He’d said he knew the reason for her abrupt departure. She couldn’t imagine how he knew, but at least they were going to talk, It was something she’d been craving since last night. This time he wasn’t hurrying off to meet another deadline. Just the opposite, in fact.
It had been such a wrench to leave this afternoon without seeing him again, she’d phoned Emma in order to hold on to what little sanity she had left.
Emma—
Rachel would have to call her back, but not right now. She couldn’t think. All she was capable of doing was keeping him in her sights.
Before long she realized the convent was his destination.
This time he took a circuitous route through a forested area of the estate. The private road wound through the underbrush until it came out on another courtyard where she glimpsed a rectangular swimming pool.
With the temperature of the air still rising, the blue water looked divine.
Luc parked his car and walked over to her.
“Before we do anything else, let’s cool off, shall we?”
“I didn’t bring a swimming costume with me.”
“That’s not a problem. Giselle and I both have apartments here. You can use her room. I believe you’ll find everything you need in one of the big chests.”
That explained how he’d changed out of his suit into casual clothes the first night they’d met.
He opened her door so she could slide out from behind the wheel. Before she knew it, he’d reached for her cases.
“This is a fabulous place, Luc.”
They walked toward a door he unlocked with a remote from his pocket.
“There’s a lot of history here. Giselle and I have always liked it. Years ago she staked out the mother superior’s room. It’s larger than the cells once used by the professed nuns.”
Rachel chuckled. “You didn’t mind?” she asked as he led her into a shadowy corridor with doors on both sides. They climbed the stone steps to the next floor.
“Not with this pool right outside. In the summers the parents would stay here. After they went to bed, Yves and I used to sneak in our friends.
“Of course the parents knew all about it. Maman would pretend to be shocked, but we always found food waiting when we raided the kitchen in the middle of the night.”
“How fun for you.”
“Our childhood was pretty idyllic.”
“That’s the way every child’s should be.”
Their eyes met in silent understanding.
He opened a door on the left. Rachel peeked inside and let out a soft gasp.
With the exception of a modern queen-sized bed, the interior looked very much the way it must have done in the fourteen hundreds.
“Oh, Luc—”
She didn’t think anything could eclipse this sight until she glanced at him and felt the full brunt of his captivating white smile.
He lowered her cases to the inlaid hardwood floor.
“There’ll be plenty of time for you to take pictures—” he read her mind “—but first things first.
“We have a rule around here. The last one in the pool will have to pay the consequences.”