I wondered if it concerned him.
While it was on my mind to discuss it with him, somehow life just got in the way over the next few days. We were both busy with work; moreover, I’d offered to help Caro with the cupcakes she was baking for a birthday event she’d booked. I’d closed the bookstore to help her in the kitchen as much as I could.
To celebrate her getting the job done and me aiding her, the three of us ventured to The Anchor a few nights after my conversation with Roane about my mom. However, as soon as we walked inside the pub, we drew to a startled halt. It was the busiest I’d ever seen the place. Milly was red-faced behind the bar.
Alone.
Where was Viola?
I turned to Roane. “I’m going to help Milly.”
He gave me an affectionate smile followed by a quick kiss to the lips. My mouth tingling with his sweet touch, I strode to the bar and lifted the top to get behind it.
Milly shot me a startled look.
“I used to bartend after college,” I explained. “Who’s next?”
She almost sagged with relief. “Thanks, pet.” She gestured to the opposite end of the bar. “Start down that end.”
Time passed quickly as I poured pints and mixed drinks for the seemingly never-ending line of customers. I didn’t know how long we’d been working when Milly called from the other end of the bar, “Evie, can you go down to the cellar and get another bottle of Macallan? I’m pouring the last of it now.”
I nodded. Weeks ago, Dex had given us a tour of the pub’s cellar, where they kept their stock, to show us their personal wine collection. He’d let us select a bottle, and we’d drunk to my staying another three months in Alnster. Hurrying out from behind the bar, I pushed through the door marked staff only that led into a large hall. That hall branched off to the stairs that led up to their family apartments, stairs that led down to the cellar, and a door that led to the kitchen.
I’d taken the first flight of stairs down to the cellar, when I heard the murmur of voices. The sounds from the bar area made it hard to hear, but I was pretty sure there was someone down there. Thinking it was probably Dex, I kept walking until I could hear the two voices clearly.
I abruptly stopped, tense as a rabbit in the headlights of a car.
“Do you think I’d be this fucking persistent for just anyone, Vi?” I heard Lucas snap, his voice carrying up to me on the echo of the bare concrete walls.
Holy crap.
“Oh, so I should feel special because the great Lucas Elliot deigns to pursue me?” Viola replied, hurt apparent in her cutting response.
Lucas must have heard it too, because his tone softened. “You know that’s not what I meant. I just . . . I can’t let this go. I don’t think you can either.”
Holy double crap.
I pressed a hand to my chest, my heart beating hard for Viola.
“I told you that night on the beach that we can’t.” Viola sounded so sad. “You were right to push me away all those years ago because of your dad. I don’t want to cause problems between you and your family. I don’t want to be the person that causes such a rift.”
“Aye, you say that, but then every time I touch you, kiss you”—his voice deepened to a masculine huskiness that made my eyes widen—“you light up like a fucking fire. Are we just supposed to ignore that?”
“Maybe it’s just lust.”
“You think this is just lust? Goddamn it, Viola, if I wanted just sex, I could get it anytime.”
She snorted in derision. “Aye, I’m aware of that, Lucas. I am very aware of that. You’re practically legendary at uni. And I’m to believe I’m not just another shag for you.”
“You don’t believe that. You’re just saying that to piss me off.”
“Well, you do fuck other girls to piss me off.”
“I haven’t touched another girl since I realized you feel about me how I feel about you.”
“But we can’t be together!”
“Do you want me to go? Do you want to see me with someone else . . . because I can’t bear the thought of seeing you with another guy. I’d kill him.”
“You don’t mean that. You can’t mean that. We can’t. We can’t.” Her voice broke. “I’m sorry.”
“The choice about my family should be mine, Vi, not yours. It’s bullshit. It’s a lie. You’re lying . . . you’re tearing my fucking heart out, and I think that’s what you meant to do all along. You finally got one up on Lucas Elliot.”
Just before I heard the slam of the basement door, I heard Viola cry, “Lucas, no!”
Then the door slammed again as Viola chased after him.
I sagged against the wall, wrung out by the angst I’d overheard.
What the hell? How had these two become worse off than they were before my little seed of encouragement?
Twenty-Two
Sundays had become precious to Roane and me. For most people in the village it was a day off work, the day they visited church to worship, and an afternoon they gathered at one another’s homes for roast dinner, but agnostic Roane and I loved it for a different reason. It was the only day in the entire week when we could spend every minute together. The man’s body clock forced him to wake early every morning, even though we’d both agreed that we wouldn’t work that day. My own body clock seemed to have synced to his, and when I felt him stir, I rolled into him and kissed him awake so he wouldn’t get out of bed.
Although he rarely slept, he’d stay with me for a few hours, holding me, touching me, sometimes wringing me dry with multiple orgasms before the day had even begun. Then he’d leave me sated in bed while he showered, and I’d force myself into the shower while he made us breakfast.
One Sunday, following a traditional English breakfast, which made it hard to move for at least half an hour afterward, Roane finally drove me to Alnwick Castle & Gardens. It wasn’t something we could do without planning ahead because dogs weren’t allowed. Caro agreed to watch Shadow all day so Roane could play my personal tour guide.
The gardens were extraordinary. And by extraordinary I meant epic. We took our time, meandering through the twelve-acre estate. There was a beautiful cherry orchard and amazing tiered fountains called the Grand Cascade. We saw kids playing in little diggers and passed large wrought-iron gates with skulls and crossbones on them. Signs on the gates read these plants can kill.
“The Poison Garden,” Roane explained. “There’s around a hundred toxic plants in there. You need to book the guided tour to get inside.”