Hattie nodded.
‘But you don’t know us.’
‘It’s your home.’ Hattie patted her arm. ‘And if I’m honest, it feels that Yvette has more right to have her wedding party there than anyone else.’ Then she smiled. ‘Also I have an ulterior motive.’
‘You do?’
‘We will need some staff for Gabby’s wedding, to serve the food, to set up the tables, lay them. If you can help us find the right people to do that, we can help you. I can always order an extra fridge.’
‘Seriously?’ Solange gazed at her with starstruck adoration. ‘You would do that.’
‘It would help,’ said Fliss. ‘We could hire everything together and … I assume Juliet Garnier might be a little amenable to helping us.’
Solange dropped her head. ‘Sorry.’
‘No matter,’ said Hattie. It wasn’t Solange’s fault. ‘It’s much easier doing two events together than two separately.’
‘This is such a weight off my mind,’ said Solange, tears welling up in her eyes, as she clasped the hands of both Fliss and Hattie. ‘I’ve been so worried about what will happen. Yvette has always been strong-willed and normally I handle her, but at the moment she’s also very emotional because her father won’t be at her wedding. They were always very close. She and Alphonse have been fighting like lions and tigers. And I’ve been caught in the middle. Of course, I want my daughter to have the wedding she wants but I don’t want Alphonse to have to lie to Luc or possibly lose his job. Monsieur Brémont, Luc’s father, still owns the château. He is the one who rented the house to this wedding party. If he is displeased, he might not let Luc stay to make champagne.’
‘Between us, we’ll make sure both wedding parties have the weddings they want without impinging on anyone else,’ said Hattie perhaps more boldly than she felt, especially as Gabby hadn’t responded to any of her emails or texts this week. It would be a bit of a juggling act but with everyone onside, surely they could manage it. In the meantime, she would be having serious words with a certain Luc Brémont. It was just one more reason to be angry with him. He’d obviously known about Yvette’s wedding all along. Is that why he’d been soniceto her?
ChapterTwenty
Hattie stomped down to the vineyard, marching through the vines in search of her prey. Her original intention had been to play it cool with Luc when she next saw him, ignore what had happened with Marine and pretend she wasau faitwith casual relationships, but now she had a good reason to pick a fight with him.
He and Alphonse were standing at the end of one of the rows in earnest discussion, examining the vine leaves and peering underneath the canopy. They both looked up at her angry Amazonian approach.
‘Hattie,’ said Alphonse, with an I-know-we’re-in-trouble-but-let’s-see-if-we-can-front-it-out smile. ‘How are you today?’
She glared at him and was glad to see a glimmer of alarm on his face. Nice girl Hattie had left the building. No one would be charming her today.
‘Luc, can I have a word?’ she snapped.
Alphonse smirked and murmured something in French to Luc, before picking his hat up from the top of one of the fence posts, putting it on and sauntering off, whistling.
‘Hattie.’ He threw down the secateurs he was holding and strode forward to grasp her arms. ‘Where have you been? I’ve been looking for you everywhere, to explain and to apologise.’ How dare he sound so cross?
Damn, it was annoying. He’d caught her out; she’d deliberately gone to the market to avoid speaking to him. She folded her arms and then immediately unfolded them because it looked defensive, which it was even though she wasn’t in the wrong here, and then folded them again because she didn’t know what else to do. She must have looked an even bigger idiot than she felt.
‘Hattie, last night. It must have looked so terrible. And there was no time to explain. I promise you it was a business engagement. I completely forgot that I agreed to accompany Marine to theComitédinner. It’s an important networking event and I’d promised Alphonse I’d go – he hates things like that. It was only when I saw the car coming up the drive that I remembered and changed into my tux. You must have thought I was a complete bastard.’
‘I did,’ said Hattie, now a little wary as she studied his face.
He had an honest face, damn him.
‘Would it help if I told you that my brain was so scrambled by that kiss, everything had gone out of my mind?’
Whaat!
‘Nice try, Luc,’ she said, determined not to be swayed by the smooth words.
‘But true.’ He sighed, reached forward and brushed a strand of hair from her face. ‘I can’t seem to think straight around you.’
‘I’m sure you can.’ She swallowed. Don’t give in, Hattie.
‘I’m sure I can’t,’ he said and cupped her face, leaning in to kiss her.
She could have moved, ducked away, but then again, it appeared she couldn’t. Her mouth softened as soon as his lips touched hers, that frantic fizz of excitement reigniting in her chest.
