‘We haven’t had any time off in the past three years,’ she said eventually. ‘If we haven’t had a party to cater for, we’ve been sourcing vintage crockery and linens and publicising our business at wedding fayres. It’s taken a while to build up a decent clientele and I suppose we’ll just have to put this recent loss down to experience.’
‘Very true.’
Ed stopped his horse and when Izzy’s paused next to him he pointed out the village in the distance, with its stone spire sticking up out of the haze. ‘The pool back there to the side of the lawns is where I learnt to swim,’ he said changing the subject to something less likely to ruin her mood.
Izzy looked thoughtful. ‘You mean the one with green water? I thought that was a large pond.’
Ed laughed. He was used to friends being surprised by their ancient stone pool when they’d come here on their first visit. ‘It doesn’t look much like the chlorinated pools most people have, that’s true, and it’s always freezing, but in the height of the summer it’s perfect.’
Izzy laughed. ‘I’ll take your word for it,’ she said.
He watched her, so happy despite her recent disappointment. Tired of being responsible and not acting on his instincts, Ed leaned over towards her. Come here for a moment, will you?’
‘Why?’ Izzy laughed, not sure what he wanted. She did as he asked, though, and brought Beau up next to Gaston’s side so that her stirrup accidentally banged against Ed’s ankle. She winced. ‘Sorry,’ she said, grimacing.
‘It’s fine,’ he resisted the urge to rub it. She looked so concerned about him that he smiled, wanting to reassure her that he was fine.
When her knee was resting against his, he reached out and putting his hand behind her head, pulled her gently towards him and kissed her. She didn’t resist. Her cool lips meeting his sent sparks through him. Ed realized that despite his usual reticence towards romance, he was in danger of falling very heavily for this girl.
Remembering the choice he was soon going to have to make, he pulled back. ‘You’re very lovely, Izzy,’ he said, wishing life didn’t have to be so complicated. ‘I’ve really enjoyed spending time with you here.’
‘Likewise,’ she said, collecting her horse’s reins.
He made a pretence of checking his watch. ‘I think it’s time we went back now.’
She nodded. He could see she was a little taken aback by his sudden change of mood. ‘One last canter though,’ he suggested, not wishing to upset her.
She smiled once again. ‘Great, I don’t know when I’ll get the chance to do this again, and I can’t imagine it’ll ever be in such glorious surroundings.’
‘Come one then,’ he said. He watched her horse shoot forward, struck by the sight of the woman in front of him riding with such expertise and enjoyment, her long hair flowing behind her as she almost flew towards the château. It was a vision he knew he’d never forget. His home and this woman, like two pieces in a fantasy puzzle. Unable to bear the thought a moment longer, he urged Beau on till he was alongside her. Izzy looked across at him, delight in her beautiful face as she leaned further forward in an effort to beat him. He wished he could capture this moment and hold on to it for ever.
She sat back in her saddle pulling gently on the reins to slow her horse as Ed did the same next to her. They brought their horses to a trot and then a walk. ‘They’re never going to cool down if we take them in now,’ she said.
Much as he wanted to carry on riding out here, they really did need to get back. ‘We’re going to have to leave them with the stable hands unfortunately; we’ll still have to shower and change for breakfast.’ She looked so disappointed he placed a hand comfortingly on her arm. ‘I can’t not have breakfast with my parents today.’
‘Oh, how selfish of me.’
‘It’s fine, I feel the same as you.’
‘They must miss you very much and you’ve only had one night here this time.’
He nodded. ‘I’ll come back to see them again soon, although it won’t be soon enough for my mother.’
‘Look,’ she pointed. ‘Is that one of the staff from the stables waiting by the corner of the château?’
‘It is.’
They dismounted and patted the horses. He watched Izzy giving Gaston a pat before handing him over to the stable hand. He then walked her back to her room, pausing outside her bedroom door.
‘I’ve enjoyed our rides very much, Izzy,’ he said. ‘I’m glad we had some time alone to get to know each other a bit before being crammed on the boat with the others.’
‘Me too,’ she said, standing on tiptoe to give him a kiss.
He put his arms around her, but then a door opened and Xav whooped, making Izzy jump and Ed want to hit him for ruining the moment.
‘Casanova,’ Xav teased. ‘Where have you been, I looked for you earlier in your room.’
‘I took Izzy out for a ride,’ Ed said, glaring at his brother over Izzy’s head, willing him to go back into his room and leave them for these precious few minutes. ‘We’ll see you at breakfast.’
Xav didn’t move.
Izzy stepped away from him into her room. ‘I’d better get in that shower, I don’t want to keep your mother waiting.’
He watched her close the door, aware that there probably wouldn’t be many, if any, occasions on their trip where they could spend time alone, and wished he’d thought to say so much more to her. Although, he decided, it was probably better if he kept his thoughts to himself. He began walking to his own room at the other end of the corridor, ignoring Xavier as he passed him.
‘What’s the matter, little brother?’ Xav laughed. ‘She’s very pretty, isn’t she?’
Ed stopped and turned to him. ‘Yes, she is, and you have a girlfriend back in Paris, no doubt, so don’t play games with her, or her friend.’
‘Or you, eh?’
Ed sighed heavily; he wasn’t in the mood for his brother’s teasing. ‘I have to freshen up, Xav. Go to breakfast, one of us has to be there on time.’
Chapter Seven
Izzy was relieved not to be sitting next to Ed on the train to Marseille: his presence made her feel disconcerted, which she doubly hated because she liked to be in control. She listened as Roman told them that Catherine and her husband would be meeting them in Marseille. Stefan had left the château a couple of hours before them to get a head start and complete any paperwork, so there were only her, Jess, Ed, Xavier, Roman, and the two other girls travelling together.
‘Xavier, he says you make pretty weddings with plates?’ Loulou said.
‘Not quite,’ Jess said, before going on to explain in a little more detail what exactly it was that Lapins de Lune did. ‘We’re event planners and arrange weddings and large, or small, parties for clients. We hire out our collection of vintage crockery and linens and also use them in our events if they’re suitable.’
‘The French name, why did you choose it?’ Nicolle asked.
‘My last name is Le Lievre,’ Izzy explained. ‘Which means “the hare”. I’ve also always had a thing about moon rabbits since my grandfather had a ceramic one in his garden that looked up at the sky.’
‘Yes,’ Jess continued. ‘And my last name is Moon, so we came up with Lapins de Lune: the moon rabbits.’
The girls considered this information and whispered something to each other. ‘That is very clever,’ Loulou said eventually. ‘And of course Ed he says that there are a lot of French road and house names in Jersey?’
‘Yes, so having a French name for our business isn’t something people find odd.’ Izzy was enjoying getting to know the two girls a little better. ‘So, what do you do then?’ she asked them.
‘I am a lawyer,’ Nicolle said.
Both Izzy and Jess couldn’t hide their surprise, or how impressed they were.
‘Wow,’ Jess said. ‘You must be pretty clever to do that for a living.’
Nicolle shrugged and smiled. ‘Non, pas du tout, it is simply studying and passing exam
s.’
Izzy nodded. ‘Yes, but years of studying and pretty difficult exams to pass. Good for you.’
Loulou held her hands out as if to show off her outfit. Izzy frowned, unable to work out what she was indicating. She couldn’t possibly be a model, she was too tiny for that. She wracked her brains to come up with something. ‘You’re a designer?’
‘Non,’ Loulou laughed. ‘I would like to be one, but I work in a boutique.’
‘Ahh,’ Izzy pointed at Loulou’s pretty summer dress. ‘That’s lovely, is it from the shop where you work?’
She nodded. ‘Yes.’
Nicolle said something to Loulou in French. Izzy was unable to catch it, but picked up that she’d mentioned Loulou’s mother.
‘Her mother,’ Nicolle explained. ‘She is a designer in Paris. She has a, how you say, row of shops?’
‘Um, a chain of shops, maybe,’ Jess offered.
‘Oui, that exactly,’ Nicolle nodded. ‘Loulou runs one of the shops for her mother.’
‘Yes,’ Loulou said. ‘I have two older sisters who run the other four shops between them. I like working at the shop very much.’
‘Can’t be bad having a mum who designs gorgeous clothes either,’ Jess said enviously.
Loulou nodded. ‘Yes, I like it very much.’
Xavier stopped chatting to his brothers and perched on the edge of Loulou’s seat, resting his arm along the back of it. ‘You ladies must stop talking about work,’ he laughed. ‘We are on holiday and must decide what we will be doing when we set sail on the yacht.’
‘Yes,’ Loulou giggled. ‘We must plan some fun times.’
Nicolle joined in the chatter, giving Izzy the chance to peer over to where Ed was sitting deep in conversation with Roman. Whatever it was they were discussing looked serious and she hoped nothing had happened to cause them concern.
Once they were off the train and had made their way to the port, Izzy and Jess stopped to breathe in the warm, salty air. ‘This is the start of our holiday now, Iz,’ Jess said closing her eyes and turning her face up to the sun.
Izzy did the same for a few seconds, relishing the heat on her face. ‘I’m already feeling a hundred per cent more relaxed than I did yesterday.’
‘Me too,’ Jess sighed.
They heard Roman calling them and realizing they would be left behind if they didn’t get a move on, Izzy nudged Jess and pointed to the others.
‘You’re looking much happier today, too,’ she said. ‘So that issue with the suppository was OK in the end?’ she whispered as they followed the others along the wide pale stone walkways to find Stefan and the boat that would be their home for the next three weeks.
Jess nodded. ‘I’m a convert,’ she giggled. ‘I’m going to buy more of them before I go back home, they’re brilliant.’
‘Isn’t is glorious here?’ Izzy asked, gazing round the huge expanse of water, so neatly surrounded on three sides by the stone promenade and road, then tall, majestic stone buildings. At the top of the port Jess and Izzy wandered along the stalls selling touristy gifts and fresh fish, still being unloaded from the small fishing boats moored to the quay wall.
‘Bloody hell, look at them,’ Jess said, giggling.
Izzy turned to stare in amusement at two gendarmes on Segways. They stopped at the end of the promenade, checked no one was walking past, and sped off along the port. ‘Now that’s a unique mode of transport for a policeman,’ she laughed. ‘Do you think those would go down well in Jersey?’
Jess laughed. ‘Probably not.’
It was so bright and clean that Izzy found it hard to imagine this place ever being the den of iniquity that her mother had described before she left home earlier in the week. ‘So many magnificent boats here, too, Alex would love it here.’
Jess pouted. ‘Yes, I thought so too. Such a shame he couldn’t come with us.’
Izzy didn’t say anything. ‘I wonder which yacht is ours?’ she said.
They caught up with the others just as Roman was telling Xavier to take the group to a nearby square for coffees while he tracked down Stefan. ‘I’ll meet you all there soon.’
Xavier led the way, chatting to Loulou, who giggled and cheekily patted his firm bottom. ‘Love’s young dream,’ Jess whispered.
Izzy smiled. ‘It’s going to be interesting when we’re all crammed on a small boat together.’
Jess narrowed her eyes and smiled. ‘Do I detect a hint of envy there?’ she teased.
‘No, you do not,’ Izzy said shaking her head, aware her friend knew her too well to believe her protestations. She didn’t admit that it was going to be difficult being in such close contact with Ed and on the yacht and not being able to kiss him whenever she felt the need.
‘Just as well by the looks of those two,’ Jess said. ‘I think if there isn’t already something going on, there soon will be.’ Jess put an arm round Izzy’s shoulders. ‘I’m just worried about being with bloody Catherine and resisting the urge to push her overboard,’ she added.
‘Jess, I said …’
Jess laughed. ‘I know. I must stop calling her that. I was only doing it to wind you up.’
‘Well, it worked. And don’t you dare push her off the boat.’
‘As if I would,’ Jess giggled.
‘This place looks good,’ Ed said as they arrived at a café. He pushed two tables together. ‘Coffees?’
‘Cappuccino for me, please,’ Izzy said.
‘Do you have the Wi-Fi code?’ Ed asked. The waiter wrote it down on a slip of paper and handed it to him. Ed placed it on the table. ‘Here you go. If anyone wants to send a message home, now’s the time to do it. We won’t have any Wi-Fi on the yacht.’
‘What if there’s an emergency?’ Jess asked.
Xavier smiled. ‘Don’t worry, we have a radio on board.’
Izzy typed in the code to the Wi-Fi and quickly sent a message to Alex and one to her mum. She then logged onto their website to see if they’d had any emails and apart from a couple of vague queries, which she answered, there were no new bookings. Her heart sank. She didn’t want to go home early, but the prospect of a July without any earnings was frightening. Bloody Catherine.
‘Everything OK?’ Ed asked, moving his seat closer to her.
The proximity of his leg to hers made her pulse race.
‘Fine thanks. I was just letting Alex know we were in Marseille and about to leave.’
‘Bookings?’ he asked quietly.
‘Nope,’ she said, unable to keep the concern from her voice.
He turned to face her. ‘It’ll work out somehow,’ he assured her. ‘Try to enjoy this time away, if you can.’
He reached out and rested his hand lightly on her back.
Izzy cleared her throat and nodded. ‘I will,’ she said.
They’d barely had time to start their drinks when Roman arrived in the square. Izzy spotted him looking from café to café trying to find them. ‘There’s Roman now,’ she said to Ed.
He stood up and waved him over. ‘Found him?’
‘Oui,’ then seeing the girls, said. ‘Er, we must hurry back to the boat for Stefan.’
‘Better drink up, you guys.’ Ed picked up his tiny cup of espresso and downed it, waiting for Izzy and Jess to drink their coffees at a more sedate speed. The other girls, also having ordered espressos, were standing and waiting for them within seconds.
‘Blimey, this is hot,’ Jess said, blowing frantically on her drink.
Eventually, they were ready and walked with Ed and the others to the boat.
‘Oh my God, look at the name,’ Jess said quietly. ‘Le Rêve.’
‘Yes, The Dream.’ Izzy was looking forward to having a few long nights’ dreaming, hopefully assisted by being rocked to sleep by the motion of the boat.
‘No, doughnut, I meant it’s our very own dreamboat.’
Izzy struggled to work out what Jess meant. ‘Sorry?’
‘The Dream boat.’
‘Er, yes?�
��
‘Well, isn’t Ed your very own dreamboat? I know Roman’s mine.’
Izzy laughed and shook her head. ‘I think you need to catch up on your sleep like I do, Jess.’
They stood on the quay and stared at the wooden yacht in front of them which, Izzy was shocked to discover, was only forty-six feet in length. ‘Are we all going to fit on that?’ she asked.
‘There are three double berths,’ Stefan shouted down from the deck, not bothering to hide his amusement at her shock. ‘At night a two-man bed can be made up in the galley. We’ll take it in turns to sleep in the berths and each night two people will sleep on deck to keep an eye on everything. We don’t want to all be asleep if another ship passes by us, do we?’
‘I’m not sleeping on the deck,’ Jess said, grimacing at Izzy. ‘I wouldn’t know what to do if anything happened.’
Stefan tilted his head. ‘I will teach you; it will be OK.’
Izzy wasn’t certain she would want to keep watch on the deck either, but thought she’d find out exactly what it entailed before causing a fuss. Anyway, Catherine and her new husband still hadn’t arrived. She hoped that maybe they might have changed their minds about joining them. Then they could all have more space.
‘It is beautiful,’ Izzy said, knowing nothing about boats but loving the sleek lines.
‘I’m not climbing up there,’ Jess said pointing to the top of the mast.
‘I can’t imagine Stefan will ask you to,’ Izzy laughed, hoping she was right. ‘It’s an impressive boat though, don’t you think?’
‘Certainly is.’
‘Girls.’ Roman called the four of them on board. ‘Pass me your bags.’ He took them and handed them over to Ed who was standing next to him on the deck. ‘Come this way and I’ll show you to your cabins.’
They followed him down the narrow wooden stairs. ‘You two are on the port side,’ Stefan said from the galley. When they looked confused he pointed to a door at the back of the boat on the left. ‘Nicolle et Loulou, a droit.’
Izzy opened the door to where she and Jess would be sleeping and stared at the double berth that took up the majority of the small space with only a small floor area for them to stand while they changed. ‘The porthole opens,’ she said unscrewing two of the bolts on the sides and pushing the glass to let a bit of air in the stuffy space.
The Jersey Scene series box set Page 71
