I stand between the pair. ‘Francois-Xavier, what are you doing here? And Margaret, I didn’t realise you were arriving so soon.’ Although, I should have expected it. She wants to read Chloe’s manuscript.
‘I’m here because this is my hotel, my dream, my…’
I sigh. ‘Don’t start all that again.’
‘But I love you,’ he says, in his best beseeching tone that used to sway me and now makes me cringe.
‘Where’s the manuscript? Point me in the direction of the secret library,’ Margaret bellows. ‘I’ll take a café crème.’
I shoot Margaret a look. The very last person I want to know about any of this is Francois-Xavier.
‘What do you mean, secret library?’ he asks, calculation shining in his eyes. He’s probably already counting euros in his head.
‘It’s nothing,’ I say. ‘It’s, uh… the new name of the hotel.’ Margaret gives me a tiny nod to acknowledge her mistake.
‘And the manuscript?’ He laser-focuses his gaze directly at me. How did I not see this shrewd side of him early on?
‘Mymanuscript, obviously. Margaret is my literary agent, as you well know.’ I keep my voice modulated so he doesn’t pick up on my lies. If he knows there’s the potential for a pay day, I’ll never get rid of him. If all goes according to plan, he’ll hear about it in the press, but that’s a worry for another day, a less important day.
‘Is that so?’
Margaret purses her lips as her complexion pinks. She’s going to blow if I don’t put a stop to this and get him on his way.
‘Today is a very big day. We’re welcoming our first guests, so if there was nothing else?’
Francois-Xavier leaps forward and pulls me into his arms. I let out a surprise bark of shock. ‘What are youdoing!’
‘Please, give me another chance.’ He nuzzles my neck, a move that used to drive me wild and now makes my skin crawl. Suddenly my family’s warnings all make so much sense! Did he act as smarmy as this when I fell for him? It’s so obviously a ploy.
‘Get your slimy hands off her!’ Manon yells. Oh, this day just keeps getting better and better. ‘I warned you about the chokehold, did I not? Now you leave me no choice but to…’
‘Everything OK here, Anais? I heard yelling?’
I want to cup my head and scream. ‘All OK, Noah. This guy is just deciding whether he’ll leave or suffer a chokehold.’
‘Ooh,thisis Noah,’ Margaret says, winking at my neighbour.
Kill me.
Manon grabs Francois-Xavier and has him on the floor in one quick sweep. She loops her arms around his neck in the next breath. Not long after, his eyes pop out of his head. Do I look that unattractive when Manon practises her submissions on me? It’s not a good look, but I worry she’s going to cut off the oxygen to his brain, and violence is never the answer, so I say, ‘Tap out or she won’t release you!’
Francois-Xavier reluctantly taps the parquetry floor and Manon pulls her arms from his neck.
‘Who is he?’ Noah asks with a curious frown.
‘I. Am. Her husband,’ Francois-Xavier sputters as he pulls himself up, trying to catch his breath.
What is he playing at? ‘Ex-husband. The one who drained my bank accounts and slept with half the women of Paris,thatex-husband.’
‘Ah.’ Noah gives me an understanding nod. ‘I’d offer to escort him out for you, but Manon has this covered, more’s the pity.’ He gives me a cheeky smile.
‘Would you like an arm bar next, Francois-Xavier? Or a foot lock?’
‘Manon!’ I’m all for getting rid of him but she’s enjoying this far too much.
‘I’m leaving,’ Francois-Xavier says, ‘I’m leaving.’
Manon can’t help herself and has one more parting shot. ‘Anais has already replaced you so there’s no point trying to win her back.’
