The French Retreat (Falling for France Book 1)

by Fortin, Sue

  Marcie unzipped her skirt and stepped out of it, throwing it onto the bed, along with her jacket. Her blouse followed swiftly afterwards.

  ‘That’s just it,’ she said rummaging in her suitcase and pulling out a tee-shirt and pair of trousers. She ignored Emily’s raised eyebrows as she slipped into her casual clothing. ‘I don’t need this job.’

  ‘But what about money? It’s Christmas next week. I bet you haven’t even bought any presents yet. I don’t remember seeing any when we packed your stuff away.’

  Marcie grinned. ‘Oh, Em, I do love you. In all of this, you’re still thinking about Christmas presents.’

  Emily shrugged. ‘I like Christmas. It’s my favourite time of the year.’

  ‘You’ve been so kind and supportive but this isn’t me anymore,’ said Marcie as she cast her hand in the direction of the discarded suit on the bed. ‘I’ve never felt totally at home in the corporate environment. I’ve always felt unsettled – looking for a cause to champion, bucking against the rules, you know me. I’ve been searching for something else and that something else has turned out to be someone else.’

  Emily plonked herself down on the bed. ‘Now I’m totally confused.’

  ‘I don’t belong in an office attempting to hit a sales target. I don’t want to get sucked back into it. I don’t want to get on that treadmill again. I met someone in France and I walked away because he wouldn’t come with me. He said it wasn’t his world. And he was right. As it turns out, it’s not mine either. I shouldn’t have left him.’

  ‘Hold it right there,’ said Emily putting up her hand. ‘Let’s just rewind for a moment. You met someone in France and you never told me?’

  ‘Sorry. I thought if I didn’t talk about him, it would be easier to forget about him,’ said Marcie. ‘Turns out, I was wrong about that too.’

  ‘Isn’t it all a bit sudden?’ said Emily frowning. ‘You can’t know him that well, not just after a couple of months.’

  ‘I know him well enough to want to take a chance,’ said Marcie. ‘I don’t want to always wonder what if?’

  ‘You’re serious, aren’t you?’ said Emily looking at Marcie.

  ‘Deadly.’

  ‘Sorry to be a bore, but what are you going to do for work and money out there?’

  ‘Must admit, I haven’t quite worked that one out. Not in any detail, that is,’ said Marcie. ‘I want to do something with my music, maybe teach or music therapy. I might be able to combine it with some sort of humanitarian work. As I say, I haven’t worked out the detail, but that’s the sort of thing I want to do.’

  ‘And what about this fella?’ said Emily. ‘Jesus, I don’t even know what his name is.’

  ‘Will,’ provided Marcie. ‘Will Adams.’

  ‘Does Will Adams feel the same?’

  ‘I’ll soon find out. I’m going back there. Today.’

  Emily shook her head in bewilderment but then smiled fondly. ‘As long as you don’t forget me when you go off-grid in rural France with your very own Bear Grylls.’ She stood up and hugged her friend. ‘You’re one crazy chick.’

  ‘It might have been said once or twice before,’ said Marcie.

  For the second time that week, Marcie boarded the ferry, this time heading out to St Malo. She was driving Ben’s car, having spoken to him on the phone earlier that day and confessed all.

  ‘I bloody knew it!’ he said. ‘I knew something was going on between you and Will. He’s a dark horse but he’s also a thoroughly decent guy. You’ve done a lot worse in the past.’

  ‘Don’t remind me,’ said Marcie. ‘I just hope I’ve got this right and don’t end up making a fool of myself.’

  ‘Only one way to find out,’ said Ben.

  And he was right. Marcie would be finding out in roughly sixteen hours. The overnight crossing wasn’t any better than it had been when she had come out to France at the beginning of November. Now with Christmas just a week away, the sea was choppy and the boat rose and dipped its way across the open water. Once again, Marcie was glad to reach the dry land of St Malo.

  With each mile the MPV ate up, Marcie became more and more excited, matched equally with nerves. She had only been gone since Friday but it felt like a lifetime ago since she had last seen Will. If there was ever a need for a time travel portal, this was it.

  She passed the bridge on the motorway just outside Avranches where her and Will had stopped when he had come to pick her up that first day. Little did she know then, that the grumpy, drum and bass loving, ex-soldier was really hiding a much softer, more compassionate man. Okay, one who still loved drum and bass, but she could live with that.

  Finally, she was in Brittany and driving into the Morbihan region, with the village of Lizio frequenting more and more signposts. Another thirty minutes and she would be rolling into the driveway of The Retreat.

  Finally, she was there. She could see a trail of smoke rising from the chimney, but other than that, there was no sign of life.

  Marcie pulled up on the driveway and switched the engine off, taking a moment to compose herself. This was it.

  The front door opened and there was Will, standing in the doorway, looking over at her. His face was expressionless.

  Nerves overtook all other emotion. Had she got this wrong? She took a deep breath. Ben had told her there was only one way to find out and she hadn’t come all this way to chicken out at the last moment.

  Marcie climbed out of the car and walked over to Will. ‘I was just passing,’ she said with a smile. ‘Thought I’d drop your phone back.’ She held up the mobile.

  He took the phone from her and slipped it into his pocket. ‘Thanks. You’d better come in.’

  Still she couldn’t read him. Stepping through the doorway and into the kitchen, Marcie immediately noticed Will’s ex-Army Bergen, clearly stuffed full, propped up against the table. Her heart fell. He was moving on without telling her.

  She turned to face him. ‘You’re leaving?’

  Will nodded. ‘Yeah. I’ve a taxi booked in a couple of hours.’

  Marcie didn’t think her heart could fall any further, but somehow it found a new low. ‘Where are you going?’ Her voice wasn’t much more than a croak.

  ‘England.’

  ‘You’re going to England? What about Poppy?’ The little dog wagged her tail around Marcie’s legs.

  ‘I was taking her with me. I took her to the vet’s yesterday.’ He gestured to the blue pet passport sitting alongside his own on the table.

  ‘What are you going to England for? I thought you wanted to stay here.’

  Will came and stood in front of her, his hands cupping the tops of her arms. ‘I was going back for you,’ he said.

  ‘For me?’ Marcie’s heart lifted.

  ‘That’s right. I decided I could be anywhere, as long as you were there too.’

  Her heart was now soaring high, somewhere in the upper stratosphere. ‘But, I came here for you,’ she said. ‘I’d sooner be here with you than anywhere else.’

  ‘It seems we have ourselves a dilemma. France or England.’ He pulled a coin from the pocket of his trousers. ‘Shall we flip for it? Heads France. Tails UK.’

  ‘Go on, then.’ Marcie watched as Will flipped the coin into the air, then trap it on the back of his hand with the other.

  ‘Ready?’

  Marcie nodded.

  His lifted his hand and peaked under at the coin, then looking at Marcie, raised his eyebrows.

  ‘So?’ said Marcie. She crossed her fingers. She really didn’t want to go back to the UK but if that’s what Will wanted, or indeed, needed, then she would have no hesitation in doing so.

  Will lowered his hand to reveal the coin. ‘France it is,’ he said. ‘That okay with you?’

  ‘It most certainly is,’ said Marcie. ‘You’d better cancel that taxi.’

  ‘First things first,’ said Will. He pulled her in to him and as their lips met, she heard the coin drop to the stone floor. It felt good being in
his arms. She could stay there forever.

  Poppy’s whining and jumping up at them brought a halt to proceedings. She was clearly feeling left out.

  ‘I’ll think we’ll have to continue this upstairs, behind closed doors,’ said Will.

  Marcie bent down to stroke Poppy and noticing the coin, she picked it up. The Queen’s head faced her, but something about it didn’t look quite right. She turned the coin over in her palm. The Queen’s head again. Marcie looked from one side of the coin to the other. It was a double headed coin.

  She stood up and looked at Will, who held his hands up in surrender. ‘Hey, I don’t like losing,’ he said.

  Marcie shook her head and laughed. ‘Neither do I,’ she said. ‘I think we’re both winners.’

  THE END

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Published by Harper Collins’ imprint Harper Impulse, Sue Fortin writes romance, mystery and suspense.

  Her originally self-published debut novel was awarded the INDIE Brag Medallion and later when published by HarperImpulse was short-listed for the Joan Hessayon Award (2014). Sue was also short-listed for the Festival of Romance, New Talent Award (2013). Her second novel, Closing In, reached number one in the Romantic Suspense Kobo chart at the end of 2014. Sue blogs regularly with the on-line writing group The Romaniacs (www.theromaniacs.co.uk) and in 2014 they released a charity anthology ‘Romaniac Shorts’.

  Lover of cake, Dragonflies and France. Hater of calories, maths and snakes. Sue was born in Hertfordshire but had a nomadic childhood, moving often with her family, before eventually settling in West Sussex.

  Sue is married with four children, all of whom patiently give her time to write but, when not behind the keyboard, she likes to spend her time with them, enjoying both the coast and the South Downs, between which they are nestled.

  You can catch up with Sue at

  Facebook : Sue Fortin Books

  Twitter : suefortin1

  Website : www.suefortin.co.uk

  Blog : www.suefortin.wordpress.com

  BOOKS BY SUE FORTIN

  THE HALF TRUTH

  She thought she knew her past. She thought her past was the truth.

  Tina Bolotnikov, widowed after her husband, Sasha, is killed in a car accident, relocates back to her hometown on the south coast of the UK, to bring up her young son. Her life back in London with her adored husband is now nothing but a memory; a history to pass onto her son.

  DS John Nightingale saw his partner killed in the line of duty and has made it his personal and professional quest to bring to justice the Russian gang responsible. Five years on and the killer is still free but as reports come in of Sasha Bolotnikov’s brother returning to the UK, John is tasked with tracking him down and following him to the seaside town of Littlehampton.

  Tina finds herself an unwitting connection to a world she knew nothing about. She thought she knew her husband. She thought their past was the truth. But now as the investigation draws her closer to DS Nightingale, professional lines are blurred and crossed, and only he holds the key to her future.

  CLOSING IN

  Helen has had to leave everything she’s ever known behind; her home, her family, even her own name.

  Now, returning to the UK as Ellen Newman, she moves to a small coastal village, working as a nanny for Donovan, a criminal psychologist. Attractive, caring and protective, this single father and his sweet daughter are a world away from Ellen’s brutal past. She thinks she’s escaped. She thinks she’s safe.

  But Ellen can’t shake the feeling that something’s wrong.

  Strange incidents begin to plague her new family, and their house of calm is about to become one of suspicion and fear. Who can be trusted? Who is the target? Who is closing in?

  UNITED STATES OF LOVE

  Since splitting from her husband, single mum Anna Barnes is enjoying her new found freedom and independence.

  However, she didn’t bank on working for Tex Garcia – or the sparks that fly between them. The gorgeous American chef is getting the locals hot under the collar and not just because of his culinary prowess!

  One problem: Tex can’t commit and women pass through his life like dishes going out to service! Will it be the same with Anna? One thing’s for sure, this All American man is determined to break her self-imposed rule of never mixing business with pleasure – and add some spice into the mix…