The Beautiful Ones - Silvia Moreno-Garcia Page 0,73
you. What I have in mind is business, as I said. Business that will enrich us both. The stones of Avelo are worth nothing, but the land, that land is valuable. Do you know that outside Ygress they are building a hotel? The Panorama, it is to be called.”
“What of it?”
“Avelo has a better view of the sea. The railway line is being extended three towns north, connecting with Apluri. If the Véries lease that land to me, Mrs. Beaulieu, they will profit handsomely. I will build a hotel, dazzling in its luxury. I can promise your family an annual fee and a bonus in exchange for the use of the land, secured in a long-term lease of a hundred years.”
“A hotel? At Avelo? Who would go there?”
“Anyone who seeks a superb time. Hotels are mushrooming up the whole region. Everyone wishes to gamble, drink, and be merry.”
Valérie frowned. It was not a terrible idea. The only thing Avelo could boast of were its blue waters, but if a blasted town like Ygress could inspire an upscale hotel … no, it was not a terrible idea.
“What do you know of hotels, Mr. Lémy?” she asked. “Your family makes school uniforms, doesn’t it?”
He frowned as if remembering an unpleasant detail and waved his hand. “By the hundreds. But a boy must find his own way in the world. My eldest brother controls our business, the second-eldest is his right hand, and once it comes to me … I think Father is leaving me a button-making enterprise, acutely small.”
“And what, you expect to sell your buttons so you can finance this hotel? I don’t imagine you can build it on dreams and sand. Will your father back the venture?”
“There are two or three parties who might be interested in joining me. I expect my father might contribute to it, too, when he sees I have grown serious and mature.”
Valérie stared at Luc Lémy. She did not know exactly how old he was. Perhaps twenty-four or twenty-five, but with his mustache and the look of a careless, fair-haired dandy who spent the evening drinking cocktails at Saserei’s, he did not inspire any vision of maturity whatsoever.
“It might take you some time to manage this,” she said dryly.
“Not nearly that long. I want to marry, which should help prove my mettle, and begin preparations for the construction of the hotel, before a year has passed. And here again is where I think we might assist each other. I want to marry Nina.”
Antonina. Back in the city, with her great-aunts, and somehow she’d attracted the eye of this hungry fox, innocent lamb that she was.
“I see where you expect to get the bulk of your financing from, Mr. Lémy.”
Luc, perhaps not used to direct talk, almost dropped his cigarette, but Valérie did not feel like being coy in that moment and she relished the startled look on his face.
“Don’t look alarmed. You’ve done your research. I imagine you have an idea the amount of money her father left her? Not only the land, but the trust as well. And my husband would surely contribute to your bank account generously. Why, you might build yourself two hotels!”
“Mrs. Beaulieu,” he began, but Valérie silenced him, raising her hand and shaking her head.
“I won’t chastise you for having a solid head upon your shoulders, and the venture does interest me. However, my husband will no doubt notice you are a fifth son with little to offer to his bride.”
“Last summer Nina was being courted by Hector Auvray,” the boy said, sounding mildly offended. “He is a pleasant enough fellow, but he also spins mirrors in the air for a living.”
“His account is worth more than the contents of a modest button-making business. Gaétan would not have invited him into our home if that were not the case.”
Luc opened his mouth and exhaled loudly. He was sitting forward, an arm resting against his leg, the cigarette dangling from his fingers. His shoes shone brightly and he wore a nicely tailored blue suit, but Valérie could spot a man without a fortune of his own with practiced ease. She had been the same as he, concealing behind her beautiful smile the slim chances she possessed.
Luc had more opportunities than she’d had. What she would not have given for a silly business that sold buttons, or the generosity of older siblings. Yet there could be no denying Nina would enter this marriage with greater coffers than her husband.