The Temptress

by C. J. Fallowfield

  ‘Relax, this is me you’re talking to. Luc flew home early when he heard Tristan asked why he couldn’t come to the zoo with us and they’re both in my bed talking, awaiting a hot chocolate. He’s officially called him “Daddy” today.’

  ‘Ahhhh,’ they moaned in unison, pulling soft faces.

  ‘Tell me about it, don’t look like that or I’ll start crying again. I’m a blubbering mess today.’

  ‘Wait until tomorrow,’ scoffed Dom, then grimaced as Coco turned to glare at him.

  ‘Why will I be a blubbering mess tomorrow?’ I frowned.

  ‘Because …’

  ‘The Notebook’s on tomorrow night and it’s only your favourite film,’ nodded Coco.

  ‘It is? How did I miss seeing that was on?’ I asked. That wasn’t like me, evening TV was my way of switching off when Tristan went to bed and I usually scanned the week ahead for films. Then again I had a delicious French distraction at night now. ‘What channel?’

  ‘Not sure, I forget. We’d better let you go, see you soon, love you,’ she called as she blew me a kiss.

  ‘Love you too, both of you,’ I replied, as I blew one back and frowned to see I’d already been cut off. What was that all about? I grabbed my work phone quickly and turned it on. Usually I made a point of leaving it off when it was this special weekend with Tristan, but as I wasn’t in work next week, given it was the first week of the Summer holidays, I wanted to make sure Vi was ok. I sent her a quick email, then re-boiled the kettle and made up a tray with three hot chocolates and a couple of biscuits each and headed upstairs. I stood in the bedroom door, my heart melting like hot candle wax, spilling down onto the floor. Luc was lying back, propped up on a few pillows, with his arm around Tristan, who had his head on Luc’s chest and Eric under his arm. Both of them were fast asleep already. I took the tray of hot chocolate back downstairs and sat at the island drinking mine as I smiled at the sight I’d just seen in my bed, before returning with my phone and taking a picture. That was worth giving up sex for. I turned off the lights and snuck in on the other side of Tristan, putting my arm over him, to clutch Luc’s hand.

  Luc was right, best day ever.

  Lulu

  Sunday

  David, Luc’s chauffeur, had turned up this morning to collect us all and we’d headed out into the country, ending up at Luc’s house. I looked at him curiously, I’d thought we were going out for Sunday lunch. He smiled at me as he deftly undid Tristan’s seat belt on the car seat and lifted him out, carrying him on one hip as he held out his hand for me and led me to the front door. He opened it and gestured for me to go in first, but I stalled in my tracks. It hadn’t been that long since I’d last been here, the walls had still been bare plaster, but now they were painted in a soft dove grey, just highlighting the brilliance of the white gloss on the original dado rails. There were a couple of cosy leather arms chairs by the fireplace and some artwork on the walls, pieces I recognised after he’d been asking me my tastes. I walked in as he gently guided me forward, closing the front door behind him and opened the door to the formal lounge, which was done in the same colour palette, filled with distressed white baroque furniture. I could just imagine afternoon high tea being served in here in winter time, with a roaring fire and glasses of champagne.

  ‘How?’ I uttered, as I looked up at him.

  ‘Money is a powerful commodity and motivator,’ he chuckled. We wandered over to the door off the hall to the dining room. It was sumptuously done in deep purples with silver and lime green accents, with the largest table I’d ever seen in the centre and more stunning original chandeliers to match those in the hall.

  ‘You did it all in the colours I said I liked,’ I whispered, as I looked up at him. We’d spent one morning in bed, with him asking me what I’d do if it was my house. He just smiled and kissed the top of my head.

  ‘When you come to stay, I want it to feel like home, to both of you. Come, let me show you upstairs.’ He carried Tristan up and stopped on the first floor, heading to a room at the front of the house, over his study and turned the handle, just pushing it slightly, without us being able to see inside. ‘Now, this is a real surprise, I want you both to close your eyes,’ he warned. Tristan giggled and covered his eyes with his hands. Luc raised his eyebrows at me, so I smiled, shaking my head and closed them. I felt him take my hand and lead me forward, then he told me to stop and gently nudged my shoulder making me turn slightly. When he spoke, telling us we could open our eyes again, he sounded almost nervous and I heard Tristan’s scream of delight before I even managed to take in what I was looking at. Luc set Tristan down and he wasted no time racing around like a crazy thing as I covered my mouth with my hands, shaking my head as tears filled my eyes to take in the sight before me. ‘You don’t like it?’ Luc asked, looking at me concerned.

  ‘I love it,’ I whispered, as I clasped his hand tightly again and tried to take it in. What had been a massive empty bedroom with its own built in wardrobe and en-suite, had been turned into Tristan’s dream bedroom. There was a large wooden painted tree in the corner, supporting a sleeping platform. A large grey elephant was reaching up with his trunk to feed on the leaves with the steps up to the bed built into his back. There was another bed under the tree and all of the walls had been painted in a zoo theme, full of elephants of all sizes. He had a desk, a gaming corner with an X-box, a whole stack of brightly coloured boxes to put his toys in, some of them full already and his own flat screen TV. The large sash windows had painted white shutters to close at night and the old floorboards had been covered in a soft beige carpet. Tristan had already made it up to the top bed in the tree and was shouting for me to go up and have a look.

  ‘Go, it’s a proper staircase,’ Luc smiled. He stood with his arms folded across his chest as I carefully climbed up and sat on the end of Tristan’s new bed, which was nearly a double.

  ‘Tristan, what do you think?’

  ‘Awesome,’ he nodded, spotting a small slide down the other side of the elephant and launching himself down it with a squeal.

  ‘This is your room, Tristan, when you and Mummy come to stay here, do you like it?’ Luc asked, as he scooped him up from the floor.

  ‘I love it, Daddy.’ He flung his arms around Luc’s neck and kissed him. Luc laughed and set him down and let him carry on exploring, as I came down the slide as well and launched myself into his arms, plastering his face in kisses.

  ‘This is so beautiful, thank you, thank you, thank you. You’ve no idea how happy he is,’ I uttered, stunned at what he’d done for us.

  ‘I think I do,’ he laughed, as Tristan tugged on my trousers.

  ‘Mummy, I’ve got my own bathroom. Come and see.’

  I was completely amazed, Luc had even had a set of elephant steps made to help Tristan reach the sink to wash his hands, and the wardrobe had some clothes in for him. He’d already got a box of the loose Lego out and was playing happily on the floor, so Luc showed me the remaining guest rooms, all of which had been painted cream and had the same white baroque furniture to match the range in the lounge and the few pieces he’d had in his room.

  ‘I wanted these rooms to be somewhat finished in case we invited anyone over when you’re here, so I chose plain cream, you can do them however you want if you’d like to change them.’

  ‘You must have spent a fortune.’

  ‘I have a fortune,’ he reminded me, leading me upstairs. The guest room had been done in cream as well and he let me into the hobbies room, which had been turned into a pink and white feminine office. ‘This is for you, in case you ever need to work when you are here, somewhere quiet but in earshot of our boy.’

  ‘Luc,’ I shook my head, he’d even kitted it out with a brand new Mac for me, iPad docking station, bookshelves, Peter Smith artwork and comfortable seating. I didn’t have time to explore as he ushered me out and across to his bedroom. I was lost for words as I took it in. I’d shown him wallpaper I loved, it was silver with pink and white lovebirds
in cages scattered across it, and the back wall had been done in that very paper, the rest of the walls were white. I had a huge dressing table stocked with my favourite toiletries and perfume, but what really took my breath away were black and white canvases on the wall opposite the bed, loads of them, pictures of me, of Tristan and the two of us together. Tears were flowing freely as I buried my face in Luc’s chest, overcome with emotion. He held me tightly with one arm, the other stroking my hair. He’d turned his house into a home, a home for the three of us, it was obvious without him even saying it.

  ‘There’s no rush, maybe we could try weekends here first and see how it fits, but one day, I really hope that you’ll both want to be here. There’s an excellent primary school in the village. Dunsmaster, a highly respected private boys school is not too far away for when he turns eleven. This could be our family home for life. We’d never have to move again. There’s enough room for lots of little Le Grands when the time is right.’

  ‘I’m not filling the other four bedrooms with babies,’ I mumbled. ‘Two maximum.’

  ‘Are we negotiating babies?’ he chuckled. ‘I’m renowned for my negotiating skills.’

  ‘Not when my vagina’s involved you’re not, or you’ll never have “tight” sex again.’

  ‘You could have decapulets and still rival any woman I have ever been with.’

  ‘So romantic,’ I laughed, pulling away to wipe my eyes. ‘No way am I having ten more. Two and you have a deal.’

  ‘We’ll see,’ he smiled, sweeping my hair over my shoulder and taking me to the new dressing table, sitting me down on the stool as he pulled out some cotton wool and my eye makeup remover, then crouched down as he cleaned off my mascara and eyeliner.

  ‘How are you so loving and caring?’ I asked. ‘You’re a miracle, my miracle.’

  ‘When you live life without love it becomes easy to recognise it and want to cherish it. I told you, you’ll never lack for anything as long as you’re with me.’

  ‘Mummy?’ came a startled voice.

  ‘Upstairs, darling,’ I called. Luc went to open the door to show him where we were and we led him around each and every room on each floor, so he knew his way around and wouldn’t be frightened again, with the exception of the playroom which Luc thankfully kept locked. Mrs. Pattison was cooking lunch for us in the kitchen and soon had Tristan sitting up on a stool at the kitchen island, licking cake batter off a spoon, but as soon as he finished lunch, he disappeared back up to his new bedroom to play and was more than happy to hear that Luc wanted us to stay the night. Mrs Pattison wanted to know what Tristan’s favourite meals were and Luc told me that we’d be eating without Tristan tonight, that Claire would be coming to stay to keep an eye on him while we went out. He confirmed that Coco and Dom had been in on his plans, helping him with the photographs and booking Claire for the night, which explained their sudden departure after nearly letting something slip on the phone last night. So when it was time for Tristan to eat I showed Mrs Pattison how to make my macaroni cheese soufflé, Claire coming just in time to join him for some. He was so happy to see her and she was in awe at the house, I still was. They went to sit in the family room to watch the Lego movie, as I helped Mrs Pattison clear up, despite her protestations that she was fine.

  Luc appeared just in time for Tristan’s bedtime, looking dashing in a navy suit and a white shirt, unbuttoned at the neck with no tie. Tristan insisted on the two of us and Claire all coming up to his bed, where we each had to read him a chapter of his story. Claire offered to sleep in his spare bed, in case he woke up scared. She had her own bedside light under the shelter of the tree and was happy to read. I kissed them both goodnight when Luc checked his watch and told me I needed to go up and get ready, that everything I needed was already laid out on the bed. He was almost right, I had a gorgeous set of matching gold lace knickers and bra with tiny pearls sewn into them, some stunning new gold laser cut designer heels and a white bodycon dress with gold edging. He’d even purchased me a gorgeous little gold glitter clutch by BoBelle London, that Coco knew I’d been eyeing up. I roughly pinned my hair up and sat at the dressing table, surprised to find no makeup. He’d put all of my usual moisturisers, cleansers, toners and serums, but not one scrap of makeup. I could have sworn I’d seen some earlier when he’d opened one of the drawers to get the cotton wool. I headed to the bathroom and checked there, shampoo, conditioner, dental supplies, no makeup. Damn it. It wasn’t like I couldn’t get away without wearing any, I had flawless skin, dark lashes and my eyes definitely helped, but I was so used to wearing it. I put my phone in my clutch, surprised to find a load of tissues inside it, but he’d said not to be long, so I hurried to the bedroom door. I was at the top of the stairs when I saw that there were orange, yellow and red rose petals sprinkled from the bedroom door, all the way down the stairs. What was going on? I followed them down to the landing, resisting the urge to go and check on Tristan, and continued to the ground floor, across the hall and into the kitchen, totally baffled. The petals headed all the way up to the French doors, which led out onto the patio. There was a hand written note taped to the glass saying:

  I did as instructed, putting the key in my clutch. It was only when I turned around that I noticed the glowing candle bags lining the path down to the orangery, from which a gentle soft light was emanating. I walked carefully in my new heels and opened the door, feeling the heat rising from the pool as I stepped inside, the sight that met my eyes taking my breath away. As if Luc standing waiting for me, with his hands in his pockets, wasn’t bad enough, hundreds of candles had been lit all around the edges of the pool, spheres of light were floating in the water and nets of fairy lights created a canopy above us. I felt like Daniel Craig during the scene in Skyfall when he floated across the beautifully lit lake towards the Casino in Macau. It was stunning and I could hear the faint sound of A Thousand Years by Christina Perri playing in the background. The reason for my lack of makeup and the tissues became clear as I felt my eyes watering again. Luc strode over, gripping my backside as he kissed me with purpose, breaking away when I whimpered and grasped his powerful biceps for support. I blinked a few times as I tried to refocus.

  ‘Luc, this is so beautiful, how did you do all of this?’

  ‘I told you with motivation, let alone money, one can achieve anything if you desire it enough,’ he replied, not releasing me. ‘And I desire you, Lulu McQueen, like no one in my life before.’

  ‘So I feel,’ I blushed, his erection lying heavy on my stomach. ‘What’s the special occasion? I feel like you have all of my friends and family in hiding, about to leap out for some surprise party.’

  ‘No, tonight it’s just you and me and Mrs Pattison when we are ready to eat.’

  ‘We’re eating in here?’

  ‘Oui, ça va?’ he enquired.

  ‘Oui,’ I confirmed with a happy smile. ‘This is far prettier and more romantic than any restaurant you could ever take me to. What have I done to deserve this?’

  ‘You need to do nothing to deserve anything from me but be yourself, ma belle,’ he confirmed, reaching up to hold my chin, his thumb sweeping back and forth over my lower lip, making my breath hitch. ‘We have been together for so short a time in reality, yet I feel as if we have been together for an eternity. Imagine the depth of my feelings for you after years together, even oceans cannot run this deep, man will explore galaxies billions of light years away before anyone can comprehend the love for you that that fills my heart, that spills out and orbits my very soul,’ he whispered, his voice full of intensity and emotion, his eyes swam with unshed tears, tears that were flowing down my cheeks at the beauty of his words and what might be behind their intentions. ‘My love is blinding, scorching, a raging inferno that will burn anyone who tries to harm a single hair on your head, or that of my child. I have experienced endless despair, gnawing hunger, painful years of loneliness, the terror of nightmares and the icy fingers of the extreme cold that came to claim my life, but nothing,
nothing brought me to my knees until my heart was pierced by these stunning eyes of molten lava, until our hearts beat in unison after our bodies had merged that night six years ago, nothing has crippled me before, nor since, until fate brought you back to me, along with the most precious gifts ever bestowed, your love and my son. Tonight, Lulu McQueen, you bring me to my knees again,’ he nodded as he lost his battle to contain his tears too and sank to his knees in front of me, clasping my hands which were shaking. I was breathing so fast I was close to hyperventilating.

  ‘Luc,’ I whimpered, as I tried to choke back tears of complete emotion at his heartfelt and sincere words, hardly daring to hope that he may be about to propose to me.

  ‘I don’t want to waste another six years, those years held no comfort for me, I lived in purgatory knowing what I’d had and lost, I would live a hundred of my lives again, but never those. You are mine, heart, body and soul, you and my boy are my raisons d’être, let me be yours, let me be everything you ever wanted or needed, Je t’aime, de tout mon coeur, with everything that I am, marry me, ma belle,’ he begged. Luc didn’t beg, he demanded, he ordered, he controlled, yet with me he was prepared to be vulnerable, to strip away the years of defences he’d built to simply survive, that, along with his love for me and our son, told me everything I needed to know about this incredible man on his knees in front of me. I lowered myself down to my knees too as I smiled at him through my tears.

  ‘Those were the most beautiful, sincere and heartfelt words anyone has ever said to me, Luc Le Grand. I will never forget them and I will never take them, you, or your love, for granted. I know how lucky I am and everything you feel for me, I feel in return. I’m The Temptress, I was sent to tempt you, yet just like that first night in Paris, it is you who tempts me, you always have and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you always will. Ours is a love that will transcend time, it will be written about, become a classic, that one in a million attraction and true love that walked hand in hand the instant our eyes met, people will read our story wishing for a fraction of what we will have had. Of course I’ll marry you, if you’d just said the words “marry me” I’d have said yes, but I love you even more for baring your heart and soul to me, for telling me what I mean to you. Especially for showing me today, with all the little touches in the house, that you’ve made it into a place I’d love to call home for our family.’ I smiled as he blew out a deep breath and we wiped each other’s tears before he clasped my face and kissed me again. A tender spine tingling kiss, before he buried his face in my neck as we held each other tightly. This was up there with holding Tristan in my arms for the first time.