gaby’s answering machine saying her mother was ill. That’s all I did. What was there to tell?’
‘You knew she’d come,’ muttered Luc darkly.
‘I thought she’d call first.’
‘Well, she didn’t.’
‘So what happened?’ asked Simone warily.
Luc gave it to his sister straight. ‘Josien wouldn’t talk to her. Wouldn’t even look at her.’
A barrage of swear words followed his announcement, none of them becoming to a lady. ‘So then what happened?’ demanded Simone. ‘Did you make Gabrielle feel welcome?’
‘Sort of.’
‘Sort of? For heaven’s sake, Luc, you’re a grown man! Would it have killed you to behave like one?’
‘I did behave like one,’ he said grimly.
Simone halted, midway between the fridge and the counter. ‘Oh, hell,’ she said. ‘You still want her.’
Luc didn’t deny it. What he didn’t reveal to his sister was just how intense his desire for Gabrielle had been. He’d barely been able to control it. And he needed to. ‘Gabrielle needs a friend right now, Simone, and it can’t be me,’ he said gruffly. ‘I don’t want to do wrong by her again.’
Simone’s