But…he wouldn’t be with her to see.
She asked for so little. She wouldn’t have entertained the idea of this marriage if it hadn’t been for her family and the villagers, he knew, and the thought of her denying herself this was suddenly unbearable.
‘Isn’t there any way you can organise things and go?’ his mother had asked at her most wistful, and he’d looked down at her with suspicion. It had been her wheedling tone.
‘Just because you’re sick…’
‘No, dear. Just because Penny-Rose needs you.’ She had hesitated. ‘You know, the estate’s almost at the stage where it’ll run itself. Once you’re married, there’ll be funds for everything. Your new secretary knows the running of the place. When the wedding’s over he can take over with ease.’
‘And my architecture?’
‘No one’s indispensable,’ she’d said meekly. ‘And you only marry once.’
‘Mother…’
‘Sorry.’ She’d peeped a smile at him. ‘But that’s what the world needs to think. And they’ll think it very odd if you don’t honeymoon. It would give Penny-Rose so much pleasure, and I’ve already booked it…’
Her voice had faded, but her expression had stayed wistful.
It had been more than a man could stand. He’d taken the pamphlets and had gone to find Rose. And now he’d found her…
Leo was sitting by her side, his doleful expression matching hers. The pup looked up at Alastair as he appeared, and the look of reproach he gave him was almost enough to make him laugh. Good grief. You’d have sworn the dog knew!
He crossed to where she was sitting. ‘Rose…’
She glanced up, and then looked back out to the river. Fast. ‘I’m sorry,’ she told him, without looking up at him again. ‘I didn’t know your mother was planning anything so dire.’
‘As dire as a honeymoon?’ He sat beside her. Archers had once waited up here for the Vikings to sail up the river to loot and pillage. It was hard to imagine anything so dreadful on a day like today. The sun was warm on their faces and below them the river drifted dreamily on.
‘I’ve just been on the phone to Koneata Lau,’ he said.
‘Cancelling things?’ For the life of her she couldn’t keep the desolation out of her voice. ‘That’s good.’
‘No. Confirming them.’
She swung around to face him, disbelief and hope warring within.
Disbelief won.
‘We can’t.’
‘We can.’
Hope flared again, but died just as fast. ‘No. It’s not possible.’
‘If I can, why can’t you?’ He ruffled Leo’s shaggy ears and grinned. ‘The only problem that I can see is Leo, and I’ve fixed that. Henri is having his bunions attended to on the day after the wedding. He’ll therefore have two weeks’ enforced rest, during which he’ll watch daytime television with Leo on his chest. And Madame Henri will dice fillet steak for your pup every night.’
‘Alastair…’ Rose was half laughing, half exasperated. ‘You know I can’t. It’s a gorgeous offer, but…’
‘But what?’
‘My sisters and brother…’
‘That’s what I need to talk to you about,’ Alastair took her hands and pulled her to her feet.
Which was maybe a mistake. Her breasts pressed against his chest and, as his hands gripped hers, the texture of her hands and the closeness of her body was doing something really strange.
But he didn’t know what.
Just tell her what you need to tell her and then get out of here, he thought desperately. Now.
And somehow he made his voice work.
‘You’re doing this for your family,’ he told her. ‘Marrying me. But when you said, “I’ve never been to the beach”, I thought, They won’t have either. And they’re probably just as deserving as you.’
‘But-’
‘Shut up and listen, Rose,’ he said kindly. ‘This is the plan. Your brother and sisters arrive tomorrow. They can have a couple of days looking over the castle. We marry on Thursday. And on Friday the five of us get on a plane and head for Fiji. The press will think your family is going home. Koneata Lau is renowned for its privacy- photographers are shot on sight. The five of us can have a very good time.’
‘The five of us…’
‘All of us. The very best honeymoons are crowded,’ he said, smiling. ‘What do you say?’
‘Oh, Alastair…’ He’d taken her breath away.
All her life she’d wanted to give her family a holiday. She’d struggled but so had her siblings. Nothing was easy for a family as in debt as they were.
And to take them all to Koneata Lau!
Penny-Rose couldn’t resist it. Not when it wasn’t just for her. But… All sorts of possibilities were opening up before her.
‘Your mother,’ she whispered, starry-eyed. ‘Alastair, your mother could come, too.’
‘Yeah, and my butler could do with a break, and Bert and his team would build great sandcastles.’ He grinned. ‘No.’ Then he relented. ‘Actually, I asked my mother, but she refused. She’s probably right when she says that a long plane flight would be too much for her.’
‘If only she were well…’
‘We’ll get her well. After our honeymoon we’ll pressure her to stay here and give her a real break. But meanwhile, the thing that could give her real pleasure is if we agree to her plan. What do you say, Rose? Can I take you-and all your family-on a honeymoon to die for?’
‘Oh, Alastair…’
It was too much. She looked up at him, her eyes shining, and suddenly, before he knew what she was about, she’d stood on tiptoe to kiss him.
It had been intended as a kiss of gratitude-nothing more. But she was emotional, close to tears, and she let her feather-light kiss stay on his lips for just a fraction of a second too long.
Because somehow it became not a feather-light kiss.
In fact, feather-light suddenly didn’t come near it.
Beneath the surface, a feeling of warmth and empathy had begun to flow between them, a feeling as powerful as it was real.
They’d started this mad escapade as a business proposition. What had passed between them over the last few weeks had made them friends. And now it was shifting past that, to something deeper.
It had already shifted for Penny-Rose-she knew what she was feeling-but Alastair had no idea. He’d let her lips touch his and he’d expected a soft brush of mouth against mouth. Nothing more. What he received was an electric charge that nearly blew him away.
A surge of wanting engulfed him that was so powerful-so all-engulfing-that his hands moved up instinctively to steady her. As if she could somehow feel it too and be hurt by it…
So it was natural that his hands held her-steadied her and pulled her even closer into him-and the linking of their lips forged an even stronger tie.
Dear heaven…
The taste of her… The feel of her…
He’d never felt like this, he thought dazedly. It was as if her body were merging into his, and there was a sweetness about her that he could hardly believe. She was so innocent and she was lovely and…
She was his for the taking!
She was to be his wife!
For a whole minute he gave himself up to the exquisite sensation of savouring her touch. Of believing that something could come of this. Something magical-that he could let himself love.
That in four days’ time he could marry this woman and take her to him and have her for ever. That he could let
