“Does that mean you have a wife waiting for you?”
“No. I was married—” He hesitated, somehow knowing that he could confide in this beautiful stranger. “Tragically my wife and our baby died in a car crash two years ago. Angélique was coming home from her parents’ château five kilometers away and was involved in an accident. The other driver was to blame.”
Abby’s eyes closed tightly. “I can’t even imagine it.” The brooding pain he exuded was no longer a mystery.
“Neither could I at the time, but it’s in the past. What about your plans?”
“My friends and I will be leaving soon too. This morning they drove me into the village, then they went to tour the chocolate factory in Broc. I’ve already seen it and wanted to do some research. I expect they’ll be back any minute now so I decided to stay out here and wait for them.”
He frowned. “I thought I’d made it clear you’re welcome to stay at La Floraison through the end of June.”
“You did, but we talked about it and just don’t feel it’s right.”
Raoul sucked in his breath. He knew she’d felt that way the moment he’d given her the news about Auguste. On reflection, he found it unusual that these women chose not to take advantage of the situation. Again, he found himself admiring her. “Does that mean you’re flying back to the States?”
“Not yet. We’re going to gallivant for two weeks in Italy and Greece. Then we’ll go home.”
“Not France?” He didn’t want her to leave.
“I’d go there in a shot, but the girls have been doing research in Italy and Greece since January. It’s hard for them to leave, so they want to go back one last time now that they have the chance.”
“What about you?”
“I’ve been working here in Switzerland.”
He needed to know a lot more about her. “You’ve been here all this time?”
“Yes, but now I’m anxious for a change.”
“Mademoiselle Grant,” he began, “I have to take the château’s boat out for a run on the lake to make sure it’s in top order before I report to Louis. How would you like to go with me so we can continue our conversation? I’ll drive us to the dock in their car.”
“I’d better not. I can’t swim.”
Raoul could feel her pushing away from him, but in his gut he knew she wanted to go with him. There’d been an instant attraction between them.
“That’s what life preservers are for. Can you imagine an accident happening in this giant bathtub of a lake? You can’t even hear a lapping wave on the shore.”
“You mean you think it’s too placid?”
“Let’s just say I can only take the peaceful ambience in doses.”
“Our boss has led such a hectic life in Los Angeles, I can understand why she loves to come here every year to regenerate. She’s a very generous woman to have offered us this vacation.”
“I agree. Why don’t you risk it and come with me? I can swim.”
She looked hesitant. “I’d better not. I don’t want to miss my friends.”
Whatever was going on in her mind, he wasn’t going to let her get away with it. “You have a phone.”
“I know, but—”
“We wouldn’t be gone long. I only need enough time to check out the engine and would like the company.”
He heard her take a deep breath. “All right.”
The chemistry between them was alive. She couldn’t fight it any more than he could. If she’d said no, he would have been forced to come up with another ploy to spend time with her.
They started walking toward the Renault. He helped her into the car and drove them to the pier. The cabin cruiser was a few years old, but looked to be in good shape. Raoul walked along the dock and guided her into the boat. The first thing he did was hand her a life jacket.
“Thank you. What about you?”
Was she worried about him? He liked the idea of that. “If I need to, I’ll grab one.”
Raoul would have loved to help her put it on, but worried he wouldn’t be able to restrain himself, he jumped back out to untie the ropes, then climbed in to start the engine. Once he’d backed out at a no-wake speed, he took off. Being with this woman was like a breath of fresh air.
She didn’t have an agenda that prompted her to ask a lot of questions. He decided she was at peace with herself and seemed to enjoy the world around her. Raoul believed she was the kind of woman you could be with and not have to make conversation if you didn’t want to.
“Why don’t you sit opposite me?”
She sank down and glanced in the direction of the sailboats. “There’s no wind. How sad they have to rely on motors.”
Her comment was the same one he’d reflected on while being here. “Where have you been living in Switzerland?”
Abby eyed him curiously. “All over. Grindelwald, Lauterbrunnen, Mürren, Interlaken, Lake Thun, the Reichenbach and Staubbach Falls, Montreux, Geneva, Cologny.”
“Why?”
“I guess you wouldn’t know why our boss gave us this vacation.”
“I only recall that she’s a movie director in your country who was friends with Auguste.”
“That’s right. Magda is working on her most important film to date. It’s a new look at the life of George Gordon Noel Byron, the Sixth Baron Byron, known as Lord Byron. She needs new eyes for fresh research to make the script authentic. The girls and I were picked to help because we teach college students about the romance writers of the early nineteenth century.”
Abby Grant was an expert on Lord Byron?
The coincidence of meeting her at all, let alone here in St. Saphorin, where Auguste had made his find years ago, blew Raoul away. Excitement filled his body.
He shut off the engine so they could really talk. “You’re all university professors?” He was still incredulous.
“Not tenured yet, but one day. Our goal has been to help supplement the script with new facts and a different look. There’s been so much material written about Byron, but Magda has been hoping for something more. So have I.”
“In what sense?”
“I’d hoped to come across a poem he was supposed to have written while he was in Switzerland. The girls dropped me off at the village library this morning so I could do a little investigating, but nothing came of it so I walked back here. Of course no one in the last one hundred and ninety years has ever pretended to find it, so maybe it doesn’t exist.”
This woman was not only intelligent, she had an enquiring mind that made her a very exciting person. Raoul’s heart pounded like a war drum. “Did it have a title?”
“Yes. Something like Labyrinths, but there was another part to it. I don’t know exactly.”
“‘Labyrinths of Lavaux’.” Raoul could tell her it did exist and where to find it! Chills ran up and down his spine.
“For the last five months we’ve been doing research in the different parts of Europe where Byron traveled. Magda’s goal is to illuminate Byron’s virtues and leave the negatives alone.”
“Now I understand,” he murmured. “You’ve been following his travels here with Shelley and Mary Godwin that put the Swiss Riviera on the map.”