hangover.’
‘You haven’t asked me how I found you.’ Kit ignored her off-at-a-tangent ramblings.
Hesitating, Liza pushed a flopping strand of hair out of her eyes. Following her bath, she hadn’t bothered to blow-dry it. Or put on any make-up.
‘I think I can guess,’ she replied finally. ‘Only it’s kind of hard to believe.’
‘Your mother rang me.’
Liza nodded. She’d guessed right. It was just so unlike her mother to do such a thing.
‘She isn’t normally the interfering type.’
Liza sensed rather than saw him tense up.
‘When you say interfering,’ Kit fixed her with his unswerving yellow gaze, ‘there’s welcome interference and there’s unwelcome interference. Liza, listen to me. I came down here because your mother told me I should. I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you, but you already know that. So,’ he said pointedly, ‘now it’s up to you. If you want me to leave, I will. I’ll turn around and drive back to Bath. You, meanwhile, can go inside and tell your mother she has no business meddling with your life. You can explain to her that this is an example of unwelcome interference.’
‘Okay,’ murmured Liza, nodding like an attentive pupil. ‘And what’s the other one?’
‘Welcome interference.’ Kit ticked the second alternative off on his fingers. ‘This is the one where you realise I was right and you were wrong,’ he explained, ‘and so what if I’m a few years younger than you? I mean, who gives a toss, really? I don’t. And your mother certainly doesn’t.’
Helplessly Liza shook her head.
‘No, she doesn’t.’
‘Anyway, you apologise to me for making the last few days possibly the worst of my life,’ he continued. ‘We kiss and make up and all that stuff, and you throw yourself at your mother’s feet, thanking her over and over again for meddling in your life and forcing you to come to your senses.’
Having listened carefully, Liza nodded again.
‘Okay. I’ll have that one.’
‘Sure?’ said Kit.
‘Definitely that one.’
‘The I’m-right-and-you’re-wrong one?’ Kit persisted, the corners of his mouth lifting as he spoke.
‘Yeah, yeah. You were right and I was wrong and I’m sorry and I love you,’ murmured Liza, tears of happiness rolling down her cheeks. ‘I love you so so much, you have no idea ...’
He held out his arms and she threw herself into them. It was the best feeling, Liza thought, absolutely the best feeling in the world.
When Kit had finished kissing her he lifted her chin, forcing her to look at him. They were both trembling.
‘Never do this to me again,’ he said in a low voice, brushing Liza’s wet eyelashes with his thumb. ‘Promise me you won’t.’
‘What, no more fights, no more arguments, ever?’
‘We can bicker. Bickering’s allowed.’ He shrugged. ‘We’re talking about the rest of our lives here, after all. Fifty years minimum.’
‘Oh, is that all?’ mocked Liza. Reaching up, she kissed each corner of his narrow, curving mouth and wondered if it was legal to feel this happy.
‘Maybe sixty. But we’re not going through this again. No more it’s-all-over stuff. I mean it, Liza.
You have to promise me. I never want to hear you say that—’
They jumped apart as the sitting room door opened.
‘Don’t mind us,’ said Margaret Lawson, as she and her husband reached for their coats. ‘Hello, Kit, nice to meet you. Liza dear, you can’t spend the rest of your life on the doorstep. Why don’t you invite Kit in and make him a nice cup of tea? Your father and I are just off to the pub.’
When they had gone, Kit said, ‘She winked at me.’
‘This is seriously weird.’ Liza shook her head in renewed amazement. ‘My parents have never been inside a pub in their lives.’
‘We’ve been Left Alone Together.’ Grinning, Kit grabbed Liza around the waist. ‘Just as well really, since I have this overwhelming desire to rip all your clothes off. You,’ he told her as he edged her backwards, ‘are about to experience the best sex of your life—’
‘Not here!’ gasped Liza, cornered between the grandfather clock and her mother’s carved oak bookcase.
‘God, you’re beautiful. Even in that hand-knitted cardigan.’ Playfully, Kit slid it off her shoulders. ‘There, see how much I’ve missed you?’
‘Stop it!’ squeaked Liza, struggling frantically to keep both of them decent. ‘I’m serious, Kit, we can’t do it here. Not in my parents’ house!’
Without saying a word, Kit led her by the hand across the hall, into the kitchen and out through the back door.
‘I’m serious too,’ he told Liza, one hand roaming beneath her T-shirt while the other deftly unfastened the button on her jeans. ‘Is the garden okay?’
Outside, the air was warm and heady with the scent of late roses. They were in total darkness.
