1621

The new-look Christina was a breath of fresh air from the delicate tips of her French-polished toe nails to the gentle swell of her hips, right through to her flat stomach and softly S-curved buttocks. Her body was tighter than it had ever been and she was glad she had allowed herself to be goaded by Simone into attending yoga classes with her. The affect on her body was dramatic. But it was all for nothing if she could not have Fabrice.

Simone would kill her when she found out what Christina had done but the time was right. It had to be now. She had suffered enough this past year without him. Come the end of the week she would be back in Locronan to claim her place by Fabrice's side.

Simone and Connor had been on their honeymoon in Europe for about three months now. They were flying home today, along with their newly commissioned architect. Christina was picking them up from the airport later tonight. From Simone's excited e-mails home Christina learned that they had found the architect to build their Muriwai dream home in Locronan. The coincidence registered with Christina but only fleetingly.

Although she loved her best friend, Christina found it difficult to focus on anything these days except Fabrice. It was of little consequence to her whether they found their architect or not. God knows how crazy they were to even consider going all the way to France for an architect when there were heaps of fully qualified Auckland ones that would design their home without charging three months accommodation and a return trip to France. But over the past year with both of them being promoted to senior positions within their prestigious law firms, as well as Connor's inheritance from his Poppy, they could afford it. And anyway, it was only money. Money was no good to anybody unless it made you happy. Obviously from Simone and Connor's excited e-mails they were indeed ecstatic with the architect they found. So, it was all good.

Christina was a little vague on Connor's connection to this architect but from what Simone told her Connor had known this man years ago right here in Uxbridge and really wanted to find him again during their trip. Simone told her they had made him their first port of call because Connor was impatient to see him again and get things moving on their house. At that point in the conversation Christina was lost to Simone. After all, what interest did she have in an architect from Europe? She was only interested in one man and she knew he definitely wasn't coming to her. She would have to go to him.

France had captured Christina from a very early age. She remembered when she was five and only six months into her first year at school her Mum bought her a book about a little girl who lived on the Seine in a boat with her Papa. How Christina grew to envy this girl as she wrote about seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first time from her Papa's boat and sleeping under the twinkling fairy lights of Paris! Christina wanted to be this little girl, so badly. Her Mum did not know it at the time but by giving this book to her daughter she had inadvertently given birth to a life-long passion. Christina was France's biggest fan but it would take another two years of temper tantrums and nagging to convince her parents to pay a private tutor to teach her French. When Christina's best friend Simone wanted to study French as well, her Parents wisely submitted to her immediately, so avoiding the two-year temper tantrums the Rhodes' never saw coming.

Christina was not a spoiled little girl but she was stubborn in her approach to things and while she never asked her Parents for much, when she did ask for something she was not willing to accept any compromise.

This same stubbornness was with Christina still. It helped maintain her focus long enough to complete her Masters in Business and stayed with her while she fought her way through the oh-so-masculine world of marketing. For a little lady she packed quite a punch as the so-called marketing wonder boys discovered. But only after Christina had lined the arrogant bastards up in her sights and fired her shots. Appearances were very misleading and Christina used every opportunity she could, to exploit this situation to her advantage.

She was slowly gaining respect within the marketing world but each victory was a hard fought one. These bastards never gave up their thrones easily but by the time they discovered Christina was something other than just tits and ass she had already grabbed them by their proverbial balls. How she loved seeing their faces cringe when it dawned on them how wrong they were to treat her with such disregard!

As the spring sun sunk lower on the Uxbridge Beach horizon Christina's mobile rang. It was Simone. Christina was confused. Simone and Connor should have been half-way over the Tasman by now. Their flight was due to touchdown in Auckland in two hours.

"Simone, what's up? Please don't tell me you're already here!"

"I wish! We missed our connecting flight in Singapore and had to be diverted to Sydney. Our new flight home doesn't touchdown in Auckland until 2.00am. I'm sorry to do this to you, Chrissie, but don't worry about us. We'll take a cab home from the airport."

Christina could hear the distress in her friend's voice. She herself knew only too well how draining these long-haul flights were. At the time of their diversion to Sydney they would have been flying or waiting around in airports for some 35 hours and now they had another five-hour wait before their two-hour flight home. "Sweetie, don't be silly! Of course I'm still going to pick you up. Don't give it another thought. Hang in there, okay? You're almost home."

Simone's relief was evident in her soft sigh. "Chrissie..."

"Don't mention it!" She smiled. "Hey, while it's in my head, didn't you book your architect friend into a motel for the night? Did you want me to call them and make sure they can hold his room? You booked it under "Blakely" right?"

"Hon, you never do anything to let me forget why you are my best friend do you?"

Christina rung off with a grin not fully realizing, until that moment, how much she missed her friend. Simone of course knew about the poem she had written and had been the quiet voice of reason for Christina ever since. Of both her friends, Simone was always the more gregarious and impulsive one, which is why it would shock her to the core when she found out that Christina was flying back to France next week. Of course she would be happy that she was following her heart but only after she killed her for leaving her again. Because of Christina's previous trip to Europe and Simone's honeymoon the two friends were lucky to have spent a month together over the past year.

From Uxbridge Beach Christina called the motel only to discover that they were not able to hold the room for the architect. Rather than messing around and ringing other motels Christina decided to just put him up in her spare room for the night. But to do that she would need to head home pretty soon and put fresh linen on the bed. Simone and Connor only had a one-bedroom apartment so their place was definitely out – even for one night. Besides, Simone told Christina the architect was very tall so she knew a night on the Blakely couch after 40-plus hours of flying wouldn't exactly be conducive to good French-Kiwi relations.

Fabrice was tall too. Christina continued to sit for a moment before deciding the warm sand between her toes was too good to give up just yet. In just a moment she would stop dreaming about Fabrice Le Gall and be able to get up and get ready for her friends. Yeah, right!

A few hours later Christina was at Simone and Connor's apartment. She was airing it out as she had done most days while they had been away and was just putting away the groceries she had bought so they didn't need to shop while they still had jet-lag. She sat at their dining room table to arrange the fresh flowers she got for them. It would be good to have her friends back!

Five minutes later Christina was back at her own apartment and getting her spare bedroom ready for the architect. If Fabrice wasn't so deeply entrenched in her heart she would have perhaps had the presence of mind to weigh up the coincidences of the pending arrival of this tall Breton Frenchman from the village of Locronan. But Fabrice's hold on her was far too intense to allow the contemplation of things other than him. For a woman who had the intelligence that Christina possessed it was sometimes surprising to learn that there were times when she was decidedly unintelligent. Her destiny was coming for her and it had no intention of calling ahead.

CHAPTER EIGHT

As Fabrice and his friends bordered their final flight on their last leg home he spoke very little. They were all exhausted and more than a little impatient to be free of this constant hopping off and on planes. They had just lifted off from Sydney. The Tasman was beneath them and Auckland was now only two hours away.

During their time together over the previous month they had traveled through France and Italy to purchase glass, marble tiles and furniture for the Blakely's beach side home. These purchases were shipped home from Paris by Fabrice the day before they flew out. He and the Blakely's would beat the shipment back to Auckland by about a month.

As always, when a passion of Fabrice's is taking hold, namely the project of designing the home of his friends, Fabrice would become very tense. This was always the case when he was rising to any challenge. He loved the opportunity to express himself through architecture and had spent the week before their departure formulating the plans that would eventually (he hoped) fulfill Connor and Simone's dream. The ensuing three months would see him adding to these plans and bringing to fruition the visions he could see in his minds eye. This process was always a slow one for Fabrice because he always wanted to be sure every piece of information he transferred to paper was exactly as his mind saw it. Connor and Simone were very clear in their communications with him so he was able to ascertain fairly quickly the look they wanted for their home. Fabrice calculated it would take about 6 months from completed plans to the day Connor and Simone could walk through their front door. He was looking forward to being back in NZ. The surf of Muriwai was calling to him.

When Fabrice was able to once again stand on the land that held so many good memories for him as an 18 year-old there was no doubt in his mind he would be even closer to the vision all of them had. He would do Jack proud and ensure that the Muriwai locals spoke for many years to come about the cliff top home of his friends.

Fabrice and his friends spoke of other things besides Muriwai as well. Although Fabrice kept the news of the poem to himself he did bring them up to date on his other life events since Connor had last been in touch. They compared notes on their New York experiences as well as their University days. Fabrice's Maman regaled Simone with photos of the 'little rascals' during their time together in Brittany and NZ.

All in all Fabrice's final month in Brittany was a good one. Under his Maman's watchful eye he could feel more of himself coming back. He was beginning to feel good again.

But still, in the quiet of the night with only his thoughts of her for company Fabrice would once again feel the desolation of loneliness. How sweet her caress would feel on his wary brow! How tender her lips would be against his! He lived only to love her. And because he couldn't love her his sleep never brought him peace.

He could no longer tolerate this half-life he was subjecting himself to. If she would not come to him and reveal herself what could he do? For self-preservation he had no choice except to move on. New Zealand would be a new beginning for him. If he couldn't purge this woman from his soul he would never find peace. The comfort of her words long ago ceased to be a comfort.

CHAPTER NINE

Christina got to Auckland International Airport just after Air New Zealand Flight 22 touched down from Sydney. It was 02.15 am on a cool spring night. With any luck her friends would clear customs quickly and she could get them home to rest within the hour.

As she parked her car and raced across the airport car park the cool night air crept beneath her open leather jacket and caressed her nipples into aching wakefulness. The unexpected jolt was not lost on her. Christina had been celibate since before she had last seen Fabrice and her body often showed its disgust at her so-called maltreatment of it by giving her nasty little surprises like this every now and then. "Great," she whispered to herself ironically, as she entered the arrivals terminal. "Some impression I'm going to make on this architect dude!"

Christina walked over to the arrivals board and saw that Simone and Connor's flight had a "processing" status. Above the arrivals area she could see a huge monitor that showed the customs lines just inside the door non-passengers weren't permitted to enter. Her friends would show up on this monitor moments before completing the final stage in the customs process. Christina would see them before they saw her.

Ten minutes later Christina saw Simone and then Connor appear on the monitor. Moments later, they were walking into the arrivals area in person. Christina was beside herself and went rushing to her best friend. She almost bowled her over she hugged her so hard. Behind Simone, Connor looked on and grinned. Christina reached for his beard and stroked it in distaste with her finger tips while she continued to hold Simone. "Hey, Caveman," she teased, before letting Simone go to draw him into a hug as well. Christina pulled away from her friends and looked at them closely for the first time. "You guys look like crap!" She grinned.

"Yeah but on the upside we feel fucking awful!" Connor replied.

They all laughed.

Christina didn't know it of course but that final laugh she shared with her friends marked the last normal thing that ever happened to her. From that point on only the blissful chaos of love would be known to her – and Fabrice. Connor looked back through customs for their wayward architect. "Hon, where's the crazy Frenchman? Wasn't he just behind us?"

"He was just going to check and see if his wind-surf arrived ok. You'll need to come back here tomorrow, hon, and pick it up with him. It's not going to fit in Christina's car." She grinned at her friend. "He shouldn't be too long."

Connor smirked, "More like he's giving his number to the hot stewardess who was pumping up his ummm... pillow."

Simone rolled her eyes at her husband before saying to Christina. "Wait until you see him Chrissie. He is sooooo hot! And single too!"

It was Christina's turn to roll her eyes. That is, until Fabrice Le Gall walked back into her life, tall and graceful as he searched for them with his twinkling green eyes.

When Fabrice scanned the crowd for his friends and located them across the crowded arrivals area his eyes locked, not on them but on their hazel-eyed companion. He recognised her instantly despite the fact that there must be about 30kg less of her than when they last crossed paths at 1621. She took his breath away. His cock stirred as he walked towards her.

Watching Fabrice's approach, Christina was stunned into complete silence. The color drained from her face and she felt as if she was about to faint. Simone picked up on it immediately. "Chrissie, what's wrong?"

Knowing they were seconds away from heading into the shadowy darkness of the car park Christina desperately hoped she would re-gain enough composure to hide her emotions until then. But before that composure came she made her first mistake.

"Fabrice..." she whispered softly. Though not softly enough, because both her friends and Fabrice looked at her directly.

How wonderful his name sounded to his ears as it rolled off her tongue! He wasn't imagining the depth of feeling she whispered into those two briefest of syllables was he?

Simone looked at her friend in concern but didn't voice her thoughts as she watched Christina's reaction to Fabrice closely. If she had known Fabrice better she would have realised he too had the burden of his own reaction to bear. But she didn't know him very well so her focus remained on her best friend.

Christina recovered slowly but well. She knew she was only seconds away from the blissful darkness of the car park and was able to make an almost decent comeback. She looked up at Fabrice and smiled warmly, addressing him in the perfect French he remembered so long ago in Locronan. "Welcome back, Fabrice. New Zealand has missed you very much!'" With that she brought him into her arms and kissed him like a Breton. His right cheek first. Then his left cheek. And finally his right cheek again.

Fabrice was touched by Christina far more than he had ever experienced before. He could not resist stroking her cheek softly before she moved away from him again. Christina was the first woman he had met in this past year who made him forget his torment, if only for a few fleeting moments. The connection was instant.

During the 20-minute drive back to Uxbridge Christina was very aware of Fabrice's proximity across from her in the front passenger seat. It was quiet from the back but Christina knew, come morning, she would have a lot of explaining to do to Simone. In the meantime though, there was only Fabrice.

Christina explained to Fabrice the situation with his motel and that she had prepared a bed for him in her spare room. He thanked her profusely as did Simone and Connor who both reached forward to rub her shoulder in gratitude. They were already under the fierce grip of jet-lag so very little else was said.

Soon after, with Simone and Connor safely home again, Christina made the short drive back to her apartment and helped the very wary Fabrice inside. She encouraged him to relax and make himself comfortable.

"Fabrice, I know you feel shattered right now but if you can stay awake a little longer I can run a nice warm bath for you and you will sleep easier." She smiled warmly at the man she loved.

Fabrice was completely unprepared for the compassion of this woman but oh how he needed it! He smiled his thanks up at her from his slumped position on her sofa.

Christina reached for his hand and squeezed it. "You'll feel better soon, I promise." With that, she left him to his quiet contemplation while she went to prepare his bath.

When Christina returned a few minutes later it was to find a very gorgeous Fabrice in a deep sleep with his mobile ringing madly away from inside his jacket. Not wanting him to be woken in this way Christina quickly retrieved his phone and walked with it into the kitchen.

"Hello," she said

There was a slight pause on the other end and then in French the voice of an older woman came through to her. "Hello, I may have the wrong number but I expected my son to answer this phone."

Ahhh, the lovely lady from Locronan with the beautiful garden. Christina smiled to herself remembering her well. She continued in French. "Hello Mme. Le Gall. My name is Christina Rhodes (and I'm going to marry your son!!) and I am a friend of Simone and Connor's. Fabrice is here with me now but in a very deep sleep. They were diverted to Sydney after a problem in Singapore and have only just arrived in Auckland in the last hour. They are all okay though. Just very, very tired."

The relief in the older woman's voice was evident to Christina. "Thank you, Christina." Only the deepest gratitude was relayed to Christina from Fabrice's Maman despite an intense curiosity about who exactly Christina was.

"Mme. Le Gall, I can understand your concern. Fabrice, after all, is a long way from home (but finally oh so close to me!!) but he is ok. If you can hold on a moment I think he is waking up. He fell asleep on my sofa but I can hear him stirring."