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Ana grinned. ‘Very apt. Thanks for showing me this view. I think it would make a stunning backdrop for the shoot.’
His face blanked, his smile disappearing. ‘The shoot?’ he repeated coolly.
She gestured to the landscape. ‘Yes, the castle in Scotland was beautiful, but this is absolutely breathtaking. I think it’s perfect, actually.’
‘Of course,’ he intoned, his voice flat.
Ana glanced at him and her smile faltered. ‘It was your idea to relocate the shoot here, Bastien.’
‘I’m aware of that.’
‘Then why do I feel I’ve just stepped on a landmine by referring to it?’
His jaw clenched. ‘C’est rien. It’s nothing.’ He turned and headed back to the horses. He helped her up, handed over her reins, then mounted his horse.
Thick silence cloaked them until she couldn’t stand it any more.
‘Did you grow up here?’
At first she thought he wouldn’t answer. Then he nodded. ‘When my grandfather bought the château it was in ruins. He restored it brick by brick and lived here his whole life. My father kept it because it was close to the city.’
‘Not because of its sentimental value?’ Ana joked, secretly wishing back the smile she’d glimpsed on the hilltop.
His face remained impassive. ‘Sentiment has little place in business in the twenty-first century.’
‘So why do you keep it, then?’
Her question seemed to surprise him. ‘It’s a good investment.’
‘Emotionally or financially?’
Cool grey eyes fastened on her. His horse, sensing his altered mood, whickered anxiously. ‘Don’t try to psychoanalyse me, Ana,’ he warned softly.
‘Beca
use you’re such an enigma?’
His eyes glittered. ‘On the contrary, I’m a very simple man. I know what I want. I also know when the price is too high for me to pay. I cannot afford you, Ana Duval.’
With a kick of his horse’s flanks, he surged forward.
She caught up with him at the stables. ‘What did you mean by that?’
They both dismounted and he took her reins and stared down at her. ‘You live your life in unabashed emotion. Unbridled passion is great in the bedroom, but in the real world all it does is let you down. I prefer not to become embroiled in the inevitable messy aftermath. Once was enough.’
‘Since I don’t recall offering myself to you on a silver platter, I’m assuming your ego is once again in full residence? Or are you just too scared to take a chance on feeling anything other than bitterness for the rest of your life because your belief in love and happiness was shattered once?’
He inhaled sharply. ‘Love? Don’t confuse love with sex or duty, Ana. Sex has a limited shelf-life and duty is very easy to shirk when it becomes too burdensome.’
His face contorted into a mask of pain before he exhaled and blinked it away. But that wasn’t before her heart lurched at the stark insight into Bastien’s beliefs.
‘Bastien—’
‘Chantal will have breakfast ready. Go ahead. I’ll meet you in the dining room shortly.’
The content, smiling Bastien from the hilltop had disappeared. Impassive, corporate Bastien was back, his face giving nothing away as he led the horses off.
Ana walked slowly back to the château, Bastien’s words haunting her. Their bleakness lodged a thorn in her heart. Had the events of sixteen years ago affected him so much that he’d shut off his heart completely?
