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Ginny gasped. ‘Did she tell you so?’
‘Of course,’ Andre said drily. ‘And she was most shocked when I made it equally clear that she was wasting her time and sent her away.’
‘But she let me think you’d been lovers.’
‘She is no longer that person, Virginie. Ask her again and she will tell you the truth.’ He paused. ‘But when she arrived here, it was that capacity for making mischief that concerned me when she and Jules began spending time together.
‘I was not really sure of her true feelings until our day in Beaune. I needed to find out if she was truly committed to spending her life here in Burgundy, or whether she would decide in the end that England had more to offer.
‘Because Jules, I know, will never leave here.’ He added sombrely, ‘And I could not bear for her to break his heart, Virginie, as you were breaking mine.’
‘But you only brought me here because you realised I might be pregnant and you felt guilty.’
‘Yes, there was some guilt,’ Andre admitted. ‘Because I had rushed you into a relationship you were not ready for. But I always intended to bring you back here with me, ma mie, because I was very aware I could not live without you.’
He paused. ‘When I came to the house for the reading of the will, I was late, I was tired and I was angry because I knew the problems it would cause. Then the door opened, and you were there, with my father’s dog at your side, as if you were waiting for me. I saw how pale you were, how unhappy, and I wanted to pick you up in my arms and keep you safe for ever.
‘And in that moment, I knew that the greatest happiness this life could bestow would be to come home each day and find you waiting for me.’
She said unevenly, ‘But you were still angry.’
‘That is true.’ He was rueful. ‘Because it was something I did not expect and I do not appreciate shocks. Also, if I am honest, it was something I did not want. A wife—one day, peut-être, but not immediately. But you changed my mind, ma belle.’
She looked away, her face warming. ‘But I’m not beautiful. Cilla’s always been the pretty one.’
He said gently, ‘Virginie, chérie, my sweet idiot, to me you have always been enchantment. And on the night of our engagement, in that black dress with the rubies at your throat, you were the essence of beauty.’
He shook his head. ‘Mon Dieu, I wanted you so badly, I was going crazy.’
‘You asked me to sleep with you,’ she mumbled. ‘But then you never came near me. And you started sleeping down at La Petite Maison.’
He said wryly, ‘Because I knew I could not trust myself. Clothilde had warned me that making love in the first months is not always good for the baby, and as our child seemed the only reason you were with me, I felt I could not take the risk. That I must stay away.’
He paused. ‘And once you realised that Jonathan Welburn was a free man, you hardly allowed me to touch you. In fact, you shrank from me, making me believe you still cared for him.’ He spread his hands almost despairingly. ‘And, if you no longer wanted me, how could I keep you tied here in a marriage without love or even a little human warmth?’
He sighed. ‘Papa had told me how he struggled with the knowledge that my mother had not married him for love, although she grew to care deeply for him. But that might not have happened, and he did not want me to suffer in the same way.’
‘I thought you belonged to my sister,’ Ginny whispered. ‘That she was taking over—replacing me. I thought if I distanced myself from you, it might not hurt so much. Instead, it was a thousand times worse.’
He groaned. ‘Forgive me, ma belle. I wished only for you to rest more, at least until you stopped being sick, and for Lucille to be of some use and help you. Clothilde told me you are not as strong as she could wish.’
Ginny lips curved slowly into a smile. ‘Well, the baby and I have survived a tumble down the stairs, so perhaps we’re not as fragile as you think.’
She stretched out her hand, and he took it in his, holding it for a long moment as if it was something infinitely delicate, infinitely precious before raising it gently to his mouth. Then turning it, he let his lips and tongue softly and sensuously caress her palm, and kiss the length of each slender finger, suckling their pointed tips.
He must have felt her voluptuous shiver of delight, because he raised his head and smiled back at her, his eyes alive with passionate tenderness.
‘So, when your bruises are healed, shall we put the matter to the test—on our honeymoon, peut-être?’
‘Now I have a condition,’ she said and saw his brows lift. ‘I want you to drop any charge of harming me against Monique Chaloux,’ she went on quickly. ‘I’m not prepared to add to her troubles.’
