Twice Upon a Time (27 page)

‘Perrette, you’re letting it all slip out of your hands. I expected better from you,’ said Perrette’s mother, Claudette, at the other end of the phone.

Perrette sat at her desk in the offices of Hervé Brion and tapped her pen impatiently on her diary. ‘
Maman
, I have this all under control,’ she said with more conviction than she felt.

This isn’t how it was supposed to happen
, she thought. Her life had been carefully mapped out and up until now, all seemed to be going according to plan. But the arrival of that piece-of-trash Cinda had thrown everything into disarray.

‘I have a plan,’ was all she said to her mother before she hung up the phone.

And she did have a plan. She’d spent the entire drive back from Avignon working it out, turning it over in her mind until she was pretty sure it would work – provided Gus didn’t ask too many questions.

Gus wasn’t returning her calls or emails, and her focus was now on getting him back.

She didn’t know if anything had happened between Gus and Cinda, but she didn’t like the changes she saw in him that afternoon. The jeans, the abrupt manner of speaking to her, and, worst of all, the way he looked at Cinda. It was insulting and destabilising, and Perrette couldn’t allow it to continue. It was time to remind Gus of his duties. It was time to get her prince back.

For years she had put up with Gus’s controlling mother, put her own needs behind Gus’s. Stayed in Paris to be near him, when she could have been in New York, her favourite city in the world.

Of course she told Gus she adored Paris – and she did, to a point – but New York felt like home. Hervé Brion had even said she could set up the New York flagship store if she wanted the job. Of course she wanted the job, but she wasn’t sure she was prepared to give up everything else she’d worked so hard for. Become the head of a new flagship store in the city that never slept, or become a princess? The answer seemed obvious on paper, but part of Perrette wished she could have both worlds.

She was good at her job and she knew Hervé valued her as an employee, especially because she got them a lot of press when she wore their designs to events with Gus. But when she was in public with Gus – the guards, the respect and the adoring cheers of the crowds – she knew that nothing else made her feel so important.

Perrette opened her email and began to type. The words came easily – she’d been rehearsing them in her head for hours.

Dear Ludo,
I’m sorry to be the bearer of such news, but I’m afraid I’ve
become aware of some issues involving your lovely friend
Lucinda and your brother, Gus.

I’m not sure quite how to put this, but it feels like Gus has
become obsessed with taking Lucinda away from you. He is,
I fear, close to calling off our relationship and wants to throw
it all in for Lucinda. It is hard for me to believe that he really
cares for Cinda, and I can’t help wondering if he’s doing this
only because of the long-standing competition between the
two of you.

I beg you to come back and help me to solve this. You know
how much I love Gus and I believe that Cinda loves you too.

Yours in hope,
Perrette

She reread the email, made a few minor adjustments and then pressed send, allowing her hopes to lift when the screen told her the message had been sent.

There was something going on with Gus and Cinda and, while she couldn’t put her finger on it exactly, she knew it was dangerous. Luckily, she also knew that Ludo would never allow his brother to have something that he wanted without a fight.

For years, Perrette had watched their petty squabbling over toys, sporting records and anything else that they could turn into a competition. But they had never competed over girls before. Their tastes had always been quite different – and besides, Gus had been with Perrette since they were seventeen.

Perrette’s mood blackened as she thought of the dark-haired commoner freeloading off her future husband’s kindness. It was only natural Gus’s eye would be turned by a girl like Lucinda, Perrette supposed. She was all hair and breasts and hips. But girls like that weren’t the ones future kings married. No, she needed to save Gus from his idle lust before it was too late.

She dialled Gus and waited for his answering service. He was hard to get a hold of lately, but she was sure he would call when she dropped this bombshell.

She took a deep breath. ‘Gus, it’s me. I need to speak to you.’ Her voice cracked emotionally as she spoke, a trick for getting out of sticky situations that she had learned at her Swiss boarding school.

She took an even deeper breath and spoke in a hushed voice. ‘I have some very urgent news.’

33

Ludo rolled over in bed and pulled the sleeping girl into his arms.

‘Good morning,’ he whispered as her eyes fluttered open.

‘Hello,’ she answered sleepily, and he kissed her over and over again.

‘You’re so beautiful,’ he said, brushing the hair away from her face.

‘I bet you say that to all the girls,’ she laughed, pulling away. She got out of bed and walked naked to the bathroom.

Ludo lay back and stared at her retreating backside, then looked up at the wooden ceiling of the hunting lodge.

When Ludo had arrived in Africa he had immediately found Princess Valentina of Spain attractive, and he’d grown to think she was in fact his match in every way.

Unfortunately, she didn’t want him – or at least, not for longer than the time they were in Africa. She was happy to have a discreet fling, nothing more. But the more she pushed him away, the more Ludo wanted her. More than he wanted anyone before. More, he realised guiltily, than he wanted Cinda.

It wasn’t even just the sex – although that was amazing. Talking with Valentina was almost as good as being in bed with her.

His phone beeped with a message. Ignoring it, he rolled over and watched as Valentina walked back into the room, completely confident in her nakedness.

‘I was thinking about what you said about my idea to set up a marine park to protect the monk seals, and how your country managed to set up the Atlantic Island national park,’ mused Ludo. ‘Do you really think I could do that back home?

‘Of course,’ Valentina shrugged, picking up her phone to read a message. When she was finished, she looked at him again. ‘What’s the point of having all this and not doing something to make at least a small part of the world better?’

Ludo was silent as he thought about what she said. Valentina was the most passionate and driven person he had ever met, in addition to being warm and funny and smart. Then Cinda crossed his mind and he groaned inwardly. He felt bad about her waiting for him, but what he was doing wasn’t just idle cheating. He genuinely liked Valentina – hell, he might even be falling for her.

She liked his ideas, didn’t treat him like he was second best, and was incredible in bed. To be fair, Cinda had never treated him like he was second best either, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that it had been a superficial attachment. He was a little ashamed to admit it, but in a way, he’d been out to annoy his mother and brother with Cinda. And now he was being even more of a prick by stringing her along. Despite his bad behaviour though, he liked her and didn’t want to see her hurt.

What a mess
, he thought as his phone beeped again. Sighing, he opened his email and scanned the screen. A bunch of emails with boring subject lines from Gus and his mother, a few forwarded fan emails from his secretary, and one from . . . Perrette?

Perrette never even spoke to him unless she had to, so an email was both surprising and intriguing.

He clicked on the email and read it. Then he read it again and again several times, trying to make sense of it. Gus was hitting on Cinda? Would his family stop at nothing to try and thwart his happiness?

He looked at Valentina across the room. She was wonderful, perfect in every way, and for a moment Ludo wondered why he was upset about Gus trying to seduce Cinda when he was there with Valentina. After all, it kind of let him off the hook.

But he knew he couldn’t leave it like that, because there was no way Gus actually liked Cinda. He must be trying to get her to fall for him so he could break her heart, and rid her from their lives.

What a selfish bastard
, thought Ludo, still looking at Valentina.

‘I have to go to Paris,’ he said abruptly. ‘There’s a problem that my family needs me to deal with.’

Valentina looked surprised, but she nodded, her dark eyes clouded with worry. ‘Can I help?’

‘Not yet,’ he said and he got out of bed and kissed her. They had spent every night together for the past two weeks, and if Ludo could have it his way they would spend every night together forever. But he knew he wouldn’t feel right about his relationship with Valentina until he’d done all he could to save Cinda from Gus.

He just had to work out a plan that didn’t ruin everything that he had just found with Valentina.

The next morning, Ludo said farewell to Valentina before boarding his private jet to Paris.

‘Will you come and see me?’ he heard himself asking her.

‘If I can. I’m very busy,’ said Valentina with a shrug.

‘Too busy for me?’ he asked, feeling hurt.

Valentina sighed. ‘Ludo, you and I both know that you’re a party boy. While what we had was fun, I just don’t want to pretend this is anything more than it is,’ she said as she leant forward and kissed him on the cheek.

‘But I want to be with you. I think I’m falling in love with you.’ Jesus, he sounded pathetic, even to his own ears.

‘Don’t confuse lust with love, Ludo. They are very different. The sooner you learn the difference, the easier your choices will be to make,’ she said gently.

Then she turned and walked away, leaving Ludo speechless. He didn’t believe what she’d said. Why was she acting so different to the warm, funny Valentina from the day before? Was he really the only one that felt this way?

Ludo had never felt more stupid in his life, which was saying something, since it seemed to be his mother and brother’s life work to make him feel stupid most of the time.

By the time the plane landed, he had formulated his plan.

There’s only one way to make this work
, he thought,
and that’s
to show Cinda what a complete arse Gus is
. Maybe then she would leave of her own accord. It had to be her choice.

As for Gus, that was more difficult. He hated his brother at that moment, for being so incredibly arrogant that he thought he could steal Cinda. How could he have so little regard for her feelings? He was inhuman.

Stepping into a hired limousine, he texted Cinda.

I’m in Paris, where are you? Can’t wait to see you.

His phone rang almost immediately, and he picked it up.

‘Why are you back?’ Gus barked down the line.

‘Because I missed Cinda,’ he said coldly as the driver took him towards the guest apartment. ‘How did you know I was back?’

‘It’s my job to know things,’ said Gus equally frostily.

Ludo shook his head in disbelief at his brother’s attitude. ‘I’m here to see Cinda, not you,’ he said. ‘Now fuck off and sort out your own life instead of messing with mine.’

He hung up and called Cinda, but she didn’t answer. Anger filled his gut and he tapped the driver on the shoulder.

‘Drive faster,’ he said and sat back in the seat, brooding.

The apartment was quiet when he arrived and he thought it was empty. But then he heard voices coming from the dining room.

‘Move your arm a little to the left,’ he heard Cinda’s voice say as he got closer.

‘Move your head . . . no, not like that!’ She laughed and Ludo heard Gus laugh as well, easily, like he used to laugh when they were kids.

Ludo burst into the room without knocking. The two of them snapped their heads around to look at him.

‘Ludo.’ Gus’s voice was strained, his face unreadable.

Cinda, shocked at first, recovered and a smile spread across her face.

‘Cinda,’ said Ludo, ignoring Gus. ‘I missed you so much, I had to come back early,’ he said, opening his arms.