He held my eyes for a long moment. ‘I loved Esther,’ he said at last. ‘If only because she gave me Emma. And I wish she had not died. I wish that so powerfully and always will. But I didn’t love her the way I love you. If she hadn’t died, I have no doubt we would have gone our separate ways and probably been happy. But she did die, and I can’t change that.’
‘No.’
‘What I can change is the here and now.’ He smiled. ‘Do you know how fed up with me my friend Matthew, the taxi driver, has been in the last few days? I kept asking him to go out for a drink and then boring his pants off with moaning about this amazing, gorgeous, fantastic young woman who’d come to work at the Villa Matisse and who I was desperate to make a pass at but didn’t dare.’
I blinked. ‘Crumbs. Am I that scary?’
He laughed. ‘You have your moments. And I am verygauche and clumsy.’ Then he looked serious. ‘But in truth, I was on the point of gearing myself up to tell you how I felt – you know, that evening after you’d had lunch with Jess when she said she’d have Alphonse – when you showed me your Christmas present from Jules.’
‘I didn’t show it to you. Your beady eyes spotted it on the kitchen table.’
He laughed again. ‘So they did. Well, whatever. I immediately assumed – wrongly, I hope – that you were doing a line with Jules.’
‘No, never. That is,’ I amended, ‘we had a couple of dates together, but there was never anything in it with Jules, or not for me at least.’
Luc looked at me thoughtfully. ‘I think he’s pretty keen on you, you know.’
I snorted. ‘He’ll survive.’
‘You’re right there.’ He pondered a moment. ‘He always does. In fact, do you know something, Alix? All the years I’ve been friends with Jules, I’ve never been able to suss him out. There’s a side to the man that I just don’t understand.’ The platform had emptied out, but we were still sitting jammed together on the bench. ‘I’m glad he likes you, though.’ Holding me away from him, he treated me to a teasing little smile. ‘Because maybe I could ask him to be my best man.’
‘You don’t mean—’ I caught my breath.
‘I do. Although, actually, that’s what I hope you’re going to say. I love you, Ms Alix Bailey.’ Taking both my hands as though he were making a pledge, he said, ‘How do you feel about becoming Mrs Alix Mandeville?’
I stared at him. ‘I… I don’t know.’
He paused, looking suddenly uncertain. ‘Do you want me to get down on one knee? I will if you like, but I warn you that with my forty-eight-year-old knees, you’ll probably have to help me up afterwards, which will mean the gesture loses something of its charm.’
I took a deep breath. ‘I don’t do charm.’
‘What?’
‘Giancarlo was all charm and I never loved him. I thought I did at the time and for quite a while afterwards, but I didn’t. I loved something called charm. So now I don’t do charm.’
He studied me a second or two before asking carefully, ‘Do you do me?’
I considered him equally carefully. ‘I do,’ I said.
‘Then that’s the answer I wanted.’ Pulling me to my feet, he threw his arms around me, holding me so close it felt like he’d never let me go. ‘Emma will be pleased, won’t she?’ he said happily. ‘And Jess, and I hope Carl too.’
‘He will. Carl really liked you.’
‘Let’s go home and make plans.’ He looked about him. ‘Where’s your suitcase?’ he said. I looked about me as well. And then I gasped.
‘Luc, I hate to tell you this but…’
‘But what? What do you hate to tell me?’
‘My suitcase has departed on the slow train to Milan.’
For a split second, he looked mystified, then suddenly he roared with laughter.
‘Oh, Alix, my dearest, dearest love,’ he croaked. ‘How ever did I exist without you?’
‘But it’s got all my clothes in it! That is, most of them.’
‘We’ll get you some more.’ He started kissing me again. ‘Although, on second thoughts, maybe you won’t be needing them…’
