BooksBarbecue
Back A French Affair
Chapters (54)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. 1
  4. 2
  5. 3
  6. 4
  7. 5
  8. 6
  9. 7
  10. 8
  11. 9
  12. 10
  13. 11
  14. 12
  15. 13
  16. 14
  17. 15
  18. 16
  19. 17
  20. 18
  21. 19
  22. 20
  23. 21
  24. 22
  25. 23
  26. 24
  27. 25
  28. 26
  29. 27
  30. 28
  31. 29
  32. 30
  33. 31
  34. 32
  35. 33
  36. 34
  37. 35
  38. 36
  39. 37
  40. 38
  41. 39
  42. 40
  43. 41
  44. 42
  45. 43
  46. 44
  47. 45
  48. 46
  49. 47
  50. Epilogue
  51. Acknowledgments
  52. More from Jennifer Bohnet
  53. About the Author
  54. About Boldwood Books

‘So that’s why you put up obstacles to the pods, and why he refused to sack you.’ Belinda stared at him open-mouthed. ‘But what happens now he’s sold up? You won’t be able to continue.’

‘Yes I will. Nigel left our private arrangement with the campsite out of the sale to the new hotel people. We’ve rearranged things yet again. Now he’s going to be a sleeping partner and I’ve got three years to pay ’im back instead of two.’

Belinda stared at him for a couple of seconds while the truth dawned on her. ‘You mean you’re the new owner? Or rather you’ve been the unknown owner all the time.’

‘Oui,’ Alain said, smiling and nodding at her. ‘Mais, now you know. It can be our secret until the first of June when we officially open, oui?’ He looked at her anxiously. ‘We ’ave a party to tell everyone.’

‘Sure,’ Belinda said in a daze. ‘I won’t tell anyone.’ She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to clear her thoughts. Could this day get any more bizarre? First the emotional reunion with her father and now it turned out that she’d been working for Alain, not Nigel, all along. Belinda opened her eyes and looked at Alain thoughtfully. ‘So what was the other reason you didn’t want me here. You said there were two.’

Alain looked at her. ‘As troubleshooters go, you weren’t what I expected.’

40

The next morning, Belinda, feeling the need to get away from the campsite for an hour or two, slipped BB’s lead on and prepared to walk down to the auberge. Maybe a chat with Fern would help sort her thoughts out.

‘I’m just walking BB and returning the dish to Fern. Marie’s in the office,’ she called out to Alain as she saw him in the machinery shed fiddling with a petrol can. She didn’t wait for an acknowledgement, just carried on walking down the drive.

To think it was over two months, nearly three in fact, that she’d driven up the road for the first time and the trees lining the route had been waving their bare branches in the wind. Today there was a canopy of green leaves overhead filtering the sunlight down through to the grass-covered verges with their daisies and bee-attracting dandelions.