Her face must be bright red. She cleared her throat. ‘Anyway, I’m sure you could do with a hot drink.’
‘Great idea.’ Tim frowned. ‘Are you sure you’re all right? You look a bit flustered.’
She let out a silly laugh. ‘Of course I’m all right. Come in.’
Tim followed her into the kitchen where Stefan was making a pot of coffee. The two men shook hands and started talking about the weather and the state of the roads while Cassie tried to calm herself down by slicing up some bread. The last thing she wanted was for Tim to suspect that something had happened between Stefan and her and report back to Rachel, and her granddad.
Stefan poured coffee into three mugs and handed her one.
‘It makes a change, me waiting on you,’ he remarked.
‘Thanks.’ Their fingers brushed, causing her face to heat up again.
‘My pleasure.’ Stefan’s voice had gone deeper. He smiled, and Tim frowned as he glanced from one to the other. He may not be the most perceptive of men, but if they carried on that way he would guess something was going on. She moved away from Stefan, put a pile of toasted bread, some jam and butter on the table and sat down.
‘The Mountain Rescue Service is out training near Patterdale Farm later today,’ Tim told Stefan as they ate breakfast. ‘One of the new SAR helicopters is scheduled to take part. Why don’t you come over so I can introduce you to the team? It’s not every day we have an ace helicopter pilot at Red Moss.’
Interest flickered in Stefan’s eyes, but almost immediately a bitter line appeared by the side of his mouth. ‘I’m anything but an ace pilot.’ He turned to the window, his face stony.
‘Do come,’ Tim insisted. ‘You might like to compare notes with the pilot about rescue missions in different terrains and weather conditions. You’re used to desert and sandstorms. He deals with mountains and snow blizzards. I’m sure you’ll find it interesting.’
Stefan remained silent for a moment, then nodded. ‘Well… all right, why not?’
‘Great. Come to the farm after lunch, and we’ll go together.’ Tim got up. ‘For now, we’d better pull your car out of the ditch.’
They finished their breakfast and piled up into the tractor’s cabin to rescue Stefan’s Range Rover. They towed it back onto the lane, and Stefan and Cassie were soon on their way to the campsite.
The roads were mostly clear by then and it didn’t take long to get there. Stefan didn’t talk much on the way. She wasn’t even sure he listened to a word she said. He helped her out of the Range Rover but he didn’t hold her in his arms as she had hoped. Instead he took a couple of steps back. A fist squeezed her heart until it hurt. Was he trying to tell her that he was having second thoughts about them?
He stood in front of her, and raked his fingers in his hair. ‘Would you like to meet later today? We could go to the pub, or get a takeaway pizza and eat at Belthorn. That way, you could stop over tonight again, if you didn’t want to drive back to the village, that is…’
He seemed so insecure suddenly that her chest filled with love. He wasn’t letting her down at all. He was afraid that she had changed her mind! She would have to show him that she wanted him more than ever. Closing the gap between them, she linked her arms around his neck, and tilted her face right up to look into his eyes.
‘I would like that very much. I’m meeting Kerry here at six, so I’ll get the pizza afterwards and come to Belthorn to play with you and my feather duster. How does that sound?’
He didn’t smile. Didn’t say anything, but his eyes grew darker and he encircled her in his arms and lifted her up until she was almost at eye level with him. And whilst her feet dangled from the ground and she was pressed against his chest, he kissed her – a long, hot, leisurely kiss that made her heart dance and her soul fly.
When he finally put her down, she had trouble catching her breath. She loved him so much… She had to tell him, but not now. She would tell him later, when they were alone at Belthorn.
For now, she mumbled a feeble, ‘See you tonight.’
She climbed into the van, waved him goodbye, and set off on her way home, with love and sunshine in her heart, blue sky in her eyes and a huge grin on her face. Was it possible to be so happy? She had been thoroughly loved and would be again, if Stefan made good on the hot promises he had whispered to her the night before and his parting kiss was anything to go by.
Gritting trucks and snowploughs had been out in force, and she was back at Bluebell Cottage in no time. She changed, gathered her files for her meeting with Piers, and was about to leave when her eyes fell on her design books. She recalled the article about Nathan in the design magazine. Perhaps she was indeed naïve, but she couldn’t believe that the man she admired so much and had had such a massive crush on would be dishonest enough to use her work without giving her credit for it.
She had to get in touch with him, but it would take time and tact to write without appearing hysterical or vindictive, and right now she was in a rush. The email would have to wait.
Piers greeted her with a frown. ‘You’re late.’
‘I’m sorry,’ she said, hot and flustered from rushing across the town centre. ‘It’s market day, and the town centre is so busy I had to park on the lakeside.’
He didn’t need to know that she had stopped at a stall of hand knitted woolly hats to buy Stefan a hat almost identical to her own, and a hardware shop for his very own feather duster. She couldn’t stop grinning as she imagined him unwrapping his silly presents on Christmas Day…
Piers gestured for her to take a seat, and she sank into the leather armchair in front of his desk while he flicked open a thick file. After a couple of minutes, he looked up, his pale blue eyes filled with concern, and asked in a soft voice.
‘How are you, Cassie?’
‘I’m fine, thank you.’
He shook his head. ‘No, really. How are you?’
‘I told you. I’m—’
He lifted his hand to stop her. ‘Coping with your clients, the holiday cottages and Belthorn on your own can’t be easy now that Sophie has left.’
She shrugged. ‘I am busy, that’s true, but I have managed so far.’
He looked down, flicked through a few papers and pulled a sheet out. ‘Are you sure about that? I regret to have to tell you that I’ve had some complaints about some of the holiday cottages.’
The blood drained from her face. ‘Really?’
‘I’m afraid so.’ He started reading. ‘We found a dirty dishcloth behind the television when we arrived at Lakeview Cottage, and one of the beds wasn’t made although we had booked for four people.’
‘But…’ She had made up the beds in both bedrooms, she was sure of it. As for the dishcloth, there was no way she would have misplaced it behind the television… Was there?
He lifted a hand. ‘Let me finish.’ He looked down again and carried on reading, ‘The cottage was dusty and old-fashioned.’
‘I cleaned the cottage thoroughly as usual and can assure you that there wasn’t a speck of dust when the guests arrived. And you can hardly blame me for the furniture and the wallpaper being old-fashioned! I did suggest a few changes to you to give the holiday cottages a fresh new look but you declined.’