‘Let me help things along a little,’ said Thérésa.
Before Nicole could protest, she was whisked through the grand ballroom, into the next room.
‘I’ll leave you two to chat,’ said Thérésa.
Sitting nervously by the fireplace was Alexei. He jumped to his feet.
‘I’m leaving tomorrow for Paris, then back to the border and Russia. I wanted to explain.’
‘You should have told me you had a family.’ She surprised even herself in asking him that question before calling him out on his defection to Moët.
‘I didn’t want to break the spell.’
‘I’m glad that’s how you felt, too.’
‘Thérésa gave me something,’ he said.
It was then she saw the leather bag on the chair where Alexei had been sitting.
‘Thérésa’s necklace from the Tsar! Where did you get it? The last time I saw it, it was locked in my office drawer.’
‘She said you stole it from her, so she got it back. Don’t ask me how, she’s got more of a head for manoeuvres than anyone I’ve known in my entire army career. Don’t be angry, I was worried you wouldn’t trust me, and she said this would help.’
He held it out to her. ‘Proof that I am on your side. You know I could use it to buy myself a lot of favours, or sell it to Moët, but you should have it.
She took it, still not sure whether to trust him.
‘What the hell were you doing at Jean-Rémy’s?’
‘He invited me and I accepted. I saw you struggling, the whole town against you, and one of the most powerful vintners in the country hell-bent on bringing you down and I wanted to do something about it. He thinks I’m brokering a deal for him to get his comet champagne to Russia before you’ve even thought about it. All the time he’s trusting me to get him through the trade blockades to St Petersburg buys you more time. The truth is, I don’t have as much influence as he thinks when it comes to trade matters.’
Nicole looked at the necklace and smiled. This could be her biggest coup yet.
‘This gives you all the influence you need.’
She leapt to her feet so she could think straight and look at the plan she was forming from all angles.
‘I understand you’re one of the Tsar’s most trusted generals? You can at least get a message to him where others couldn’t?’
‘There are lines of communication open to me, yes.’
She could trust her heart, after all. Her judgement in the cellar, when Alexei and she had walked throughout the night and she’d shown him the riddling tables, had been sound. Nicole put the necklace on and pirouetted at this delightful development.
‘Tell me and I’ll do anything you ask to see you so carefree,’ he laughed.
‘The Tsar is not going to want such a lavish gift to another woman to fall into the wrong hands. And of course as one of his most faithful servants, you can make sure it doesn’t… at a price.’
‘What price would that be?’
‘Louis is in Paris trying to get an audience with the Russian ambassador. Perhaps, with the help of this necklace, Louis will discover that the ambassador will miraculously allow as many shipments as we can get to Russia in the next six months while the trade ban is still in place. Veuve Clicquot will be the only French wine allowed into the country, six months ahead of all our competitors, including my old friend Jean-Rémy.’
‘I know the ambassador well, and he’s well-versed in cover-ups for the Tsar’s misdemeanours. I’m travelling to Paris tomorrow, then mustering for Russia. It’s perfect timing for me to deliver the message along the chain of command. Thérésa had an idea that the necklace would serve you somehow. That’s the easy part, my beautiful vintner. But how do I bear leaving you and your magic empire of charm and commerce?’
‘Then don’t. Stay, get yourself another tour of duty in France.’ She could lose herself in his black eyes, which were warm as coals.
‘If I was selfish, I would stay. But too much has passed that I could ever make anyone else happy and I couldn’t do that to you, my beautiful, determined alchemist. I am married to grief and you to your wines. But in another life…’ He broke off to stoke the fire. ‘I should take the necklace and be on my way. I couldn’t leave without telling you I was on your side, and how achingly difficult it is to go.’
‘Not yet!’ said Nicole. ‘You know everything about me. Stay a while. Tell me something of you, so I can think of you when you’re gone.’
He told her about Russia, the way the mist clung to the lake in the early mornings, about the French tutor who had helped raise him, taught him to draw, to observe colour and detail. He also taught him the language and all about French wines. He told her the name of his son. He was Nikolai and he had loved fishing and riding horses. He told Alexei he loved him as high as the tallest tree and wide as the lake, the one where you couldn’t see to the other side. Alexei promised that nothing bad would ever happen to him while he was with him.
He stoked the fire again and turned to face her.
‘I was enchanted by you the moment you walked into that café in Paris. The way you moved through the tables with such quick steps, your delicate, elfin features and that fire in your eyes. When I saw you fighting my men outside your cellars, it was the first time I’d felt anything since Nikolai. I was furious at my men. And you looked so determined and frightened, I just wanted to scoop you up and hold you tight forever.’
‘You know that other life you talked about which has me in it and no one else?’
He smiled. ‘Did you know that in Russia, we must pay a ransom for our
