He went through the motions of a formal handshake, then released her hand. ‘We should perhaps drink to that.’
‘I can’t. I’m driving.’
‘And I’m working in the fields this afternoon. So let’s improvise.’ He raised his cup of coffee. ‘To Les Trois Closes.’
She clinked her cup against his. ‘Les Trois Closes. And an equal partnership.’
Chapter Three
ALLEGRA spent the rest of Saturday afternoon looking through the papers Xavier had printed off for her, checking things on the Internet and making notes. He’d given her his mobile number, but not his email address, and she could hardly text him a report—not if she wanted to include charts or drawings.
She sent him a quick text. Off to London tomorrow. Back Tues, maybe Weds. Will email report, but need address. AB
It was late evening before he replied—very briefly and to the point. Xavier had clearly turned into a man who didn’t waste words; she made a mental note to keep her report extremely brief, with information in the papers behind it to support her arguments.
And she was going to be seriously busy for the next few days, sorting out loose ends in London as well as coming up with some ideas to convince Xavier that she could give something back to the vineyard.
She smiled wryly. So much for telling him that she had nothing to prove. They both knew that she did. To herself as well as to him.
‘Sorry, Guy. I’m just not hungry.’ Xavier eyed the slightly dried-up cassoulet and pushed his plate away.
‘If you’d come back from the fields when I called your cellphone the first time, it might’ve been edible,’ Guy pointed out.
‘Sorry.’
‘So what is it? A problem with the vines?’
‘No.’
‘Your biggest customer’s just gone under, owing you a huge amount of money?’
Xavier shook his head impatiently. ‘No. Everything’s fine.’
‘When you work yourself into exhaustion and you’ve still got shadows under your eyes because you can’t sleep, everything’s not fine.’ Guy folded his arms and regarded his brother sternly. ‘I’m not a child any more, Xav. You don’t have to protect me, the way you and Papa did when we had two bad harvests on the trot and the bank wouldn’t extend the vineyard’s credit.’
When life as he knew it had imploded. ‘I know. I’m sorry. I’m not trying to baby you.’
‘If it’s money, maybe I can help. The perfume house is doing OK right now. I can lend you enough to get you out of a hole—just as you helped me out a couple of years back.’
When Guy’s ex-wife had cleaned him out and he’d almost had to sell his share of the perfume house. Xavier gave him a weary smile. ‘Thanks, mon frère. It’s good of you to offer. But there’s no need. The vineyard’s on an even keel financially, and I’m being careful about credit—even with my oldest customers.’
‘Then it’s Allie.’
Yeah. He couldn’t think straight now she was back. ‘Of course not. I’m fine,’ he lied.
‘You waited just a little too long before you denied it,’ Guy said. ‘You never really got over her, did you?’
Xavier shrugged. ‘I dated.’
‘But you’ve never let any of your girlfriends close to you—not the way you were with Allie that summer.’
‘It was a long time ago, Guy. We’ve both grown up. Changed. We want different things out of life.’
‘It sounds to me,’ said Guy, ‘as if you’re trying to convince yourself.’
He was. Worse, he knew that he was failing. ‘It’s just the surprise of seeing her again. Let’s drop this, Guy. I don’t want to discuss it.’
‘OK, I’ll back off,’ Guy said. ‘But if you decide you do want to talk about it, you know where I am.’ He patted Xavier’s shoulder, then topped up their glasses. ‘Just as you were there for me when it all went wrong with Véra.’
Long nights when Guy had ranted and Xavier had listened without judging.
‘Maybe Lefèvre men just aren’t good at picking the right women,’ Xavier said. ‘Papa, you, me—we’ve all made a mess of it.’
‘Maybe.’ Guy shrugged. ‘Or maybe you and I just haven’t met the right ones yet.’
Allegra had been the right one for him, Xavier thought. The problem was, he hadn’t been the right one for her. And he needed to remember that, if he was to have any hope of a decent working relationship with her.
In London, Allegra didn’t have a minute to breathe. Between sorting out a marketing plan for the vineyard; offering the lease of her flat to Gina, her best friend at the agency; sorting out what she wanted to take to France immediately and what could stay until she’d decided what she needed at the farmhouse; picking up her things from the office and trying not to bawl her eyes out when Gina threw a surprise leaving party for her and the whole of the office turned up except for her muchloathed ex-boss…There just wasn’t a spare second to think about Xavier.
Until she was on the train from London to Avignon. That gave her seven hours to think about him, and to fume over the fact that he hadn’t even acknowledged the receipt of her proposals, let alone asked her when she was coming back.
Getting angry and stressing about it wasn’t a productive use of her time; instead, she mocked up the content for her proposed changes to the vineyard’s website and a running feature about being a rookie vigneronne. But when she arrived at the TGV station, prepared to find a taxi to take her to the old central station to catch the local train through to the Ardèche, she was surprised to see Xavier leaning against the wall.
Though she wasn’t surprised to see that he was attracting glances from every female in the place. Even when he was scruffy from working on the fields, he was a beautiful man. Today, he was dressed simply in black trousers and a white shirt, with an open collar and his cuffs rolled back slightly; his shoes were perfectly shined, too, she noticed, and he looked more like a model for an aftershave ad than a hotshot businessman.
He seemed to be scanning the crowds, waiting for someone. When he saw her, he lifted a hand in acknowledgement before coming to meet her.
He was waiting for her?
She set her cases down. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘Hello to you, too.’
‘Bonjour, Monsieur Lefèvre,’ she chorused dutifully. ‘Seriously, what are you doing here?’
‘I had business in Avignon and you need a lift back to Les Trois Closes. So it seemed sensible for me to wait for you.’
Served her right for thinking, just for one second, that Xav might’ve made a special trip to Avignon to pick her up. Of course not. He’d admitted to working crazy hours, and he certainly wouldn’t let up the pace for her. This was the man who’d pushed her away and broken her heart. He hadn’t wanted her then, and he didn’t want her now. ‘Thank you. How did you know I was going to be here?’
‘Hortense told me.’
Allegra blinked.
Xavier shrugged. ‘Now, are you going to stand there and argue all day, or can we go?’ He lifted her suitcases.
‘I can handle them myself,’ she protested.
He