“But?”
“While I was walking by the pond, I met your brother.”
A grimace marred his features. That was all he had to hear to understand.
“He said he thought I’d come to the estate with a buyer and offered to show me around while I waited. I thanked him, but told him I was waiting for you. His shocked reaction surprised me.”
Abby’s instincts were right on. His brother wouldn’t have believed Raoul had invited a woman to come to the estate for personal reasons. He knew Raoul had been in mourning since the funeral.
Jean-Marc would be inordinately curious over what was going on. It was only natural that his brother would have taken one look at Abby and decided to make her his next conquest.
“What did you tell him?”
“I gave him my name and told him I was a tourist from California. He wanted to know how we met. I told him it was in Switzerland, but of course I didn’t say anything else.”
“I hope he didn’t make you uncomfortable.”
“No.” She was searching for the right words. “He just seemed...caught off guard and curious.”
“That’s his nature.” But the knowledge that Raoul had invited Abby here was one bombshell his brother wouldn’t have seen coming in a million years. Like the rest of the family, Jean-Marc always wanted to know Raoul’s personal business and tried to anticipate his next move. His grandparents were the exception.
“Is he older or younger than you?”
Raoul wanted to get off the subject. “He’s twenty-nine, younger than me by a year.”
“Almost like twins.”
“Not quite.” Jean-Marc and Gilles were the ones who resembled each other in certain behaviors. “Let’s just say we have a difficult history and let it go at that.” He gripped the wheel tighter and drove back on to the road.
“Where are you taking us?”
Raoul gave her another sideward glance. “Any place to get away from the claustrophobic world I live in.”
“I guess you can get claustrophobic in a château the size of yours, or a one room dwelling, depending on the company.”
Abby was incredibly easy to talk to.
The Petite Auberge Blanche served a good meal he thought she’d like. He pulled into the parking and escorted her inside the busy establishment, cupping her elbow. The owner knew him from boyhood.
His eyes rounded in surprise because Raoul hadn’t brought in a woman since long before his wife’s death. The older man, all smiles, showed them to a table outside on the terrace where a group was playing the kind of soft rock music that catered to tourists. Some were dancing. He sent a waiter over to take their orders and serve them the house wine.
Since touching her, Raoul needed more physical contact. “Would you like to dance?”
“I’m not very good at it.”
He was getting used to her refusing him, but it wasn’t going to work. “At least in this case you don’t need a life preserver. Just hold on to me.”
CHAPTER FIVE
SOMEHOW RAOUL GOT his way with Abby because she’d fallen headlong in love with him. There was no way to avoid what was right in front of her. When she felt his arms go around her, all coherent thought ceased.
Though she needed to fight her attraction to him, when he pulled her against him, she enjoyed it too much. She stood five-seven in her low wedges and felt made for him as he moved her around the floor with his face resting in her hair.
No man could equal Raoul in looks or demeanor. Though his expensive charcoal silk shirt and black trousers distinguished him from the other males in the restaurant, it was the very essence of him that caused every female to follow him with their eyes.
His solid, powerful legs brushed against hers, sending curls of desire through her body. That’s when the alarm bells went off. She didn’t dare let this go on for fear everyone in the room could see they needed more privacy.
“The waiter has brought out our food, Raoul,” she whispered. “We’d better go back to the table before it gets cold.”
His hands tightened on her upper arms before he relinquished his hold on her, as if he didn’t want to let her go. She hadn’t wanted this to stop either.
He walked her back to the table laden with their meal: escargot, baked duck in honey, skewered pork tenderloin marinated in red pesto with sweet chorizo, creamy risotto and apple tart for dessert.
“Are you trying to fatten me up?” she teased later to keep things on a lighter note. The band had taken a break that stopped any dancing for a little while.
His gaze narrowed on her features. “If it keeps you happy.”
She paused before taking another sip of wine. “You think I’m not?”
“I know you’re waiting to see that notebook. We’ll visit my grandparents tomorrow. In the meantime, I’d like to show you a part of the château that might interest you.”
That probably meant they’d be together alone. Abby put the goblet down with a trembling hand. “I’d like that.”
His touch was electric as he walked her back to the car.
Raoul didn’t speak while they drove to the estate and passed through the gate. Instead of parking in front of the petit château, he took another route that circled around the grand château. They wound up at a back entrance.
“I’ve brought you to my office, one of two places on the estate where I have completely privacy. The other is the cottage where I live.” He helped her out of the car.
“You don’t stay in the château?”
“Not anymore. After the funeral, I needed to live strictly alone.”
“I can understand that,” she whispered. He and his wife must have had a great love. At times the memories had to torture him.
He opened the door and let them inside. “This room was once known as le Salon de Dionysos, the Greek god of wine. For a hundred years it was used during the yearly vendange, what you would call the grape harvest. But last year I claimed it for
