AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘L ET me understand this…’ Nine hours later, Veronique Giraud studied Christien across the depth of her opulent riverside apartment in Paris. ‘You want to break off our engagement for unspecified reasons?’
‘Not unspecified. I’ve come to recognise that I’m not yet ready to commit to a marriage.’ Christien’s level dark gaze was filled with sincere regret as he surveyed his fiancée in her tailored business suit. ‘I only wish that for your sake I had seen that reality sooner.’
‘We haven’t set a wedding date and I wasn’t expecting to set one in the near future,’ Veronique pointed out with admirable calm. ‘You can take all the time you require to think this decision over.’
Relieved by her unemotional response, Christien expelled his breath. ‘I appreciate that but I’ve had all the time I need to consider this and I must still ask you to release me from our engagement. I’m sorry that it has to be like this.’
After a moment of thought, Veronique gave a gracious nod of acceptance. ‘There’s no need for you to apologise. I wouldn’t want to hold you to our agreement against your will.’
A warm smile of appreciation lightened Christien’s grave aspect. ‘I know you would never do that. We might have become engaged on a business and social basis but we have a strong friendship as well. I would hate to lose a friendship which I have always valued. But I will understand if you prefer to let that connection wane now.’
‘I wouldn’t dream of behaving that way. I won’t pretend that I agree with the decision that you’ve reached, but neither will I make a fuss about it,’ the self-contained brunette said briskly. ‘However, I hope you won’t be annoyed by my frank speech when I say that you will soon discover once again that that little madam is much more trouble than she is worth!’
Almost imperceptibly, Christien tensed. ‘You can always be frank with me.’
‘Even though I am saying things you cannot possibly want to hear?’ Veronique’s pale blue eyes had a hard sparkle new to his experience and his keen gaze narrowed.
‘Even then.’
‘Of course, I know it’s the English girl again and I don’t want to be crude, but why can’t you just scratch the sexual itch and leave it at that level?’ Veronique demanded in cold exasperation. ‘I assure you that I require no confessions.’
Christien had to make an effort to conceal his distaste. ‘Nothing is that simple.’
‘But it is. It is you who are making it complex by being too conventional and expecting too much of yourself. What has come over you?’ the brunette prompted with an air of concerned incomprehension. ‘You yourself believe that your parents’ relationship was unhealthily obsessive and your mother is still unable to function without your father. I understood that you wanted to guard against the risk of making such a destructive marriage-’
‘I am not thinking of marriage,’ Christien interposed in flat denial.
Veronique looked mollified by that assurance. ‘Then why end our engagement over something as trivial as an affair? Fidelity means nothing to me. I don’t mind if you keep the Burnside woman as a mistress, for there are far more important matters in life!’ she proclaimed with unhidden impatience. ‘This situation is exactly why I offered to de
al with that calculating little creature on your behalf.’
‘Forgive me, but I will not discuss Tabby with you, nor listen to abuse of her.’ His brooding dark eyes were veiled, his well-modulated speaking tone discouraging.
Veronique removed the huge solitaire on her engagement finger and set it down on the table with just the suspicion of a snap.
‘It is yours…it was a gift,’ Christien asserted. ‘If you no longer want it, give it to charity.’
Veronique’s thin lips stretched into an unexpectedly warm and reassuring smile. Rising, she tucked a slender hand into his elbow. ‘At least I can now talk to you as a friend and perhaps you will listen with more patience. I do hope that we’re still going out to meet our friends for lunch…’
‘So,’ Pippa Stevenson recapped, rolling her very blue eyes, ‘although we’ve moved on nearly four years in our lives you’re still happily falling for the Christien Laroche solid gold seduction routine.’
Tabby winced. ‘It wasn’t like that, Pip-’
‘Lean, mean and magnificent, the guy most likely to succeed in business, in bed and every other place because conscience will never keep him awake,’ her friend quipped with a cynically curled lip. ‘You moving into Christien’s neighbourhood is like a goldfish opting to go swimming with sharks!’
Tabby stiffened for, having let herself down very badly, as she felt, with Christien, she was less laid-back about the prospect of taking up permanent residence in the same locality. It was ironic that their renewed intimacy was likely to bring about the sale that he had wanted from the outset, she reflected unhappily. ‘I may have to reconsider where Jake and I should live-’
‘Considering your non-existent ability to resist Christien, I think that has to be the best news I’ve heard in a long time!’ As Tabby flinched the redhead groaned in guilty embarrassment. ‘I’m sorry…I am truly sorry. Believe it or not, I didn’t invite you and Jake to stay here on your last night in England just so that I could make snide comments.’
‘For goodness’ sake, I know you didn’t…’ But as usual, Tabby recognised, her closest friend, who was burdened by a demanding job and the care of a disabled parent, was stressed out and exhausted.
‘Whatever happens, I still feel that you ought to tell Christien that he has a son,’ Pippa admitted in some discomfiture.
‘I agree.’ Tabby no longer required prompting on that score. Having reached that same conclusion, she almost smiled at her companion’s surprise over her change of heart. ‘When I decided to move to Brittany, I honestly did believe that I wouldn’t see Christien again. I didn’t think things through, which was foolish and short-sighted-’
‘Easy enough to do in the circumstances.’ Pippa gave her a look of understanding.
‘But I do think it would be unfair to put Christien in an awkward position with his family…or perhaps a girlfriend over Jake while we’re living so close,’ Tabby revealed uneasily. ‘I still have to work out how best to handle that.’
