He stayed at the doorway. They had dated for over ten months. The chemistry and intense attraction never waning, escalating in fact. But as they’d grown closer, as his heart had begun to need her, panic had set in. Laurent didn’t believe in love and commitment. When he’d been twelve, François ten, his father had left the family home to conduct an affair. The following year his mother had done the same. And in the years that had followed his father had disappeared from the family home at least once a year to continue his affairs. The affairs, the hurt they had inflicted on everyone around them, had poisoned Laurent for ever against any thought of commitment in his own life.
His panic had soared when he’d visited Hannah’s family one weekend and seen their love and devotion to one another. How could he ever bring her into the toxic mix of his own family, which was so full of unspoken anger and accusations? And his panic had soared even more when Hannah had told him of her plans to become a wedding celebrant. At first he’d laughed, thinking she was joking. But she’d been serious. The woman he’d thought of as being as career-minded and as focused on success as he was, who had never given any indication that she was looking for commitment, wanted to be the officiator of the institution he’d no regard for—marriage.
Increasingly he’d realised just how incompatible they were despite their attraction and laughter and warmth for one another. And then he’d learnt of his father’s stroke and his need to return to Cognac to head up the family business. For years he’d waited on the sidelines to be given the role of CEO, beyond frustrated at the decline in the Cognac House’s market share under his father’s neglectful leadership. Bonneval Cognac had been in existence since the seventeenth century. It was Laurent’s legacy and one he was determined to restore to its rightful place as the most exclusive cognac house in the world. It was a promise he’d made to his beloved grandfather before he died, a man who had despaired at his own son’s disloyalty and irresponsibility, not only with the business, but with his own family.
Knowing that there was no future for him and Hannah, Laurent had ended their relationship when he’d returned to France. It had been a gut-wrenching conversation, and he’d seen the pain and confusion in her eyes, but it was not a conversation he regretted. Hannah deserved someone who actually believed in love and commitment. Someone who reflected the love and devotion and stability of her own background.
This weekend would be awkward. But they needed to somehow build a new relationship as their paths would cross time and time again in the future. Maybe having to spend time together this evening was an opportune time to begin that process. He was the one who had messed up by allowing their relationship to become too intense—the least he could do was ensure that the next few days were as painless as possible. For both of their sakes.
‘I had planned on eating out tonight—I need to go and check on my wedding present to François and Lara first, but there’s a restaurant nearby. Will you join me?’