Follow Your Star, Jennifer Bohnet [best fiction novels to read txt] 📗

it would soon be time to return to the village and help prepare the evening meal in the shade of the trees surrounding the encampment.

As the women were gathering their things together, one of the young native boys returning from the day’s work on the dam, ran up to Angela and said something to her urgently. Vanessa felt a tremor of fear pass through her body as Angela glanced across at her, a look of concern on her face, before walking towards her.

‘What’s happened? Has Ralph had an accident?’ Fear made her voice sound shrill even to her own ears.

‘Ralph has been taken ill,’ Angela said quietly. ‘The men are bringing him back to the village.’

‘I must go to him,’ Vanessa said, panic-stricken, and went to run towards the huddle of men approaching the village.

Angela placed a restraining hand on her.

‘Wait here,’ she said gently. ‘Let the men deal with it.’

Vanessa’s heart was in her mouth as she watched the group approaching. She forced herself to stay still as two of the village men carried an unconscious Ralph on a makeshift stretcher into the compound before carefully placing him in the medicine man’s hut.

Early Sunday morning and the balcony doors of Mathieu’s apartment were wide open. Nanette stood for a few moments watching the thousands of people making their way to highly prized seats in the harbour side grandstands.

Yacht crews on the luxury boats moored so close to each other their fenders barely able to keep the gleaming hulls apart, were busy serving strong coffee and croissants to guests who had partied the night away on board.

Nanette, glancing towards Pole Position knew that Zac would have been up at the crack of dawn to prepare for the day and wasn’t surprised to see just the crew moving around the boat’s fore deck. It had always been one of Zac’s unwritten rules – no guests on board the Saturday night before the Grand Prix.

Looking out across the starting grid, she could see cameramen and journalists milling around eager to get an exclusive early interview with anyone willing to express an opinion on the way they thought the day’s race would go.

She’d been away for so long she’d almost forgotten the excitement Monaco generated on race weekend, both on the track and off, as the jet set indulged themselves with a combination of high octane living and fast cars.

The sound of highly tuned engines being revved was beginning to fill the air – a sign of the frenzied activity that Nanette knew would already be taking place out of sight in the garages at the back of the pit lane.

She turned as she heard the apartment door open and close. Mathieu.

‘That’s Olivia sorted for the day,’ he said, joining Nanette on the balcony. ‘A day at the Aqua Splash Park with friends is much more to her liking than watching a boring car race.’

He leant on the balcony and surveyed the crowds and the activity down below him.

‘Make you nostalgic for your old life?’ he asked, glancing at her. ‘All those VIP parties and events you and Zac used to go to.’

‘No, not really,’ Nanette answered. ‘It seems a lifetime away, so much has happened. It was fun at the time but things change – I’ve changed.’

‘Things certainly do change,’ Mathieu said, so quietly that Nanette barely heard him. He was silent for a few moments simply staring down into the pits area.

‘Mathieu, is everything all right?’ Nanette eventually asked, gently. ‘Is there anything I can help with?’

‘Thanks, Nanette,’ Mathieu said. ‘Things are a bit difficult at the moment but everything is under control.’ He smiled at her before changing the subject, effectively stopping her from asking any questions.

‘Should be a good race today. Zac did well qualifying for pole yesterday – let’s hope he can stay out in front for the race. Monaco is one circuit he hasn’t won.’

‘A win today would put him well in the lead for the championship too,’ Nanette said. ‘And we all know he’s desperate to be world champion,’ she added drily. She hesitated before continuing. ‘Mathieu, I have to ask, are you sure it’s OK with Boris that I stay today?’

Mathieu looked at her surprised. ‘Why on earth wouldn’t it be?’

Nanette shrugged. ‘It’s just that I thought Boris wanted the place for him and his cronies. And the plan originally was for me to go to Jean-Claude’s, if you remember.’

‘It’s fine for both you and Pierre to be here. Jean-Claude is coming down too,’ Mathieu said. ‘So relax and enjoy the day.’

The apartment bell rang at that moment and Mathieu turned to greet the first of his guests. Boris acknowledged Nanette with a ‘Bonjour madam’ and a tilt of his head before roughly ruffling Pierre’s hair – an action that had the boy dodging out of his way. Within minutes, the rest of Boris’s party had arrived and Nanette and Pierre were ignored for the next hour.

To Nanette’s relief Jean-Claude arrived just as lunch was being served and together they sat at one of the small round tables Florence had set up on the balcony. Pierre, more interested in watching the scenes below than eating his lunch, had the binoculars trained on the pit lane.

The atmosphere on the balcony appeared to be one of general conviviality. Florence was handing food around and Mathieu was busy organizing drinks for everyone.

‘Mathieu seems in good spirits today,’ Jean-Claude said, glancing across at him.

‘Yes,’ Nanette said. ‘Although something is definitely worrying him.’

Jean-Claude raised his eyebrows questioningly.

‘I don’t know what, JC, but he did tell me everything was under control earlier this morning,’ Nanette said quietly with an anxious glance at Pierre.

‘Any news from Vanessa and Ralph?’ Jean-Claude asked, taking the hint and deftly changing the subject.

‘We had a letter from Mum yesterday,’ Pierre said, without removing his gaze from the cars lining up on the grid. ‘She’d given it to someone in the jungle to post when they went to a big town. Wish we could e-mail her but