Rick raised his hand and stroked her cheek with his fingertips from temple to neck, then back again, forcing her to look into his eyes.
‘I know what you mean. Listening to you talk about your aunt has helped me realise that I have never stopped in one place long enough to get over Tom’s death and grieve his loss the way you have tried to do. One more point to you, Saskia Elwood. Miracle-worker. ‘
Saskia looked up into Rick’s lovely eyes as he gently stroked her face, before replying. ‘Me? Not a bit. I prefer to think that France has worked its magic on both of us. I have always loved it here. And if it wasn’t for my dad...well, perhaps my life would have taken a different turn.’
Then she pressed her fingers to his lips, her eyes never leaving his. ‘But then, we might never have met. And my world would have been a much sadder place.’
Rick’s response was to draw her body closer to his, so that her head was resting on his broad shoulder, cuddling into his warmth, sensing and hearing the pounding of his heart as she slid her arms around his waist.
She had no need of hearing.
No need of sight.
The smell of his body, dancing sweat, and him, his own perfume, combined with the smooth texture of his fine shirt above the powerful muscles that lay below to create a heavenly pillow.
So that when she finally dared to break the silence her words were muffled in his chest. ‘I plan to make some changes in my life when I get back to London. Even with managing Elwood House. I want to take time for short breaks. Life is so short. These past few days have made me realise just how much I miss being back in France. There are second cousins still here and I haven’t seen my mother since April. I don’t know how I’ll manage it, but I need to make it happen.’
‘You’ll do it. And don’t worry about Elwood House. If you allow me to invest in the business, you could train a wonderful deputy manager. No problem.’
‘Really?’
‘Really really.’ He smiled. ‘Family has to come first. I only wish that I had realised it earlier.’
There was a subtle change in the tone of his voice and Saskia looked up as Rick’s gaze fixed on the movement of wind in the pine trees and the stars above them. He had a faraway look in his eyes as though he was talking to the sky itself. His softly spoken words had the power to penetrate her heart and bring burning tears to the back of her throat.
‘I never had a chance to say goodbye to my brother Tom.’
Rick’s hand moved in gentle circles on her back.
‘I was climbing in the Andes and out of reach of the rest of the world. No Internet, no cellphones, no bombardment and clamour of the world. No constant noise and clutter. It had taken us three weeks to walk in and acclimatise to the altitude. Which was just how I liked it. We were a small team who knew what we were doing and what we were up against, working together and pitting ourselves against the best. We were the best!’
Rick slowly lowered his gaze so that they were facing each other and Saskia felt the air between them chill even further.
‘Everything is so simple on a mountain. She strips you down to your most basic essence. No prisoners. It is a battle of you and your skills against nature and everything that she can throw at you. In theory, that should prepare you for anything in the outside world. But let me tell you, when I saw that helicopter coming up over the horizon at our base camp on the glacier? Suddenly I had a lot more to worry about than falling into crevasses and frostbite.’
He cleared his throat and shook his head.
‘The minute I jumped into that helicopter I had this aching raw pit in my gut and every instinct that I ever had was screaming out a warning sign in big red letters. I knew that I was in trouble. But I had no clue about what I was about to face.’
His cheek rested on her head and she could feel the intensity of the vibration in his words through her skin.
‘It had taken my parents three days to track the expedition down and pay a helicopter pilot to risk flying in at those altitudes. Three days was too long. Not even a private jet and police escorts could get me back to Napa Valley any faster. Tom never came out of the coma and died several times in the hospital, but it would have been nice to say something to him before he took his last breath.’
Rick’s words were coming in jagged bursts as though he was holding back suppressed pain and she longed to help him express how he felt, but she dared not in case the flood waters engulfed her once she released the dam.
‘He knew that you cared about him. I could see it in that photograph you showed me in the chalet. You were close.’
‘Tom was my big brother and I thought that he was invincible and would always be there for me to fall back on. And I was wrong. Wrong about a lot of things.’
He smiled and rubbed his cold nose against hers. ‘But not any longer. You’ve made a change in my life, Saskia. Helped me to get a few things straight in my head.’
‘Me? How have I helped you?’
‘Jean Baptiste and Nicole are on their way to a trade fair in California which Tom created so that independent producers could showcase what they do. I should be there right now to help and support my parents. Burgess Wine is the main sponsor. I need to be there. But there is always some great excuse why there’s a burning problem in Europe that I have to solve in person or the world will end.’
He held up one hand. ‘Oh, don’t misunderstand. I want this London store to happen and I need to be based in Europe to see it through. But the truth is more basic than that. The more that I think about it, the more I realise that I have been so determined to prove to the world that I’m not the black sheep of the family any longer that I have been burning myself out running around the world, while all the time my parents needed me to be with them. To help them come to terms with losing Tom as a family. And I couldn’t do it. I wasn’t ready to try and didn’t have the tools I needed to make it happen.’
He exhaled slowly and very gently released his arms from around her body, and stepped slightly back. ‘Which makes me a fool. My parents are in their sixties. They need me to be their son and to work with them to carry on Tom’s legacy. Instead of which, I am acting like a stubborn child who refuses to put on the hand-me-down clothes my older brother used to wear and resenting every second of having to change my identity to fit into his shoes.’
Rick shook his head slowly from side to side and tapped her gently on the end of her nose. ‘Well, that stops today, gorgeous. I am going back to Napa to build bridges and this time it’s because I want to, not because I am the only option that they have left.’
Saskia stared out past Rick and fixed her gaze on the gentle waving of branches to and fro in the light breeze, which was a perfect match to the tornado spinning inside her head.
It felt as though she had been strapped onto a horse on a childhood nightmare of a merry-go-round, which had started whirling faster and faster until all she could do was hang on for dear life, knowing that if she even tried to get off she would be seriously hurt.
Only to be slammed to a crushing stop into a large solid object called real life.
He was leaving. Just like her father had left her.
She had always known that this was a temporary arrangement. One week. Seven days out of her life.
It was just so hard to say goodbye.
‘Then you have to go back to your parents and show them that you are the better man.’ She smiled into his face and blinked away her tears. Her body yearned to lean closer so that her head could rest against that broad shoulder, but she fought the delicious sensation.
She had to.
He was so close she could drown in the heady mix of his scent and the warmth of a body that wanted to be with her as much as she needed him to stay with her.
It was almost a physical pain when his hands started to slowly move down her coat until they rested on her hips. Slowly, slowly, she looked up into the most amazing grey eyes she had ever seen.
And in that moment she could see there was som
ething more. Something she had never seen before. Something different. His unsmiling eyes scanned her face for a few minutes, as though searching for an answer to some question he had not the words to ask.
Uncertainty. Concern. Doubt? That was certainly new.
His right hand came up and gently lifted a loose coil of her hair back behind her ear, in a gesture so tender and loving that she closed her eyes in the pleasure of it.
He slid his fingers through her hair until he found the base of her neck. Drawing her closer, he lowered his forehead onto hers so that each hot breath fanned her face with its intensity.
‘Come with me.’ The sides of his mouth twisted for a second, but this time there was no quick laughter. ‘We could be back in London in a week. Come on, gorgeous. Take a risk on me and come to California. You won’t regret it. After all, you have nothing to lose.’
ELEVEN
Must-Do list
Who am I kidding? This trip to France has opened my eyes to just how much I love having someone to talk to—about everything, not just the girl things.
Need to take some big decisions about how I want to move forward in my life—difficult decisions. Scary decisions. Has to be done and I know who I want to help me make them—Rick.
Saskia lifted her head and looked into those amazing blue-grey eyes which were gazing at her so lovingly that she almost, almost gave in to the temptation.
Inhaling a breath of cool air, she lifted one hand and stroked his cheek, feeling the stubble of his soft beard under her fingertips and watched his chest lift as he responded to her touch.
He meant it. He wanted her to come with him. He wanted her to leave London and come with him and meet his family and...she felt totally overwhelmed and terrified.
Suddenly her world felt totally out of control. She was whirling and whirling. Her heart was thumping so hard she was surprised that Rick couldn’t hear it.
‘Nothing to lose?’ she repeated, and her shoulders slumped. ‘Oh, Rick. Why did you have to say that? Why?’
‘Because it is the truth. What is it? What’s the problem? Is it me? Or California? Talk to me. Tell me what is going on inside that lovely head of yours. Help me understand.’
‘It’s all too much. Too soon. I only met you a few days ago and now you want me to go to California with you? No. I need to slow down and...and I need to breathe. Breathing would be good.’
She closed her eyes and tried to fight back an overwhelming sense of panic.
Her head was spinning and a strange dizzy sensation swept over her. Cold, hot. Then cold again.
‘Here. Come on. Sit down and exhale nice and slow. That’s it. Deep breaths, exhale slowly.’
Rick half carried her over to an old wooden bench and she collapsed down on the hard rungs and felt the coat wrapped tighter across her shoulders by Rick’s strong arms as he sat down beside her and hugged her tight.
‘It’s okay,’ he murmured. ‘It’s fine. Everything is fine.’
‘Fine?’ she gasped in between gulping down air. ‘How can it be fine? I haven’t had a panic attack like this in years. Years! And it happens now. At the very time I am starting to see some success in my crazy life. I am such a mess.’
‘Hey, girls tell me that I am too much for them all the time. I understand completely. ‘
She lifted her head and blinked at him, and Rick had the cheek to grin and wink at her. But when she took another breath, the dizziness cleared a little and then a little more until she could sit back against the hard bench and look up at the sky without feeling nauseous.
‘You must think that I am a complete idiot,’ she whispered, not daring to look at Rick, who was still sitting next to her so quietly with his arm around her waist. ‘First you offer to invest in my business and then...then you ask me to fly off to California with you. I should be pinning a medal to your chest and adding you to my Christmas card list. And how do I respond? By almost throwing up on you. I am so sorry.’
‘Don’t be.’ He smiled and hugged her closer. ‘I get it. These past few days have been quite a rush. I’m used to it. You’re not. That’s all.’ His voice warmed and he shuffled around so that he could tip up her chin and gaze into her face. ‘You did warn me about your fear of heights and this is quite a jump.’
‘How do you know that? What if I let you down and let myself down at the same time? I don’t want to disappoint you, and especially in California in front of your family and the wine trade. All I have going for me is my family name and some experience in running Elwood House. The last thing you need is to be ridiculed for investing in an unknown.’
‘Not going to happen. And how do I know that I have hooked up with a star? I can see it in your face. Your voice. The way you meshed with Nicole and Jean Baptiste at their wedding and right here, tonight, in the love you have for this community. I watched you. You can speak the dialect and they are not fools. They know that you are the real deal, just as I do.’
Rick smiled. ‘You. Are not capable of letting anyone down. I have been around long enough in sports to trust my gut instinct and I have never been wrong. Nope. No trying to wriggle out of it now. We are in this crazy project together.’
Someone inside the auberge started playing the piano and the sound of the music drifted out of the porch and into the garden, but Saskia barely heard the music. She was way too busy trying to remember to breathe while she processed what Rick was saying.
Which was even more difficult when he stretched out his long legs in front of him, apparently oblivious to the cold and the way the fine cloth of his suit trousers strained under the pressure of the muscled thighs below.
One side of his face was lit by the warm golden light streaming out from the windows behind their heads, bringing the hard planes of those high cheekbones into sharp focus. His powerful jaw and strong shoulders screamed out authority and presence. He was a man who knew what he wanted and was not prepared to take no for an answer.
‘What do you say, Saskia?’ he said, his clear grey eyes locked onto her face, his voice low and intense, anxious. ‘Are you willing to give us a chance?’
‘Are you only talking about RB Wines or Elwood House?’ she asked, her voice almost a whisper.
His response was to slide his long, strong fingers between hers and lock them there. Tight. The smiling crinkly grey eyes locked onto her and a wide open mouth grin of delight and happiness cracked his face. ‘See. I knew that you would work it out. No, I’m not. But hey, doesn’t that sound good?’ He lifted one hand and wrote the words in the air. ‘Burgess and Elwood. Wine Merchants to the stars. It’s a winner. And Saskia and Rick isn’t a bad combination either. Kinda like that. California and then London won’t know what hit it.’
Saskia inhaled a deep breath, trying to process the words, while his body was only inches away from her own, leaning towards her, begging her to hold him, kiss him and caress him.
She swallowed hard and tried to form a sensible answer. ‘I thought you couldn’t wait to leave the city and head back to Chamonix and your chalet?’
‘Angie has an excellent project team in London who are desperate to show me what they can do without my constant interference. My parents need me more right now.’
Saskia let out a long slow breath as his fingertips smoothed her hair back down over her forehead and into the back of her skull. Making speech impossible.
Then his voice softened to warm chocolate sauce capable of melting the coldest heart. ‘I wouldn’t want to start that journey with anyone else but the girl I am with right now.’
London. The wine store. Elwood House. And a chance for love.
This amazing man was offering her the chance to create something wonderful and make all of those fantastical plans she had dreamed up with Aunt Margot a reality. This man who she had only met a few days ago, yet she felt that she had known him all of her life.
He was holding her dream out to her, and all she had to do was say yes and it would be hers.
‘Think of me as you
r personal guide to having some fun. You need to get out of the house and I’d like to introduce you to winemakers all around the world. Say yes. Say that you will trust me and come with me.’
Trust him? Trust him with her life, her future. Her love?
‘Get out of the house?’ She smiled and blinked a couple of times to help clear her head. ‘I don’t know about that part so much. I shall still need to invest a lot of time in Elwood House if I want to see it fly. Even if you do have your London office there.’
‘Elwood House? Oh gorgeous, think bigger for a moment. My family company have a wine empire to run, and believe me, they could use your skills. You could work for the family, be part of the family. It could be great!’
What? Hold up! ‘What are you talking about? I have been working for years to develop the skills to run my own private venue. That’s what I want. That’s what I have always wanted.’
The sound of laughter broke through her thoughts and Saskia pointed to the red geraniums still flowering in the window boxes behind her.
‘I spent years learning the trade in a place just like this with my grandparents before I went to live with Aunt Margot. I can cook, clean, work behind the bar, manage, do everything. But don’t you see? It has to be my own place. My mother thought that she could rely on my dad to take care of her and her family. He was a charmer and a chancer and I don’t blame her a bit for falling fast and marrying him. But it was a disaster, Rick. We were left with nothing when he left. Nothing.’
She sucked in a breath, hoping that he would fill the empty silence, but he just sat there, looking at her as she dug an even deeper trench to separate them.
‘I need Elwood House. It’s my rock. The one place that I can call my own. I cannot walk away from it. Not even for a few weeks. That’s why I agreed to think about buying from a London shop. So that I could be close to home. I cannot risk letting it go. Not on...’
Blame It on the Champagne Page 14
