She showed them the way and as she shut the door behind them, she gave Ari a wildly exaggerated wink.
Great. Just the kind of rumour she needed the TV people picking up on.
Rafael leaned against the back of a neat little velvet sofa, which made him look like a giant. ‘Do you think she’s listening outside? Should we check for bugs?’
Ari had to force herself to speak. The words, of course, all came out wrong. ‘What are you doing here?’
Rafael smiled. ‘I heard you were in Paris. I came to see you, of course.’ The eternally irritating smile of his grew even more amused. His eyes had no right to twinkle like that.
Ari stopped, frowning at him, trying to work out if he was making fun of her or not. She was fairly certain he was, but he was too straight-faced to tell. Infuriating man. ‘You…you just vanished, Rafael.’
A look of contrition finally replaced the smile. ‘I know. I’m sorry. I tried to keep in touch, but…’ He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose as if he had a headache. ‘There was so much to sort out, but it’s done now. Please, Ari. I just want to talk to you. Make it up to you, if I can. If you’ll let me.’
Ari shook her head, not in denial but disbelief. ‘Fine,’ she said at last. She could give him that much, couldn’t she? ‘But you can’t solve this by throwing money around.’
‘Really? I’m very good at that. Or so you’re fond of telling me.’
She caught the glint of amusement returning to his eyes, and realised she’d missed this, missed him. Far more than she had the courage to admit right now.
‘I brought you something,’ he told her. ‘As an apology. A peace offering.’
He held out a small octagonal jewellery box, tied with silken ribbons. It was beautiful in itself, the name of the shop printed discreetly in gold. Even looking at it, she knew it was from some exclusive designer in Paris – more money, more riches thrown around carelessly, because it didn’t make a difference to him. He didn’t understand. He probably never would. He was a hopeless case.
Ari glared at him, realised he wasn’t going to give in and then took it, opening it expecting diamonds, platinum and any number of gemstones.
It was nothing of the sort.
Simon’s pendant nestled in a satin hollow, fully repaired, slim traces of gold holding the pieces together, a magic horse, running on water, Morvarc’h. It hung on a delicate chain rather than the leather thong she’d always used. She touched it, barely able to believe what she was seeing, or how beautiful it was.
‘I saved it from the cave, the pieces. I mean, before we escaped. I just… I couldn’t leave it. I knew what it meant to you. You said it was all you had left of him. Of you and Simon.’
So he had heard her, every word she said to Simon back there in the cave, she realised. And that must have hurt him.
She ran her fingertips over the pendant, hardly able to believe it.
When she said nothing, Rafael went on. ‘And there’s an artist I know, whose work is based onkintsugi, the Japanese ethos of making the broken whole again and embracing the damage to make something even more special. I thought…I thought you’d want it back.’
She looked up at him and unexpected tears rolled down her face. The make-up artist was going to kill her. But she didn’t care. ‘You did this for me?’
Rafael leaned forward and carefully wiped her cheeks. ‘Of course, Ari. I’d do anything for you. Don’t you know that yet?’
‘But you left. Like he left. And I…I didn’t.’ She hadn’t left. She’d hung on for once, waiting. She hadn’t run away, and he hadn’t come back.
Until now.
‘I’m sorry. I don’t know how to make it up to you, but I want to try. Here, let me…’ He took the box and lifted the pendant out by the chain. He held it out to her, ready to put it on.
She turned around, and his breath brushed against her neck as he stepped closer. The pendant was heavier than it had been before, and hung lower against her chest. But it felt perfect. Broken and put back together, like her, like both of them.
She turned around faster than he expected and suddenly she was in his arms, right where she had dreamed of being once again. His eyes were endlessly dark, so warm with love and desire. ‘You didn’t have to come here. You could have sent it.’
‘No,’ he murmured, leaning in closer. ‘I had to come. I missed you more than I could bear, Ari, but I had to confront my mother. The accountants found problems with the company finances and I had to sort that out. And then the police were involved. They were already suspicions about Laure’s disappearance. I thought they were going to arrest me at one point. But my mother broke down and confessed everything. We kept most of it out of the media and I have to admit the work you and your brother are doing has served as a wonderful distraction. They can’t prove murder, but fraud on that scale is almost as bad in the current climate. I wanted to keep you out of it. I had to. It wouldn’t have been fair. The press were swarming all over us and I thought you’d be safe in Sainte Sirène. But when I found out you weren’t there, I thought…’
He’d thought she’d gone. He thought she’d run away again. And she could hardly blame him. That was what she did. He’d told her so himself.
‘I’m here, Rafael. I didn’t leave.’ Much as she had been tempted to. Much as she had feared she would need to.
He gave a brief laugh, as if ashamed of himself, or simply embarrassed. ‘I forgot about this. And then the production company said you’d be here and I…I had to come. I’m going back to Sainte Sirène tonight. Come with me?’
