Rupert smiled. ‘That wasn’t my intention, but now I am surrounded by so many beautiful ladies, perhaps I shall find myself a wife.’ Taking a risk, he added, ‘Are you available, madame?’

For a moment he thought he’d made a mistake, but then the blue eyes crinkled into a smile and she said, ‘Yes, but be sure you want to ask me, for I might accept and then where would you be, eh?’

‘The happiest man alive,’ Rupert replied at once, his own eyes twinkling in return.

The old lady gave a cackle of laughter. ‘You must be the despair of your mother,’ she remarked.

And Rupert, shaking his head sadly, answered, ‘Yes, madame, I think you’re probably right.’

The bridal pair were seated at a flower-bedecked table on a raised dais with their parents and attendants. From her seat beside Emile St Clair, Suzanne looked across at Louis’s mother, now chatting easily with the Englishman, and sighed. The old lady, usually so difficult to please, seemed to be charmed by the young man next to her. He was charming – even she, Suzanne, could see that – and it made her even more determined to keep Lucie away from him. She needn’t have worried, however, for Rupert had completely forgotten Lucas’s young sister. He was only interested in one woman in the room, in the world, he might have said, and she was sitting with the bride and groom and their parents. Once he saw her look across to his table and meet his eyes with the flicker of a smile, but most of the time her attention was given to her family, and he, knowing that he’d discovered some sort of ally in the Barrineau household, gave his to the elderly lady on his right.

Chapter 14

The banquet was lavish, with many courses brought out in regular procession by the waiters. It wasn’t long before the old lady seated at Rupert’s side was beginning to doze. She had been determined to attend her grandson’s wedding celebrations. She had not been at the Mairie or the church, but she had always loved a party and decided to save her strength for the wedding breakfast, when she could raise her glass to the bride and groom. That done, she gave her attention once again to the man seated next to her. She had understood very quickly that for some reason her daughter-in-law did not like him, and that in itself was interesting and inclined her to think well of him. She did not dislike her daughter-in-law – indeed, she really had no feelings for her either way – but she considered that Suzanne always seemed to put a damper on proceedings. She had never understood what Louis had seen in her, but it had been a respectable match, the bride bringing with her a substantial dowry, and they had seemed happy enough. She loved her grandchildren, particularly Lucas. It’s funny, she thought as she looked across the pavilion to where he was seated beside his new wife, but I always seem to get on better with boys than girls. She gave a sniff of laughter and murmured, ‘And with men!’