“We’d gone to high school together and then when we ended up going to the same university in Paris. In senior year we got involved.” She seemed to be deliberately avoiding his eyes, looking down at the ground where she pulled distractedly at the blades of grass. “We planned to get married right after graduation but then he said we should wait until after graduate school.”
She heaved a sigh then lifted her face, the strain showing in the tightness of her lips. She swallowed. “I waited. He wanted to get his MBA at INSEAD. He knew that a degree from the top business school in France would open doors for him. He didn’t want to start a family just then so I supported his decision.” She shrugged. “I wanted to do my Master’s too so I thought I’d do my graduate degree while he did his, and then we’d get married afterwards. Another year or so shouldn’t matter, right?”
Pierce said nothing, sensing that all she wanted to do just then was talk. She needed to get whatever was bothering her off her chest.
She gave a bitter laugh. “The problem was, he went back to Paris but I went to the United States. I wanted to be part of an excellent Psychology program so I applied to Harvard and was accepted. That was the beginning of the end.” She slid her legs up, wrapped her arms around them and rested her chin on her knees. “I came home at Christmas, still wearing my engagement ring,” she said her voice cracking, “to learn that he was going to be a father in two months.”
So that was it. The bastard had cheated on her. No wonder she didn’t want to talk about it. Then Pierce frowned. So why was his father talking to Celine in a tone that made it seem like she was the one at fault? Something was not adding up.
His confusion must have been obvious because Celine began to speak again and this time she was offering an explanation.
“Monsieur Girard, he knows that after my Master’s I went back to America to do my PhD because I didn’t want to be around Giles, the memories and the thought of what could have been.” She began to worry her lip again. “He’s upset because…” she paused and drew in a long breath, “because Giles wants me back and I won’t say yes.”
What in the blazes?
“Hold up. You lost me.” Pierce held up his hand. “He wants you back? What about the other woman? What about the child?”
Celine shook her head. “That’s the thing. He keeps saying it was an accident.” She gave a laugh full of disbelief. “Yet he married her and they settled down right here in Thomery.”
“And so you left.”
Celine nodded. “I had to.”
Pierce got up and brushed the grass from the seat of his trousers. This story was getting even more confusing. “I still don’t get it. You said he wanted you back.”
She laughed dryly. “Yes. Funny, isn’t it?” Then she shook her head. “He and his wife were divorced a year ago and he’s been hounding me ever since.”
Son-of-a-gun. “Now he wants you back?”
She nodded. “Now he wants me back.”
For a moment Pierce was silent. The nerve of the jerk. He felt like if he had the chance he’d punch this Giles guy in the gut. As much as it was none of his business he was pissed at the situation.
More than that, he realized with shock, he was alarmed. What if Celine still had feelings for the guy? What if he tried to weasel his way back in? Where the heck would that leave him?
He raked his fingers through his hair and stared out over the water. Things were getting really complicated. Here he’d thought he was making things better by choosing Celine’s hometown as their vacation spot but he’d dropped her right into a hornet’s nest.
He turned to face her. “So what does this guy’s father have to do with all this? Where does he come off tackling you about this?”
“Monsieur Girard always wanted us to get married. I was his favorite pupil. He still wants me to consider renewing my relationship with Giles.” She shrugged. “He means well.”
“Yeah, right.” Pierce response was cold. “He needs to mind his own business and not pressure you into something you don’t want to do.” He looked at her as he said the words. Was it really something she didn’t want to do? Or did she still have a soft spot for her ex?
As if sensing the direction of his thoughts Celine got up and threw her handful of ripped up grass blades into the bubbling water. “It’s getting cool out here. I guess we’d better go back to the house.”
Well, that was an effective end to the conversation. It seemed he’d touched a very sensitive nerve. Pierce looked at Celine, trying to gauge her feelings but she’d already turned, effectively shielding her face from his gaze. She was heading up the bank, leaving him to follow.
Celine’s reaction was not a good sign and now he was worried. Very worried.
CHAPTER SIX
Days passed and neither Pierce nor Celine brought up the subject of their conversation. Without words both of them seemed to have agreed to focus on Kylie and her amusement.
When Pierce saw the rosy cheeks of the child as she raced about outdoors with Sylvan, Marc and a little puppy they’d acquired he knew he’d made the right choice in taking her here. No trip to Disney World could have done for Kylie what her new friendships had done for her. Without pampering her the boys took full charge of her, taking her on long walks from which she returned exhausted but brimming with stories of the birds she’d seen in the woods, the flowers she’d picked and the bugs she’d caught.
“Bugs?” Celine wrinkled her nose when Kylie first told her about her new found interest. “Yucky.”
Kylie only giggled and ran off to find the boys she now seemed to view as her big brothers. Obviously she wanted to be like them and if collecting bugs was what they loved to do then she’d do it, too.
A whole week passed and Pierce’s life settled into a comfortable rhythm that had him wondering how he would adjust to the fast paced world of business when he got back to the United States.