Chapter 4
Jamie
Jamie was acutely aware of Lucy over by the AGA. He snuck a glance. Her back was to him, she was bending down and stroking George who was lapping it up. George, who was normally quite picky about who he chose to allow into his space.
Her hair was thick and bright. He could see it had been sleeker but the weather had made it wild.
She stood up and put her hands out towards the stove.
She should have looked ridiculous in his jumper and the socks, but all it made him think of was the curves underneath.
Curves he remembered because they’d been burnt onto his brain over two white hot nights rendering him so insensible that he’d allowed their little game of daring each other to get married to go all the way.
She was turning around so he looked back to the coffee machine again and she asked, ‘Are you here on your own?’
Her voice had done things to his blood the first time he’d heard it and her Irish accent had caught his attention. It was doing the same thing now.
‘Yes, I let the staff go for Christmas. It’s just me.’
‘Staff?’
He heard the tone of amusement in her voice. It made him think of her looking up at him and grinning so goofily after getting married that he’d had to kiss her to try and block out the way she’d made his chest feel tight.
Jamie poured the coffee into cups and brought one over to her, ‘Black?’
Her eyes widened a little and he noticed how long and spiky her lashes were. She said, ‘You remembered.’ She sat down on a chair at the wide wooden kitchen table.
He remembered everything. He remembered how in that moment with an Elvis impersonator in front of them he’d looked into Lucy’s eyes and had been unable to look away.
Caught. Suddenly it had felt very serious and instead of running back down that path he’d heard himself repeating legally binding words like, ‘I do.’
He put some distance between them and rested back against the counter.
Forced his brain to work. ‘We have a housekeeper, Rhona, and her husband, Martin, is the general groundsman. They live in a cottage on the grounds. They’ve gone to Edinburgh for Christmas to see their kids and grandkids.
Then there are other staff who come and go as needed. ’
Lucy had both hands on the cup. Jamie found himself checking her fingers. No rings. Not that they’d even exchanged rings. That reminded him of stopping in a street in Buenos Aires, outside an antique jewelry shop about a year before –
‘This place must take a lot of maintenance.’
He welcomed the diversion. ‘Just a bit.’
The understatement of the century. That’s why he was home, because this was going to become a full-time job. If he chose it. He looked around the kitchen trying not to acknowledge the fact that Lucy looked good here. Or, the fact that she had a right to be here that she didn’t even know about yet.
The first time Jamie had laid eyes on her she’d been hovering on the edges of the ballroom at the reception of the wedding he’d been attending.
An old university friend who’d been marrying an American girl from Las Vegas.
A far more upmarket affair than their wedding.
Even saying that in his head now made him feel slightly dizzy.
Lucy had been wearing black, presumably to denote she was working with the wedding events team, but to his mind she’d easily eclipsed all the other women there including the bride.
The dress had been plain – sleeveless and with a respectably low V-shaped neckline, but its figure-hugging material had highlighted her athletic shape and curves.
Her hair had been pulled back and up into a chignon. She’d had an earpiece in her ear and a clipboard. High heels.
The maid of honour had been giving a speech and had started crying over her love for her friend.
He’d watched Lucy roll her eyes, and she’d caught him looking, and immediately she’d blushed and cracked a sheepish smile and two dimples had appeared in her cheeks.
He didn’t remember thinking all that clearly after that moment.
He’d managed to track her down and asked her when she got off duty...
Before he could let the past make him forget the very pressing present he said, ‘Look, the reason my solicitor contacted you was because I need to tell you something.’