She wasn’t an enormous wine drinker, it needed to be admitted. Nor did she know the very first thing about viticulture. However the information that this had been produced on their very own land, with grapes cultivated and picked by their very own palms, lent a beguiling allure to the wealthy style rolling round her tongue.

‘I find it irresistible,’ she advised them, and raised her glass. ‘Thanks all for welcoming me into your private home so generously. Your well being.’

‘Santé!’ they chanted in return, elevating their very own glasses.

Leo smiled at her throughout the desk earlier than consuming deep from his personal wine glass, and he or she felt a blush creep throughout her cheeks on the look in his eyes.

He deliberate to color whereas he was down right here. And he’d advised her that he meant to color her, specifically. Possibly out within the vineyards.

Was it improper to really feel excited by that prospect? After this transient vacation in France, she would possibly by no means see him once more, though he had politely provided to go to England. However she knew how issues labored with these short-lived vacation romances. All of it appeared so magical at first. However as soon as the vacation was over, the magic dwindled and was quickly forgotten.

She felt a pang on the considered all this magic and romance dwindling earlier than it had even correctly begun. However she was smart Maeve, in spite of everything. She wasn’t the type of lady to throw herself right into a fling with a Frenchman, nevertheless intriguing. No person again house would consider it attainable.

No, she should not break the behavior of a lifetime by doing one thing wild and silly. One thing she would possibly shortly remorse, and maybe eternally…

Nightfall fell with shocking suddenness over that wonderful panorama of cultured vines and dusty hills and cypresses piercing a violet nightfall. The night was thick with cicadas, their unending chi-chi-chi made by hundreds of thousands of bugs on the market within the shadowy panorama: invisible, omnipresent, loud. The household sat consuming on the veranda for over an hour after supper had completed, chatting amongst themselves, everybody relaxed and having fun with the night’s heat.

Maeve listened to the French language weaving out and in of her ears, washing over her like a pleasant piece of music, and appeared up on the heavens as the primary stars started to prick tiny silver lights throughout the thickening darkish.

She was in love, she realised. In love with this nation. In love with France itself. Oh, she nonetheless beloved her cosy little nook of Britain. The everydayness of wet streets and fish and chips and the college bell that she heard even in her sleep. France was extra like a stunning dream to her, by some means good and magical in that second, though she knew it wasn’t actually like that, and that criminals just like the mugger who’d stolen her bag existed there too, thieving passports and cash and playing cards, and ruining individuals’s lives. However only for that one night at the least, France was particular. It was the legendary panorama she inhabited at any time when she fell asleep and her unconscious took over…

‘Take care of a stroll?’ Leo requested softly at her elbow, startling her. He’d moved spherical to take a seat beside her when Sophie and Marie had disappeared upstairs to mattress. ‘I do know it’s getting darkish however there’s nonetheless sufficient mild to see by.’

Maeve hesitated, pushing apart her empty wine glass and checking to make certain she wouldn’t be wanted. However aside from a number of remaining glasses and pitchets of wine, the desk was already clear. She had helped Beatrice carry the plates out to the kitchen, and the dessert bowls to the desk and again once more as soon as consumed, after which had helped the dual women load the dishwasher whereas Henri had collected the soiled cutlery. Now Henri and Beatrice have been chatting collectively on the different finish of the desk, discussing a movie that they had just lately seen, and there was nothing for her to do.

But nonetheless she hesitated.

She was afraid to be alone with Leo, she realised, shocked by this realisation. No, afraid was the improper phrase. She felt… apprehensive. Not as a result of she didn’t like Leo or discovered him intimidating. Fairly the opposite, in truth. She was nervous about being alone with him as a result of she knew they’d seemingly kiss once more as soon as no one was trying. And on this wine-sweetened dream of dusty vineyards and heat evening air, goodness is aware of the place which may lead.

This was the land of romance, in spite of everything.

‘I’d like that,’ she mentioned in sometimes opposite trend, and even let him take her hand as they left the veranda with a tender farewell to their hosts, and wandered out alongside the dusty monitor within the purple gloom of night.

She have to be in a dream, she determined. As a result of individuals can do issues in desires that they wouldn’t dare try when awake. Or maybe she’d simply had an excessive amount of wine and was tipsy.

Embarrassingly, so as to add weight to this suspicion, Maeve hiccupped.

‘We make good wine right here, don’t we?’ he murmured.

‘Scrumptious,’ she agreed, and suppressed one other hiccup as greatest she might.

Oh, for goodness’ sake…

They walked for a while in companionable silence, after which round a bend the place they have been hidden from the home. They have been a good distance out within the countryside, she realised, listening to the quiet air. The night would have been deathly silent if not for the incessant thrum of cicadas.

After one other few paces, Leo stepped off the monitor into the mud soil of the winery, pulling her with him.

‘The place are we going?’

‘I simply wish to present you one thing.’ He stopped on the vines rising closest to the sting of the monitor. ‘Look,’ he mentioned, his voice low within the stillness, ‘see these grapes, how darkish they’re, how well-rounded? This bunch is sort of ripe. And the one subsequent to it too. Just a few weeks now and most of those can be prepared for harvest. Although we’ll have been again in Paris a very long time by then. And simply as nicely. This place is utter chaos at harvest time. I do know… I’ve been a part of the workforce myself.’ He introduced her hand to the vine, her fingers rustling apart the nice and cozy leaves. ‘Right here, contact the grapes… Don’t they really feel spherical and agency and lively?’

She choked. ‘Um, sure, I suppose they do.’

It was nearly darkish however there was a tender glow to the sky that meant she might see his face clearly, even there within the gloom. He was staring instantly into her eyes, each their fingers tangling across the heat, tightly-packed, almost bursting bunch of grapes.

She felt breathless, and needed to giggle regardless of herself. ‘Do you typically come out right here at evening to fondle the grapes?’

‘That is my first time,’ he admitted, and launched her hand, drawing her shut in opposition to his physique. ‘Maeve…’ he murmured, and his arm slipped about her waist.

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