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The farmhouse Leon was planning to rent for the summer was in the Massif de l’Estérel region of Provence, a beautiful mountainous area made up of the volcanic rock porphyry. The sides of the mountains were cloaked in forests of pine and cork oaks. Sadie felt a thrill of excitement at the thought of visiting such a beautiful area, and an even sharper one at the thought of visiting it with Leon.
However, because of some roadworks in the centre of Mougins they had to take a circuitous route in order to get to the road that would take them up into the region. As they drove through the countryside surrounding Mougins Sadie couldn’t resist pointing out to Leon the fields full of flowers grown for the perfume industry.
‘How can anything made in a laboratory come anywhere near rivalling the scent of these?’ she asked him passionately, gesturing towards fields of roses and jasmine.
‘No, it doesn’t,’ Leon agreed with a glinting look towards her. ‘For one thing with a chemically based scent there’s no risk of the final product differing from batch to batch because the sun shone for three days less one year! And that means that when a woman buys a chemically created perfume she can be sure she is getting exactly the same scent that was in her previous bottle—and at an affordable price!’
Sadie’s forehead puckered into a frown. From listening to Leon it would be easy to imagine that he had not changed his stance at all on the creation of the new perfume. Or was he simply trying to bait her?
She opened her mouth to vigorously defend her own stance, but Leon shook his head and gave her a meaningful look.
‘Remember our pact?’ he warned her.
Sadie laughed, but inwardly she couldn’t help wishing that she could talk with him about her excitement and enthusiasm for her work on creating their new perfume. Their new perfume… She was also aching to get to work on the old-fashioned men’s cologne produced by Francine, to update it, to make out of it a scent that was intensely male… a fragrance that would for ever and always be for her the mark of the man she was so passionately drawn to. Leon’s scent…
Dreamily she let her imagination go to work! She would name it Leon—in her own secret thoughts if not in public—and it would be topaz-dark in hue, leonine, discreet, sensual, strong, earthy and rich, yet with a touch of coolness and hauteur, a fragrant suggestion of the pale green ice that was Leon’s eyes! Leon… Leon… The bottle would be tall and round, wide enough for a man’s hand to grip comfortably and feel at ease with…
Guiltily Sadie snatched her recklessly wayward thoughts back to reality.
Leon was an excellent driver in whose care she felt extremely safe, and she was pleased when he praised her map-reading skills and thanked her for finding them a shorter route to the motorway.
‘I dare say this wretched slug of a car will mean that it will take us longer to get there than I had expected,’ Leon warned her once they reached the right road. ‘And heaven alone knows how it will cope with climbing the mountains.’
Sadie gave him a rueful look. Although he was complaining, he was not doing so in a bad-tempered manner, rather a wryly resigned one. It increased her growing respect for him to see that he could control his reaction to difficult situations.
In fact, as she was quickly discovering, time spent in Leon’s company was such a blissful experience that merely sitting beside him inside a car made her feel happier than she suspected, as a sane modern woman, she had any right to be feeling.
As Leon had predicted, the small car laboured wretchedly up the steep mountain roads, but Sadie was too entranced by their surroundings and her companion to care. She had read in the guide book provided with the car that the porphyry rock that formed the mountains held colours which ranged from the deepest red in Cap Roux through to blue in Agay, where the Romans had made the column shafts for their monuments in Provence, to green, yellow, purple and grey. But to actually glimpse these rich colours through the deep green screen of the forest made her catch her breath in awe, unable to resist drawing Leon’s attention to what she had seen.
‘They are awesome,’ he agreed, his expression deliberately teasing as he added, ‘That is unless you have seen Ayers Rock!’
‘Oh, you.’ Sadie pulled a face at him and then stopped, her eyes misting a little with emotion as she realised how easy and natural she felt with him—just as though she had known him for years…
From somewhere deep inside her the words ‘soul mates’ rose up and would not be denied. Soul mate. Wasn’t that truly what every single human being longed for? To meet their own one and only soul mate? To be with their special-once-in-a-lifetime person who was their fate and their destiny?
A tiny little shiver quivered through her.
‘Cold?’ Leon asked, frowning and reaching out to the air-conditioning control.
Sadie shook her head, but a small perverse part of her was pleased when he turned his head to give her a searching look, and then, and only then, seemed prepared to accept her statement. Ridiculously, she knew—given her age and the fact that she had looked after herself for so long—it gave her a tiny thrill of pleasure to know that he was so concerned for her comfort. Perhaps another woman might have accused him of being stereotypically male but Sadie admitted she was actually enjoying the sensation of being cared for.
‘Does it look from the map as though it’s much further?’
Leon asked with a small frown as the car crawled up yet another steep hill.
Obligingly, Sadie checked the map. Ironically, it gave her as much pleasure to be treated as an equal partner in their shared venture as it had done only seconds ago to feel he regarded her as someone in need of his care and protection.
‘Well, it’s going on for twenty miles to the village you mentioned,’ she told him.
‘In that case we’d better stop for some lunch. Is there anywhere before then?’ Leon asked.
‘We should be coming up to a place called the Auberge des Adrets soon,’ Sadie informed him, looking at the guidebook again. ‘It was once supposed to be the favourite haunt of some highwayman named Gaspard de Besse. But there’s a small town a little bit further on,’ she added. ‘Why don’t we stop there and buy some food? Then we can eat when we get to the mas.’
When Leon shot her a surprised look Sadie backpedalled a little, telling him, ‘You said that it was unoccupied, so I thought in view of the time it’s taking us to get there… But if you would rather eat at a restaurant…’
‘No… buying our own stuff is fine by me. In fact I think it’s a great idea,’ Leon assured her immediately.
‘Well, we should be reaching the town soon,’ Sadie assured him.
Watching her as she concentrated on the guidebook, diligently checking that they were travelling in the right direction, Leon admitted that he could not think of a time when he had last enjoyed himself so much—couldn’t remember a time when he had enjoyed a woman’s company so much. Back home, the women he occasionally dated would have thrown a fit had he suggested taking them anywhere other than the most expensive and fashionable places to eat. And when he did, eating was the last thing they actually did.
They tended to parade up and down in their designer clothes, apply lipstick to their already vermilioned mouths whilst checking out the other occupants of the tables in their compact mirrors. They’d wave to their friends with long polished nails, whilst pouting complaints to him that they couldn’t possibly drink anything other than the most expensive champagne. Oh, yes they did all that! But eat? Never!
Oh, they would certainly order the most expensive dishes on the menu, all right, but then refuse to eat them, protesting about calories and fat content. If there was one thing Leon hated it was seeing good food wasted—a hang-up from his upbringing, no doubt, when his grandmother had often regaled him with stories of how poor she and his grandfather had been, and how one joint of meat had been made to last a whole week.
Sadie wasn’t like the spoiled society women he had previously dated, though. Last night and this morning she had eaten her food with every evidence of enjoyment. And somehow he found just watching her doing that far more sexually stirring than watching a stick-thin modeltype toying irritably with a piece of designer greenery.
And surely a woman with a healthy appetite for food would have an equally healthy appetite for life’s other sensual pleasures?
Leon recognised that his thoughts were about to surge dangerously out of control.
‘I think the town is coming up now,’ Sadie warned him
As he nodded his head in acknowledgement, Leon reflected ruefully that the town wasn’t on its own!
‘You’ve bought enough food to feed at least a dozen people.’ Sadie laughed, shaking her head in mock disapproval as she and Leon headed back to the car. Both of them were carrying the purchases Leon had insisted on making.
He’d excitedly bought long sticks of French bread, freshly baked that morning, some local cheese and fruit, some olives, and some cold meats from the local charcuterie, some delicious delicacies from the patisserie, and even a bottle of red wine, as well as some water. It was a feast fit for any king
But Leon wasn’t a king, he was a billionaire, Sadie reminded herself as they reached the car. No wonder he had looked at her in such surprise when she had suggested they buy food and virtually picnic at the mas.
‘What’s wrong?’ Leon demanded, making her jump as she realised that he was watching her.
The genuine concern in his voice and the perceptiveness of the look he was giving her brought Sadie to a standstill in the middle of the empty street.
‘Sadie?’
The intensity with which Leon spoke her name as he raised one hand to her face, gently tucking an errant strand of hair behind her ear, caused Sadie to tremble from head to foot, the paper bag she was clutching in her arms shaking with her.
Very gently Leon’s hand stroked down the side of her head, before resting on her neck, his thumb massaging the delicate flesh just behind her ear in a way, to judge from the concerned look in his eyes, Sadie suspected he had intended to be comforting and reassuring, but in fact was anything but. Her whole body leapt into shocking, aroused life immediately, her tremors increasing.
What on earth must Leon think of her? He must be used to sophisticated, experienced woman who did not react like inexperienced and over-excited teenagers the moment he touched them. Inexperienced…
Sadie pulled her mind back from the word like a mother protectively pulling a child’s fingers back from an open flame.
Leon’s hand was still cupping the side of her head, and somehow Sadie managed to make herself look directly into his eyes.
The look in their deep, deep depths was making her feel dizzy, holding her in thrall.
‘Have I told you, yet, Sadie, just what a very exceptional person I think you are?’
Exceptional? Her? Sadie tried to remind herself of who he was and why she was with him, but the slow, gentle movement of his hand against her scalp was overheating her thoughts as well as her body. Beneath her clothes she could feel it reacting to him, her breasts filling with liquid aching need, her nipples tightening, flaunting their desire as they pushed hungrily against the fine silk of her bra. Low down in her stomach her muscles tightened, whilst the female core of her swelled and moistened.
Tiny beads of perspiration dampened her hairline and upper lip—and they were not caused by the heat of the sun, Sadie noted ruefully as she made a valiant attempt to behave as though she was perfectly accustomed to such a situation.
Leon looked closely at her as the soft, incredibly long dark lashes concealed Sadie’s eyes from him. He could feel the tiny convulsive tremors of her body. They ran through his fingertips and up his arm, and from there right the whole way through him, to every last inch and single cell of him. He had never ever met a woman who made him feel like this, who aroused in him such a complex tangle of emotions and desires.
Within the space of a single heartbeat she could send him from the most intense physical need he could ever remember feeling to the most protective and tender realisation of just how vulnerable she was. In one breath she could make him want to be both poacher and gamekeeper. Right now, here in this hot little street, he could quite easily lean her against the nearest wall and take her in the most primitive, hungry male way there was—yes, and make her ache with the need he felt for every single heartbeat. But at the same time he also wanted to wrap a cloak of protection around her that would prevent any male eyes from ever looking lustfully on her, any male desire from ever hurting her.
Including his own?
Leon had never met a woman who made him feel that so much in life that was simple and easily affordable was somehow also invaluably pleasurable. Apart, perhaps, from his grandmother, She had also relished the simple and inexpensive things in life.
Suddenly Sadie pulled away from him.
Looking down at her, Leon growled. ‘Do you have any idea how very, very tempted I am to kiss you?’
Sadie granted herself ten wonderful seconds in which to absorb the blissful delight that hearing these words gave her, and then another ten just because it felt so good. Then, in case she dangerously gave away how shamelessly she wanted him to kiss her, she turned away from him and started to hurry to where they had parked the car.
Leon watched her. He could still feel the warmth of her neat, delicately shaped head on his palm, the softness of her hair and her skin. As she walked away from him he watched the awesome femaleness in the movement of her body with male appreciation—and a very physical male response—only just managing to suppress a small growl of possessiveness as he contemplated the effect of her neatly rounded derrière on other vulnerable members of his sex who were witnessing it as she walked past them.
It was his duty, surely, to protect them from such vulnerability—and the temptation which accompanied it! For the sake of his own sex, Sadie needed a man in her life and a ring on her finger! A ring? His ring?
Now, where the hell had that thought come from?
They had to call at the local garage before leaving the town, to put more petrol in the car, and Leon frowned as he saw the way the driver of a car on the other side of the pumps paused to give Sadie a lingeringly appreciative second look before getting back into his vehicle.
‘Seems like you’ve made a conquest,’ he commented dryly to Sadie as he put the key in the ignition.
‘It’s probably my hair,’ she answered matter-of-factly. She had already noticed how often local men looked at her blonde locks.
‘Yeah, and the rest,’ she thought she heard Leon mutter beneath his breath. But as she turned to look at him she realised that the car was as it had been this morning, when Leon had first attempted to start it—refusing to start!
Sadie held her breath as he tried again, and then again, To her relief, on the fourth attempt the engine fired.
CHAPTER SIX
HALF an hour later Sadie looked out of the passenger window and caught her first glimpse of the sea, way, way down below them—foam-capped, blue-green, dipping to denser all-blue where it met the horizon.
Automatically she gave a small exclamation of pleasure.
‘Want a closer look?’ Leon offered, moving to pull over to the side of the road, where there was a convenient parking space.
Sadie was tempted, but she knew that it was taking them much longer to reach the mas than Leon had expected. If they were to stop she knew she would also be tempted to look for a path down the steep cliff, so that she could sink her toes into the untouched golden sand of the small, perfect half-moon-shaped beach which was just visible below them. And of course once on that beach she would definitely need to at least dip her feet into the sea itself!
The thought of the two of them sharing the privacy of that small beach, even perhaps picnicking there, with the food they had bought, made her long to accept Leon’s suggestion. Sternly she reminded herself of the reason they were here, and the fact that that she was an adult and not a child.
Leon was still waiting for her to reply. Regretfully, she shook her head.
Recognising the wistfulness in her expression, Leon twitched his mouth in amusement. But, like her, he was conscious of how long the journey was taking them. At this rate they would no sooner have reached the mas than it would be time to turn back! Nevertheless… The thought of being alone with Sadie on that small deserted beach was a very tempting one. A very, very tempting one indeed!
Deliberately suppressing it, he put his foot down a little harder on the accelerator. The small car struggled to respond, chugging valiantly up the steep incline.
‘Not much further now,’ Leon assured Sadie as they turned off the coast road and onto a narrower road which would take them to the mas.
About ten minutes after leaving that road, and driving down a private lane, they found it. A small cosy spread of red-roofed, warmth-washed buildings, perched halfway up the hillside and facing out to sea.
Leon brought the car to a halt outside it, and neither of them spoke as they both gazed at the mas.
Without a word Leon pressed the automatic buttons and opened their car windows—as though he had guessed what she was thinking, Sadie reflected as she breathed in the wonderfully pure air. Even up here, at this height, she would have sworn she could smell and taste the sea.
Lavender shrubs scented the air with their flowers, and the silvery-grey trunk of a wisteria leaned heavily against the golden walls of the mas, its branches covered in soft feathery leaves. A scattering of obviously self-seeded semi-wild flowers threw up their heads in warm bursts of colour that broke up the green of the grass, and beyond the mas Sadie could see a small olive grove. But what really caught her eye was the low wall, bordered with an informal hedge of orange trees, beyond which she could see the enticing sparkle of water. The mas had a swimming pool! And not just any swimming pool, but one of the stunning modern infinity pools that had recently become so fashionable. From where she was looking, it really did seem as though the water in the pool actually merged with the sea, so that the sparkling blue water seemed to stretch into infinity.
The whole place combined a perfect blend of traditional and modern design, Sadie recognised. If this place was hers she knew there was no way she could ever bear to let it to anyone else.
‘Oh, how beautiful!’ Her soft, delighted words broke the silence and had Leon turning his head to look at her.
‘This is the first time I’ve actually seen it.’ His voice sounded gruff and slightly hoarse, as though he was as affected by the wild, private beauty of the mas as she was herself, but trying in a manlike way to hide it. ‘In the flesh, I mean,’ he amended. ‘The agent sent me photographs and a video. I told him I wanted somewhere private, and this place is certainly that.’
‘It’s heavenly,’ Sadie told him, so caught up in the spell of the place that she had opened the car door and stepped out without even realising she had done so.
A soft breeze stroked over her skin and instinctively she held her face up to the sun, closing her eyes as she basked in its warmth.
Turning to Leon, and gesturing widely with her arms to encompass the mas, the land and the sea and sky beyond it, she told him huskily, ‘This is what perfume is all about—flowers, earth, air, sea, capturing the scents of nature. No laboratory-produced chemical can ever reproduce this!’ she finished passionately.
Sombrely Leon watched her. The breeze was moulding her clothes to her body, highlighting its curves. He was tempted to challenge her statement, to remind her that she herself had now agreed to work with man-made scents, but he was reluctant to introduce a note of conflict into their day. In her eyes he could see how intensely she felt, and irrevocably he knew that he wanted to share that passion and, dangerously, he wanted her.
‘Let’s take a look inside.’
The harshness of Leon’s voice made Sadie frown. Had he thought her foolish and over-emotional to feel the way she did about their surroundings? He was waiting for her, and so silently she fell into step beside him.
Inside, the mas was every bit as perfect as it was outside—at least in Sadie’s opinion. The large country-style kitchen opened out onto a shady secluded patio, complete with a family-sized table and chairs, the patio itself ornamented with tubs of geraniums and an old-fashioned water pump.
The long, sprawling building also housed a cosy TV room, as well as a formal dining room and a wonderfully large and elegant sitting room, which ran the full width of the house and had windows on either side.
Upstairs there were five good-sized bedroom, each with its own bathroom. Every room was furnished simply but with style. With each step she took Sadie found herself envying whoever it was who owned it—especially when Leon told her that the land attached to the mas extended right down to the sea and included its own private beach.
‘It’s absolutely wonderful,’ she told him.
‘You like it?’
‘How could anyone not?’ Sadie responded ruefully. ‘If it was mine, I don’t think I could bear to let it out to someone else.’
As soon as she had finished speaking Leon found that he was actually making mental plans to get in touch with the letting agent and find out if the owners would be prepared to sell! After all, it would make sense for him to have a permanent base in Europe—especially now that they were taking over Francine.
Come off it, he derided himself. That isn’t why you want it, and you damn well know it. No. It wasn’t himself, dressed in a business suit and working alone on his laptop, he was envisaging. It was he and Sadie, and what they were doing had nothing whatsoever to do with work or laptops!
‘Well, I don’t know about you, but I am ready for that food we bought,’ Leon told Sadie, hastily banishing his wayward thoughts. He looked at his watch and added ruefully, ‘Do you realise that it’s already half past three?’
