Authors: Karen Aldous
The Riviera
The journey is only as good as its end…
It’s been a hard journey, but Lizzie Lambert’s life is a Provençal dream come true. Her business is wildly successful, and with her little boy and the love of her life, Cal, she is making a beautiful home on the vineyard for their blended family.
But when Cal goes to America to support his son through a teenage crisis, it becomes clear the kid’s not the only one with some growing up to do: Cal’s glamorous ex-wife wants to get her claws in him again. As Cal spends longer and longer away, Lizzie wonders, was it all too good to be true?
Escape to Provence with Karen Aldous’
The Riviera
,
the perfect read for an idyllic summer.
The Vineyard
The Chateau
K
AREN
A
LDOUS
Inspired by novelists such as Jilly Cooper and Barbara Taylor Bradford, many moons ago, Karen never lost her passion for writing. It always got put on the back burner though with stories and articles fuelling the Aga rather than popped in the mail box. Gaining life experience and confidence has been crucial though, so she feels raising her three children along with being in the property and travel industries have not only brought material for her writing but have allowed her to indulge in her favourite pastimes.
Karen currently lives on the edge of the North Downs in Kent and owns a website design business so is able to use her skills and creativity but she craves nothing other than earning a living from writing romance. Her dream! Her friends call it Karen’s world, and why not? Her teachers always said she had an overactive imagination so it makes sense to put it to good use!
She still gets a kick from travelling and seeking that property bargain but her husband and family, particularly her three grandchildren, continue to steal her affections – along with Bertie, her golden lab. There’s barely enough time to go round, she admits, but their love and support never wavers and without them, and that from fellow writers at ‘The Write Place’ and the RNA, her aspirations may never have flourished!
Special thanks and best wishes to Lucy Gilmour, my Editor, Charlotte Mursell, Clio Cornish, Victoria Oundjian and all the wonderful Team at Carina UK.
Thank you also to all the beautiful establishments featured in this book - you may not know it but you’ve provided my characters with some truly memorable moments to share with the readers.
To Glyn for your constant love and strength xx
Contents
Lizzie Lambert rushed from the bedroom tailing Cal McLaren. She had never seen him move so fast.
‘You admitted yourself you thought Kelly was a drama queen,’ Lizzie said.
‘It was you who said she was a drama queen.’ He charged across the living area to his laptop on the dining table and tossed Lizzie an accusing glance.
‘Yes, but you agreed,’ she said glaring at him. He was obviously concerned. This wasn’t the time to begin an argument. They’d not argued in the four months they’d been together. She peered down at her feet on the cool marble floor wishing she had grabbed her slippers.
‘OK, so usually she is,’ Cal conceded hauling out an iron-framed chair. Lizzie squeezed into the one beside him, her eyes roving over his taut body and approving of the pert bum snuggled into his CK briefs. She waited as he opened the laptop and hit the start button. He tapped his fingers on the table as the machine fired up. ‘Come on.’
‘What do you think the email means?’ Lizzie asked, scooping chestnut brown hair back with her fingers and tying it up loosely. Then realised the stupidity of her question.
‘I really don’t know. I want to check on here in case I’ve missed something on my phone screen,’ he told her entering his password and clicking a few times. ‘Oh come on.’ He scratched his head and checked the time. ‘It must be about six o’clock in the evening in Nantucket.’
‘Yes, I should think so,’ Lizzie said pausing to check her own phone. ‘Yes, it’s now ten after midnight.’
Faintly listening, Cal clicked once more at the brief email. ‘Here it is.’
Dad,
Please, please, come and get me. Take me away from this horrible town! I can’t talk about it here but come quick. I can’t stay.
Jack
‘Nothing else,’ he said catching his breath and scrolling his mouse down to check he’d not missed any other emails. ‘That was sent an hour ago. Shit. I’ll ring.’ He then quickly typed
‘On my way. Xxx’
and pressed send.
‘Bloody hell. He sounds desperate,’ Lizzie said gazing at dark-grey sumptuous eyes but observing a panic in them she’d rarely seen. Feeling the urge to hold him close, she covered his free trembling hand with hers, yearning to brush his dark hair with her fingers.
‘Yes, very. I need to go.’ He finished punching the screen on his phone and pushed back his chair, swiping his hand away as he stood. Lizzie’s eyes followed him as he mindlessly began pacing towards the full-length terrace doors and back, phone tight to his ear. She scampered to the kitchen and reached for the kettle. She stopped.
‘Kelly, it’s Cal, can I speak to Jack?’ he asked.
Lizzie remained still gripping the kettle in her hand. Teenagers were such vulnerable creatures. It didn’t make sense. Jack seemed so happy just two months ago when they visited him at the New Year. Cal’s brows, she observed, were joining up. She feared for him as his eyes turned steely hard and his face paled.
Cal signalled to the pen and Lizzie grabbed it at the ready and wrote down the number as he called out.
‘And you’ve no idea why he’s been quiet or hiding away?’ he snarled at Kelly. Lizzie saw his face scowl as his head shook.
Finishing the call, he picked up the bookmark and tapped in the long number. Lizzie followed his figure as he paced almost naked back and forth. Staying silent, she walked over and checked the door to Thierry and Marie-Claire’s rooms the other side of the living room. It was slightly ajar, so she gently pulled it to. Cal’s face was now almost white as he finished and hit the end button with his thumb.
‘Jack and his friend have gone out apparently, and they don’t have a phone. Shit! I don’t like this. I’m booking a flight.’
Lizzie, wanting to comfort him, snuggled up to him as he searched the internet on his phone. His skin felt clammy and his heart was drumming into her ear as it nestled into his chest. His left arm pulled her close as he brushed his lips on her forehead.
Feeling his fear penetrate through her, she said, ‘I can come with you. I’d like to help.’
After a pause, he kissed her forehead once more. ‘I’d love you to, but I think I need some one-to-one time with Jack. Maybe, if and when I get to the bottom of it, you can join us. It wouldn’t be fair on you or Thierry if I’m not around.’
Lizzie’s face dropped as a wave of gloom swept through her. She couldn’t bear the thought of being separated from Cal. Since he’d moved into her apartment after their trip to the States, they hadn’t been apart. It had been nearly two months of utter bliss but she suspected she would react exactly the same if it were Thierry.
Cal scrolled down the screen at his travel options. ‘Jee-sus. OK. I’ll drive to Lyon.’
‘What?’ Lizzie stepped back.’
‘Oh, times, prices, options. Right. I’ve got this one at seven, so I think it best if I get packing now and be on my way,’ Cal said, confirming his booking.
‘Now! Right, well…do you want me to drive you?’
‘Pretty lady, you go back to bed. Give those beautiful green eyes some rest. I’ll have time to park, collect my ticket and, yeah, all good thank you.’ He got to his feet, easing her up beside him. ‘Actually, I’d love a coffee if you don’t mind while I make a start packing. And, the biggest goodbye kiss you can muster,’ he said taking her arm and drawing her into his torso. He slid his fingers through her long chestnut hair as Lizzie allowed his lusty scent to linger in her. ‘I need to go to him. I’ll be back as soon as I can.
‘Yes, oh I understand. Oh, the house. Annatia and Jean-Luc. You’ve booked them in for Friday. It’s only some renovation ideas. Shall I hold them off until you get back?’ Lizzie asked, knowing how excited he was to have now finally got the keys and how much he was looking forward to visiting his very own Provençal house and vineyard. His life-long dream.
‘Well, why don’t you go along and show them around? The keys are still in the envelope, I’ll put them on the hook.’
‘I don’t know the first thing about what your plans are. I’d rather we go together. We’ll postpone it. I’m sure they won’t mind.’ Lizzie kissed him lightly on the lips feeling disappointment hiding behind them.
‘Our plans. Don’t you forget that! Besides, I barely looked at the house. It looked about the right size, but I was focusing on the vineyards.’ As he held her, his seductive eyes bored hungrily into her before his lips pressed harder onto hers, his arms wrapping tightly around her sending whirls of lust through her. Before she knew it, he’d lifted her and placed her on the bed, firmly closing the door behind him.
‘Just remember I love you,’ he told her stroking her now loosened hair.
‘I love you too,’ she told him, finding his lips and savouring every second she could as they made love. She would miss him dreadfully. As Cal pulled away, she held onto a lock of hair. She sighed. ‘You stay safe. I couldn’t bear anything happening to you. I just hope everything goes well with Jack.’
‘I’m sure it will be fine. God, I hope it will. Just for once, I feel he really needs me,’ Cal said jumping up from the bed and sliding into the shower room. ‘I can’t let him down.’
Lizzie nodded. ‘You won’t.’ She padded out to the kitchen and pressed the button on the kettle and shot back for her slippers.
‘So,’ Cal added switching on the shower, ‘why don’t you meet Annatia and Jean-Luc anyway so that they can work on some ideas whilst I’m away? At least you can get the ball rolling.’
‘I just don’t like to feel I’m interfering in your project. And you have only just got the keys. It can wait.’
‘Lizzie, it’s not mine it’s ours,’ Cal shouted from the shower. ‘It will be our home.’
A shard of warmth shot to her heart. Our home, he’d said. Not only was Cal the most amazing man she’d ever met, but he just happened to have bought a sizeable vineyard with a house; a home which could potentially be for their future family. What more could a girl want, she asked herself. To love, be loved and to share, to belong. She could only pray Jack was OK then Cal would be happy and return soon.
‘I can wait,’ she repeated as he appeared wrapping a towel around his naked body.
Criminal!
‘Heesh,’ her breath escaped trying to resist. ‘I’d rather we share the occasion.’