Page 134 of Daughters of Paris

She walked around the table and past him.

‘The door is unlocked, you see, and when I do kiss you, I know I’m not going to want to stop.’

She closed the door and drew the bolts across, then pulled the blinds down, taking deep breaths to steady her hand. Her heart sang and she wanted to sing along with it. When she was assured of their privacy, she turned back to him. He was leaning against the desk. He drummed his fingers on the wood then raised his brows.

‘Any other preparations?’

Fleur shook her head.

‘Good. Then come here.’

She walked towards him and he met her halfway across the room. Fleur stood on her tip toes to reach up to him. He bent and whirled her off the ground until she was level with his face and her feet dangled. The lips met, hard and frenzied, pulling at each other eagerly. Fleur closed her eyes and felt him move around until he deposited her on the desk.

‘My notebook,’ she said in alarm, pulling her mouth from his.

‘I have very much missed your practical nature, my darling,’ he said with a laugh in his voice.

She moved the ink pot and notebook to the other end of the desk. There were passages in the book that she would rather throw herself out of an aeroplane than let him read.

‘Happy now?’

She nodded.

‘In that case, kiss me like you have missed me, my darling,’ he instructed.

So she did.

Colette and Sébastien were delighted to see Laurent again.

‘I’m not sure I can get used to calling you Charles,’ Colette announced.

The rain had dried up and the two couples sat on the terrace enjoying the early evening sunshine.

Laurent described the plans he had for a house on the plot of land he had mentioned to Fleur before. Apparently, it was part of a larger estate that belonged to his family. He had refrained from saying how large that was but mentioned that the original house had suffered damage during the war when it had been used to house convalescing soldiers, leaving Fleur to wonder who exactly he was.

Sébastien and Laurent drank Scotch that Laurent had brought, Fleur had a martini, and Colette drank orange juice. She was in the early stages of pregnancy and, as before, was suffering with sickness. When she announced she was going inside and asked Fleur to join her, Fleur agreed, thinking nothing of it, but as soon as they entered the dining room, Colette rounded on Fleur, a stern expression on her face.

‘We promised not to keep secrets but I know there’s one you’ve been keeping from me.’

‘What secret?’ Fleur wrinkled her nose, confused and unable to think of what Colette meant.

‘That Laurent asked you to go to England with him when he left Paris, and that you said no.’

Fleur’s hand tightened around the stem of her glass. ‘How do you know that?’

‘He told me while you and Sébastien were making the drinks.’

‘It’s not a very big secret,’ Fleur said.

Colette rolled her eyes. ‘It’s possibly the most important one ever. You said no. Was that because of me?’

Fleur dropped her eyes. ‘I couldn’t leave you and Louise alone. It was before you had reconciled with Delphine.’

‘I understand that and I’m more grateful than you could ever imagine but I think you need to go with him. I have Sébastien and Louise and soon I’ll have another baby. I have a perfect life.’

‘Don’t you want me in it?’ Fleur asked in a whisper.

Colette blinked. ‘More than anything, I do. No, not quite more than anything. Not more than I want you to be happy. Because you have a real chance of happiness now and I am not so selfish that I would prevent you taking it. Laurent clearly can’t stay here if he has a job and land in England, so you’ll have to go there if you want to be with the man you love. Do you want to be with him?’

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