Alexandra’s mind was in turmoil. It had never occurred to her that the job wasn’t in Paris. Now she had no idea if she wanted the job or not.
At that moment, the man who’d been working in the corner got up and crossed the room to speak to her.
‘Mademoiselle, you would be looking after my children and, naturally, they are very dear to me. Can I trust you to look after them for me?’
Several things occurred to Alexandra all at the same time. The first was that this man was extremely attractive, the second was that he must be the man Donna had met at the dinner party, and finally that she felt she couldn’t let him down.
‘Of course, monsieur.’ Too late she remembered his business card said he was a count and corrected herself. ‘M. le Comte.’
He was tall, with hair that was almost black and dark eyes fringed with long eyelashes. He had a long, slightly hooked nose and a mouth that curled at the corners.
He was, Alexandra realised with a sinking feeling, almost impossible not to fall in love with. At that moment she felt she would go to the ends of the earth for him, let alone to Provence.
M. le Comte bowed slightly. ‘Thank you, mademoiselle, I am very grateful.’ Then he left the room.
‘Good!’ said Mme Dubois, a bit more unbending now Alexandra had obviously been passed as suitable by her employer. ‘I will write you a quick itinerary. You depart from the Gare de Lyon. I suggest you take some light summer dresses as it can be very hot in Provence even in autumn. You will be collected at the station when you arrive. There is a housekeeper at the chateau, so really your job will be very easy.’ She went on to relay a few more details of what was expected.
Alexandra smiled stiffly. As Mme Dubois relaxed she became more tense. ‘I will do my best to be satisfactory.’
Mme Dubois bowed and very nearly smiled properly. ‘But of course!’
Donna had arranged to meet Alexandra in a café near where Alexandra had her interview. Donna was bouncing with eagerness to hear how Alexandra had got on, while Alexandra just wanted to sit and sip a glass of cold water. She planned to follow this with a glass of cognac to calm her nerves.
‘Well?’ said Donna. ‘Did you get the job? Will they tell you later? Shall I order champagne?’
Alexandra nodded. ‘That would be lovely. Although I’m not sure we’re celebrating.’
Donna gave the order while looking at her sharply. ‘Why not? Didn’t you get it? Antoine – the man you met – seemed desperate when we spoke last night.’
‘I did get the job.’ Alexandra watched as the waiter filled her glass. ‘But it’s not quite what I thought it was.’
‘What do you have to do?’
‘Be a nanny, but it’s not that I’m worried about. The job isn’t in Paris; it’s in Provence!’
Donna’s face fell. ‘Oh. I had hoped—'
‘I know! So had I! I thought we could have had a lovely time in Gay Paree.’
Donna still looked full of disappointment. ‘I was so looking forward to having a friend in Paris. Now I’ll never see you again!’
‘You’ll see me when I come back. In a month. I have to come back to get the train to Switzerland.’ Alexandra was partly telling herself this. Although she had willingly accepted her task, she had misgivings. Provence seemed remote and far away from civilisation and she had no idea what her relations would say.
They drank their champagne and then, partly to cheer up Donna, who was looking so bleak, Alexandra said, ‘Let’s go shopping. I need underwear.’
‘Monoprix. That’s where you want to go. I can take you.’ Donna smiled a little sadly. ‘It’s not quite the Champs-Élysées but it’s what we need.’
Chapter Four
Alexandra was excited all over again the next morning when the train left Paris, but she knew she was in for a long journey and had come prepared.
Donna had insisted on coming to the station with her, and bought two filled baguettes, fruit and a bottle of Perrier water. The previous day, Alexandra had taken Donna to the Left Bank and sought out the famous English bookshop, Shakespeare and Company. She bought a French/English dictionary and two novels for the journey. Donna had wanted to donate the Larousse Gastronomique to her but Alexandra had said it was too heavy to carry and was part of the fixtures and fittings of Donna’s apartment. Their farewells were surprisingly emotional, considering they had only known each other for a very short time.
A few hours later, Alexandra had eaten her picnic, peeling the apples with her Swiss Army knife, which she never travelled without. Across the aisle was a man and his wife and he also had a knife. It was an Opinel clasp knife that he used to attack ham on the bone. It made her little knife seem too dainty for words.
She’d read most of one book (rationing herself so she’d have something for the month ahead) and studied the dictionary carefully, several times. She spent a long time looking out of the window before at last the train trundled into the station.
The scenery, especially latterly, had been wonderful. The countryside had been painted gold by sun and the changing season. She’d passed fields of sunflowers, yellow and brown, and lavender fields, harvested now, so the grey bushes crawled over the hills like fat caterpillars. Grape-pickers in large straw hats, baskets on their backs, gathered fruit from vines that were scarlet in the sunshine. Villages of golden stone clung to the hilltops. And even though it was October, the light – the reason artists went to Provence, Alexandra knew – was still special. While she looked out of the window, she tried very hard not to think about the man in the office, the Comte de Belleville, the children’s father. She did not believe in love at first sight. She may have only been just twenty but she had quite a lot of second-hand experience of love. The various nannies and companions who had looked after her over the years had mostly been young and hadn’t held back from telling Alexandra when their hearts were broken. She had resolved from an early age (she had been about ten) not to succumb to love if she could possibly help it.
