Page 71 of Her Inconvenient Groom (French Conquests 4)

Dustin wasn’t too sure if the cabin was even being kept in a habitable condition, but he thought about the trauma Chantelle had suffered, and understood her overwhelming need to go to ground, return to a place where she’d been happy and safe.

But still, they’d been hiking awhile and there was no sign of the babbling stream she’d spoken so enthusiastically about, nor the large stone cabin with the front porch and chimney.

“See anything familiar?” he asked casually.

“Just a bit farther,” she insisted. “And the view is well worth it.”

Without saying anything, he lifted the backpack from her shoulders and added it to his. He could tell she was relieved, but this stubborn woman who he loved would never admit it. He smiled to himself.

“Dustin?”

“Huh?”

“You were engaged, right?”

He was immediately on his guard. “Yes, why?”

“Nothing,” she said, too casually. “Do you want to tell me about it?”

Not really,he thought. He was certain that her questions had been triggered by the numerous calls that he’d silenced without answering. She’d have been an idiot not to have noticed that.

He was reluctant to get into details, especially since Kim had dropped that bomb about Jen turning up at her house with a baby. But he felt that Chantelle had a right to know about his last relationship. He began to speak.

“Her name was Jennifer. We dated for a few years, and then we moved in together.”

“Did you love her?”

“Yes,” he said simply.But not the way I love you.“We got engaged and planned to marry in a year. Jen was attending community college, so I was the only one working. Still, we were doing okay cause I was able to save well over six figures. But then my sister’s condition worsened, and she needed more and more medical care. I wanted to use most of the money I’d saved up for our wedding and down payment on our first house to pay Arabella’s expenses. Jen was livid. All she could think about was a fancy wedding, with a designer gown, a big cake, and all the trimmings. We just couldn’t agree on it.”

“So you broke up with her.”

He shook his head, feeling a sharp stab of remembered pain. “Shebroke up withme.Technically, since she never said a word. I came home from work late one day and found her gone. My bank accounts empty.”

“Oh.” She touched him on the arm. “Sorry.”

He shrugged it away. “It’s fine.”It wasn’t really fine,he reminded himself. There was still the question of Jen’s incessant calls, and the baby Kim had told him about….

Then he felt a droplet of rain, fat and heavy, and simultaneously, they looked up. The clouds had gathered, and the slivers of sunlight that had been penetrating the forest canopy were being snuffed out.

“Ah, merde,”she cussed under her breath.

“We better find that cabin fast, sweetheart,” he said. He took her hand and together they began to run.

They rounded a clearing, and to Dustin’s relief, there was a building standing before them. Not one of stone, and there was no porch or chimney, but a building it was, and as the rain began to sting, it seemed like this would be their port in a storm. They ran to it, gasping and laughing.

The door was locked. Dustin guessed that, like many country people, the owners wouldn’t have made it a fortress. He was just able to stick his hand in through a narrow rectangular jalousie next to the door and pry the lock into the ‘open’ position.

By now the slanting rain had made them truly wet, so they tumbled gratefully in, hugging and giggling.

“Admit it,” he challenged her.

“Admit what?” she countered stubbornly.

“You got us lost.”

“But we aren’t lost.”

“Where are we, then?”

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