The Vintner and The Vixen

Chapter 5

After a tour of the winery and a brief stop to see her grapes—which looked like the million others around her—Jacques pulled up next to a picturesque lake, not a soul in sight. It was surrounded by terraces of vines; a few tall trees provided shade, but it was the view of the chateau in the distance that really sold the scene. It was the perfect location for a period film.

"This place is stunning. How come we're the only ones here? A beautiful day like today, I'm surprised it's not crowded."

"It's private property. My property."

"Damn, man, you have it all, don't you?"

"Not everything," he replied. He grabbed a blanket off the backseat and passed it to her. "Can you spread this out? I'll get the food."

She took the blanket and wandered over to the lakeshore. What was she doing here? The gangster's girlfriend and the billionaire. She needed to shatter the romantic mood before it sucked her in. The best way she knew to do that? Bring up the exes.

"I bet you and your wife came here all the time," she said as she placed the blanket on the ground. The grass was salted with tiny daisies.

"Clarisse thought eating on the ground was for the poor. And if there wasn't wait staff to cater to her every whim, she wasn't interested."

"Oh." Mission accomplished—Maya no longer felt romantic. As the silence lengthened, she tried again. She needed Jacques not to fight her staying in the cottage; she had nowhere else to go. "How about when you were a kid? Did you come here often then?"

"Daniel and I used to fish in the lake. And he used to bring girlfriends here. He was the one who suggested it as a good picnic spot."

"So while Daniel was romancing the girls, what were you doing?"

He placed the picnic hamper on the edge of the blanket. The first thing he pulled out was a bottle of wine and two glasses. Not the plastic kind with the removable bottom that most people used when they went on picnics. No, Jacques had real crystal with gold leaf around the rim. He poured her a glass, taking his time about answering her question.

"I was studying and hanging around the winery. Daniel's always been the ladies' man."

"Maybe, but I don't think you did too badly. You have that whole brooding, tortured hero thing down pat. I'm sure you were beating the girls off in school. Or did you go to one of those all-boys schools?"

"No, we went to the local school. After my father died and Maman remarried, Grand-Papa wanted to keep us at home so we didn't feel abandoned. And he didn't hold with rich kids going to school with only rich kids. Said they then never learned to interact with everyday people. Anytime we pretended we were better because we lived in the big house, he'd make us spend the day with the staff, doing their bidding." He handed her a china plate and real silver cutlery. Picnics de Launay style were a whole 'nother level.

"Your grandfather is amazing." His eyes flashed a warning she didn't understand. What, did he think she was going to seduce his grandfather? She'd done a lot of things in her life, but she was no Anna Nicole Smith.

"He's pretty special. And even though Daniel isn't technically his grandson, he never treated him any differently from me. What about your family? You mention your great-grandmother frequently but not your parents or grandparents."

Jacques placed a container with tiny appetizer bites between them. Each looked like a miniature work of art. She picked up a few and put them on her plate arranging them into an empty square. If he knew why she'd really moved into the cottage, he'd definitely have a fit about security. But even her brother didn't know where she was living now. He had only a phone number.