Twenty-Six
It took much doing to get Aurora out of Paris. Once she’d received news that Sandra arrived in Switzerland, she tried to get out of coming to Nice. A concerted offense involving emotional blackmail from the Leonas and multiple bribes from him was enacted in ordered to get her on the train. They’d finally departed from Paris the previous evening and that morning arrived in Marseille, where he’d planned a stop.
“When you said ‘farm,’ I imagined something much smaller,” she said, her gaze darting left and right as she took in the vineyards flanking the road leading up to the villa. This stop at Mihn and Gilberto’s farm was one of the bribes. She was so damned contrary, he’d wondered if it had been a mistake to bring her here, but watching her face open up at the sight of the fields, Apollo knew he’d done the right thing. “The lavender goes as far as the eye can see.”
“They’re a big supplier of lavender and other herbs, but I’m sure you already know that from your clandestine meetings with Mihn.” He winked at her when she sent him a cheeky grin over her shoulder. But inside he was still unsettled by the events of the past week.
Forsyth remained in the wind, and with each passing day, more came to light of the man’s treacherous intentions. In addition to seducing Apollo’s fifteen-year-old cousin and then putting her life in danger, he’d also borrowed a large sum of money from his aunt, which he’d taken with him. His aunt was humiliated and heartbroken, but she was standing by Juliana’s side. Juli at least was recovering well and had left for Nice with her mother a day before Apollo and Aurora departed Paris.
“I am so looking forward to meeting Phuong.” She turned her face toward the sun. The yellowing bruise a stark reminder of how close he’d come to losing her. “It would be such a boon to secure them as our supplier for our products.”
“You’d think I’d just brought you some diamond mines.” He pretended to be cross at her enthusiasm. But in truth, it was a great relief to see her this animated.
Since she’d been hurt, he’d rarely let her out of his sight, and for once, she’d heeded his wishes to be careful. She’d become so quiet since that day of the attack, since Juliana. Sometimes she barely spoke for hours, as if she was going to a place inside herself. This carriage ride from the station to the farm was the first time he’d seen her truly smile in days.
“I would not be anywhere near as excited about diamond mines,” she shot back, eliciting an honest shake of his head. He knew it was true. This jaunt to see medicinal herbs was better than gold for his Fiera.
For as long as he could remember, the greatest satisfaction in his life had come from settling the score with his father. But now he found that making this grave, tightly wound woman smile was an even more powerful addiction.
“Mihn said she’s growing herbs from the tropics in a hothouse,” he told her and bit back a grin at her hungry expression.
“I didn’t know they could grow things from the tropics in Europe.”
He lifted a shoulder, pretending to know a lot less than he did. “It’s warmer here near the Mediterranean, and they do a lot in the greenhouses,” he explained as she hung most of her torso out of the carriage. “Please don’t do that.” Instantly, his heart began to race and he pulled her back by the waist, which landed her on his lap. To his surprise, she let him hold her there. Likely because she could see better from the height. Still he liked her there. Lately he could only relax when she was in his sights.
“That is beautiful,” she said, her focus on the fields.
It does not hold a candle to you , he thought but kept the maudlin words to himself. He would tell her the truth here, he could not let her arrive in Nice still thinking he intended to take a wife. Well, one who wasn’t her in any case.
“From what I hear, Phuong is as interested in meeting you as you are to meet her.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Have you been meddling in my business again, Your Grace?” There was nothing that Aurora viewed as more of a threat than an infringement on her independence.
And it was true he had schemed a bit with Gilberto and Mihn. He knew she’d spoken with them about supplies for their clinics, but Apollo hoped this visit would plant a seed for a much larger endeavor.
“For someone who spends her days and nights giving help to others, you’re certainly resistant to it for yourself.” She received his comment with a cantankerous, if slightly contrite expression. “But I agree that it will be good for you to speak with Phuong. She’s had to make her way on her own. She might be of great help.” She turned around to look out the window again and, in the process, ground that delicious rump right on his cock.
“I hope so,” she mused, so distracted with her thoughts, she didn’t notice the torture she had him under. The carriage came to a stop then, and he had to bite back a groan when she pushed back into him. When he was forced to adjust himself or risk a public embarrassment, she finally noticed his aroused state, and the imp grinned. “That’s what you get for plotting behind my back.”
“There are many things I’d like to do behind your back, Fiera,” he told her, taking that stubborn chin between two fingers and pulling her close. “Plotting is not nearly at the top of the list.”
Her breath caught, and that fire that seemed to always be roaring between them was suddenly ablaze. He leaned in, needing to taste her mouth again.
She bit him.
“Carajo, Fiera,” he grunted when she pulled back, her countenance the picture of devilish satisfaction.
“And that’s what happens when people try to derail me from my professional endeavors,” she said haughtily, reaching for the handle of the carriage. She jumped down from the thing before the coachman even had a chance to place the stepping stool by the door.
“An endeavor I secured for you,” he flung back half-heartedly as he followed her off the carriage.
“Try to keep up, Your Grace. Enterprise waits for no one.”
* * *
“Ah, I should’ve known the beautiful Doctor Montalban had arrived from the wounded rhino noises coming from my friend,” Gilberto announced happily as he greeted her outside a lovely stone farmhouse. Next to him and Mihn was a minuscule woman Aurora assumed was Mihn’s mother.
“This is my sogra, Madame Tr?n Phuong,” the handsome Brazilian said, wrapping an arm around the older woman. It was very unusual for a man to claim his lover’s mother as his mother-in-law, but that only made Aurora more curious to meet the famous Phuong.
“Madame Tr?n Phuong.” Aurora extended a hand, but the woman grabbed her and kissed her on each cheek. She smelled like lemongrass. She was shorter than Aurora, who was barely three inches over five feet, but she was very trim. She was beautiful, her face bore laugh lines that spoke of a life well lived. Her son had her intelligent brown eyes and her golden complexion.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Doctor Montalban,” the woman said. “My son has told me about you, it seems our Apollo has finally met his match in you.” The older woman sent a playful glance in the duke’s direction, and to her astonishment, the Duke of Annan, the most shameless man in France, actually blushed.
She’d noticed Apollo seemed a bit more at ease here. From the moment they’d gotten off the train, he seemed, if not relaxed, certainly less tightly wound then he’d been for the past week. Since everything with Philip had come out and the attack from Ackworth, he’d been constantly uneasy. He stayed at the den of iniquity, refusing to leave her alone. Some nights she’d wake up and find him staring at the ceiling, with his arms wrapped tightly around her. It took four days to arrange the departure from Paris and she didn’t think Apollo had slept more than a few hours each night.
“Aurora would like to see the fields and the greenhouses,” Apollo told Phuong, who raised a hand to pat his cheek. He received the touch humbly, rewarding the woman with a warm smile. It was interesting seeing Apollo here, in a place where he wasn’t doing his usual grandstanding.
“I would love to see your farm,” she said, eagerly.
“Of course, we would be delighted to show you.” Phuong took her by the hand and began a brisk walk down a stone path leading away from the house. “Let’s go to my personal garden first.” She pointed to an expanse of perfectly aligned garden beds covering an area that had to be as large as the main building. “The men can catch up with us.” Aurora, for all her own walking through Paris, could hardly keep up with the energetic Phuong.
“Do you grow all this yourself?” Aurora asked, as they made their way through the patchwork of greenery.
“No,” Phuong said with a smile. “I have botanists and horticulturists who help with the seasonal planting,” she explained. The small plot in front of them contained what Aurora could recognize as rue and aster flowers. Both important ingredients in some of the contraceptives they provided at the clinic. “These are of interest to you, no?” the older woman asked, with a knowing smile. Aurora tried to listen for a suspicious note to her question, but there was nothing but warmth. She’d shared very vague details with Mihn, mindful that he could assess the things she needed and reach his own conclusions.
“I’m not sure what Mihn has told you about my work,” she began, careful not to offend the woman, but wary to divulge. The work she did was not something she could share with just anyone. If it were only her, she might be more forthcoming, but there was Virginia and Abelardo and the others to think about.
“He did not say much,” Phuong reassured her, lifting a shoulder in a very Gallic gesture, and winked. “But he said you’re a doctor, and that you work to help women from the islands, former colonies.” Aurora thought Mihn might not have needed to say anything to his mother, because Phuong figured it all out on her own. The thought, to her surprise, did not alarm her. Apollo was right. She needed more allies if she truly wanted this endeavor to grow as much as she hoped. Maybe she could start having a little faith that there were oth ers beyond their small band of doctors willing to do this with them in order reach even more women in need.
“We help any woman who comes to us,” she explained, while she pulled off a bit of rue from a bush and pressed it to her nose. “But there are many women from former colonies in Paris who are not able to find care from those who understand their needs and we make sure to provide that.”
Phuong turned to her then, her lovely brown eyes surveying Aurora’s face. “I see you, Doctor Montalban,” the woman whispered, as she reached up to touch the spot on her cheek where her bruise was beginning to turn a sickly yellow. “You do what must be done, even when it costs you.”
Aurora’s throat tightened at the approval and respect she saw in the woman’s eyes, and wondered what price Phuong had paid for the life she’d made for herself. A life where her son and his lover were welcome.
She didn’t like being seen so clearly. She much preferred hiding behind her prickly walls, but this gentle touch from a woman who already felt like a kindred spirit eased something inside her.
“Isn’t this a marvel?” Gilberto asked jovially, as he walked up with Mihn and Apollo trailing behind.
“Yes,” she said, a little breathless. “What do you do with all of it?” If this was the house garden, she could only imagine the farm produced an enormous amount of product.
Phuong took her hand again and led her forward. Apollo, for once, didn’t seem interested in his usual place at the head of the pack. He was content to talk with Gilberto and Mihn while she and Phuong charged ahead.
“How many people work on the farm?” she asked, when they reached the enormous greenhouse sitting in the middle of what seemed like endless fields. All around them things were growing. The lavender was straight ahead, but from where they stood, she could see fruit tree orchards. She also noticed a few small cottages dotting the land, plus a few scattered buildings.
“That is a complex question.” Phuong sent Apollo a questioning look, as if wanting permission to speak further. He nodded reluctantly, which peaked Aurora’s curiosity.
“We own half of the land, and the other half my mother’s sold to other women,” Mihn explained. Aurora looked between the two of them. Mihn’s tall, slim form, his jet-black hair, so similar to his mother’s. They were both so elegant and proud. But they were not what the typical landowner looked like in this part of the world.
“This land belonged to my father’s family. He left it to me and my mother when he died.” That cleared up a few things.
“I’m sorry to pry.” He laughed at whatever he saw on her face and waved her off.
“We get the question quite often.”
“When Mihn and Phuong finally took possession of the land, it was a wasteland,” Apollo chimed in. He was leaning against the glass structure. Imposing and magnificent even in repose. “She now produces about fifteen percent of all the lavender in Provence.”
“We had help,” Phuong said soberly. Apollo’s words finally dawned on her. He’d said “finally took possession.” It was not hard to imagine that there were people in Mihn’s father’s circle who were likely none too pleased with having a Vietnamese woman owning land, even if it had gone to waste on their watch.
“I’m curious about the women you’ve sold the land to.” She was intrigued. Phuong didn’t seem like the type to exploit the vulnerable, but Aurora had seen a lot of people take advantage of widows or women in desperate circumstances.
Instead of answering, Phuong tore a stem from a row of flowers. “Anise hyssop,” she told Aurora. “Helps women heal after childbirth.” She’d been handed a basket as she entered the greenhouse, and it was already half full of the things Phuong cut with a little knife she’d pulled out of a pocket in her skirts. “We began selling portions of the land a few years ago,” Phuong told her, and Aurora noticed the motherly demeanor from earlier had melted away some, and she now had in front of her a woman who was very much about her business.
“I’ve never heard of women being able to acquire land on their own,” she said. Aurora knew widows could do so. She imagined women of means could too, if they chose, but it was hard to imagine a bank giving poor women loans. “It must be hard to deal with the banks.”
“You’re looking at the women’s bank,” Phuong announced, pointing at Gilberto and Apollo.
“What?” she asked, genuinely stumped.
“You two are the bank?”
“Sogra, you’re confusing our guest,” Gilberto claimed, then pounded Apollo on the back. “Are you going to enlighten the doctora, hermano?”
Apollo responded with a lazy lift of a shoulder. “Technically, we’re the vault,” he told her, with the air of someone utterly aggrieved at the need to explain himself. “Phuong and now my sisters are the ones accepting the applications and approving the loans.” Apollo’s half sisters, from what she’d heard, had welcomed their brother into the fold with open arms, but it seemed it went beyond that.
“The interests are so low, and favorable for the women, they’re more like gifts,” Mihn clarified, and Phuong nodded in agreement.
“I didn’t even think women could purchase land.” She knew she sounded like a dolt, but this was beyond anything she had ever imagined possible. Her head was spinning. Apollo had been funding loans to help women own land all this time?
“Here in France, we have to be creative, but we’ve found ways to maneuver where we can.” This came from Gilberto.
“Some of the women have continued to work with us, growing lavender, fruits or herbs to be sold in the market.” Phuong continued as if it was an everyday occurrence to see men funding women’s enterprises. “Others have used their lands to grow crops they use to make their own products.”
“One of the women joined with another three and they now make a very popular Marseille soap they sell to apothecaries all over the continent.” Mihn pointed at one of the larger buildings on the southern part of the farm, which she assumed was the soap factory.
Something occurred to her.
“Would it be possible to work with some of the women on your farm to create the herbal blends we provide in our clinics?” Even as the words came out of her mouth, she wondered if those self-defense classes were just an excuse to introduce her to Mihn.
“I think that would be a wonderful endeavor for us.” Phuong sounded enthusiastic and perhaps like she already had been informed of this possibility by an interfering duke. “We would love to work with your clinics.”
“What you’re doing is revolutionary,” Aurora told the small group, who quietly, with little fanfare, was changing this corner of the world. She thought of all the times in her life she’d heard the word no when she wanted to strike out on her own. The ways her family held money over her head to get their way. She thought of the friends from finishing school who had dreams of being architects, scientists, but were told girls were meant for one thing only. All they’d needed was choices, someone to believe in their potential.
“My sister,” Gilberto said, and his voice cracked just slightly on the last word. “She wanted to be a businesswoman.” The hollowness in her voice told her this would not be a happy story. “She was convinced that if women were given the means, they could rule the business world.” Aurora turned her attention to Apollo, who somberly watched his friend. “But my parents forced her to marry instead, a few years later she was gone at the hands of the brute.”
Apollo looked grim as he clutched his friend’s shoulder. “Just like my mother, like Evan’s mother.” The look he gave her then seemed to penetrate her very soul. Just like it would’ve happened to you, Fiera.
Aurora was not a believer of fate. She knew from her own life that one’s destiny was what one made it. But then how did she explain Apollo’s presence in her life?
“We wanted to do this for them,” Gilberto finally said.
“Helping women fulfill their dreams is a lovely way to honor your sister,” she finally said, in a choked voice.
“We hope so.”
Aurora stood there for a moment contemplating the Duke of Annan. The man who had once told her he’d have to be a better man to honor his mother’s memory.
“Apollo César Sinclair Robles,” she said, her voice taut. He gave her one of those sardonic looks she now recognized as his mask of choice. But she knew all about wearing masks and Apollo’s no longer worked on her. “One of these days, the world is going to find out there’s a hero under all that cynicism and bluster, and then what will you do?”
He shifted, sliding that big body up and off the column he’d been leaning on, and took a few steps toward her. “I’ll just have to keep you distracted so you don’t reveal my secrets, Doctora.” He wasn’t touching her. They were a good foot apart and still, her face heated. His gaze on her made her feel translucent, like everything inside her was in full view to everyone there. She needed an escape.
“This has been lovely, but I’m afraid we must go now if we’re to catch the afternoon train to Nice,” she said to Phuong, who was busy gathering cuttings and putting them in her basket. “I would like to pay you another visit on my return from Nice.”
“Nonsense, you will stay for dinner and we will discuss our new business then, and you have not been in the lavender,” the older woman decreed, as she piled more herbs into Aurora’s basket. That would not be advisable. Her defenses were already dangerously low. After an evening traipsing through lavender fields, she would be even more impaired to resist Apollo, and she’d promised herself she’d end all this before he picked his bride.
“But we must get to Nice.” She looked to Apollo for support, but none was forthcoming.
“Please consider staying, Aurora,” Gilberto cajoled, then attempted to offer her his arm, which Apollo thwarted by pushing him out of the way. The Brazilian laughed, reaching for Mihn. “My apologies for my friend’s brutish behavior, but before I was attacked, I was going to say my sogra was planning to make feijoada in your honor tonight.”
“Really?” She didn’t look in Apollo’s direction, but she knew what she’d find. His checkmate grin. This was a low blow, using her weakness for a good meal to bribe her into staying. “That is very tempting.”
It was more than tempting, it was a siren call. She adored feijoada. She’d been to Brazil a few years earlier and had been enamored with the dish of black beans and salted pork. She’d thought of it constantly after she left. More importantly, she wanted very much to discuss the possibility of making the clinic’s teas and other contraceptives here at Phuong’s.
“I really should go, I have no clothes,” she pleaded weakly.
“I can find something for you,” Phuong promised, with a cajoling smile. “One of the ladies up the road makes beautiful linen dresses.” Aurora’s defenses were weakening with each second. “Take her, cher,” Phuong instructed Apollo, who instantly snatched Aurora’s hand. “I will have your rooms readied in the meantime.”
And that was how she found herself in the singularly most romantic moment of her life, with a man she had foolishly, irrevocably fallen in love with, and absolutely could not have.