A Perfect Paris Christmas - Mandy Baggot Page 0,102

here,’ Keeley answered as they strolled, Bo-Bo still pulling enthusiastically. ‘I’ve really never seen anything like it.’

‘You will need an entire week to walk around it fully,’ Ethan said. ‘It is seven hectares.’

‘Oh my God! My legs ache just thinking about it.’

‘Mine too,’ he admitted with a laugh. ‘But I believe Bo-Bo would consider it.’ The dog was sniffing his way across the concrete.

‘So, are you looking for Christmas gifts?’ she asked. ‘Is that why you’re here?’

‘Non,’ he replied. ‘I am looking for items for my hotel.’

‘Hotels,’ Keeley said.

Everything froze for a moment. Did she know he was the part-owner of the hotel she was staying in? How did she know? Had Jeanne somehow gone back on her word and communicated it? Why hadn’t he wanted her to know he was connected to Perfect Paris? Because negotiations were still continuing with regard to the brand’s future? Or because talking about the hotel chain would mean talking about Ferne?

‘You said “hotels” last night when we were talking,’ Keeley said. ‘Unless I misheard. Do you have more than one?’

He wasn’t going to outright lie to her. He nodded. ‘I actually have five.’

‘Wow!’ Keeley exclaimed. ‘I mean… socks are what most people usually own five of. Or books. Or mugs. Or—’

‘I do not want you to get the wrong idea of me,’ Ethan said quickly. He was now acting like he was almost ashamed of his status of hotel chain owner.

‘The wrong idea?’

He nodded, feeling a little like he was going to be fighting with these next words. ‘I am not Mr Hotel. I… merely helped a friend to build her dream and then I was left to carry it on.’ He swallowed. This was much harder than he had envisaged. ‘It is not my vocation. Or rather, it was not. But I feel now as if it maybe could be. You have actually made me feel like it could be.’

*

Ethan had stopped walking now and Keeley halted too, their arms still linked together. His words peppered her heart, marking it with slow, soft indentations.

‘I am not here with the mind of an antique dealer. I am not even here with the vision of an interior designer. I am here to do what you suggested.’

‘Oh,’ Keeley said, not sure she understood.

‘I am here looking for things that matter,’ Ethan continued, stepping in under a canopy. ‘Or rather, things that have mattered.’ He wandered under the ceiling wound with vines and ivy then picked up a mirror that was lying on top of an oriental-style chest of drawers. The wood was old and cracked in places and the glass was smeared and dotted with blemishes. ‘I want to redesign my hotels and make them all about the comfort and all about the story.’ He held the mirror up to their faces so they could see their reflection. ‘Touch. Taste. Feel.’ He carried on. ‘I want the hotels to evoke memories and create new stories, inspired by old stories.’

Keeley could feel her insides reacting to what he was saying. His words were everything she felt about how she wanted her own interior design business to go. She wanted to get to know her clients, understand exactly what their vision was and then dig a little deeper. She carried on looking into the mirror with Ethan.

‘You have brought everything into focus,’ he whispered.

Their framed reflections in this old mirror was like looking at an old photograph, its edges blurred, slightly rumpled, but the two people were knitting together so easily, so perfectly.

‘Can I help you? Look for things?’ Keeley asked as her heart thumped in acknowledgement of how she was feeling here with him.

‘You do not know how much I was hoping you would say that,’ Ethan replied.

His phone bleeped from the pocket of his coat and he put down the mirror. ‘Excuse me,’ he said to Keeley. ‘Things with the hotels are busy at this time of year. It might be—’

‘It’s fine,’ Keeley answered. ‘I’ll make a start.’

He watched her walk further into the depths of the makeshift shop all corrugated sheeting and wood that looked like it might fall down at any second. Smiling, he took his phone from his pocket and saw it was a message from Silvie.

Please come to dinner tonight. No talk about Perfect Paris and Louis will be on his best behaviour. I would really like you to meet the girl Ferne was able to help. X

Ethan shuddered. The girl Ferne was able to help. So the person who had