‘Yes. They missed their mother very much when she left and so when Stéphie came about two years later, they gave her all their affection. It was charming, but also a bit concerning. They might benefit from having Lucinda back in their lives.’
Alexandra wondered if they would when she seemed keen to send them away but didn’t comment. It wasn’t her place, and it was accepted wisdom that mothers were a good thing. Not having had one herself, she didn’t really know.
‘More brandy?’ Antoine held the bottle up.
‘No, thank you. I should probably make up your bed or something.’ Alexandra hadn’t been in his bedroom ever – there had been no reason to go, but at least she knew where the sheets and other bedlinen were kept.
Antoine smiled at her suddenly and Alexandra felt herself melt.
‘I think you should go back to bed. I can manage my sheets.’
‘The mattress might be damp—’
‘It won’t kill me. Don’t worry about me, Alexandra – if I may call you that?’
Alexandra nodded. She would never tire of hearing her name on his lips.
‘You are here for my children, not to be the housekeeper.’ While he didn’t say it out loud, his expression said, ‘Run along now.’
‘Well, if you don’t need me, I’ll see you in the morning.’ Alexandra smiled politely and left.
Once she was back in her room she gave herself a very strict talking-to. ‘You are not in love with him; it’s quite impossible that you should be; you don’t know him! He’s not even that good-looking! He may be dark and have lovely eyes with long lashes but when did you become so shallow as to like someone because of what they look like?’
She rattled on to herself in this vein as she brushed her teeth again, brushed her hair and eventually got back into bed. It took her ages to get back to sleep.
She was woken by Stéphie shaking her. She felt as if she’d only been asleep for about an hour.
‘Alexandra! Wake up. Papa is here. Come down and see him!’ Stéphie ran out of the room, leaving Alexandra half tempted to allow herself a bit more sleep.
But then she realised she couldn’t stay in bed when she’d been invited to meet Papa, although unlike Stéphie, who was wearing her dressing gown and no slippers, she needed to be dressed.
She didn’t let her desire to hurry stop her paying proper attention to how she looked, though. She brushed her hair (again) and coaxed it over her shoulder so while it was loose, it looked tidy. She put on a clean dress and added her cardigan and the espadrilles she had bought at the market the last time they had been. She dithered about make-up. She was the nanny, it was first thing in the morning, it would look very odd, and as if she was trying to snare M. le Comte, her boss, if she arrived in the kitchen in full maquillage. But she couldn’t ignore the fact she was going to see a very attractive man she could (just possibly) be in love with. There was a compromise!
She dabbed a bit of lipstick on her finger and patted it on to her lips so it hardly showed. She put a bit of eyeliner round her eyes and carefully rubbed it off again so only the tiniest trace remained, and she inspected her face for flaws. The tiniest dab of powder applied to the end of her nose, and she decided she’d done all she could and went down to the kitchen.
‘Oh, you’re dressed!’ said Félicité, who wasn’t.
‘I do try to get dressed every day,’ said Alexandra, sounding a hundred times calmer than she felt. ‘It’s got to be a habit with me. Good morning, M. le Comte,’ she said formally.
There were many reasons why she shouldn’t appear too familiar with her boss and one of them was that she knew Félicité would be absolutely furious if she thought Alexandra was trying to ingratiate herself with her beloved papa.
‘Papa came home in the middle of the night!’ said Stéphie, still very excited at the wonder of this event.
Alexandra and Antoine exchanged a glance. ‘I heard him,’ said Alexandra. ‘At least, I heard Milou. I went down to see what was going on.’
‘That was brave of you,’ said Félicité. ‘Weren’t you scared it was burglars?’
‘I knew Milou would protect me if I needed protecting,’ Alexandra said. ‘Shall I make breakfast? I see the range is going well.’
‘Papa knows how to make it stay in,’ said Henri.
‘Good morning, Alexandra,’ said Antoine. ‘She was very brave to investigate my arrival, but perfectly right that Milou would protect her. Do you know, children, in England they have a book where the nanny is a dog?’
‘Peter Pan,’ confirmed Alexandra. ‘I did always think that was a little strange when I was growing up. Still do! What did we think about breakfast?’
‘I’m starving,’ said Henri.
‘Me too,’ said Antoine.
