Heaven Scent (20 page)

Delphine preened, pleased with herself. In fact, if the suggestion had been made by Xavier, for example, instead of Cat, she would have been over the moon about the party. She loved creating events like this, and celebrating Rose-Nymphea was such a wonderful idea because it was an excuse to dress up and invite the rich and famous to their home. Scribbling down some notes, Delphine decided silver fairy lights would be stunning along the outside of La Fleurie and perhaps fresh sprigs of lavender could be tied together with fragrant bunches of the beautiful Romantica roses that grew in abundance in Provence in pinks and whites . . .

Looking up, Delphine was surprised to find Yves, the private detective, loitering at her door. ‘Come in.’ She flapped her hands so he didn’t dawdle in the doorway. She didn’t want anyone spotting him and asking questions. Delphine wasn’t afraid to take control of a situation to protect her family but she had a feeling they might all think she’d gone mad if she admitted she’d hired a private detective.

‘You have news for me?’ she asked, gesturing to a seat and trying not to take offence at the sight of another of Yves’ shiny suits. This one had a scarlet satin lining that resembled the inside of a tart’s boudoir. Or what Delphine imagined a tart’s boudoir would look like.

Smoothing his hair back with a smarmy smile, Yves took a seat. ‘Yes and no,’ he said mysteriously, clearily enjoying having knowledge to impart.

Delphine, irritated by such behaviour, gritted her teeth and waited.

‘Forgive me,’ Yves said, flashing her a very charming smile as he took out his notebook. ‘It’s just that I did find out something very interesting about Cat Hayes.’

‘Yes?’

Yves referred to his notes. ‘So far, I haven’t been able to find out anything to discredit her, as such. She was very well respected in her advertising job and she also worked at a design company for a number of years, learning about branding. Both companies had nothing but good things to say about her, even her most recent place of work, who fired her.’

Delphine sat up, her brown eyes gleaming. ‘They fired her? Why?’

‘For taking too long on her honeymoon with your grandson, Olivier,’ Yves explained with raised eyebrows. ‘Hardly a major crime, especially when Miss Hayes hadn’t been on holiday for three years. By all accounts, the advertising firm has lost four major contracts since she left because the clients only wanted to work with her.’

Delphine stiffened. This wasn’t what she wanted to hear! She had hired Yves on the understanding that he would dig up some dirt on the girl, not arrive with glowing references about her professional capabilities.

‘What else?’ she barked. ‘Miss Hayes must have some skeletons lurking in the cupboard.’

Yves eyed her keenly. ‘She does, but not what you might be expecting.’ He handed Delphine a photocopy of a newspaper. ‘Her parents died when she was a teenager. Quite a horrific accident, by the looks of things. It was in Austria. They were both on a black run and there was an avalanche. Not having any other family, Cat was orphaned.’ Yves shrugged. ‘Sad, isn’t it?’

Delphine nodded. ‘I know about this. She told me herself.’ It did at least prove that Cat was telling the truth, and that Yves was doing his job. Delphine’s mind wandered to Olivier and Leoni. They had been devastated by the death of their parents when they were in their teens and they had been fortunate enough to have a family to support them and pick up the pieces. Whereas Cat had been left all alone to fend for herself with no one else to lean on. It must have been hard for her, not having parental guidance at such a tender age, especially when . . .

Briskly, Delphine pulled herself together. This was no time for sentimentality or unnecessary sympathy. What Cat Hayes had suffered as a teen was neither here nor there; all that mattered was finding some way to show her character to be immoral or untrustworthy, or that her marriage to Olivier was false in some way.

‘Did you find out anything more about their marriage?’ Delphine asked, handing the photocopy about the skiing accident back impassively. ‘That’s what I’m really interested in. There has to be some way we can prove it is not legitimate and then the problem of Olivier’s inheritance will disappear, regardless of whether Miss Hayes agrees to sign legal papers or not.’

Yves shook his head apologetically. ‘I will look into it further but so far I cannot find anything that indicates the marriage isn’t legal.’

Delphine frowned at something she’d seen through the window. Yves stood up. ‘Right, I’ll come back when I have more information, then.’

Delphine waved a hand distractedly. Staring out of the window, she watched Cat strolling to the pool wearing a pair of very unsuitable denim cut-off shorts that were hardly appropriate attire in a chilly February. As she sat at the edge of the heated pool and trailed her fingers in the water, Xavier, on his way into the main house, paused and watched her. It was a brief, fleeting moment and a dark shadow crossed his face before he marched into the house.

Delphine smiled smugly. Good. No chance of Xavier ending up the same way as Olivier. The trip to Grasse was all arranged and Xavier could pick the girl’s brains while she herself worked to ensure that Cat was out of the family for good. She felt badly for Xavier, though; he never seemed to be happy these days.

Thinking about Xavier’s love life, an idea occurred to Delphine and she reached for the phone. It is
not
meddling, she told herself, knowing it was. Still, it was the best thing for the family in the long run. And as her father Maxim had taught her from a very young age, family was all that mattered.

Excitedly clutching the details for the property in Paris in a rolled-up sheet under his arm, Ashton arrived at La Fleurie in search of Leoni. She wasn’t at her apartment or at the perfume warehouse, so he guessed she’d retreated to the safety of her office at the château. Ashton had an idea Leoni felt closer to Olivier there. Sure enough, he found her poring over some quotes for the linen spray she was designing, her hair falling forward as she frowned at the page. Behind her glasses, her nut-brown eyes looked bloodshot and tired, as if she had been toiling away at her desk all night.

‘Hey,’ he called softly.

Leoni’s head snapped up. ‘Ashton! What are you doing here?’ Remembering her manners, she jumped up and kissed his cheeks, inhaling his aftershave before pulling back. She glanced at her watch. ‘Look at the time. I’ve been here since the early hours. I had this idea and I had to get it down.’ Ruefully, she smiled, realising she must look a mess. Thank God it was her good friend Ashton standing in front of her and not Jerard Monville, otherwise she’d be dying of embarrassment. There was a time when she would have felt that way about Ashton but those days were long gone.

Ashton grinned at her. ‘Listen, I have some plans to show you. I’ve found this incredible property in Paris.’ He pulled the roll of paper from under his arm and unravelled it across her desk. ‘I think you’re going to absolutely love it.’

‘Wow,’ Leoni breathed as she walked round her desk, taking in every angle. There were photographs and sketches and she could immediately see how perfect it could be with the right changes and the appropriate fittings. ‘It’s stunning, Ashton! Where is it?’

Filling her in quickly on the location and surrounding area, Ashton ran through the ideas he had for the structure and design of the interior. ‘Small shelves here, do you agree? And then a wonderful long counter that curves around this side.’ Moving round the desk to join her as he enthusiastically outlined his thoughts, he pointed to the ceiling. ‘And stunning lights here . . . something like this, I thought.’ He showed her a photograph of some magnificent chandeliers with elegant teardrop crystals.

‘I love it!’ Leoni declared, her tired eyes lighting up with sheer delight. ‘The location is ideal for a perfume shop and the building is superb. I can just see our beautiful perfumes lined up in that window, lit from above . . . and the shelves, they would be so perfect for the home fragrance line!’

‘That’s what I thought.’ Ashton nodded. ‘You could use your new candles to fill the store with fragrance and maybe some boards advertising the perfume could go here?’ He pointed to a section at the back.

Longingly, Leoni ran a finger over one of the photographs. She wanted the building. She didn’t know how they were going to get it but it was everything she had hoped for when she had envisaged a store in Paris. Everything and more. Ashton must know her so well to have found this building and she felt deeply grateful to him.

‘Is it up for sale yet?’ she asked, feeling panicky.

Ashton shook his head. ‘Yes, but it’s going to auction. I was lucky enough to get the keys recently, so I was able to go in and measure up and get a head start on the plans.’ His cornflower-blue eyes met hers keenly. ‘I’m guessing all we need to do now is convince Guy.’

Leoni sank down into her chair dispiritedly. ‘That’s the problem, Ash. Guy is . . . well, you know, I love my uncle, but he’s in the Dark Ages when it comes to such things.’

‘What things?’ Unexpectedly, Guy poked his head around the door.

Leoni felt guilty. His eyes seemed dull and his shoulders were drooping. Guy seemed rather depressed and she hoped it wasn’t her fault.

Guy’s dark eyes lit up, however, when he caught sight of Ashton. ‘Hey, great to see you, Ash! Always a pleasure.’ He came in and shook Ashton’s hand energetically, seemingly upbeat again. ‘What have you got there?’ he said, gesturing to the plans.

Leoni felt defensive. This wasn’t how she wanted to approach the subject. She had hoped she could catch Guy in a good mood, when he was relaxing, because that was when he was at his most amenable. It was too late now, however.

‘We were just talking about a property in Paris,’ she confessed, watching his face carefully. ‘Ashton found it and he’s drawn some plans up for us.’ She took a deep breath, knowing how much was riding on this. ‘It could be the first Ducasse-Fleurie perfume shop in Paris. It’s small and not remotely flashy but it’s in a great location and with Ashton’s suggestions I think it could be beautiful and classy, just right for our brand.’

Guy was silent as Ashton quickly talked him through the plans. When he had finished, Guy seemed unimpressed. ‘I just can’t help thinking it would be difficult to control the business in Paris without one of us visiting it constantly,’ he said eventually. ‘It’s so much easier with everything based in the south of France. The store is local and we have total control over the sales, the staff and the output.’

Leoni slumped over her desk, disappointed. She knew Guy would never agree to the idea but just for a moment she had allowed herself to hope. And the trouble was, when Guy made his mind up, he rarely changed it. As stubborn as the proverbial mule, he seemed to think it was a weakness to ever go back on a decision, even if he was patently in the wrong.

Guy stepped away from the desk, the very action underlining his decisiveness on the issue. ‘I really don’t think it’s viable right now. We have so much going on and opening a store in Paris would take up too much time.’ He shook his head again. ‘Leoni, I’m sorry but it’s too much to take on. And I thought you were focusing on your home fragrance line?’

‘I am!’ Leoni flung her arm out to encompass her piles of notes. ‘I’ve been up most of the night working on it. But opportunities like this building don’t come along all the time. It would be awful to lose such a perfect property.’ She could cry she felt so disappointed.

‘What a shame,’ Ashton interjected, feeling as frustrated as Leoni. ‘It’s such an incredible space, Guy, really. If you could see it, I honestly think you’d be totally won over.’ He rolled the plans up with obvious regret. ‘I’m not the only one who thought it was perfect for a perfume shop either so I guess it will come down to who makes the best offer at auction.’

‘Really?’ Leoni sat up. She hadn’t even seen the building but already the thought of someone else buying it, let alone using it to create a perfume store, was unbearable. ‘It wasn’t anyone we knew, was it?’

Guy headed to the door. ‘Whoever it was is irrelevant. The timing is all wrong, Leoni.’ His mouth in a tight line, he made his final point firmly.

Ashton stared at him, thinking how much Guy reminded him of Olivier right now. His friend had been equally obstinate. ‘Her name was Marianne Peroux.’ Ashton turned to Leoni. ‘She’s the owner of Armand.’

Leoni put her head in her hands. ‘Brilliant. One of our main competitors.’

By the door, Guy spun round. ‘Marianne Peroux?’ He went pale beneath his tan. ‘Are you sure?’

Ashton nodded. ‘She said she knew you. Unfortunately she found out I was looking at the building for Ducasse-Fleurie and now she’s absolutely hell-bent on acquiring it.’

‘Is she now?’ Rubbing his chin, Guy’s brown eyes were gleaming. He began to pace the office. Leoni watched him in astonishment. What on earth was going on? And who was Marianne Peroux?

Realising Ashton and Leoni were eyeing him expectantly, Guy sighed heavily and sat on the edge of the desk. ‘Marianne is an old flame,’ he explained, looking rather uncomfortable. ‘Before I met Elizabeth, I was working in Paris in a flagging perfume company in the sales department and Marianne and I fell in love.’ His eyes stared past them as he became lost in memories. ‘We were due to be married but she was so competitive! She had ambitions to take over the company and between us we came up with a plan. I thought she was taking too many risks . . . I discovered she was intending to sack thousands of people. I did my best to talk her out of it but . . .’

‘I’m guessing she went ahead and did it anyway,’ Ashton provided, thinking about the way Marianne’s mischievous green eyes had taunted him as she had made her salacious dinner invitation. ‘Having met her, I can only imagine how ambitious she was back then. She is certainly not a woman who is easily ignored.’