Rough Cut by Owen Carey Jones Page A

the boat to come close to the quay. She looked very professional as she jumped down from the partially lowered gangway onto the quay dressed in her white shorts and a white tee-shirt with ‘Esprit de Jacques’ emblazoned across the front of it. Quickly, she wrapped the port side mooring warp twice round the nearest bollard and then, putting one of her feet on top of the bollard, she leaned back on the rope and pulled it in as the Esprit drew ever nearer to the quay. At the same time, Jacques put the engines into forward gear and revved them briefly to stop the backward motion of the boat. When the Esprit had stopped, Yvonne jumped back on board to fetch the starboard mooring warp and attached that to another bollard. Then she stood back and surveyed her handiwork. Jacques came down the steps from the fly bridge, lowered the gangway fully onto the quayside and strode across it to stand beside Yvonne in front of his clients.
       “Bonjour, Monsieur Baines,” he said holding out his hand to Jeremy, “I am Jacques Armand. The Esprit is my boat and I will be taking you to Monte Carlo today.”
       “Bonjour, Jacques,” answered Jeremy, shaking his hand.
       “You’re late!” piped up Anna, “You were supposed to be here at ten o’clock and it’s ten past now.” She tapped the Cartier watch on her wrist with one of her long fingernails to emphasise the point and looked expectantly at Jacques.
       “Oui, Madame,” said Jacques, cocking his head on one side and looking her straight in the eye, “But we have plenty of time to be ready for your guests.” Turning his attention to Jeremy, he said, “I would like to introduce Yvonne who will be looking after your guests during the voyage.”
       “Bonjour, Yvonne,” said Jeremy politely before turning back to Jacques, “This is my wife Anna and this is Eloise, who is responsible for organising our conferences.”
       “Bonjour Madame,” said Jacques coldly to Anna as he shook her perfectly manicured hand. Then he turned to Eloise whose honey blonde hair shone as it reflected the rays of the sun. He took her hand in his and bowed slightly before lifting it to his mouth and kissing it. “Bonjour, mademoiselle. I hope you will enjoy the day.” He let go of her hand and stood back, unable to take his eyes off her.
       Eloise smiled shyly. “I’m sure I will. And that our guests will too. Perhaps we can inspect the arrangements now?”
       “But of course.” Jacques swept his arm back directing Eloise and the others on board the Esprit just as the port manager arrived to collect his fee from Jacques.
       A couple of minutes later, with the port manager paid, Jacques followed Yvonne back on board the boat and into the saloon. Eloise turned to Yvonne as she came in. “This is excellent!” she said, indicating the buffet Yvonne had prepared. “Much better than I had expected. Thank you.”
       Jacques heard and smiled at Eloise as he walked past her on his way to Jeremy who was looking out of the front window of the boat. Yvonne, who had spent two days preparing the food, relaxed and her face brightened at the compliment from Eloise.
       “Merci,” she responded, “I have tried to cater for all tastes and there should be enough for fourteen people. I was told there would be eleven guests plus the three of you. Is that correct?”
       “Yes, that’s right,” said Eloise.
       While Jacques was talking to Jeremy, he kept an eye on Eloise and noticed that she was also casting glances at him. Over Jeremy’s shoulder, he tracked her with his eyes as she came over to join them at the helm station.
       “Jacques, could I go through the programme for the day with you?” she said.
       “Of course.” Jacques smiled and indicated to Eloise that they should leave the saloon. “Let’s go up to the fly bridge,” he suggested as they came out onto the aft deck.
       Sitting beside Eloise, on the luxuriously upholstered L-shaped bench