“My ex-wife always wanted me to sell it. She hated it here. There’s nothing much around except an ancient village, and other farms and manors. She wanted to live in the city, and buy a house in Saint-Tropez instead of this, but we never did. Maybe that would have saved my marriage, but I couldn’t bring myself to part with this place, and the children love it as much as I do. This is my refuge, and a piece of my soul,” he confided to her and kissed her again, and she couldn’t stop kissing him. She had never felt for anyone as she did for him, and he wanted her so much he could hardly breathe. He had since the beginning and now the floodgates had opened and there was no holding back what they felt for each other. “Alex…I know this sounds crazy, but I love you…I don’t want you to get hurt…and I don’t know what will happen…” She would go back to New York in a few months, to her own world, and his was here, but he couldn’t tear himself away from her, and he knew this was much more than lust.
“I don’t care…I love you…” she answered. They walked back to his bedroom, and he paused at the door and kissed her again. He picked her up in his arms like a doll then and laid her gently on the enormous bed. It was a huge modern size, built into the original antique frame for comfort, with enormous drapes around the bed that they could close in winter when it was cold. The bed had never known love and warmth before as it did at that moment, and he gently peeled her clothes away and his own and they slipped under the covers. He lit a candle next to the bed, and the shadows flickered around them as he made love to her and she gave herself as she never had to any man, and then she fell asleep in his arms afterward, feeling safe for the first time in her life.
—
They woke up two hours later, at the same time, with the candle still burning, and she smiled into his eyes and then kissed him.
“Did I dream this?” he asked her, almost afraid to believe it. The strong, powerful, confident man that she had met a month before had melted in her arms, and she could have had anything she wanted from him. “How did I get so lucky? Thank God Green brought you here with him.”
“I always go with him,” she said softly, burrowing deeper into Miles’s arms as he held her like spun glass. His lovemaking had been just strong enough to transport her, but gentle enough to drive her to heights she had never known.
“What if he had brought some awful ancient crone?” Miles whispered, and she laughed, and half an hour later they both admitted that they were starving. He’d had the house heated before they arrived, and had asked the stable master to leave food in the refrigerator. He took her hand then and they went down to the kitchen naked. They had the whole place to themselves, and Miles admired her exquisite body as they stood in the ancient kitchen. She looked like a beautiful nymph in the forest. He loved her so much he thought he could die, and wouldn’t have minded dying of ecstasy in her arms. “What have you done to me?” he said to her as he pulled her into his arms again. “You have bewitched me.” She smiled shyly and nestled close to him. She had never known life could be so perfect, and suddenly she remembered Bert’s words to her, reiterated recently, that one day the right man would come along at the right time. He would find her, she didn’t have to look for him, and then she would be happy. He was right.
She told Miles about him as they sat down to a dinner of cheese and bread, some sliced cold sausages, and a glass of wine he poured her, which was very good French wine of an important vintage.
“And whose editor is he? I’m confused.” She had spoken as though he were hers and she said he was her mentor, and she corrected herself quickly.
“He’s Mr. Green’s, but he spends a lot of time with us, and he’s very wise.” Miles nodded. She led an interesting life, full of unusual people, aged sages and mentors and nuns, and her best friend was an ex-nun with two babies, and she worked for one of the most important writers in the world. It was an extraordinary existence for someone her age, and she was an extraordinary woman. He wasn’t sure he deserved her, and she felt the same way about him. She was in awe of Miles, and full of admiration for him, head over heels in love with him, and couldn’t believe this was happening.
They went back upstairs after dinner and made love again, and then lay in the candlelight, talking softly, and he lit a fire as she watched him. She was as mesmerized by his body as he was by hers. He felt as though they were Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
They fell asleep with the fire blazing, still talking to each other, and woke up at dawn, as he looked at her and grinned. Her silky black hair was like a mysterious curtain over her face, and he ran a gentle hand along her body, and then leaned down to kiss her.
“I think I died and went to heaven last night.” He knew it wasn’t just the lovemaking, it was everything he felt for her. He had never known a woman like her in his entire life. It made his heart ache thinking of what he would have missed if they had never come here. But he felt destiny taking a hand in his life, and so did she.
They luxuriated in the enormous antique bathtub before they went out, and stopped in the kitchen for a piece of fruit and a cup of coffee, and then he took her for a walk in the garden. It was a beautiful sunny day. They walked past the orchards to an ancient cemetery at the rear of the property. The dates on the tombstones were as early as the 1600s, like many houses in the area. They paused at a little brook on the way back, sat down on the grass, talked for a while, and made love again. And they went to the stables so he could show her all the horses, and the impeccably kept stalls. They walked into several of them so she could see the horses more closely, and even the very modern breeding section of the barn, where other breeders brought their horses to combine with his bloodlines. They spent an hour there, and then he drove her to the village, and they had lunch at a small ancient pub, where the owner greeted him warmly and the simple fare was good, and after lunch they went back to the house.
His home was so inviting and Alex was completely under its spell and his. He pointed out some of the books in his library, which were very valuable and very old, and she told him how much her father would have loved it. And at the end of the day he made a fire in the library and they curled up, looking at the books while he kissed her. It was all so new and so perfect that they knew instinctively that this moment would never come again, while their love was being born. And they slept like peaceful children that night in each other’s arms.
They went riding together early the next morning, just as the sun was coming up over the hills. He took her on hidden paths. He was an excellent rider, he had given her a gentle horse, and she was comfortable next to him. They stayed out for several hours, and then walked the horses back to the barn. She felt as though she could stay there forever, and wished they would. But they knew they had to go back the next day. He had called to check, and their stars were feeling better. They had one day left in paradise and had to resume shooting the day after.
Miles cooked eggs for her after their long ride, and they were talking quietly when he looked at her strangely, and seemed embarrassed by what he wanted to ask her.