Heaven Scent (33 page)

‘You don’t need to explain,’ Cat told her firmly. ‘His life is none of my business. He made that very clear when we were in Grasse.’

To her surprise, Seraphina laughed. ‘Typical. He’s ridiculously private and so hot headed. Look, I can’t say too much but I will say that he hasn’t always been like this. Olivier . . . I’m afraid he was born that way but Xavier, well, something changed him, all right?’

Cat shrugged. Seraphina seemed earnest in her attempts to get her to think differently about Xavier but she wasn’t sure if she believed her. Maybe she had Xavier all wrong, maybe she didn’t. The fact remained that he still thought badly of her for marrying Olivier. She said as much to Seraphina. ‘It’s just that he clearly thinks I’m an idiot . . . but love makes you do reckless things, doesn’t it?’ Cat paused. ‘What am I saying? You shouldn’t know about such things.’ When Seraphina was silent, Cat touched her arm. ‘You don’t, do you?’

Seraphina went pink. ‘Not yet. But I want to.’ Her brow furrowed. ‘At least, I think I want to. I have this boyfriend, you see, and he’s much older than me.’ Realising she’d said too much, she hurriedly corrected herself. ‘Well, not
much
older than me, just a bit older.’

Concerned, Cat leant forward. ‘Seraphina, don’t ever do anything you don’t want to, all right? Men say all sorts of things to make you think you should have sex and God knows what else but at your age, no one should be pressurising you.’

‘I’m not a child, Cat!’ Seraphina was clearly offended.

‘I know that. I wasn’t suggesting you were. All I was saying is that you sound unsure and if you are, you need to know something.’ Cat brushed a lock of hair out of Seraphina’s bruised-looking eyes. ‘Any man, any decent man, will wait for you.’

‘Will he?’ Seraphina looked sceptical.

Cat nodded firmly. ‘Yes, he will.’ She paused. ‘Seraphina, are you all right? If you need to talk to someone, I’m here. I know I’m absolutely no substitute for your mother but I can still listen and support you.’ Seeing Seraphina’s eyes fill with tears, Cat put her arm round the young girl’s shoulders. ‘It’s just . . . no one should make you do anything you don’t want to do. Ever. And if they do, they’re not worth it, do you understand?’

Seraphina nodded and did her best to stop her lip trembling. Cat wondered who this older boyfriend of hers was. If she wasn’t much mistaken, he was putting serious pressure on Seraphina to sleep with him.

And that, Cat decided, made him a major league creep.

 

A few days later, Xavier emerged from his lab and squinted at the brightness outside. Lighting a cigarette and inhaling deeply, he realised he’d been working almost non-stop for the past week or more. He was desperate for a break.

Tearing off his white coat and tossing it back inside the lab, he undid his shirt collar and immediately felt more relaxed. He strolled to the pool and felt a mild stab of disappointment that Cat had gone. He’d seen her out of the lab window but, checking his watch, he realised that must have been hours ago. Xavier wasn’t sure what he would have said to her if he’d managed to bump into her but he was conscious that the air needing clearing. Also, ridiculously, he felt the urge to talk to her again, not about what had happened but about what he was doing.

Glancing at the pool, Xavier decided to take a dip. Not a proper one, he was fully dressed. His cigarette hanging out of his mouth, he rolled his trouser legs up and dangled his feet in the pool. The water was cool and refreshing and just what he needed. Sitting back, he flicked his dark hair out of his eyes and saw that Max was skulking around the pool house.

‘Hey!’ Xavier called him over. What was he doing back from college?

Max, wearing a black T-shirt, black jeans and an equally murky expression, came over. His dark-brown curls were dishevelled and his eyes were wary. ‘Where did you just come from?’

Xavier looked sheepish. ‘The lab. I’ve been . . . trying some things out.’

‘What, creating a new fragrance?’

Xavier blew smoke in the air. ‘More like resurrecting a new one . . . I don’t know. I’m just experimenting at the moment. Anyway, what are you doing back from school?’

Max looked incredulous. ‘Don’t you know? Hasn’t Dad told you?’

Baffled, Xavier shook his head. ‘I’ve been shut in the lab for days. What’s going on?’

Knowing he was probably in for another ear-bashing, Max sat down next to him, and undid his baseball boots. Dropping his feet into the pool, he filled Xavier in about his drugs bust and about Seraphina’s naked canter round the college grounds.

‘Fuck.’ Xavier didn’t know whether to laugh or whack Max round the head.

Max braced himself. ‘Go on then, let me have it. Everyone else has.’

Xavier sucked on his cigarette. He felt immensely sorry for the twins. After their mother’s death, they had pretty much been left out in the cold and he couldn’t help thinking the current situation was simply the result of that. At the time, Xavier had been far too caught up in his own fucked-up situation to be as supportive as he would have liked, and their father, well, he had literally fallen apart.

Bearing all this in mind, Xavier decided to go easy on Max. It was fair to assume the rest of the family wouldn’t have held back. Someone had to be on the twins’ side at a time like this.

‘I think Seraphina’s got guts,’ he said. ‘I can’t believe she rode round the college naked!’ Xavier could just imagine how his father would have reacted to that. He was glad he’d been locked away in his lab whilst it was all kicking off. ‘As for you, Max . . .’

Max hung his head. ‘I know. I’m an idiot. You don’t need to tell me.’

‘I didn’t say that. But while we’re talking, what’s it all about?’ Xavier asked, blowing smoke into the air. ‘The drugs, I mean. Do you really enjoy it or are you just trying to get Dad’s attention?’

Max shrugged. ‘A bit of both, I suppose. It made me feel as if I was letting off a bit of steam, you know?’ He waggled his feet and Xavier couldn’t help thinking how young he looked with his jeans up round his knees and his head hanging sorrowfully. ‘Getting Dad’s attention didn’t work – not in a good way, at any rate.’

‘Well, it wouldn’t really, would it?’ Xavier pointed out reasonably. He put an arm round Max’s shoulder and gave him a brotherly hug. ‘You know you can always talk to me, don’t you?’

Max nodded, turning away. ‘Yeah.’ His voice sounded gruff.

‘Sometimes you just need a father, I know, and we haven’t really had one of those for the past couple of years.’

Max scowled. ‘He’s just useless.’

About to defend his father, Xavier realised he had thought very much the same thing about him over the past two years. Practically all of their conversations revolved around him returning to work, not about anything meaningful and certainly never about their mother.

Max jerked his feet in the water angrily. ‘He doesn’t even know about Seraphina and this boyfriend of hers.’

‘What boyfriend?’

‘He’s older than her and that’s about all I know about him.’ Max shrugged helplessly, wishing he could do something about it. ‘I have a bad feeling about it, Xav. Don’t ask me why because I don’t know but she’s changed since she’s been with him.’

Xavier’s brown eyes were full of concern. ‘Should I speak to her?’

‘No, she’d only be furious with me for talking about it. I just hope she doesn’t do anything stupid, that’s all.’

Xavier sighed. ‘All right. Now, do we need to talk about this drugs thing?’

Max shook his head. ‘I’ve learnt my lesson, Xav. I didn’t even really enjoy it that much,’ he confessed. ‘Vero and the boys . . . it was more about hanging out with them. They’re older than me. They’re cool, with their motorbikes and all that stuff.’

‘Have you heard from them since you’ve been expelled?’

Max frowned. ‘No, but I’m sure they’ll be in touch soon.’

Xavier wasn’t convinced. Kids like Vero and those boys who followed her around only hung around with rich, screwed-up kids like Max because they thought it added something to their group. Max, with all his hang-ups and his rebellious attitude, had probably attracted a great deal of attention due to his daring antics and complete disregard for rules but now that his wildness had tipped over the edge into expulsion, Xavier suspected Vero and the rest of them wouldn’t have much time for his younger brother.

Max changed the subject. ‘Seraphina told me you and Cat had a good time in Grasse.’

Xavier shot a glance at him but said nothing. He’d hardly describe it as a ‘good time’ and he was certain Cat wouldn’t have said that either.

‘What has Dad said about you being back in the lab?’ A bitter expression flitted across Max’s face but it was fleeting. He couldn’t resent Xavier for doing what he loved most in the world. It was his father he was furious with.

‘He doesn’t know. At least, if he does, he hasn’t said a word to me about it.’

Max raised his eyebrows. ‘So what’s this new fragrance then?’

Xavier played with his cigarette packet. ‘I suppose, loosely speaking, it’s a floral with a blast of sweet rose and orchid as a top note with some creamy amber and white lilies, and the base notes are a honeyed cedarwood, musk and a really dry, lemony frankincense.’ He stared past Max, his mind darting. ‘It’s the heart notes I’m struggling with. I want a fruit accord but something isn’t quite right. I think mandarin but it needs something else too, as does the base note.’ He needed to talk to someone about it but the only person who seemed able to listen to him properly and spark off his creativity, unbelievably, was Cat.

Max was impressed. He didn’t understand everything Xavier was talking about but he knew enough to see that his brother was on to something big.

‘If I get it right, it’s going to be the best thing I’ve ever done,’ Xavier admitted, the thought filling him with momentary anxiety. ‘Is Cat still here?’ he asked, as casually as possible.

‘For now.’

Xavier felt a moment of irrational panic but he squashed it down. ‘What does that mean?’

‘Rumour has it Pascal’s completed all that paperwork,’ Max shrugged. ‘Once she’s signed it, she’ll have no reason to stay. Although, I did overhear the housekeeper gossiping and she reckons someone stole the first set of papers.’ He looked gloomy. ‘I thought I might get the blame. Everyone around here seems to think I’m capable of most things. No one’s said anything to me about it, though – not yet, anyway.’

Xavier’s brow wrinkled in confusion. ‘How strange,’ he said. ‘Still, Cat’s old passport will have been cancelled if she’s applied for a new one, I should think, so it doesn’t really matter about the legal papers.’

‘Oh well.’ Max didn’t really care what Cat did or why she was here. He liked her, she was extremely pretty and she had always been nice to him, but he had far too much going on in his head to worry about his cousin’s widow. Grabbing his baseball boots, he shot Xavier a curious look. His brother was staring into space. Max shrugged. Most likely Xavier was pondering the elusive missing ingredient in the fragrance he was working on because he always got like this when he was developing something new. Leaving Xavier chain-smoking and thoughtfully swishing his feet in the water, Max headed to the stables to saddle up Le Fantome.

There was nothing for it, thought Xavier, he was going to have to speak to Cat. He couldn’t get her out of his head and the only thing he could do was talk to her again to check how he felt. For all he knew, he was imagining things and he had to know for sure.

Nursing a sore throat and taking a break from her home fragrance campaign, Leoni was sitting in the main salon drinking a cup of honey-infused tea with a slice of lemon in it.

She leant over the edge of a sofa and stared out of the window in bemusement watching the preparations for the Rose-Nymphea party getting underway, suppressing a laugh as she noticed her grandmother bossily clutching a clipboard and presiding over events as though she was the conductor in charge of a wayward orchestra. Case after case of wine was being delivered, as well as some crates of vintage champagne which Leoni happened to know came with a heart-stopping price tag.

It was like watching a gigantic wedding being organised, Leoni thought with a frown, wondering if Delphine would go to half as much trouble if her granddaughter was about to get married. Although, on reflection, she probably would, Leoni decided. If only to celebrate the fact that her granddaughter had finally managed to find a man to settle down with, just as all Ducasse women should. Leoni wished her grandmother wasn’t so bigoted.

Still, perhaps Jerard was the man who could change all that. Nice looking, hard working, caring – what more could she ask for? All right, so she hadn’t experienced any particular knee-trembling when they’d kissed and Jerard hadn’t exactly thrown her into bed and torn her clothes off, but so what? Lust was overrated. Leoni had allowed herself to be caught up in such silliness when she was younger – look at the way she had lusted after Ashton! And it had been such a waste of time too.

Leoni swallowed. No, at her age, she should be thinking about a stable, lasting relationship with plenty of shared interests; passion and desire were for childish crushes, not a mature, serious relationship. Feeling her mood plummet slightly at this sensible but rather uninspiring thought, Leoni ignored her feelings and checked her phone to see if Jerard had sent her any texts. He had. Short but sweet as always and mostly about the meeting he was attending or what time he would be back but it still made her smile that Jerard took the time to let her know his whereabouts.

She realised she hadn’t heard from Ashton for a while and sent him a quick text to check he’d been invited to the party. He sent her one back telling her he’d received his invite and that he’d probably be there. Unreasonably, Leoni felt disappointed that he didn’t seem to want to indulge in any general chat the way he usually did – she and Ashton always chatted about nonsense, he was the one man she could say anything to, however absurd it might sound.