The From Paris With Love And Regency Season Of Secrets Ultimate Collection. Кэрол Мортимер

back to normal.

      ‘In order to learn something,’ he offered carefully, ‘maybe you have to be prepared to admit that there’s something you don’t know. To be open. And honest. Being honest makes you vulnerable, I know that. But I’ve been honest with you.’

      Charlotte nodded. ‘You have.’

      ‘More than honest. I’ve told you something that I’ve never told anyone else. That I never will tell anyone else. Something that I see as…shameful. What kind of man am I if I cannot fall in love or be the kind of husband and father a woman would want?’

      She was still struggling. Did she even realise that she was shaking her head very slowly? That her hands were gripping each other tightly enough to have cut off any useful supply of blood?

      ‘You have the power to hurt me, Charlotte, if you chose to share that information with anyone. I’m trusting you not to do that.’

      The slow headshake turned into an equally measured nod. A promise.

      Nico lowered his voice to something just above a whisper as he touched her again. And this time she didn’t flinch. ‘You can trust me.’ He cleared his throat and spoke more strongly. ‘So…will you do me the honour of being honest with me?’

      Dio, that had disturbing echoes of some kind of marriage proposal. Except it wasn’t, of course, so he didn’t need to feel as if he was getting completely out of his depth.

      Even when Charlotte raised her eyes to his and he could see that she wanted to tell him.

      Wanted to trust him.

      She was just having to gather so much courage that it broke his heart to watch.

      ‘I loved him.’ She finally choked the words out. ‘I thought he loved me. But he wanted…I couldn’t…’ There was agony coating the words now. ‘We weren’t…compatible.’

      There was another message in her eyes now. One that said Charlotte was unbearably alone in the world but that there was nothing she could do about it.

      Nico sighed again, more heavily this time, as though utterly defeated. He held out his arms and gathered Charlotte to his chest.

      And held her while she cried.

       CHAPTER SEVEN

      ‘THERE’S NOTHING LIKE a proper afternoon tea, is there?’ Lady Geraldine sighed happily as she stirred sugar into her second cup and listened appreciatively to the sound of silverware tapping against real bone china. ‘Did you know you can buy these lovely cups and saucers from the gift shop?’

      ‘I’ll have to have a look. I’m planning to go there after this.’

      Lady Geraldine couldn’t help noticing the glow of Winsome’s smile. Her old friend certainly looked very happy these days. She could return the smile easily. She had a lot to be happy about herself at the moment.

      Like meeting an old friend unexpectedly. Being on her once-in-a-lifetime dream journey. Actually sitting in this famous bar carriage with the pianist now in residence playing some soft, classical music interspersed with Christmas carols. Remembering Charlotte playing on the beautiful instrument earlier when it had been the first time she’d heard her in so many years. Could it be that it was Nico who was bringing back the part of her granddaughter she’d been missing for so long?

      She picked up the elegant white cup with the blue ribbon pattern around its rim and the VSOE logo under a small crown. ‘Maybe a set of these would make a lovely engagement gift for my Charlotte and her Nico.’

      ‘You said they’d only met yesterday? In Venice? When they both saved that man’s life?’

      ‘Yes…’ Lady Geraldine pushed aside that tiny niggle of doubt. ‘But they’d met before. Years ago, at Charlotte’s hospital. Fate has just thrown them back together and…’ She sighed again. ‘It’s obviously meant to be. Like your Connor and…what was her name again?’

      The conversation paused for a moment as the steward removed the plates that had contained tiny sandwiches and replaced it with a platter of warm scones, adding small silver pots of jam and clotted cream.

      ‘Mmm…’ Lady Geraldine eyed the cream. ‘Proper Cornish clotted cream, by the look of that.’

      ‘Kelsie,’ Winsome said as she followed her friend’s example and picked up one of the scones. ‘Kelsie Summers. But I don’t think she and Connor are about to fall into each other’s arms like your Charlotte and Nico. She jilted him, in fact, fifteen years ago and I have the feeling he hasn’t forgiven her.’

      ‘Really?’ Lady Geraldine had spread the jam and clotted cream onto her scone and was just about to take her first bite but the conversation had just become more enticing than the calorie-laden treat. ‘They must have been very young. Oh, do tell…’

      They both dropped their voices to a more discreet level and Lady Geraldine listened to the story with avid interest. Young love could be such a fragile thing, couldn’t it? She had to hope that there wouldn’t be any unforeseen twists in the road ahead for Charlotte and Nico.

      She finally turned her attention back to her scone but her expression was thoughtful.

      ‘We might be able to help things along,’ she suggested.

      ‘What do you mean?’

      ‘The dinner seating is very strict, I hear.’

      ‘It certainly is. I’ve tried to change tables at the last minute on some of my previous journeys and it almost never happens.’

      ‘It’s not the last minute yet,’ Lady Geraldine said firmly. ‘And if we both had a little chat to the maître d’, I’m sure we could persuade him to juggle things a little.’

      ‘In what way?’

      ‘By making an extra table available. We’ve still got a lot of catching up to do, haven’t we? We haven’t even started talking about that terrible business with Deirdre Wilkins defrauding the charity so that she could run off to the Maldives with that “personal” trainer of hers.’

      Lady Geraldine knew her smile would reveal how much she enjoyed an occasional bit of juicy gossip. ‘If we asked to be seated together, that would mean leaving both your Connor and this Kelsie and my Charlotte and the lovely Nico alone at their tables.’

      ‘Yes…If we could make sure they gave them a table for two or didn’t put another couple to join them at one of the bigger tables.’

      ‘It would be so romantic, wouldn’t it? Everybody dressed up and the lighting all soft and lots of delicious champagne to add to the atmosphere?’

      Winsome was smiling. ‘Why don’t we ask our nice steward to go and see if the maître d’ might be able to spare us a minute or two?’

      Charlotte drifted towards consciousness with reluctance.

      She had never felt so comfortable. So relaxed. So safe. She was floating, supported by a strength she knew she could trust. Cradled against it and it was warm and…moving?

      Yes. A steady, gentle movement like breathing. And there was an equally steady but gentle thumping against her ear.

      A sound she normally only heard through a stethoscope.

      Awareness of where she was kicked in. Or should that be who she was with?

      Asleep on, in fact?

      ‘Ohhh…’ Charlotte pushed herself upright with a groan. ‘I fell asleep?’

      ‘You did.’ There was amusement in Nico’s tone. And a tenderness that touched something that felt raw inside Charlotte.

      The last thing she remembered