Alex settled her shawl more firmly about her shoulders. “I’ve thought of a way we can make it all work. The distillery in Grasse, your family, and our finances. But…it would mean leaving England.”

“To live here?”

He nodded. “We could find a house somewhere close to the distillery. Close enough that we could manage production ourselves.”

“And sell the products…where? Hayes’s Perfumes is practically unknown in France. It’s England where our brand held sway.”

“And that’s where we’d continue to distribute it. Imagine the packaging: Hayes’s Rose Water—now made exclusively in France. The ladies of London would snap it up, not to mention countrywomen like Henrietta Talbot. Thanks to Empress Eugénie, they all follow the latest French fashions.”

“In gowns and hats, perhaps. Things the empress is actually known to wear. Rose water and lavender water aren’t of that category, surely.”

“They could be. It only wants a little creative advertising.”

She knit her brows. “Do you truly think that would work?”

“To a certainty? I don’t know. But I’d say there’s a greater than average chance of success. Hayes’s Perfumes is still a recognizable name.”

“It would mean convincing Teddy and Aunt Charlotte to come here.” Laura’s face fell. “They’d never do it.”

“Your brother would.”

“How can you say so? Until last month, Teddy scarcely wanted to leave his room.”

“Have you seen the style of his landscapes? The experimental ones he was painting at Margate? They’re all light and movement. If he lived in France, he might be able to study under a painter in the same style. Someone with more experience. I can’t imagine your brother would turn down the opportunity.”

She paused to consider. “What about Aunt Charlotte?”

“The weather here is perfect for her health. All this sun and fresh sea air? Invalids have relocated for less.”

Laura searched his face. “And what about us?”

“What about us?”

“You speak as though you’ll have a hand in running the business. Does this mean you’ve decided to stay with me?”

He scowled. “What sort of question is that?”

“A simple one I should think.” There was a sudden stark vulnerability in her face. “I just want to know that the perfumery isn’t the only thing keeping you here.”

“You’re what’s keeping me here.”

“You say that now, but…what if the business fails? What if it all comes to nothing?”

He raised a hand to cup her face. “Do you think your only value to me lies in your wealth? I didn’t even know I would gain half the perfumery when I proposed to you.”

“When you proposed to me, you said you’d be content if our marriage remained nothing but a convenient fiction. That you’d be willing to leave me in a few months’ time. And now—”