“No hurry.” Cami looked around. It made total sense that the owner’s bedroom was next to the nursery. She wondered why his wife hadn’t been here to let them in this morning. But anything to do with him was none of her business. Cami needed to put a governor on her thoughts.
Unfortunately his image remained in her mind and she had difficulty taking her own advice while she helped carry her mom’s equipment to the third bathroom so they could begin first thing in the morning. Her mother deserved an easier life. Cami was determined to make that happen for both of them. But the operation might not fix what was wrong. That was the big imponderable.
Soon her mom had finished and their day’s work was done, but they’d be back tomorrow. That meant Cami would be seeing him again. Her heart did a little kick she seemed to have no control over. Ridiculous when the man had a family, even if she hadn’t seen a wedding band.
His fabulous villa had to be worth millions. Though it had sat idle for a while and truly did need a good cleaning, everything looked in excellent condition.
Again she tried to imagine owning a home like his, the kind you’d see in one of the posh interior design magazines from Provence. Imagine living in it with the right man, making a home with him, never worrying that your heart might give out just when life was getting wonderful...
But that was pure fiction. If she wanted any kind of a future for herself and her mother, she would have to work by the sweat of her brow for as long as life and her heart allowed her to draw breath. She had learned never to depend on anyone else.
They asked Madame Gilbert to make sure the ladder was moved to the third bedroom with the drop cloth, then they left. On their way home, she pulled in to their favorite deli to pick up dinner so they wouldn’t have to cook. After coming back out, she started up the van and soon she’d parked at the side of their apartment. “We worked hard today. Let’s go in. I’m hungry too, Maman.”
* * *
After walking around the property with the gardener while they discussed what needed to be done, Raoul had gone to the kitchen for a soda. From the window he’d happened to see the housecleaners leave and couldn’t help focusing his gaze on the sensational-looking woman who climbed in the driver’s seat of the first van.
When he’d started down the upstairs hall earlier in the day, he’d seen her up on the ladder. She had to be five seven, possessing a shapely figure. For a brief moment he’d caught her against his body to prevent her from hitting the floor. Even now he still remembered how she’d felt and the scent of her flowery fragrance.
With her glistening black hair pulled away from her face wearing those safety glasses, she cut a picture that refused to leave his mind. In all his experience he’d never met a female with eyes the exact hue of the tassel hyacinths that grew on Fontesquieu property near the vineyards.
Her coloring was a marvel of nature like Provence itself. It shocked him that he’d become so physically aware of this female when Antoinette’s memory had filled his heart for close to three years.
That woman had been the love of his life, but before he could marry her, Sabine Murat, the woman he’d broken up with a month before meeting Antoinette, had come back into his life. He’d slept with Sabine once, but realized he didn’t love her. To his shock, Sabine had been to the doctor and was pregnant with Raoul’s baby.
His world fell apart. He did the honorable thing by giving up Antoinette and marrying Sabine, but he’d lost the woman he’d loved and concentrated on the coming baby, only to learn after its birth that the baby wasn’t his and had died of a bad heart within the first month of life.
Sabine had lied to him about the baby’s paternity. The news meant he’d been forced to endure needless pain during a soulless marriage, and he divorced her.
He had only recently learned through Antoinette’s stepsister Nathalie that she’d given birth to Raoul’s son whom she’d named Alain. Now his life had turned to joy so he could start a new life with his boy. Raoul couldn’t wait for everything to be done and left for La Gaude.
Arlette, Alain’s grandmother, had already gone home in her car. En route he dropped by his former suite in the north wing of the Château Fontesquieu where Sabine had remained during the separation. There were two averaged-sized framed oil paintings of significance to him, plus a set of two journals he wanted bequeathed to him by his great uncle Jerome. They represented the life work of a master vintner.
It didn’t surprise him to see that before Sabine had returned to her parents’ château in nearby St. Paul-de-Vence, she’d literally cleaned everything out, including those items she knew he valued most. He grimaced as he looked around. Somehow he’d find a way to get them back. As for right now, he had the satisfaction of knowing the whole ghastly ordeal had come to an end.
Raoul tossed his key on the kitchen counter and closed the door literally on his old life before walking back out to his car. Being with his son had made him feel reborn. He left the estate, eager to be with Alain.
Tomorrow the man who’d serviced the swimming pools for the former owner would be coming to the villa to check out the indoor pool and get it ready. The outdoor pool had a cover over it. He’d worry about it in the spring.
Now was the time to teach Alain how to swim. Raoul planned that he and his son would get use out of it every day. In time they’d be going out on the Mediterranean in his sailboat. It was vital his boy be able to handle himself in any kind of water.
When he thought about tomorrow, the knowledge that the cleaning people would be at the villa for a few more days was an added plus. He intended to find out the gorgeous woman’s name and more.
* * *
By 8:00 a.m. Tuesday, Madame Gilbert had opened the back door of the villa to let the cleaners in. Cami and her mother walked upstairs. Today they would tackle the third and fourth bedrooms and bathrooms.
Maybe the striking owner and his wife had other children who would be occupying these bedrooms, though he hadn’t talked about any. The sight from the third bedroom window looked out on the property’s greenery and outdoor pool. What a wonderful place to grow up.
When the owner had mentioned his son, she’d felt such love coming from him. A father’s love was a great thing. She missed hers and turned away from the window to get busy.
After lunch in the van, her mother finished the third bathroom while Cami started on the fourth bedroom. As she was setting up, she heard a knock on the open door and turned her head to see the owner.
“I thought I’d better announce myself first before you saw me.” That deep masculine voice of his curled its way through her insides. He brought in the ladder from the other room, which he set up for her.
“Thank you. My mother and I were going to bring it in.”
“Now you don’t have to. I’ll move it wherever you wish. Just ask.”