Free Rendezvous in Cannes by Jennifer Bohnet Page A

apologetically.
    ‘Not a problem,’ Rick answered. ‘I know those sort of do’s aren’t your thing. Anyway, it’s not what I’m ringing about. Thing is, a courier has just arrived here with a package for you marked ‘Private and Confidential’. Shall I send him up to the villa or do you want to come into the office and collect it?’
    ‘Any idea who it’s from?’ Anna asked.
    ‘No. There isn’t a company name or anything on the envelope. It is marked urgent though.’
    ‘You’d better send it up here then,’ Anna said. ‘I hadn’t planned to come down to the office today. Thanks.’
    By the time the motorbike courier arrived fifteen minutes later, Anna had given up trying to second guess who the package was from and what it contained.
    Wandering back into the villa, she stood in the sitting room examining the envelope for clues before slowly opening it. Inside, a sheet of writing paper was folded around a photocopy of a black and white photograph.
    Two young people, arms entwined around each other smiled happily at the camera. Anna bit her lip, recognising herself and Philippe in the photograph. In the white space at the bottom Anna could just read the words that had been scrawled across the bottom of the original photograph: ‘One Life. One love.’
    Standing there holding the old photograph of herself and Philippe, Anna felt all the emotions of her teenage love flooding through her body. She remembered being so happy the evening this photograph was taken.
    They’d taken a boat across to Saint-Marguerite with a group of Philippe’s friends and spent the day lazing on the beach and swimming. She and Philippe had slipped away from the group for an hour or two and Philippe had taken her to see an empty cottage with wonderful views across the bay.
    ‘It belongs to my family,’ he said. ‘I shall restore it and we will live the simple life here,’ he’d said. ‘Our children will have a childhood to remember.’
    Laughingly Anna had protested, ‘We’ve only known each other three days and you’ve already got us married.’
    Philippe had taken her in his arms then. ‘But already, I know you’re the only one for me. I want to spend the rest of my life making love to you.’
    A barbecue on the beach later that evening had been the perfect end to a wonderful day for Anna. As they sat side by side in the boat on the return journey, Philippe, his arm around her shoulders holding her tight, had whispered repeatedly, ‘Je t’aime. I love you,’ and Anna had thought she would explode with happiness.
    Now, as she stared blurry-eyed at the photograph, the question was, who had sent her the print?
    Apprehensively as the tears finally began to flow down her cheeks, Anna unfolded the writing paper and read the message it contained.
    ‘Please, I beg you, have lunch with me today – 1.p.m. The Auberge, Cannes. I need to talk to you about Philippe Cambone.’ The message was signed simply, ‘Bruno’.
    Sinking down on to the settee, Anna gazed unseeingly out of the window, questions spinning around in her head. How had Bruno come by the photo?
    Thoughtfully Anna brushed the tears away. She’d come to Cannes this year determined to talk to Philippe Camborne and put the past to rest, only to have his unexpected death put paid to her plans in that respect. Could Bruno answer some of the questions she’d planned to ask Philippe? Could she talk to him as she’d planned to talk with Philippe?
    Resolutely she stood up. She would have lunch with Bruno and listen to what he had to say. Then when Leo got here that afternoon, she’d talk to him truthfully about the past and they would decide together how to deal with it as she finally put it behind her.
    Picking up the phone, she booked a taxi to collect her at quarter to one. She’d spend the rest of the morning swimming and relaxing by the pool, and try not to think about the past too much.

Chapter Sixteen
    Anna dressed carefully for her lunch appointment with