‘Relatively so,’ Kieron agreed. ‘Her husband was a very prosperous businessman. He drowned with my parents in a sailing accident. Marian had stayed behind to look after me. I was twelve at the time, and I’ve never forgotten the look on her face when she broke the news to me. I’m afraid for a while I even blamed her for the accident. She had been the one to invite us all to stay with her, but she bore with me with the patience of a saint. Héloise took me on one side in the end and reminded me that I wasn’t the only person who was suffering. When you share a tragedy like that with someone it forms a bond that can never be broken. Marian virtually took the place of my parents after that. I spent every school holiday with her. You’ll find she’s a bit of a romantic,’ he added. ‘Her happiness means a lot to me, Briony. Don’t disillusion her just to get back at me. As far as she’s concerned, we’re a loving family unit, and if you do anything to damage that illusion, I’ll make you suffer for it.’
They were turning in through wrought iron gates, driving up to a house that made Briony catch her breath in mingled delight and dismay. The villa overlooked the sea on one side and Nice on the other, its walls covered in ancient creepers and the windows opened wide to the soft balmy air. A tall elegant woman hurried gracefully down the steps fronting the house as the car stopped, and although she was undeniably beautifully dressed, there her resemblance to the creature of Briony’s imaginings ceased entirely. As Kieron uncoiled himself from the car, she flung herself into his arms and studied him affectionately, before hurrying round to Briony’s side of the car.
‘My dear, I’m forgetting my manners!’ she apologised warmly. ‘Welcome to the Villa Jardin.’ A slim tanned arm indicated the beautifully kept gardens which surrounded the villa, brilliant with oleander and hibiscus, bougainvillea, flowering vividly against the cream stone walls. ‘And this must be Nicky!’
The little boy surveyed her rather doubtfully, and Briony felt a lump come into her own throat as Marian turned to Kieron and said unsteadily:
‘Oh, my dear, he is so like you! Would you like to come with me and have a nice cool drink?’ she asked Nicky casually. She was obviously accustomed to children, Briony noted with surprised relief. She made no attempt to overwhelm Nicky, waiting instead while he looked at her rather thoughtfully before announcing solemnly, ‘Yes, please.’
‘Oh, wait until Héloise sees you!’ Marian said with a smile. ‘She’s in the kitchen,’ she told Kieron, ‘making your favourite supper. I’ve given you the Mimosa Suite. You’ll be quite private,’ she assured Briony. ‘It has a sitting room which opens straight on to the gardens and from there there are steps leading down to our private beach. It’s rather rocky, though, which is why we have the pool. And you mustn’t worry about Nicky. Héloise and I will be delighted to look after him for you. Kieron tells me that you haven’t been well and that you’re badly in need of a rest. Of course you must be, you poor child.’ Kieron was taking the luggage out of the car and Briony’s eyes rested betrayingly on the tensed muscles of his back.
‘Kieron told me that you didn’t have time for a proper honeymoon,’ Marian confounded her by adding. ‘I hope this holiday will make up for it. Now, I must take Nicky to show Héloise. Although she wouldn’t admit it to a soul she has a terrible weakness for children, and she’ll spoil him dreadfully.’
Briony followed her hostess through a cool tiled hall which led off the arched patio and into an elegant drawing room decorated in peach and off-white.
‘You must be dying for a cup of tea,’ Marian declared sympathetically. ‘I’ll get Héloise to bring us one while Kieron takes the luggage upstairs.’
Nicky was wandering round the room, staring curiously at the elegant lamps and Chinese porcelain, and Briony called to him not to touch anything.
The door opened and a woman Briony assumed to be Héloise walked in carrying a tea tray. She was built on solidly square lines, dark hair pulled back severely from an olive face, her eyes shrewdly assessing as they looked at Briony.
Marian introduced them, and Briony had the feeling that Héloise would not be slow to express disapproval of anyone who she thought might disturb her beloved mistress.
‘And this is Nicky,’ Marian announced, calling the little boy over.
This time when Héloise looked at her, Briony thought she glimpsed grudging approval in her eyes, although she was very surprised when Nicky willingly agreed to go to the kitchen with Héloise for a glass of orange juice.
‘She has a magic touch with children,’ Marian explained when they had gone. ‘It is only with them that she truly relaxes her guard, and they seem to sense it. I can’t tell you how happy I am about your marriage,’ she added, pouring Briony a cup of tea. ‘But Kieron is right.…’
‘Aren’t I always?’ Kieron drawled from the door. He had changed into a clean shirt and close-fitting off-white jeans, and Briony’s body trembled on a flood tide of love. ‘But what specifically was I right about this time?’
‘Briony,’ Marian said with a smile. ‘She does need a rest. I’ve told her she mustn’t worry about Nicky, and if the two of you want to go out alone, he’ll be quite safe with us. You must watch that skin of yours, though, my dear,’ she warned Briony. ‘My chemist does an excellent cream to prevent burning. I’m going to Nice tomorrow—which
reminds me, I still haven’t bought you a wedding present.’
‘Just as well,’ Kieron said easily. ‘Until we find a permanent base we don’t have anywhere to put anything. You might introduce Briony to French swimwear, though. My wife has a perfect figure and I object to seeing it clad in clothes that do it less than justice.’
Marian’s face lit up.
‘A shopping spree?—oh yes, I’d love that! It’s a little late for a trousseau,’ she laughed, ‘but as this is practically your honeymoon I think we can stretch a point.’
‘Really, there’s no need,’ Briony began, but the look of disappointment crossing the other woman’s face, and the warning look in Kieron’s eyes, forced her to change her mind and add unsteadily, ‘But of course, if you’re really sure you don’t mind…?’
When she had finished her tea. Marian suggested that Kieron show Briony their rooms.
‘Nicky will be quite safe with Héloise,’ she forestalled. ‘And if you’d like to rest for a while she’ll look after him for you.’
Although the expensive luxury of the villa should have prepared her it was still a shock to discover that their ‘rooms’ encompassed a huge double bedroom complete with en-suite bathroom and an entire wall of mirrored wardrobes, with a dressing room off it, which Marian had thoughtfully organised as a bedroom for Nicky, plus a delightfully furnished sitting room overlooking Nice with its own small patio which led out to the swimming pool, and which as Marian had promised provided its own entrance to the villa.
‘I’ll have to have a word with Marian about making sure the gate leading down to the rocks is childproof,’ Kieron surprised Briony by saying as she stood by the window. ‘Those steps are too steep for a small child and the rocks can be treacherous. Can he swim?’
Briony shook her head. She had taken Nicky a couple of times to the local baths, but lack of time had prevented her from going more regularly.
‘Well, that can be something he can learn while we’re here. Every child ought to before it’s old enough to know fear.’
Cream and peach appeared to be the theme of the villa, Briony reflected as she unpacked, crossing acres of off-white, thick-pile carpet to put clothes away in the huge wardrobe. The bedspread and curtains had a Chinese motif of palest peach and green on a cream background, the theme repeated in the cream and black bathroom.
She paused as she stared at the bed. Tonight she would be sharing that with Kieron. She shivered inwardly.