It was far more than nice. It made her whole body feel alive. She clung on to him, letting her breath out in a long, shuddering sigh, then nestling against him, loving the softness of his sweater against her cheeks, the extra kiss he dropped on her forehead.
‘What did you do this morning, Molly my love?’
‘Mundane things. Cleaning, washing.’ Who wanted to talk about that? If an imaginary heroine could take the initiative, so could she. ‘Kiss me again, Euan.’
All thought was suspended till he moved away. She stretched her hand out, not wanting to stop touching him.
He took her hand but didn’t move closer. ‘We’d better not get too steamy. This place is rather public. Phew! It’s been a long time since I felt like this.’
‘It’d been a long time for me, too,’ she admitted. ‘And yet, it feels so right.’
‘Would you like to move into the house with me?’
Her breath caught in her throat but she couldn’t quite take that leap. ‘Isn’t it a bit soon for that? We haven’t even . . . you know, slept together.’
‘I don’t think it’s too soon at all. I’m quite sure of my feelings. I knew within two days of meeting Karen that I loved her, and it’s been the same with you. I’m so lucky to have met you. But if
you
need more time, I’ll not push you. I’m sure you’ll be well worth the wait.’
He raised her hand to his lips, kissing it to emphasize what he was saying, and she had trouble putting two words together, let alone thinking clearly. ‘I’ll . . . think about it. I . . . hadn’t expected to meet someone – and especially not so quickly.’
‘Quickly? You’ve been divorced for over a year, and must have separated at least a year before that.’
‘But I only started getting my act together a couple of months ago.’ After the wedding, that dreadful wedding, which had been replaying in her nightmares ever since. ‘Before that I let people – my family – walk all over me.’
‘Shame on them!’
But she’d thought about it a lot since the wedding, knew she couldn’t just blame others, had to take some of the blame herself. ‘Shame on me too. I should have stood up for myself.’
‘You’re doing it now. I can’t help hoping you won’t make me wait too long to start sharing our lives, though.’
He sighed and indicated a pile of papers on the desk. ‘These are messages from this morning when the phone was switched through to Avril. Aha!’ He passed one to her. ‘Looks like you’ve earned your first sales commission. The Sarcens have told Avril they definitely want to buy.’
Molly glanced down at it and happiness bubbled up inside her, not because of the extra money but because it showed she really could hold her own in the world. ‘I never thought I’d make a sale, I just supposed I’d . . . you know, hold the fort when you were out.’
‘You’ve got a good manner, and you don’t push people too hard. It’s how I work myself. Dealing with customers honestly.’
‘I couldn’t do it any other way.’
‘I know. I must get you a company mobile so that you can start taking messages from your clients after hours – if you don’t mind doing it, that is?’
‘The Sarcens are coming in this afternoon to complete the paperwork. Could you go through it with me before then? Or better still, you could deal with the final stages.’
He gave her a wry smile. ‘I’ll go through it with you when I’ve finished checking these messages, but you’re perfectly capable of dealing with it and the Sarcens trust you.’
He turned back to the papers, so she dusted the displays and tidied them up, trying not to smile too broadly.
His phone rang and he picked it up. When he put it down, he stood up. ‘I’ve got to go and see Dan. We need to sort out a few details before we start another row of houses.’
‘When will the second row be ready?’
‘In about a month, perhaps less. There’s all the painting and finishing to do, but Dan has the teams lined up.’
When he came back, Euan went through the paperwork with her, and there seemed nothing difficult about it. Why had she been so afraid? It was no more complicated than the family accounts and household business she’d dealt with for years.
After that he went down to work in his own house and, since there was nothing else to do, Molly braced herself to phone her old neighbour on her mobile. ‘I heard about Denis. I’m so sorry, Jane.’
‘Thank you. We knew it was coming and at least this way, he didn’t suffer the final indignities.’
‘It must be hard on you.’
‘It was always going to be hard to be the survivor. We’ve been together such a lovely long time. I don’t know whether you can get back for the funeral.’
‘I hope you’ll forgive me if I don’t. I’d rather not run the risk of bumping into Craig. I know it’s cowardly, but I’m still learning to stand up for myself.’ And was still frightened of meeting him.
‘I’m not inviting him to the funeral, but I perfectly understand.’ Jane sighed, and after a short silence said more briskly, ‘So. Tell me about yourself. How are things going?’
When Molly put the phone down, she thought how brave Jane was being. She wished she were half as brave.
Someone cleared their throat and she nearly jumped out of her skin.
‘Sorry, honey. Didn’t mean to startle you.’
She turned to see an older woman with beautifully styled silver hair, wearing a skirt and top in a lovely dull rose colour that shrieked
expensive
. ‘I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you come in. I was just speaking to an old friend whose husband has died.’
The woman’s face softened. ‘No wonder you looked sad.’
‘How may I help you?’
‘I’d like to look round the houses. Do you have a brochure, floor plans? Are any of the houses ready to occupy? To tell you the truth, I’m in urgent need of a home in England because if I have to live with my daughter-in-law for more than a few more days, I’ll strangle her. I’m Cindy Pavrovic, by the way. I’m American, but I reckon you’ll have figured that out the minute I opened my mouth.’
Molly couldn’t help laughing. ‘Yes. I’m Molly Peel, one of the sales team, and I’d be happy to show you round.’ Pulling out her home-made sign, she set it up on the desk and led the way down to the houses.
Cindy held up one hand just as Molly would have started talking about them. ‘Let’s look at them first time through and then I won’t waste your time if I’m not interested.’
‘Sounds like a good idea to me.’
They went through the houses, with Cindy pausing now and then to study a room, or the outlook from a window. Then they stood outside at the back in the sunshine, looking down on the small lake just below the first row of dwellings. Molly waited for the other woman to speak.
‘They’re the best houses I’ve seen,’ Cindy said thoughtfully, ‘but houses in England are kind of small for what I want. I was thinking of something a little bigger and maybe more luxurious. At my age, I don’t stint on my comforts.’
‘Are you needing a holiday home?’
‘I suppose you could call it that, though I’d hope to spend quite a bit of time here. I want somewhere close to my youngest son and grandchildren, who live in England. Now that my husband’s dead, I’d like to see quite a bit more of them.’
Molly thought rapidly. ‘Could you give me a moment? We do have another home, but I’m not sure if it’s available for inspection today.’
‘You go find out. I’ll look over the biggest house again.’
Molly walked over to Euan’s house and rang the doorbell. When she explained about Cindy, he ran one hand through his hair, frowned, then said, ‘Show her round, but apologize for the state of the office and tell her I’ll have to go on working for a few more minutes or I’ll lose the thread.’
‘All right.’
Cindy again wanted to look round in silence, so Molly explained that Euan was working, and as he didn’t even look up when they stood in the doorway, she didn’t introduce them.
Afterwards they came down to the great room and Cindy studied it carefully, then went round every room on the ground floor again, taking her time. ‘This is the kind of place I want. Has someone already bought it? If not, I’d like to make an offer.’
Euan came down the stairs to join them as she said this. ‘Sorry I didn’t speak to you before. I was at a crucial stage in a very important document. I’m the developer, Euan Santiago.’
They shook hands and Molly couldn’t miss the open admiration on Cindy’s face. She forgot how attractive Euan was when she was with him, because he was just . . . Euan. But the way other women looked at him kept reminding her that he was rich and very good looking. She still couldn’t understand why such a man would fix his sights on her.
Cindy came straight to the point. ‘Is this house for sale, Euan?’
‘I hadn’t planned to sell it yet. I’ve been living in it for convenience and using it to show people what we can do that’s a bit more upmarket.’
‘Then let me put it to you straight: I’ll pay any reasonable asking price if I can get into this house within a few days.’
He stared at her, then chewed the corner of his lip thoughtfully. ‘OK. I think we might be able to do that, but the price will have to take into account the considerable inconvenience to me. Can you give me until tomorrow to sort out the details?’
She grimaced and shook her head. ‘Could we say an hour? I’m desperate, Euan. If I don’t find something here, I’ll murder my daughter-in-law, so if this isn’t available, I’ll need to continue looking today. How about I go buy a coffee at that cute little hotel up the hill while you check out your options?’
She turned to Molly. ‘Thank you for your help, honey, and for not filling my ears with facts when I wanted to look and feel the atmosphere. You’ve got yourself a good saleswoman here, Mr Santiago.’ She strolled up towards the hotel, turning a couple of times to look back at the development.
Molly watched her go in amazement. ‘Whew! Talk about straight to the point. But I liked her. Are you really going to sell?’
‘Yes. That’s what we build them for, after all.’
‘I’ll move out of the caravan then, and let you move in. I’m sure I can find myself a flat nearby.’
‘Hmm. Let me lock up this place, then we can go and have a coffee in the sales office while we discuss details. We’ll hope no one else turns up for a while.’
When they got there, he went straight to the coffee machine and poured them each a mugful.
‘I should be doing that.’
He grinned as he handed her one. ‘You think this is below the boss’s dignity?’
‘My ex would never have done it for an employee.’
‘We’re already agreed that he’s a prime numero uno rat. Next time you speak to him, watch his whiskers twitch. They’re a dead giveaway.’
She choked with laughter on her first mouthful.
Euan went to sit at his desk, his smile fading. ‘I hate to lose a sale like that, a cash customer. But I don’t want to throw you out of the caravan.’
Silence, then she surprised herself. ‘Why don’t we share it, then?’
The words seemed to echo around her and he looked startled.
‘Well, you asked me to live with you yesterday.’ She waited, wishing he would say something.
‘Yes, but you didn’t exactly leap at the idea.’
‘I had to get used to it . . . and get used to . . . caring about you.’
His face lit up with happiness and he tugged her up to twirl around the sales office. ‘And are you used to it now?’
‘You’re growing on me,’ she teased.
He let go of her hand. ‘I accept your offer, then. I’m looking forward to it, and not just because of sharing a bed. I want to share a life again.’
He spoke so openly and warmly, he disarmed her every time, and she felt as if the dark shadow Craig had cast over her life was getting fainter every day.
‘Now, I have to work out how much to charge her. She’s not getting it cheaply because it’s going to cause me considerable inconvenience – not so much because of moving out, thanks to you, but because of losing a special show home. I wonder if she’ll want to buy the furnishings as well? I hope so. Bring your chair over here and we’ll work on pricing it together.’
Only after he’d gone striding up to the hotel to find Cindy did the doubts about her offer to live with him begin to creep back into Molly’s mind. Well, not exactly doubts. She did love him, how could she not, he was so easy to be with and so altogether gorgeous? But was it the right sort of love? Would it last? Wouldn’t a man like him want a prettier and younger wife?
Only . . . he spoke so warmly of his dead wife that he must have had a successful marriage. Unlike her. Perhaps she wasn’t the sort to keep a man happy. Perhaps he too would grow tired of her, as Craig had.
Oh, don’t be silly! she told herself. Love doesn’t come with guarantees. And Craig’s no angel. You put everything you had into that marriage.
Could she bear to risk doing that again?
Could she bear not to?
Euan brought Cindy back down to the office to sign some papers and promised to have her in the house by Friday. He turned to Molly as he said that. ‘All right with you?’
Cindy looked from one to the other. ‘Hey, you’re an item! I can see it now.’ She beamed at them. ‘I think you’ll be good for one another. I can usually tell.’
He was unfazed. ‘I hope so.’
Molly could feel herself flushing.
Cindy nodded at her wisely. ‘It’s recent. You’re not used to it yet. Don’t hang about, honey, grab him while you can. He’s a keeper! Now, about the furniture . . .’ She switched seamlessly into business mode.
When they’d finished, she turned to Molly. ‘I’d be grateful if you could show me around the neighbourhood, the shops – I’m not used to grocery shopping in England, but I like to cook. You two must come over for a meal once I’m settled.’
Euan accepted at once. ‘We’d be delighted.’
‘I think it’d be best if I introduced you to Avril,’ Molly said. ‘I’m a newcomer to the area too and I’m only just finding my way round. She’s been here for ages.’ She explained who Avril was.