The touch of his lips. So soft, but she could feel the power of what they were cushioning and it was something huge. Like passion. Protection. Love…?
Whatever it was, she wanted it. All of it.
Surely he could feel that? And yet the kiss remained gentle. Restrained. Achingly tender.
And it finished way too soon.
For one long, long moment they’d stood very still, bathed in moonlight, staring into each other’s eyes and then, without saying a word, Luc took hold of Sophie’s hand and led her to the steps that would take them back to the house.
She didn’t say anything, either. Because too many thoughts were jostling for room in her head?
She could imagine it felt just as overwhelming for Luc – a maelstrom of emotions that was created by the alchemy of the past and present colliding. She’d felt it before, when she’d seen him for the first time in almost a decade as he made his way up that semicircle of stone steps leading into the Château d’Orval. She hadn’t been able to physically run from it but she’d somehow managed to shield herself from it emotionally.
With that first touch of his lips on hers, it felt like they’d held hands and jumped right into the middle of that turbulent mix of memories and feelings. Of golden happiness and dark desire. Of joy and grief, separation and new beginnings.
It was wild.
Exciting.
But oh, so scary. There were powerful forces pulling Sophie in opposite directions.
The attraction was undeniably irresistible but it wasn’t any less dangerous than it had been twelve years ago, and wasn’t that the reason that Tom had been so easy to fall in love with? Whyhe’dbeen the man she’d willingly chosen to marry?
Was that danger mitigated by the overwhelmingly touching tribute to Tom that Luc was devoting his life to with the youth centre and its purpose? Did it matter that it might be driven by the guilt he felt that he’d been the one driving that night but it had been Tom who died?
Were there any fragments left of her vow to hate him for the rest of life?
As they reached the upper terrace, they dropped their handhold. It was time to step back into the present.
‘Are you finished here?’ Luc asked.
‘Not quite. I need to double-check everything and make sure the house is immaculate for Henri’s mother and sister to return to it later this evening.’
Luc nodded slowly. ‘And I need to drive back to Draguignan. Moreish Photography has a booking in Paris tomorrow. I’m due to fly back to London after that. There’s a lot happening with both the business and the house.’
The look they shared acknowledged that a little distance right now was probably wise. The significance of that kiss was misted around them – like a scent that evoked a memory of something significant but elusive. It felt like it could have been either a beginning or an ending.
Perhaps that it was a choice they both had to make.
One that was big enough to need caution, because it could change the rest of their lives.
Sophie watched him leave, her thoughts clearing enough to realise that she’d been left with two very strong impressions.
The first was that Luc Moreau was a person whose life was already defined by the tribute he was creating to the man they’d both loved. That he was capable of the kind of love that offered unwavering, unconditional loyalty, love and honesty along with a level of trustworthiness that was unparalleled. Even death hadn’t dented his devotion to Tom.
And the second was… confusion. She knew that her first impression was an accurate one because it felt true. As true as the fact that being kissed by Luc had felt like exactly where she was supposed to be.
Because it felt like she had – finally – come home.
But neither of those realisations fitted the kind of man she had decided Luc was the night Tom had died. A man who hadn’t protected his best friend. A man who had destroyed the entire life Sophie had thought she had ahead of her. A man who’d taken everythingsafeaway from her.
A man who was every bit as dangerous as her mother’s lover had been. The man who’d been drivingthatvehicle – the person who had damaged her father’s life beyond repair, left her half an orphan and instilled a deep mistrust of any men with that irresistibly sexy, bad boy vibe.
The first recognisable doubt that she might have been very wrong had been conceived as she listened to Luc opening his heart and telling her things she was quite sure he’d never told anyone else.
The second had been born during a kiss that had left her in no doubt at all about how much control Luc had over what they both knew was simmering beneath the sweet poignancy of that intimate touch.
And maybe that was when somethinginconceivable had been glimpsed.
