‘Merci,’ he murmured, ‘merci bien.’

‘Bonne chance,’ she said, leaving his room.

He did not watch her walk down the corridor trying to restore order to her blouse and her mind despite the trickle of semen dribbling down her leg. The power Fabian experienced fucking the clerk had flooded him with strength he could utilize on his ride that day. But the desired result which he had attained fucking her was nothing compared to the power that saturated him when he put the maillot jaune on his back.

‘How do you feel, Didier?’ Luca asked, sensing that LeDucq was awake and staring at the ceiling.

‘Better,’ Didier answered.

‘Completely?’ Luca probed.

‘No,’ Didier confided, ‘but I haven’t been sick for two days and my arse is – how do you say?’

‘Bricks instead of mortar?’ Luca ventured.

‘I like that,’ Didier laughed.

‘Zucca make bricks and mortar,’ Luca mused.

‘And I shit on all of them,’ Didier bantered.

‘I need to have a wank,’ Luca said, rising from the bed and disappearing courteously into the bathroom.

As Ben walked through the streets to Cat, he placed a hand against his stomach. He felt a little queer but diagnosis of the symptoms eluded him. He decided that hunger and lack of sleep were to blame, that breakfast with Cat and then perhaps a spell in her bed, or in her bed under her spell, might be curative measures to take. It was only when his stomach turned over, shot down to the soles of his feet and then rocketed up to the base of his throat when the auberge came into sight, that Ben deduced from what it was that he was suffering.

Butterflies. Fucking butterflies. When did I last have these? I’ve gone soft.

He was so disconcerted by the affliction that he very nearly bypassed the auberge. But not quite. Soon enough, he was knocking at Cat’s door with tiger moths rampaging around his abdomen. Then Josh appeared down the hallway.

‘Morning, Ben,’ he said affably.

‘Hey, Josh,’ said Ben.

‘Are you looking for Cat?’ Josh asked.

‘Yes, I am,’ said Ben, ‘actually, yes.’

‘I think Rachel said something about she and Cat having breakfast together on account of today’s afternoon départ,’ Josh informed Ben. ‘We had a great night last night – how come you didn’t show?’

‘Oh,’ Ben said breezily, ‘I had medical matters to attend to – bodies, rest and motion – you know the kind of thing.’

‘All in a day’s work,’ said Josh, nodding ingenuously. He regarded Ben. ‘Why do you want Cat?’

Because she’s gorgeous and sexy and I haven’t wanted anyone so much for bloody years.

‘She left her dictaphone in my room,’ Ben said.

‘What was it doing in your room?’ Josh asked, now just a little intrigued.

‘It was picking up the glinting gems which trickled like a golden waterfall from the ruby lips of one Luca Love Me Jones,’ Ben said wryly.

Josh laughed and then held out his hand. ‘Do you want me to give it to her?’