And I’d just patiently explained to him the difference between a boulangerie and apâtisserie.
“Ah.” He looked at me, slightly guilty. “A little. School, then officer training at Cranwell, and I spent a fair bit of time in France with Nick and Juliette during the holidays. So it just kind of…”
“You’re fluent.”
“Well, you speak it too, right?” He raised a brow.
“Yeah.” I swallowed.
Oh my God.Of coursehe spoke French. Of course he could stroll into a foreign country and belong there. The man probably ordered croissants in the correct regional accent.
Wait—oh, shit. The reception when we checked in—
Why didn’t he say anything? But he couldn’t because I didn’t give him a chance. I’d totally done it to myself.
I breathed in deeply, a wave of embarrassment threatening to engulf me. I’d literally said I wanted toinsert Mr. Roth into me, bold as brass, and he’d just stood there silently, pretending it wasn’t happening.
A bit like the cat-on-the-testicles thing.
Bloody upper-class etiquette.
“But … at the hotel …”
Liam looked down at his napkin. “I must say, I appreciated the offer, but a more private venue might have been better.” His eyes slid to mine, his mouth curving into a lopsided smile.
“Liam, how could you let medothat?” I groaned and dropped my head to the table.
He went quiet. When I looked up, the smirk had softened, the line of his mouth almost apologetic.
“It was pretty funny,” he said. “You handled it well, though. Must be all the sales training.”
“Humph. Touché,” I said, in my best French.
“Still got it, Madame Jones.”
“Merci, Monsieur Roth.”
*
The path wound down from the château and into the gardens. We’d decided to take a stroll after lunch, since we still had acouple of hours before we had to start getting ready for the wedding.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” I asked. “The trees, the way the sun sort of… sneaks through the leaves onto the path.”
“It is, yes. Seems more so, now that I’m here with you.” He looked down, and we kept walking, ignoring the fact that he’d just paid me a compliment.
“Thank you,” I said quietly after a few moments. I wasn’t sure what else to do with it.
“You know,” he said, “I’ve been here before, more than once, but it feels different now.”
We stopped at the edge of the lake.
“Like how?”
“Hard to say.” He huffed softly and shook his head, like he found himself funny. “Everything looks brighter. Like I can see it more clearly.”
I nodded. I did know what he meant.
“So do you think we’re ready,” I said, “for tonight?”
