Bound To Love (17 page)

‘How about here?’ Jake asked.

The café had small circular tables that spilled out onto the boulevard. The whole scene was charmingly Parisienne, and Tempest smiled and nodded. They ordered, drinking Chablis while they waited for their meals to arrive.

‘Is this your last job in Europe?’ Tempest asked.

She’d wondered about it all morning, how much longer he would be around before the lure of his real life, his New York life, claimed him.

‘Yeah, I had the London commission, and then the Louvre; next I have an installation back home, in the Met.’

Her heart sank. ‘So you’ll be heading back soon.’

‘I have to,’ he agreed. ‘This was only ever supposed to be a short visit, and now with Paul out of the picture, I need to reorganize the company structure. There’s no-one who can do it but me.’

Their food arrived, and she picked at hers half-heartedly.

‘Everything’s up in the air with Paul still at large, I can’t leave until this situation with him is resolved and you’re no longer in danger.’ Jake glanced at his watch. ‘I have to meet Antoine from my office and brief him on the requirements for the museum. What are you doing this afternoon? Are you planning a bit of shopping or are you heading back to the museum?’

‘I’m meeting my friend, Angelique Masson, a jeweller who has a workshop in Paris. I called her this morning, and we’re meeting up at two thirty. I’ve known her for years but I’ve never visited her premises.’

She pushed the piece of paper over the table to him, and he nodded when he saw the address. She omitted the fact that Angelique was one of her oldest friends, and she intended to spend the afternoon eating chocolate and catching up, as well as viewing Angel’s signature pieces of acrostic jewellery.

‘We’ll get a taxi. I can drop you on the way.’

The taxi cut through the Paris traffic quickly and efficiently, and soon they drew outside a stone arch inset with large wooden gates. As the taxi stopped, the gate opened, and Angelique walked out.

‘I was watching for you.’

The two old friends embraced, and then Tempest turned to Jake.

‘Angel, this is Jake.’

Jake smiled at the tall, elegant Frenchwoman. ‘Enchanté.’

He kissed Tempest’s hand. A shiver of sensation rippled through her at the touch of his firm lips on her skin. ‘I’ll see you later.’

‘Let’s get inside,’ Angelique urged her as the taxi pulled away. They ducked through the stone arch and entered a hidden garden, which lead into a jeweller’s workshop, set out with all the tools of the trade. ‘Something to drink, and some chocolate, then I will show you my latest line.’

‘I don’t think I can wait.’ The table of the workshop glittered with brightly coloured stones. ‘Oh Angel, these are truly gorgeous!’ Each bracelet consisted of two thin chains of gold that held a collection of stones in place. ‘These are the acrostics?’

‘Yes, the design is based on the bracelets designed for Empress Josephine. Each stone stands for a letter, for example, this is Opale de Feu, which represents O. When you string them together, you can make a secret message.’

Tempest fingered a completed bracelet. ‘So, here?’

‘
Amethyste
,
Morganite
,
Opale de Feu
,
Uvite
and
Rhodolite
.
Amour
. One of my biggest sellers.’

Angelique passed through the workshop and picked up a tray that lay ready in the little kitchenette.

‘Outside! I want to know all about that one.’

Angel tossed her short auburn curls in the direction of the street. Her grin warmed Tempest’s heart. She’d missed Angel. It had been too long since she’d sat in the sun and just talked to a girlfriend. She could talk to Angel about anything. Maybe her red-blooded friend could help her to unravel her tangled feelings.

With a cold glass in her hand Tempest frowned, suddenly hollow and empty. ‘I’ve known Jake for about a week, things aren’t serious.’

‘You can tell yourself that, chérie, but don’t bother trying to tell me. I could see something in your eyes when you were looking at him, you have feelings for him.’ Angel said. She tapped a long red fingernail against her glass, eying her friend critically.

Tempest worried her bottom lip. Angel was right, and she was obviously so transparent that everyone could see how much Jake meant to her.

Angel’s brown eyes softened. ‘I’m sorry, I have upset you. Do you want to talk about something else?’

‘No, it’s OK. It feels right, me and Jake, so right that I’ve ignored all the warning signs. He’s a good man, but he doesn’t want a committed relationship.’

‘So enjoy the time you have together. He’s a very handsome man, and if he is treating you well?’ Angel waved her hands in the air in a typically Gallic gesture.

Tempest’s voice was edged with worry. ‘He’s treating me well, but I want more than he’s prepared to give, more even than he’s able to give. I have a feeling that tonight he’s going to try and make a strategic retreat, and I’m afraid I’ll go to pieces when he does.’

Angel broke a chunk of dark chocolate off the bar that she had placed on the table between them and handed it to her friend.

‘You need chocolate. You and your feelings, sometimes they are wrong,
n’est pas
? I was there, remember? I saw the look in his eyes when he reached for your hand. It made my heart beat faster, and that,
mon amie
, must be love. Anyway, if you are feeling insecure about his feelings for you, you must make him declare them. I don’t believe for one moment that he would be stupid enough not to love you, and you should not allow yourself to believe it either.’ She eyed her friend critically. ‘You need to up the ante. You are always charming, Tempest, but by the time you meet him this evening for dinner, you will be a veritable
femme fatale
, one he will not be able to resist.’

‘I’m no
femme fatale
. It’s just not me, Angel.’

‘Well, this dejected puppy is also not you.’ Angel swallowed her drink, and gestured to Tempest’s glass. ‘Drink up. You and I are going to the salon, and then we are going shopping.’

The warmth of the alcohol fortified her. If the nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach was right and her relationship with Jake had an upcoming sell-by-date, there was nothing to lose by dressing up tonight. If on the other hand, Angel was right, and he adored her, she might get her answer. Whatever the outcome, she owed it to herself to meet him for dinner looking amazing.

‘Finish your wine and let’s go.’ Angel drained her glass and tossed a cube of chocolate into her mouth, her red painted lips moving as she chewed.

‘OK Angel, I’m putting myself totally in your hands.’ Strength flooded through her. Jake’s love was worth the risk. ‘Transform me!’

****

It had been a hard afternoon. Jake’s face ached from the reassuring smile he’d plastered on all day. The team in Paris were understandably spooked by Paul’s betrayal, and wondering about the future of the company with such a vital part of the team absent. Jake did his best to put their fears to rest and keep them focused on developing the structure to support the newest installation, but it wasn’t easy, and he needed to get back to head office.

He ran a weary hand through his hair.
I haven’t even got time for a haircut.
Slumped in the heavy black leather armchair, he gave in to fatigue behind the privacy of the closed door. He had depended on Paul, and he only realized how much Paul had lightened the load now that the full weight of running the company was back on his shoulders.

Irritation tightened his mouth into a thin line. It was his own fault, he was bad at relying on people, and didn’t know how to delegate. Even now, he had flown in from London to attend the meeting and hadn’t brought his French Managing Director, François, with him, but instead had chosen to brief him after the fact. He had only shared responsibility with one man, and that man had ultimately betrayed him.

He looked up at the quiet knock, smiling at his Paris assistant as she entered. ‘Amelie, I’d like to do some work on defining guidelines for the next steps of this installation. I’ll be asking some of the others to join me. Do you think you could round up a whiteboard and some markers?’

She nodded. ‘We have everything set up permanently in the boardroom, sir. I’ll just bring in some water, and put on some more coffee.’

‘Thank you, Amelie.’

He was on the phone to François before she had even left the room. ‘Can you and Joe meet me and Amelie in the boardroom in ten minutes? We need to put together a plan to complete the job in the Louvre, and I need your input.’ He listened for a moment. ‘The moment Paul is captured and the Louvre job is completed, I’m going to ask you and John from the London office to fly out to New York to discuss the future. We’ve got some excellent opportunities coming up with a new division of the company, and I want to get your opinions about how we should proceed.’

At François’s eager response, the tension eased.

He then picked up the phone and called Tempest. She answered almost immediately, sounding slightly breathless. Jake’s curiosity got the better of him; she sounded just as she did when he was kissing her hard. ‘What are you doing?’

‘Trying to get back into my dress.’

He wasn’t remotely prepared for the jealous flood of emotion that swept through him.

His voice was terse. ‘Explain.’ He waited, jaw clenched for her answer.

‘I’m trying on clothes, silly, what did you think I was doing?’

He relaxed, shaking his head in dismay. When had he become such an idiot? ‘I don’t know.’ The best approach seemed to be to get away from the subject as swiftly as possible, before she realized that he was grinding his teeth in jealousy, thinking of her enjoying afternoon delight with some other guy. ‘I’m tied up here for another couple of hours. Will I pick you up somewhere, or do you want to meet me here at the office?’

‘I’m having way too much fun with Angel, we’ve only just started.’ Angel laughed in the background as Tempest hissed at her to be quiet. ‘Call me when you’re finished and I’ll tell you where I am. Maybe we can share a taxi back to the apartment.’

‘I’m picking up a rental this evening when I leave, so I’ll pick you up wherever you are. I’ll call you later.’ Jake said.

‘Why?’

‘So I can take you home,’ he answered patiently; it looked as though he wasn’t the only one suffering from brain overload.

‘No, why are you picking up a rental? Are we driving somewhere?’

‘I’ll be finished in Paris this evening; I wanted the car so we could drive to the airport tomorrow morning. I thought we’d fly down to Provence tomorrow and stay the night with my grandparents.’

‘Oh, that sounds amazing. Is that where you grew up?’

‘Yes, grapevines, olive trees, the whole thing,’ he teased her. ‘But right now I’ve got a roomful of people waiting for me, so…’

‘So talk to you later,’ she murmured. ‘
Salut
.’

He hung up, picked up the laptop that he was using in the office, and strode towards the boardroom.

Two hours later Jake opened the boardroom window wide and let his people go. Soon only François was still there, waiting until they were alone.

‘We have all the components that we need in stock,’ François said. ‘But I’ll be in contact with New York and ask them to send replacements so we can hold them in reserve here.’

‘Good. Joe seemed happy enough with the design work. I’ll leave you this memory stick as backup.’ Jake handed the small black bullet across the table.

‘The British Museum took about two weeks to get set up, didn’t it?’ François asked.

‘Yes, it should be quicker here because we’ve ironed out all the kinks. I’ll come back once it’s installed. I’d like to train someone to be able to walk the user through the system, it’s important that we have someone here on the ground to do the training.’

‘I’ll talk to the team and see who wants to take on that role.’

Jake shook François’s hand warmly. ‘I’d like to thank you for your support, François. This is a difficult time for our company, but one I’m sure we will overcome.’

‘I appreciate your confidence, sir.’ François’ back straightened, almost imperceptibly. ‘We will do a good job.’ François picked up his laptop from the table, and slipped the memory stick into his pocket. ‘See you in a couple of weeks then.’

‘
Bien sûr.’

Jake picked up the phone the moment that the door closed behind the tall elegant Frenchman, and dialled Tempest’s number.

****

The small black sports car pulled up outside Angelique’s workshop and Jake quickly scanned the area before settling down to wait. Tempest must still be inside talking to her friend. He noticed two women walking across the street towards the car, one of whom looked vaguely familiar. He realized that it was Angelique a moment before she stopped beside the car. Her companion wore a cream dress which clung to her curves, and a large straw hat with oversized sunglasses. She looked like a Parisian model, although a little short for it. He looked around for Tempest as he climbed out. The low sports car drove like a dream, but was hell to untangle his legs from.

‘Hello, darling.’

His eyes widened as the stranger spoke. ‘Red?’

She slipped the sunglasses down her nose, her familiar eyes smiling at his over the top of them. ‘Didn’t you recognize me?’

His confusion was so evident that there was no way he could bluff it out, so instead he walked around her slowly, taking in every inch.

‘No, you got me.’

‘I hope so.’ She smiled slowly and intimately, her friend watching his reaction with interest. ‘You remember Angel?’

He kissed her friend on both cheeks. ‘Of course. Have you had a good day?’

He took her bags and stowed them in the trunk.

‘I think I can safely say we had a wonderful day.’

Tempest laughed, red lipstick emphasizing the whiteness of her teeth, and suddenly he fiercely wanted to kiss all that lipstick off, liberate her from that hat, and run his fingers through her hair, making her his Red again. The fierceness of his reaction stunned him.