The Unexpected Bride (Montana Born Brides) (5 page)

He held her fingers for long seconds and their eyes locked.
She could feel the warmth of his skin against hers, and then the brush of his thumb on her palm. Then he let her go. “Can you and the kids be ready by three for our trip into town?”

Evie and Jerome couldn’t wait to clamber out of the truck when they were dropped off at their grandparents’ hobby ranch.
“
Mamere
! Grandpa!” they squealed, rushing to be hugged by Pascale and Robert. Bobo jumped out too and joined in the greetings with a joyful frenzy of barking and jumping about.

“The children so love it here,” Emma observed, waving at the senior Fletchers.

“They sure do,” Laurent agreed. He reversed the truck. “My mom will have baked, so they’ll be bouncing off the walls by the time we get back, fuelled by sugar.”

“Oh, a treat or two won’t hurt them.
That’s what grandparents are for,” Emma said indulgently, as they set off down the drive and back onto the highway.

“You’re always incredibly cheerful, aren’t you?”

“That sounds like a criticism,” Emma challenged, glad that they could both keep their eyes on the road ahead.

“Wasn’t intended to be. More like curiosity.
Most people have their ups and downs, but you seem to be on a high whatever life throws at you.”

Emma gave a nod.
“When you work with children, it doesn’t do to be moody or crabby; they don’t understand why and think they’ve done something wrong.”

She was shocked when Laurent replied self-mockingly, “You mean, moody and crabby like I am?” He looked at her briefly and gave her a wry grin before returning to his driving.

Emma was temporarily knocked off-balance by his frank observation of himself and his self-deprecating humor. She hadn’t known he could be like this. She decided on a tactful reply. “I didn’t say that.”

“But I have been, haven’t I?” he came back, apparently keen to carry on with this line of conversation.

“Occasionally,” Emma conceded gingerly. “But you’ve had a lot on your mind.”

“Yeah…But I’ve still been a jerk. So what’s your secret, Emma?”

She jumped slightly, even more startled now by Laurent’s question. Her secret? Panic rose in her chest. Oh, God, he hadn’t found out, had he? Was that why he’d been using humor with her—to try and get her to open up? She fought to keep herself from betraying her discomfort. “I don’t have any secrets,” she said flatly.

“Everybody has secrets,” Laurent replied lightly, flicking a glance at her from the corner of his eye. “Even you. But what I meant was, what’s the secret of your happy disposition?
You’ve flown into our lives, charmed us and spread sunshine on us all.”

“Thank you.” Emma breathed an inward sigh of relief.
She needed to stop fretting about Sir Giles Fortescue. His wife had promised that no one would ever get to hear about the nasty business with her husband. Wilton’s, the nanny agency that had found her the position with the Fletchers via their office in Los Angeles, had been very impressed with the glowing reference Lady Fortescue had provided for Emma, so it seemed like at least that trauma was finally past…But forgetting Tom was going to take longer…Feeling her anxieties threatening to rise up and swallow her, she mentally shook herself back into the present and summoned a suitably bubbly retort to what had sounded like Laurent’s slightly sardonic remark: “You make me sound like Mary Poppins! Though I think she was who Evie hoped for.”

“You can blame my mom for that,” Laurent told her.
“She’s been reading all her favorite childhood storybooks to her grandkids.”

“I saw that Jerome has all the
Babar
books on his shelf,” Emma said, “and Evie has
Asterix
and
Tintin
lined up.”

“Those were my and Ren’s books when we were small.” Emma noticed that Laurent’s features softened as he recalled his childhood.
“I loved that little French elephant.”

“Pascale was telling me that she hopes to teach the children some French.”

“She’s keen, and I think that would be a good thing. Kids get to travel a lot these days, not like Ren and I. Mom spoke French all the time to us when we were young and we became pretty fluent, but we never got to use it. In fact, Ren was quite embarrassed by Mom when he was a teenager.”

“Really?”
Emma was intrigued by that. “And what about you?”

“I’ve always kind of liked it,” Laurent confirmed.
“My mom was always a bit different to my school friends’ moms, exotic, and I liked to try and use that to my advantage. I thought it would help when I was dating in high school to let the girl know that I had romantic French genes.” He chuckled.

“So, a date with you meant being wined and dined, and moonlight and roses?” Emma teased; she couldn’t help but respond to this new and attractive Laurent in relaxed mode.

“Oh, those kind of niceties didn’t become part of my wooing technique until later. Back then, I was like most adolescent boys, with one thing on my mind,” Laurent confessed, his voice breaking up with laughter again.

Emma’s tummy did a funny little backflip.
She was really enjoying this fun, candid side of him today, though it was hard to reconcile Laurent, the lusty teenage lover, with the handsome, serious father she also knew him to be. Or was it? She could imagine that he would be driven and passionate in bed…She closed her eyes, trying to shut down that inappropriate thought.

“Hey, I didn’t succeed,” Laurent assured her, when she didn’t say anything. “Mostly I was lucky if I made it to first base.”

Emma opened her eyes and saw he still wore a grin, his dark eyes crinkling at their corners. She had to smile too. “So the women of Marietta weren’t impressed by your European allure?” she retorted.

“No, and they still aren’t, as you’ll see when we get into town,” he came back.

“Oh, I’m sure it’s not as bad as all that!” Emma said, giggling.

“You’re not only cheerful, you’re very kind,” Laurent bantered.
Then he swiftly changed the subject. “Want to listen to some music?” He leaned over slightly and punched a few buttons on the dash, and soon sweet sounds were filling the truck.

Emma let the female singers’ gentle voices wash over her as they sang of betrayal and lost love.
She thought again of her ex-fiancé, Tom, and wondered what he was doing now? Probably he’d have moved on to a new girlfriend, if she knew him. Someone who would have fallen for his boyish good looks and cheeky chat, not knowing how angry and controlling he could be. She shut her eyes against the bad memories threatening to overwhelm her: Tom, Sir Giles…She had to move on and put that unhappy time behind her.

“Hey.” Laurent’s soft drawl cut across her thoughts and surprised her into opening her eyes.
“Feeling sleepy?”

“Oh…no!” Emma replied, rousing herself.
“I was just letting myself drift along with the music. Who is it?”

“The Indigo Girls,” Laurent confirmed. “Like them?”

“Yes, I do. But I’ve never heard them before. In fact, I don’t know much about country music at all, and this is different to what I do know.”

“You mean, it’s not all twanging guitars and fiddles,” Laurent remarked, looking amused.
“I can tell I’m going to have to educate you. Have you heard of Taylor Swift?”

Emma told him that she had, and soon they were absorbed in conversation, Laurent flicking through different tracks to illustrate his points with his right hand while he kept his left on the wheel and filled her in on country, western and rock.
Emma drank it in, relishing hearing his enthusiasm and watching his face light up as he talked about something he knew a lot about and clearly revelled in. He was
really
handsome when he smiled…

“Welcome to Marietta,” Laurent said, as he and Emma walked down Main Street, past small, quaint stores and restaurants with architecture that spoke of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when the town had expanded on a mining boom.
They were on their way to the showroom for Laurent’s furniture business on Front Avenue.

“It’s charming.” Emma wanted to dawdle and explore the shops, but she was conscious of Laurent’s hand on the small of her back propelling her forwards even through the thickness of her padded jacket.
It felt…reassuring.

“Let’s come back here when I’ve checked out things at the showroom,” he suggested, clearly sensing that she wanted to linger.
“We need to look for your jars and marbles, and maybe you’d like to stop for hot chocolate at Copper Mountain Chocolates?”

“That sounds great,” Emma replied warmly. “I never turn down a chocolate opportunity.”

Laurent laughed, and rubbed his hand slightly up and down her back, which sent a pleasant shiver along her spine.

At the top of Main Street, they turned right onto Front Avenue and, a short way along the block, stopped at a large storefront, over which hung a sign announcing
River Bend Interiors
. Stepping inside, Emma inhaled the soothing smells of seasoned wood and beeswax and lavender polish, and took in the wide array of furniture in local and traditional styles similar to what she’d seen in the workshop at Copper Creek. The walls were hung with Montana landscapes, which she recognized as Pascale’s artworks—Laurent’s mother was an accomplished artist and weaver. Though she was also represented by a prestigious art gallery in Bozeman that took commissions from buyers throughout the West, Laurent like to enhance his showroom and website with her pieces and make extra sales for her.

He introduced her to Josh, Tracy and Martha, the three staff who worked at River Bend Interiors.
“I’ve just got to go into the back office with Josh and Martha to talk over shipping some orders,” he told her. “The hardware store that’s just down the street might have those jars you’re wanting…”

“Okay, I’ll just pop down there now,” Emma said, and having accepted directions from Tracy, River Bend’s very pleasant sales assistant, made her way along the sidewalk which had been cleared of snow to the Big Z store at Front and Third, where, sure enough, she found three large jars with screw tops which were ideal for her purposes.
Returning to the River Bend showroom, she noticed that the Graff Hotel was right across the street, and couldn’t resist going in to have a look at the splendor of its early twentieth-century interior, which had been recently restored by local businessman, Troy Sheenan, to include a swanky new bar and restaurant. She even got a peek at the ballroom, which was in the process of being decked out for the upcoming Valentine Ball.