Twice Upon a Time (28 page)

She hesitated a moment, then dropped her brush and ran to him, hugging him tightly.

Over her shoulder, Ludo caught Gus’s eye and gave him a knowing look.

Gus might have the approval of his mother and the future throne, but there was no way that he would get the girl.
Go back
to scheming Perrette
, he thought, holding Cinda close.

‘Why are you back? I thought you said the queen wouldn’t let you,’ she said as she pulled out of the hug.

‘I don’t let my mother tell me what to do,’ laughed Ludo, putting his arm around her. He glanced at the painting perched on the easel in the middle of the room.

‘Hey, that’s me,’ he said, grinning as he stepped towards it, studying the detail.

Then he frowned. ‘It’s in the room at Avignon,’ he said.

Cinda had placed him in a chair, his face in a half-smile, surrounded by the crusty old ancestors at Avignon. In the portrait he was wearing jeans and a white shirt, and he lounged in a relaxed, casual pose that felt intimate and almost sexual. He wondered what his mother would make of it when he gave it to her.

‘I like it,’ he said aloud. ‘Although I don’t get why you set it at Avignon.’

Cinda looked at Gus and then at Ludo. ‘I just thought . . . since it would be yours one day, it was a nice place to set it . . . honouring history and all that stuff.’ Her voice trailed off uncertainly.

‘Right,’ said Ludo ‘Anyway, it’s done now and it looks great, so whatever,’ he said and he picked Cinda up and swung her around. ‘What shall we do tonight?’

Gus stood up and cleared his throat. ‘If we’re done here then I’ll leave you to it,’ he said gruffly and he walked towards the door without waiting for a response.

Ludo saw Cinda open her mouth as if to stop him, but then she closed it again without saying anything.

Ludo smiled at Cinda. She really was very pretty. But much as he tried, he couldn’t feel the same kind of spark he felt with Valentina, and his heart squeezed when he thought about their goodbye at the airport.

Maybe he could learn to love Cinda like that, though. Maybe he should give her a chance now that Valentina had made herself unavailable. Once upon a time Ludo would have done just that, moved on without a second thought, but he felt strangely sad at the idea now.

Cinda hugged him again and kissed him on the cheek. ‘It’s good to see you,’ she said.

‘I hope Gus hasn’t been too awful,’ he said in her ear.

‘Not at all,’ she said, smiling. ‘He’s actually been quite nice.’

I’m sure he has
, thought Ludo, trying to keep his face clear of anger.

‘So how was Africa?’ she asked as he led her from the dining room, his arm around her shoulders.

‘Amazing,’ he said, an image of naked Valentina appearing in his mind. He pushed it away guiltily.

As they walked through the apartment, there was thankfully no sign of Gus. Ludo led Cinda to the sitting room and they sat down on a plump leather sofa.

‘Did you miss me?’ asked Ludo playfully. He put his hand on her knee, and she smiled as she opened her mouth to answer.

Just at that moment Gus barged into the room. ‘I have to go and see Perrette,’ he said, his face flushed and anxious.

I’m sure you do
, Ludo thought, but he just nodded. ‘Everything all right?’ he asked his brother.

‘I don’t know,’ said Gus and he rushed from the room, slamming the door behind him.

‘I wonder what’s happened.’ said Ludo to Cinda.

Cinda was staring at the door and she turned back to Ludo, her face pale. She looked upset and Ludo felt bad.
She does like Gus
, he thought.
Somehow my arsehole of a brother made Cinda like him.

What a terrible king Gus would make, disregarding people’s feelings, using them for his own gain.

Cinda swallowed a few times and turned back to Ludo. ‘I’m happy to see you,’ she said, and Ludo leant forward and kissed her gently on the mouth. It was exactly as he remembered their kisses weeks before, except the passion was completely gone, he realised. Whatever he and Cinda had had was no longer there. He just wondered how long it would take for her to realise it as well.

34

Cinda stood in the centre of the salon of Gideon’s fashion house. It was a small space, filled with bolts of fabric. Two women sat sewing at machines in one corner.

Gideon walked around Cinda, assessing his creation of rose-red silk.

The dress was stunning – the most beautiful thing Cinda had ever worn. Pulled in at the waist, it was strapless with a full skirt. It was a perfect cocktail dress and would be worn at Alex’s party that night.

‘It’s missing something,’ Gideon said to Jonas, who nodded.

‘I agree,’ he said. He pulled a red satin ribbon from a box, as wide as his forearm and stiff like paper.

He walked over to Cinda and tied it around her waist, with a bow at the back.

‘Too much?’ he asked Gideon.

Gideon tilted his head and nodded. ‘Use this,’ he said, rifling through another box. He pulled out a large brooch. ‘Pin it with this at the front instead of tying a bow at the back.’

Jonas did as he said and the boys stepped back together and smiled.

‘Your work is amazing,’ said Jonas, turning to Gideon.

‘No, yours is,’ said Gideon with a smile, and he leant in and kissed Jonas.

‘Enough of the mutual appreciation session,’ Cinda said, rolling her eyes. ‘What shoes am I wearing with this? And what am I doing with my hair? And you know I can’t do make-up to go with this.’ Cinda could hear the impatience and nervousness in her voice and tried to calm down, but the last twenty-four hours had ripped her nerves to shreds.

Ludo had arrived in Paris yesterday, much to Cinda’s shock, but also to her relief. Now Gus could tell Perrette about them and Cinda could tell Ludo. Or so Cinda thought.

But she hadn’t heard from Gus – no-one had – since the day before, when he’d hurried off to meet Perrette.

She was careful to not send text messages in case they were seen by someone else, but she yearned for him to contact her. She longed for him to hold her, but mostly she was desperate to stop the lies and secrecy.

Cinda knew her reaction to Ludo when he’d walked through the door was forced, but all she could think about was how Gus must have felt watching her hug and kiss him with pretend enthusiasm.

But something had changed in Ludo as well. He wasn’t interested. She knew it and she was pretty sure he knew it too.
But why did he rush back to me if he’s not into me anymore?
she wondered for the thousandth time.

She shivered as they fitted her, her bare shoulders covered in goosebumps. The weather was getting colder, making her wish for Australia.
I could be at the beach, sketching, laughing with
my friends, heading out for drinks at sunset
, she thought as she slipped her feet into the black satin Jimmy Choo heels proffered by Gideon.

‘I’ve organised your hair and make-up to be done at the apartment,’ said Gideon as he adjusted the ribbon at her waist.

‘Thanks, you didn’t have to do that,’ she said, grateful all the same.

‘Darling, this one of the best dresses I’ve made in a while, and while you’re gorgeous, I need you to look
amazing
. There’ll be press there,’ said Gideon with a little squeeze of her shoulders.

‘Press?’ asked Cinda.

‘Alex’s parties are always covered by
Vogue
,’ Gideon explained and Jonas clapped his hands.

‘I knew I’d make it into
Vogue
one day,’ he said, and he and Gideon kissed again.

Cinda smiled as she stepped out of the shoes and waited for Jonas to unzip her. Gideon went and spoke to a seamstress.

‘Can you believe how this trip is working out?’ whispered Jonas. ‘I mean Paris, princes, Gideon,
Vogue
? It’s like a fucking fairytale,’ he said.

‘Yeah, but it’s not,’ she said, not looking at him.

‘What’s up, lady?’ asked Jonas, his forehead creasing in concern.

‘Nothing.’ She shook her head, too exhausted to try to explain.

‘Are you happy now that Ludo’s back for you? You guys are going to live happily ever after, I just know it. You’re going to be queen of the castle or whatever.’ Jonas’s eyes searched her face.

Cinda just smiled bleakly as she pulled on her skirt and top. She picked up one of the new boots that Alex had given her, insisting that they didn’t fit her.

Cinda realised with a rush of homesickness that she didn’t want to be in a castle in Sardinia, or a villa in Paris – she wanted to be home, in her bedroom with its turquoise walls, with her mother in the kitchen singing along to a recording of
La Boheme
.

She wanted to go home and forget the ache in her heart.

When she left Gideon’s studio, she waved the driver away and decided to walk to the apartment, her mind swirling. The longer she walked, the less time she had to spend with Ludo pretending that everything was fine between them.

When she arrived at the apartment though, Ludo wasn’t there, so she walked into the dining room to look at the painting.

It was done; she knew it was done. For the last few days she had just been adjusting the colour on the jeans, and the light in the background. But she couldn’t tinker forever. She was happy with it now.

The handsome face stared back at her and, in what felt like a moment of madness, she picked up the smallest brush, with a tip as fine as an eyelash. She squeezed a little black paint to the end of the tube and dipped the brush in it, gently wiping off the excess.

And then she walked over to the painting, staring at the face she knew so well, and raised her brush, putting a final tiny full stop on the face she had begun to love.

With a flourish, she signed and dated it and put the brush back on the table.

Yes
, she thought as she stepped back and looked at the work one more time.
It’s done.

Ludo picked her up at seven thirty as planned, looking elegant in a dinner suit. While the invitation stated cocktails, Alex had asked her closest thirty friends to stay for a light buffet supper.

When Ludo saw Cinda, his face broke into a smile. Gideon’s hairstylist had given her a beautiful rope of plaits across her head, with tiny ribbons tied in, so minute you couldn’t see them unless you were close. Her make-up was dark and smoky, perfectly complementing the subtle sexiness of her dress.

‘You’re an artist,’ she’d said to the woman who’d done her make-up as she showed her and the hairstylist out.

Cinda told Ludo to wait in the living room, then returned to her room and got dressed in the gown that Gideon had couriered over that afternoon.

She slipped on the shoes and adjusted the brooch on the ribbon as she’d been shown. Then she stood in front of the mirror and rehearsed her speech.

‘Ludo, I have loved being a part of your life for the last few weeks, but I have to go home. I don’t think there’s anything long-term between us and I don’t want to tie you down. You should go and have fun. When you meet the right girl, you’ll be so happy. I just know it.’

The words sounded empty and hollow after all the generosity that Ludo had shown her. God, he had even been exiled to Africa because of her, and this was how she paid him back? Her eyes filled with tears and she fought furiously to hold them back, knowing there was no way she could fix her make-up if she wrecked it by crying.

Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Cinda sprayed perfume onto each wrist and her neck and she thought about Gus for the hundredth time that day.

She missed talking to him. She missed his laughter and his smile. God, she missed him.

When she entered the living room, Ludo twirled her around so the dress spun out and she felt dizzy.

‘You look incredible, amazing,
bellissima
,’ he said, lifting her hand to his mouth. ‘Are you ready to attend the ball and wow everyone?’

Cinda laughed, even though it felt forced to her ears. She followed Ludo out to the waiting car. There was silence between them as the driver took them through the streets to Alex’s apartment. Ludo had his phone out and was texting someone the whole way.

Arriving at the apartment, Cinda saw a small crowd of photographers standing around the entrance.