‘Somehow I find that hard to believe.’
She thought she saw him smile.
‘Listen, doc, I think we need to start again. How about we have a chat and you tell me about your job at the Institute and the museums you’ve worked for?’
‘You mean the museums I helped Sasha Nenachko plunder?’
‘You can always prove me wrong.’
She shrugged. ‘I don’t care what you think, Monsieur Castel, and I have no intention of wasting any more time talking to you.’
He came closer and her skin prickled with awareness at the scent of his aftershave mingling with the smell of the rain – the warmth of bitter orange and cinnamon, and the fresh, earthy scent of vegetation.
‘You may change your mind when I tell you that I’m working on a feature on auction houses. Your take on things would be invaluable, not to mention good advertising for both Maupas and yourself.’
She blinked. ‘I don’t understand. Are you in marketing or PR?’
‘I’m a reporter. Radio mainly, and broadsheets too.’
Her heart sank. ‘You’re a journalist?’
He nodded, and she almost moaned aloud. Things were going from bad to worse. Castel was a reporter, and because of her he now knew that a rare manuscript was to be auctioned at Maison Maupas. The market for ancient manuscripts was incredibly sensitive, that’s why Florent Maupas had requested total secrecy. One word from Castel could ruin everything.
‘Hey you, over there!’ a voice shouted from the other side of the terrace. There were sounds of hurried footsteps as a man charged towards them.
‘It looks like he found me after all.’ Cédric Castel didn’t sound in the least worried. Sighing, he turned to face the security guard. ‘Are you talking to me?’
‘Don’t play the fool, Castel.’
Aurora cast him a surprised glance. ‘He knows you?’
Cédric smiled. ‘Jérôme and I are old friends.’
The other man’s face hardened. ‘You’re no friend of mine. You upset a guest again, and Monsieur Maupas wants you out.’
Cédric Castel shrugged. ‘There’s no need to behave like a big ape, Jérôme. You’re scaring the lady.’ He leaned forward, almost touching her. ‘If you want to talk, I will be at Papa Louis until late tonight. It’s a jazz club in Saint-Germain-des-Prés.’
Before she could reply that she had no intention of meeting him anywhere, let alone in a club, he stepped back and walked towards Jérôme.
‘I’m going, don’t worry. I didn’t like the champagne, anyway. Your boss is cutting corners and buying cheap fizz. If I were you, I’d look for another job.’
‘Shut it, Castel,’ Jérôme growled.
‘Bye, doc. I hope we meet again. You should put your shoes back on, by the way, or you’ll catch a cold,’ he said, before digging his hands into the pockets of his jacket and walking to the garden gates.
So he had noticed. Her cheeks aflame, she quickly slipped her heels back on and went back inside where Florent Maupas immediately handed her a flute of champagne. ‘I’m so sorry that you had to witness the unpleasantness between Sasha and Castel earlier, ma chère. Castel seems to have a bone to pick with my Russian friend and the two always end up bickering. I suppose that’s what happens when you put together two opinionated and strong-minded individuals.’
Bickering? Somehow, the hostility between Castel and the Russian sounded a lot more serious than a bit of posturing between two alpha males.
‘Castel is a damned good journalist. We could do with having him on our side,’ Florent Maupas added.
‘He said he wanted to do a feature on my work here,’ Aurora said without thinking.
Maupas’s face lit up. ‘Did he? What a splendid idea!’
Aurora bit her lip. That wasn’t the reaction she had been expecting. ‘But he’s a journalist and you said you wanted secrecy.’
‘I could make confidentiality a condition for granting him exclusive access to your work on the manuscript. Think what a scoop it would be for him if the manuscript turned out to be what its owner claims it is, not to mention the extra publicity for me and you.’
Dread made Aurora’s heart race. She couldn’t think of anything worse than the journalist following her around and scrutinising her every move, waiting for her to trip up.
‘And if the manuscript isn’t what Chavigny thinks it is?’ she asked.
‘Then he’ll have wasted his time but his article will bring us extra publicity, not to mention keep him too busy to cause mischief elsewhere. No, this is a win-win situation for us. I was right to listen to Nenachko and hire you.’
She frowned. ‘It was Monsieur Nenachko who recommended me?’
Maupas nodded. ‘As soon as we heard of Lebrun’s accident, Sasha said you would be perfect for the job. How could we go wrong with Augustus Black’s granddaughter?’
So Castel was right after all. She had been kidding herself thinking her reputation was enough to recommend her.
She racked her brains for more arguments against Castel.
‘What about Monsieur Nenachko? Won’t he be angry to see Castel around at the auction house since he dislikes him so much?’
‘He will understand my reasons. Besides, Sasha and I are leaving on a two week business trip in a couple of days, so he won’t be around.’
He smiled and rubbed his hands together. ‘I’ll get my secretary to ring Castel tomorrow and make arrangements. It’s all turning out for the best, thanks to you, ma chère.’
She bit her lip and took a deep breath. ‘Actually, there’s something I need to tell you,’ she started. Now was the time to tell Maupas about her blunder. He wouldn’t like her quite so much once he knew that she had already told Castel about the manuscript.
Her phone beeped, signalling the arrival of a message. She pulled it out of her bag and checked the screen. ‘I’m sorry. I need to look at this. It’s from my grandmother’s nurse.’
Lynette had sent a text to say she couldn’t scan Madame Lebrun’s documents but promised to post them first thing the following morning.
Florent Maupas looked at her. ‘It’s not bad news, I hope?’
She shook her head. ‘Patricia Lebrun sent some of her husband’s papers to my grandmother’s house in Manchester. I think it may be his preliminary findings about the manuscript. Unfortunately, Lynette – that’s my grandmother’s nurse – doesn’t know how to scan and email them to me. She’s going to post them to me in the morning.’
‘That’s interesting.’ Maupas looked thoughtful. ‘I must tell you that Professor Lebrun wasn’t impressed by Chavigny’s manuscript.’
‘Oh? In what way?’
‘He believed it was a fake, but he left Paris in a hurry on Monday before submitting his findings, and of course he had that terrible accident…’
He looked at her and his lips stretched into a smile. ‘However, every cloud has a silver lining, as they say, since I now have the pleasure of working with you. We are going to make a great team, ma chère.’