But perhaps she knew the story too well because, after a while, she found her mind drifting.
The result, she thought, pulling a cushion under her cheek, of the warmth of the room and the large lunch which had preceded it. Whatever, it would do no harm to close her eyes for a minute.
When she opened them again with a start, the room was in darkness and the logs in the fireplace had burned away to ashes.
My God, she thought, struggling upright and pushing her hair back from her face. I must have slept for hours.
And she’d dreamed. Dreamed she was back at Barrowdean, walking through a series of empty unfamiliar rooms, searching desperately for—something. Eventually hearing in the echoing distance the deep-throated bark of a dog, and calling ‘Barney’ begun to run.
I must have said it aloud, she told herself, and that’s what woke me.
Only there it was again, the sound of a bark, gruff, excited and close at hand. She turned to stare towards the door. It opened and light flooded the room at the press of a switch. Then, with a scrabble of paws, Barney was there hurling himself across the room at her, paws up against her chest and licking every inch he could reach. No dream, but solid golden reality.
‘Barney. Oh, darling boy.’ She was off the sofa, kneeling on the rug with her arms round him, her face wet with sudden uncontrollable tears.
She looked over his head at Andre lounging in the doorway, his face inscrutable. ‘Oh—how did you find him?’
‘He was never lost.’ He paused. ‘Or did you believe I would leave him in England?’
‘But surely there are rules and regulations about taking dogs abroad. Vaccinations—paperwork—stuff like that.’
‘Already completed by my father. I had only to change the dates of Barney’s collection and flight.’
‘He flew?’
‘Bien sûr. There are companies that specialise in such arrangements.’
‘I didn’t know.’ She bent and put her cheek against the golden head. ‘I—I thought I’d never see him again. You could have told me.’
He shrugged. ‘Or you could have asked. Alors, it was Marguerite who told me of your distress at your mother’s ultimatum. Not you.’
She flushed. ‘My mother has never liked dogs. And I didn’t think you’d care.’
‘You have much to learn,’ he said flatly. His gaze travelled from the sofa to the dead fire. ‘You have been asleep?’
‘Well, yes.’ She got to her feet. ‘Perhaps Madame was right and I did need a rest after all.’
There was an odd silence, then he said quietly, ‘She is rarely wrong.’ He clicked his fingers and Barney went to him, tail like a metronome, pushing his head against the long jeans-clad legs just as he’d always done with Andrew, forcing Ginny to bite her lip hard.
She said, ‘I don’t know how to thank you for this.’
He said softly, ‘Vraiment? Yet I can think of many ways, each more pleasurable than the last.’
Her flush deepened. She said unevenly, ‘You don’t make being here any easier for me with remarks like that.’
‘And when you are my wife,’ he said, ‘will you expect me still to guard my tongue, or shall I be allowed to tell you that I want you and how I intend to please you in bed?’
There was a note in his voice that made her breath catch in her throat and sent an unwelcome trembling sensation rippling across her nerve endings.
Hastily, she pulled herself together. ‘You may be certain this marriage will happen,’ she said curtly, ‘but I’m not.’
‘C’est ce que nous verrons,’ he said, and smiled at her. ‘That, ma mie, remains to be seen.’ He turned and went out, Barney padding beside him.
She followed them both to the kitchen. Barney’s feeding bowl and water dish were in the scullery area, but his basket was by the hearth and he went straight to it and sat looking round him.
She said, ‘He’s had quite a traumatic time. A plane trip and now finding himself in strange surroundings.’
‘But not with strangers.’ Andre bent to fondle Barney’s ears—a gesture she remembered. ‘And the girl who accompanied him said he was a born traveller.’
‘All the same,’ Ginny went on quickly, ‘I think I’d better stay quietly here this evening. Help him settle down.’
He said blandly, ‘There is no need for that, ma mie. He too is one of the family now and will dine with us.’
Damn, thought Ginny, who hadn’t seen that coming. I can’t say I’m tired, having slept most of the afternoon, and if I complain of a headache, he’ll probably have a whole cupboard full of painkillers.