Chapter 26
Giselle was in shock. Her instinct had been to go after Rocco, but she held back, wondering whether she’d misheard him. ‘Did he say what I thought he said?’ she asked Izzy in disbelief.
‘I believe he did.’ Izzy was staring at her, agog.
‘He said he loves me. You definitely heard him, right? I’m not imagining it?’
‘You’re not imagining it,’ Izzy confirmed.
‘And he’s not selling the castle. Did you hear that bit, too?’
‘I heard.’
On shaking legs, Giselle staggered over to the plastic chair and plopped onto it. ‘He said he loves me.’ Her voice was flat.
Izzy’s expression was wary. ‘What’s going on?’
‘I don’t know.’ Her hands were shaking, and she thrust them under her thighs and sat on them.
‘Don’t you think you’d better find out?’
‘I’m scared,’ Giselle confessed. ‘What if he didn’t mean it?’
‘Do you honestly think he’d say something like that if he didn’t mean it?’
Giselle didn’t know what to think, but a spark of hope had ignited in her chest and was fast taking hold. ‘Oh, my God,’ she muttered, and a smile spread across her face as the reality sank in. ‘I can’t believe it! He’s really here.’
‘He is!’ Izzy was giggling. ‘This is the best news ever!’
‘What do I do now?’
‘Go after him. Tell him how you feel.’
Her insides fizzing with joy, Giselle leapt to her feet. ‘I can’t go like this! I look a mess.’ She tugged at the band holding the end of the braid she’d so carelessly plaited this morning and shook her hair free. ‘Have you got a brush? And some make-up? I need make-up!’
‘You don’t need make-up. You’re perfect as you are. Although maybe you could do with brushing your hair out,’ Izzy laughed.
Hastily, Giselle ran the proffered brush through her tangled hair. Having been plaited for so long, it would never lie straight without her washing it, but at least she didn’t look like Medusa. It would have to do.
‘Wish me luck,’ she said.
‘You won’t need it. And, Zelle?’
‘What?’
‘I won’t bother waiting up, but message me if you’re planning on staying out all night.’ Izzy’s laughter followed Giselle out of the door.
Halfway to the castle’s entrance, Giselle faltered.
Should she be doing this? Wouldn’t it be better to wait for him to come to her?
Or was that being cowardly? Rocco had been brave enough to return to Duncoorie and blurt out that he loved her in front of a total stranger who, let’s face it, had been less than welcoming, so he deserved to know she felt the same way about him.
She still couldn’t believe it…
Avril spotted her immediately and hurried over. Grabbing her arm, she dragged her to the side and hissed, ‘Rocco’s here!’
‘I know. I’ve just spoken to him.’
‘Are you OK?’
‘I’m absolutely bloody marvellous.’
‘Why? What’s happened?’
‘Where is he now?’
‘In the parlour with her – Claire. The estate agent is in the lounge. They were in the parlour together, but then Rocco arrived and the next minute the bloke comes out with a face like thunder and sets up camp in the lounge. What’s going on?’
‘I’ll tell you later,’ she said, dashing off.
If Rocco wasn’t putting the castle on the market, he should be the one to tell everyone the good news.
Giselle didn’t want to steal his thunder.
And as for the love thing…? She hadn’t had a chance to take it in herself yet, and there was a part of her that continued to think she was mistaken.
Scampering through the series of interconnecting rooms which led to the parlour, her heart thudding in her ears, Giselle had just reached it when the double doors opened and out strode Claire.
She had a supercilious smile on her face, which stuttered like a faulty light bulb when she spied Giselle.
However, it swiftly returned, brighter than ever.
‘I’m sorry,’ Claire said, closing the door firmly behind her. ‘Rocco is busy right now. Do you have an appointment?’ Her fingers remained curled around the handle.
‘No, but—’
‘In that case, could I ask you to make one? I can give you his PA’s number. Or, better still, speak to Cal; he’s the estate manager after all, so he’s the one who should be dealing with any queries or issues relating to the craft centre. Rocco is far too busy.’
‘I’m not, it’s—’ Giselle stumbled over the words ‘—personal.’
Claire’s gaze was hard and piercing. ‘I bet it is. Unfortunately— Oh!’
The handle was wrenched out of Claire’s grasp, and she staggered backwards, her high heels unbalancing her as the door flew open.
Rocco halted, his expression grim. ‘Giselle?’
Giselle looked from him to Claire, and she backed away.
Rocco put out a hand. ‘Don’t go. Please. Claire, go join Kurt Whatshisname in the lounge.’
Claire’s lips tightened. ‘Do you want us to carry on, or should we wait for you, since you’re here? It doesn’t matter either way, but I thought you might like to be involved, considering you’re the vendor.’
‘I… No, go ahead.’ Rocco looked drawn, his eyes clouded with an emotion Giselle wasn’t able to read.
Claire gave her a sideways glance. ‘If we work fast, we could have the castle on the market by the end of the week. Is that acceptable? Or do you need more time to think about the asking price?’
Mutely, Rocco shook his head. He wasn’t looking at Claire, though; he was gazing at Giselle. Worry coiled in her stomach, making her uneasy. This wasn’t the same man who’d stormed out of the studio just now. This man appeared to have the weight of the world on his shoulders.
Claire hesitated, then shrugged and sashayed off.
Rocco slumped, and the worry in Giselle’s tummy transformed into dread. ‘What’s wrong?’
With a stricken expression, he ushered her into the parlour, then leant against the door and rubbed a hand across his face. ‘It seems I have to sell the castle after all.’
‘But I thought—?’ Giselle stopped, confused.
‘Inheritance tax,’ he stated shortly. ‘I can’t pay forty per cent, not without selling it.’
‘Hadn’t you…?’ She trailed off.
‘Factored it in? Yes, and I had a plan in place, but I underestimated how much the estate is worth.’ He laughed, a bitter sound.
‘And to think I’m supposed to be an expert in asset management when I can’t even manage my own assets.
Bloody hell.’ He gazed at the ceiling and raked his fingers through his hair.
Giselle reached for him, hesitated, then let her hand fall to her side. She loved him and she’d been as intimate as one person can be with another, yet she felt powerless to comfort him.
He said, ‘I had it all worked out. I was going to live here and carry on running the castle and the craft centre. I even had a couple of ideas to generate more income.’ He bit his lip and screwed up his face. ‘I’m sorry, Giselle.’
So was she, but although the news wasn’t good, it wasn’t the end of the world. She’d already accepted that the craft centre would probably be no more, so she wasn’t as upset as she might have been. Especially since…
‘I love you, too,’ she said.
Rocco froze. She watched him carefully, waiting for a reaction.
It was a long time coming and she was starting to shrivel inside, when he asked, ‘Do you mean that?’
‘Yes.’
‘You’re not just saying it?’
‘To make you feel better? No.’
‘I didn’t think— I didn’t dare—’ He exhaled loudly. ‘You love me?’
A smile spread across her face. ‘Yes.’
‘I don’t know what to say.’
‘Is there any need to say anything when you can kiss me instead?’
His mouth was hot and urgent, his arms holding her so tightly she feared he’d crush her, but to Giselle, being in his embrace felt like being home, and she kissed him for several delicious minutes.
‘What happens now?’ she asked, when she finally dragged her lips away from his. She laid a cheek on his chest and listened to the thud of his heart, his arms still tight around her.
‘I honestly don’t know.’
‘You’ll have to go back, won’t you?’
‘I’m afraid so.’ She could hear the pain in his voice. ‘I want to stay on Skye, but without a job…’
‘Could you work remotely?’
‘Not a chance.’ He groaned and buried his face in her hair. ‘I don’t want to lose you, Giselle,’ he said, his breath warm on her temple, and she hugged him fiercely.
‘You won’t.’
‘I can’t stay here, without a job. I—’ He broke off, the rest of the sentence unspoken.
Giselle didn’t need to hear it. She already knew what she had to do.
Giselle glanced behind to make sure they were alone, then she drew Rocco to a halt.
They were strolling hand in hand along the path leading to the village and were heading for The Codfather and a fish supper.
It had been Giselle’s suggestion when Rocco had let slip that he hadn’t eaten since breakfast.
‘You’ve got to keep your strength up for later,’ she’d told him.
‘What’s going to happen later?’
‘You’re going to take me to bed and ravish me.’
‘I am, am I? What if I’m the one who wants to be ravished?’ he’d teased.
‘I’m sure we can come to some arrangement, but you need food, and I bet you don’t want to eat in the dining room.’
He shuddered. ‘With Claire and Kurt? No thanks! And I wouldn’t want to subject you to that, either.’
‘Who says I’d be joining you for dinner?’
‘You’ll have no choice, since I’m not letting you out of my sight ever again.’
‘Not even when you’re asleep?’
‘You know what I mean. Come to London with me tomorrow,’ he pleaded.
She kissed him to stop him talking, but that could only work for so long because she had to come up for air. ‘I can’t; my sister, remember? Plus, I’ve got obligations here.’
‘I absolve you of them.’
‘I want to sell as much as possible while I still can, and summer is when the craft centre is at its busiest.’
His face fell. ‘Does that mean you intend to stay in Duncoorie until the castle is sold? That could take months. And what if whoever buys it decides to keep the craft centre open? Will you stay, or come live with me?’ He looked so worried that her heart went out to him.
‘I’ll follow you to the ends of the earth,’ she vowed. ‘But not tomorrow.’
‘When?’
They started walking again, Giselle ignoring the scenery for once. All her attention was on Rocco. ‘Soon,’ she promised. ‘I can’t just up sticks and leave. There’s such a lot to sort out: all my stock, what I’m going to do about the bothy…’
‘We could use it as a holiday home,’ Rocco suggested.
‘Hmm, I think I’d be better off selling it. I can’t afford to keep it going and not live in it.’
Rocco halted, turning to face her.
‘At this rate, we won’t get to The Codfather before it closes,’ she warned.
‘You won’t have to worry about money.’ Rocco took her in his arms.
Giselle was shaking her head. ‘I’m paying my way; otherwise, I’m staying here,’ she replied firmly.
‘You’re stubborn, do you know that?’ He kissed the tip of her nose. Then her mouth.
‘Talking of the bothy, do you have to go back this evening?’ he asked as they set off again.
Giselle smiled. She’d messaged Izzy earlier to let her know what was happening. ‘My sister will be fine on her own for one night.’
‘I’d like to meet her properly. Not when she’s being all fierce and protective.’
‘You will, I promise. Not tonight, though. Tonight is all about me and you.’
‘I don’t want to leave,’ he said, and she remembered he’d said the same thing the last time.
If only she’d realised that he’d meant he hadn’t wanted to leave her.
This time would be different: he loved her, and they wouldn’t be apart for long.
The thought of living in London, even in a posh area like Holland Park, didn’t fill her with joy, even if she would be living in a house five times the size of her little bothy.
She’d miss the peace, the wide-open spaces, the loch, the hills…
everything about Duncoorie. She’d imagined that she would live here for the rest of her life, get married here, bring up children here.
But life, and love, had other ideas. It was going to be an enormous wrench for her to leave Skye.
As though he could read her mind, Rocco said, ‘If you kept the bothy, we could visit any time you wanted.’
The problem was, she’d want to stay. The thought of moving to London filled her with dread. If there was any way she and Rocco could remain on the island, she’d take it…
‘If I’d known you weren’t going to join me in a fish supper, I’d have asked Cook to rustle up some toast,’ Rocco grumbled as he licked his greasy, salty fingers.
‘I ate a couple of chips,’ Giselle protested. ‘You needed a decent meal; I’ve already had one. Izzy and I went out to lunch.’
‘That was ages ago.’
‘I’m not hungry.’
‘If you feel nibbly later, we can raid the castle’s kitchen,’ he suggested.
He would have preferred to spend the night at the bothy, but Izzy was there.
At least he’d moved Claire out of his suite and arranged for her to have one of the guest bedrooms, so he and Giselle would be nicely out of the way in the turret.
Giselle said, ‘Mhairi used to do that. I asked her once why she hadn’t had a little kitchenette installed in her sitting room and she said, “Where’s the fun in that?
” She used to love sneaking downstairs and pinching bits and pieces from the kitchen.
It used to drive Cook mad when she was in charge of it. ’
‘I thought she still was,’ Rocco said.
He balled up the remains of his supper, popped the wrapper in a nearby bin, and took her hand in his for the walk back to the castle, metaphorically pinching himself.
He still couldn’t believe she loved him.
He’d been prepared for a long, draw-out battle of trying to win her over, and he’d even been prepared for out-and-out rejection.
Not in a million years had he guessed that she felt the same way.
Although he knew she liked him (obviously), he hadn’t dared hope her feelings went any deeper.
Saying goodbye tomorrow was going to be hell, and he was sorely tempted to stay another day.
Which would morph into another, and another…
Anyhow, he had lots to be going on with, to make sure his house was ready for Giselle’s arrival.
There was a bedroom that needed converting into a makeshift workroom for a start.
Rocco wondered how Beverly would react to the news that Giselle would be moving in with him, and decided he didn’t care.
He knew she wanted him to recreate her and Dad’s situation, where he and whatever woman he married would be partners in the business as well as in life, and he fully appreciated that with respect to the company, Claire would be an ideal choice.
However, while he admired Claire in a business sense, he didn’t fancy her.
And he certainly didn’t have any feelings for her.
His mother would just have to suck it up.
Sneaking into the hotel via a rear entrance, Rocco and Giselle crept up the back stairs to the turret, where he wasted no time in showing her just how much he loved her.
Tomorrow could wait. This night and the woman in his arms were all that mattered.