Page 33 of Liaison with the Champagne Count
‘You mean you’re leaving,’ Julien paraphrased. ‘One meeting with the growers and you’re leaving? Are you going to let them drive you off so easily? What happened to fighting?’
She set aside the nightgown in her hand and faced him. ‘It’s not just one meeting, is it? My father taught me when there’s a problem or even a success, there’s not just one reason for it. I am not wanted here. You have made that plain. I am an interloper here, and an outsider. I have hurt your business with the consortium by laying claim to what was mine by law. I did not realise that until yesterday when you told me about the lost funds. I am truly sorry for causing you financial hardship. But it is not in me to pretend to be something that I’m not. I cannot take a secondary role here, if I were to stay, and I don’t think I can. You warned me that the days of a woman heading a Champagne house were fading. The consortium showed me that today. They have no confidence in me without you. Even if I could make it on my own, I will not be given the chance.’
‘Emma, stop,’ Julien interrupted with a rough shake of his head. ‘That’s what I came to tell you. Youdohave me. I chooseyou.’ Even as desolate as she was, as empty as she was, the words stunned her. How could she even think about believing them? They were the perfect words, the words that made everything all right. She simply couldn’t believe them. They were illogical against the backdrop of the afternoon.
‘But youroncle? What about working for the family vineyard?’ she started with the practical contradiction. He couldn’t choose her. Julien confused her. Just when she thought she understood him, he showed her something different.
He gave another shake of his head. ‘I told the consortium if they insisted on making me choose, I would choose you. I told them you were brilliant, that you had ideas for marketing the wines that were exciting, that took advantage of this new world we live in.’
‘Youronclecouldn’t have been pleased. You would have made him look like a fool.’ She was still trying to wrap her head around what had happened and what she thought about it. She couldn’t let herself believe; she couldn’t set herself up for loss again. There was no reason to believe him, no precedent. When others had had to choose between her and themselves, they’d not thought twice about choosing themselves. Amelia, Redmond, Garret’s family. Garrett had chosen her but it had not cost him anything.
‘That’s why I wanted to have the discussion in private. I wanted to find a way to help him save face.’ He reached for her hands and she let him take them against her better judgement. Touching was dangerous. ‘I could not go along with his plans any further, not when they were so malevolently aimed at you. It was unfair. His dream is not worth the cost of yours.’
Emma swallowed hard, her mind working against her heart, trying not to be swept away by the emotion of his words.
He’d chosen her.
This was new, but his motives weren’t. Of course, the cynic in her argued,He chose you because you hold the chateau.‘And what of your dream, Julien?’ she countered softly. She didn’t want to argue any more, but she had to know.
‘My dream is not the chateau. It is you. I can’t say anyone was happy about the decision I made, except me. I want to be here with you, although it won’t be easy. People are not happy with me or with you at the moment. They may take that unhappiness out on us in sales.’
‘Only locals.’ Her mind was coming alive with the impact of what this meant. Julien was staying. She could produce wines. ‘Britain is a vastly unexplored market, no one there will care about the local politics of Cumières.’ But then she slowed her mind. She was getting ahead of herself. ‘I can’t let you give up your family because of me. I will not be a wedge driven between you and youroncle.’
‘He’s done that on his own,’ Julien offered, his eyes softening. She disengaged her hands and stepped back. This changed very little between them, in truth. It did not change the fact that she was living in his house. That her dreams would only be achieved at the loss of his. That any way forward would always be shrouded in doubt for them. Just like the betrayal in England had cost her more than a suitor, this betrayal had cost her that carefully rebuilt trust. She needed distance.
‘Perhaps it would be best if I returned to England and ran things from there in the fashion Garrett did. Maybe out of sight and out of mind will help with rapprochement between you and the consortium.’ At least she’d be leaving on better terms with him. At a distance, she’d be better protected, too, from the natural seduction of him. There would be no chance for Julien to woo the chateau from her, or for them to reignite the affair between them, which seemed a very real possibility from the look in his eyes. But reigniting the affair would also be done under a cloud of doubt about intentions, and that doubt would always be between them now.
‘Leave? Three weeks before the gala? I can’t possibly manage it without you.’ There was genuine panic in Julien’s voice. ‘Besides, you just hung the chandelier.’ He smiled and if the situation had been less fraught, she would have laughed. Instead, she had to stand firm.
‘Perhaps this isn’t the best time for a gala. Besides, I doubt anyone would come with the way things are at present,’ she conceded. She’d had so much fun planning it and she’d been looking forward to it. It was to have been a debut of sorts for her.
‘I don’t know about that. Your guest list was very impressive, as is the list of respondents. Nearly everyone you’ve invited is coming.’ That list had been full of clients invited from all over Europe to come and taste the wines, especially the special one Garrett had put up seven years ago and thecouteau champenois. They’d hoped to have a lot of orders come out of the gala.
‘The growers won’t come.’
‘That’s where I think you’re wrong.’ There was a spark of mischief in his eyes. ‘I offered them a chance to show their wines as well if they attended. Now our guests can taste not just our wines, but all the wines of the region. I may even have suggested a tasting competition with judges and a prize in each category.’
‘That’s brilliant,’ she said carefully, letting the idea roll over her in a slow wave. ‘Why, you might make a decent marketer yet.’
He smiled warmly. ‘I was taught by the best.’ She made her decision. It couldn’t hurt to stay another few weeks. It didn’t mean she had to stay for ever. If the gala failed, then Julien could see first-hand what they were up against and he might agree that it was best she returned to England.
‘All right then, I will stay until the gala, and then we’ll decide from there.’ Only time would tell which of them was right, and her heart desperately hoped it wouldn’t be her, even as she realised it probably would be. She could not love a man she couldn’t trust. How could she trust another when she couldn’t even trust herself? Her world and her emotions at present were fragile like fine crystal and liable to shatter at any moment.
Chapter Twenty-One
‘This is the infamous Baccarat?’ Julien’s tones cut sharply through her thoughts as she unpacked the crystal in the dining room. She’d been too lost in memories to hear him approach. She looked up, startled, nearly dropping a glass.
‘Yes, nearly all of it. I just have this box to open.’ She tracked him with her eyes as he made a slow perambulation around the table. She’d not seen him since the day of the growers’ meeting when she’d tried to leave, the day they’d struck their bargain and she’d agreed to stay for the gala. He’d made himself scarce in the interim, perhaps understanding she needed time, space.
‘Thank goodness,’ Julien chuckled, stopping to pick up a goblet and holding it to the light. ‘We’re out of space on the dining room table. The collection is rather impressive.’ It was indeed. Six glasses deep and rows that ran the length of the table.
‘It’s rather large,’ she amended. ‘Garrett insisted we buy everything in the set. I don’t think there’s a type of glassware not accounted for here. There are sherry glasses, brandy snifters, cordial glasses, water goblets and some I don’t even know what they’re for. I did not think it wasallnecessary but Garrett said I could give it to my daughter someday when she wed.’ She gave a sad smile. ‘But now, it shall be mine for ever.’
She watched Julien’s long fingers still on a flute. ‘Garrett wanted more children? At his age?’ Julien’s brow furrowed in a gesture she was far too familiar with.
‘Yes, daughters if he could manage it.’ She gave a shrug. She didn’t want to talk about it: more hopes and dreams dashed. ‘I’m afraid all of this unpacking has made me a bit maudlin. Happy memories mixed with the sad.’
‘You wanted children, too?’ Julien pressed, not taking her hint.
