Suspects(69)

They fell asleep with his arms around her, and she hadn’t slept as well since he left Paris the last time.



* * *



—

When they woke up in the morning, the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day.

“What are we doing today?” he asked her as they got dressed after breakfast.

“You said you wanted to go to Deauville again, it’s the perfect day for it.” They both dressed accordingly in comfortable warm clothes and boots with rubber soles. “Do we need a bodyguard?” she asked him.

“I can drive us,” he said easily. And twenty minutes later they were in her car with down jackets and warm scarves. The air was still chilly.

They drove to Deauville and had lunch in the same restaurant they had loved before. She had a delicate sole, and he had lobster. He looked up at her for a minute.

“I thought I’d never get to do this again. There was a moment after I was shot when I was sure I was going to die. I’m still stunned that I didn’t.”

“You scared the hell out of me,” she said. “I’m glad you’re retiring.” She didn’t want to lose him.

After lunch, they walked on the beach, and when they got back to the car, she asked him if she could drive. She hadn’t been allowed to drive herself since the first kidnapping. He hesitated and then nodded, handed her the keys, and got into the passenger seat next to her.

She started the car and headed out of Deauville, and a few minutes later, he pointed to the signs on the road.

“I hate to be a backseat driver, but you’re going the wrong way. Paris is behind us.”

“I know. There’s something I want to show you before we go back.” He enjoyed the scenery then, and a little way up the road, she turned into a long driveway, and rode up a hill to the old farm she had seen when she’d gone there alone.

“Do you know the people who live here?” he asked her, and she nodded. “It’s a beautiful old place.”

“I think so too. Let’s get out and look around,” she suggested, and they both got out. The old caretaker came, recognized her and greeted her, and they had a brief conversation in French. “He told us to go wherever we want. Come on, I want to show you the house.” The door was unlocked as it had been before. Mike followed her in, hesitantly, but was immediately taken with the warmth and charm of the room.

“I love this place. Why is it empty? Who lives here?” He looked puzzled and she put her arms around him when she answered.

“We do,” she said, smiling at him. “I just bought it. And there’s a cottage for the bodyguards right near the house. It’s an old farm. The people who owned it died, and their children have all moved away. And now it’s ours to do whatever we want with it. And you can have a ball with the security. Nothing has been touched here since 1950. It all needs to be redone, however we want to do it.” He looked shocked at first and then grinned.

“You’re a little monster, up to mischief the minute I turn my back. I get shot in the chest and what do you do? You buy a house.”

“Well, we don’t have the chateau anymore, and it’s nice to have someplace to go on weekends. And we like it here. Do you like it?”

“I love it. And more than that, I love you.”

“You have a new job and a title, we should have a house to go with it.” He glanced around the house again with pleasure, and then down at her.

“It really was destiny, wasn’t it? Destiny brought us together—and Pierre de Vaumont.”

“What does he have to do with it?” Theo looked puzzled.

“I was following him, or having him followed, and I fell over you. You were on the same plane he was, which started everything. Now here we are, five months later.”

“You work fast,” she said, smiling at him.

“No, we do. Because it was so right, right from the beginning. I felt like I was being pulled by a giant magnet the moment I laid eyes on you.”

“Then you lied to me,” she said, grinning.

“I did not. What did I lie to you about?”

“The red purse. It wasn’t your sister’s birthday, she wasn’t turning forty, and she would have hated it.”

“I would have bought the chandelier if I had to. By the way, I brought you back the red purse, it’s for you.”

“Thank you,” she said and kissed him, and he kissed her back. They had come a long way to find each other, through some terrible times, and now the good times were rolling out like a red carpet ahead of them.

“I love you,” he said, pressing her close against him as he held her.

“Don’t ever lie to me again. I love you too,” she said in a whisper of desire, and he laughed.