‘I was with Julien and I saw you from the window so I came to saybonjour.’ He waved his hand in the direction of the house and Fi followed the movement. She could see Heidi sitting on the other side of the fence, watching Christophe’s every movement.
She looked back to find him smiling. There were crinkles at the corners of his eyes but Fi could feel the focus of his gaze right down to her bones.
Oh, help… The last time she’d seen him, she’d been confident she looked perfectly presentable. The best she could look, in fact. The pendulum had swung a long way to the other end of that spectrum right now, however. She’d tied her wild hair up with a scrunchy to keep it out of her face while she was working, and she knew it would look like an exploding firework. She was wearing dungarees and a workman’s apron that could only be described as masculine and she was streaked with dirt and dust and probably smelled like a donkey.
Not that it seemed to make any difference for Christophe. He walked closer, bypassed Fi and went to pet Marguerite. He clearly knew exactly the right place to scratch her because she flattened her ears and let her eyes drift half shut with the pleasure of it. Then Christophe ran his hand down the donkey’s neck, over her shoulder and then right down her leg. She obligingly lifted her foot.
Christophe made an approving sound and sent another smile in Fi’s direction. ‘You are very good at what you do. I am impressed.’
Fi had to drop her gaze so that he couldn’t detect the level of pleasure the compliment had bestowed.
‘It’s been a while since I worked with donkeys but perhaps it’s easier. Simpler, anyway, when you don’t have to put any shoes on.’ Fi busied herself with taking off her apron and putting her tools back in the bag. She pulled the scrunchy from her hair and the curls fell around her face and neck to give her the comfort of feeling slightly less exposed.
‘En fait…’ Christophe cleared his throat. ‘I wasn’t being completely truthful.’
Fi’s eyebrows rose sharply. Was he actuallyunimpressed with her farrier skills?
‘I did not come to simply saybonjour,’ he said. ‘I came to ask for your help.’
Fi stared at him. From the corner of her eye she could see that Coquelicot had moved closer. It was automatic to seek the reassurance of reaching to touch the warmth of another living creature but she didn’t break the eye contact with Christophe.
His gaze was steady.
Warm.
But he wasn’t smiling now. He was looking very serious.
‘I told you about my friend Didier, who helps me with the forest donkeys.’
Fi nodded. ‘You did. He’s a farrier, like me.’
‘Like you,’ Christophe agreed. ‘But he’s had an accident. Yesterday, he was putting shoes on a horse who was not impressed with his work. He kicked Didier on his knee and broke his leg. Rather badly. He needs surgery and he will not be able to work for some time.’
‘Oh, no… I’m sorry to hear that.’
‘We are supposed to be working with the donkeys in La Sine this week. It’s a big forest, very close to here. I can look after any problems with their health but I cannot do their hooves, so…’ His lips curved into a meltingly persuasive smile. ‘I am hoping you might like to help me? Just for a day or two?’
Oh, my… what woman could resist a plea that came with a smile like that?
‘It’s a very beautiful forest,’ Christophe added. His smile held a hint of mischief now. ‘Do you like trees, Fiona?’
The way he said her name was unlike anything she’d ever heard before, as if one syllable had been absorbed by the others but somehow elongated at the same time. It sounded… Italian, that’s what it was.
Musical. Dramatic, even. She could imagine him throwing his hands into the air as he said it.
It was different.
She liked that.
She liked that he was impressed with her work too. It made her visible in a way that wasn’t the least bit threatening because it was about something that wasn’t personal. Or physical.
Okay… therewasa warning bell sounding in the back of her mind that this feeling of being visible, being noticed, could be the first phase of developing a crush. But recognising that was a good thing. She could control it. She could walk away from it if she needed to. Or she could even get closer to it, if she was brave enough. Going close enough to a fire to warm yourself was a very different thing to going close enough to get burned.
‘Yes,’ she said, slowly. ‘I do like trees. But…’
But could she go into a forest with a man who was virtually a stranger. Alone? Without the safety net of having a single member of her family nearby?
Away from the current tension that was giving her that emotional minefield to step through so carefully and into the peaceful environment of an ancient forest? Into a place where she didn’t have to get dragged back into the past or take sides or watch all shades of distress wash over the faces of the people she loved?
