The Frenchman's Slow Seduction by Flora Lanoux

Author:Flora Lanoux
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: cozy mystery, contemporary romance, steamy romance, american romance, sizzling romance, strong heroine romance, veterinarian romance, romance european hero, romance french hero, romance happily ever after

Chapter 14

When six thirty rolls around, I wake Michelle up. Since it’s my morning off, I go home to work on conference notes instead of going to the clinic. It’s part of my plan to avoid life as much as possible for the week.

At nine thirty, I leave for Northcliff. When I walk into Verna’s room, a man quickly gets up from his chair.

“Hello, dear,” Verna says, standing up. “I’d like you to meet Syd. Syd, this is Rachel, a friend who gives me advice on love.”

Syd is Verna’s age and has a special look about him: the look of someone who’s happy in life. Smiling, he shakes my hand. “Lovely to meet you, Rachel.” His accent is pure New England. Dressed in a smart light-gray suit with a white shirt and yellow tie, he looks divinely meant to be with Verna. When I see that he’s wearing comfortable walking shoes, I feel glad. An aesthete with a firm footing in reality, he will walk amiably through life with Verna. “Do you advise men as well?” he asks.

I laugh. “There’d be no sense.”

“Why not?”

“The good ones don’t need any help, and the bad ones would just use the information for their own gain.”

Syd and Cathy look at each other and then at me.

“You’ve obviously given a lot of thought to matters of the heart,” Syd says.

“Verna makes a great teacher.”

His gaze falls on Verna. “I should have known. One of the master’s pupils. My strategy is to wear Verna out with my persistence. No matter how long it takes.”

Verna shakes her head. “Let’s go for a walk.”

At the park, Syd and Verna feed the pigeons while I walk among the trees. I can’t hear what Syd is saying to Verna, but Verna spends a lot of time either smiling or laughing. At one point, Syd faces her, takes her hand, and kisses it.

On our way back to the manor, Syd stops at the parking lot. “This is where I take my leave,” he says, shaking my hand. “The next time I see you, young lady, I’m going to work on making you smile.”

I laugh. “I think I’ll have to work on that myself.”

“Well stated. I’ve enjoyed our meeting.”

As he drives away in his light blue Impala, I turn to Verna and say, “If you don’t marry him, I will.”

She gives a soft laugh. “I’m seriously considering it,” she says. “I guess you’ll be off now, too.”

“I’m afraid so.”

She frowns. “One should never be afraid, Rachel.”

Driving away from the manor, I’m overcome by a sudden, frightening emptiness. “It’s okay,” I tell myself. “Everything is perfectly okay.” My life seems to hang on those words. Deciding that what I need is a quiet place to sit where no one will bother me, I drive to a nearby woodlot.

Going down one narrow dirt road after another, I admire the birds, the greenery -- the primitiveness. Next to a boggy area with a beaver dam, I park the car. Leaning back in my seat, I let out a slow breath and lift my face to the sun.

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