Fran sucked in a sharp breath, inching it out before replying. Perhaps the pause was enough of an answer, but not answering him wouldn’t change the facts.
‘She’s not with us anymore. She was hit by a car and, well, she never recovered from her injuries.’
‘Oh, God. I’m so sorry. Trust me to put my size nines straight into my own mouth.’
Fran shook her head. ‘It’s fine. How could you have known?’ She switched the focus away from herself, she didn’t want him digging any deeper. ‘How about you? Just the one brother?’
‘That’s right. Noel’s a few years younger than me.’ Johnny didn’t elaborate, instead he sighed into the darkness, then his frame gained purpose and he swung the torch around withincreased vigour. ‘It’s always been the two of us, I suppose. So, where are we going to look next?’
As Fran led the way around the rear of the chateau’s boundary line, towards a cluster of outbuildings the outlines of which Johnny could just about make out, he was grateful Fran hadn’t pushed him any harder for family details. It wasn’t as though he had anything to hide, it was more that their parents’ difficult relationship had meant he and Noel had relied heavily on one another when they were growing up. It wasn’t a lightweight tale, certainly not something with which to impress a girl. His relationship with Noel had always been complex and remained so, but it had been by far the longest surviving fixed point in his life.
For the first time, it struck Johnny that Estelle might end up being an only child. Until this moment he’d not stopped to consider how that landed with him. The fact she wouldn’t have a brother or sister to stand with her as she faced the world, or how it would be for Estelle after he and Natalie were gone. Because, as Fran had alluded to, life was precarious – being hit by a proverbial bus was no further away for anyone than a roll of the dice. How would Estelle cope with life if she was all alone?
‘The chef seems to think Red might hide out in here,’ Fran was saying, as she tugged at one of the shed doors.
Johnny cast his torch beam around inside the cluttered space, but his mind was elsewhere. He supposed his worry about Estelle was no more than him overthinking. Again. And although there was certainty in the understanding that he was never getting back together with Natalie, he supposed there was no reason why Natalie wouldn’t go on and find a new partner – might already have found him. There was no reason to assume she wouldn’t choose to have more children with the bloke. So,Estelle would have half-siblings. Somehow the thought brought a hint of comfort to Johnny.
A fruitless search in and around the buildings had Fran visibly frustrated, and Johnny’s well of knowledge about how to track and find a feral cat had dried up a while ago. In fact, there hadn’t been much in the way of water in the well to begin with. Perhaps he should go online and do some research.
‘I think we should call it a night,’ Fran said.
‘Agreed.’
As they headed back towards the chateau’s subdued outside lighting, Fran turned to thank him. She looked tired, disappointed. A smudge of vulnerability clouded her gaze.
‘Are you planning to give up on Red?’ he asked.
The shake of Fran’s head was instant and carried enough strength to make strands of her dark bob swirl around her face. ‘No way.’
‘Good. Me neither.’
A quizzical expression chased away the vulnerability. ‘Do you mind if I ask why you care about a stray cat?’
Johnny caught himself in time, before the words left his mouth. Before he told her his primary interest did not lie with the cat. He’d already decided he wasn’t going to go down the relationship route again, so why was he permitting himself to be impressed by this woman? Why was he getting carried away, allowing himself to enjoy spending time with Fran? No, he needed to shut it all down, and he opted for a move of what he imagined would be unparalleled self-sabotage.
‘My daughter loves cats, and I know she’d want me to help Red.’
By the time Penny heard Fran finally return to the staff quarters, she was almost ready for bed. She’d hung around with Harry while he cleaned down the kitchen, then bummed a couple of Gauloises from Chef Louis before he went home, to share withHarry on the steps outside the linen room. As they smoked the cigarettes, they’d chatted and laughed just like always, and yet still Harry made no move. She’d done her best to steer the conversation onto flirtier topics, but he hadn’t taken the bait. Penny wasn’t sure how to make her intentions any clearer, bar knocking on his door at two in the morning wearing nothing but a sexy smile.
The weird thing was that usually men couldn’t wait to get Penny into bed. To be honest, they didn’t always wait that long. If Penny had to make a list of all the places she’d ended up being inappropriate after a drunken night out in one of her local clubs back home, she’d need a decent-sized piece of paper. So, it wasn’t as though Harry needed to treat her like she was some delicate flowery female, all soft and fragile and ready to burst into tears at the first sign of trouble. No, Penny was tough. She knew what she wanted when she saw it, and generally speaking, she got what she wanted, especially where blokes were concerned. This was the first time she’d been made to play the long game. Which was why Harry was, quite frankly, driving her bonkers.
Assuming she wasn’t going to knock on his door in the small hours of the morning, then, with a rose clamped between her teeth and a silky negligee covering nothing but the essentials, maybe at some point over the next couple of days she should just come straight out and ask him whether or not he was interested. Then she could stop beating herself up about it and put the whole Harry thing to bed. Ha. The irony.
With a late-night digestive biscuit raided from the staff biscuit box in one hand, and thoughts of seducing Harry on the back-burner for this evening at least, Penny was about to head for her room when Fran padded down the corridor towards her, flat black shoes in one hand and a look of exhaustion on her face.
‘Where on earth have you been?’ Penny asked.
‘Looking for Red. One of the guests was helping me.’
‘You what?’ Penny grinned. ‘You’re roping in the hotel guests now?’
After Fran had explained about the lone guy from the honeymoon suite stopping her in the car park and their subsequent clandestine search for the cat, Penny’s grin had ratcheted all the way up to full power. ‘Seriously? You think the guy’s interested in the cat? Get a grip, Fran.’
‘Well, that had better be all he’s interested in.’
In Penny’s opinion, the pucker of skin between Fran’s eyes didn’t tally with her words.
‘Why?’
