The Love Trilogy. Sophie Pembroke

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ through the opening to the hallway. She knew Cora’s parents’ house as well as her own. Surely she could find somewhere private for just a few moments’ peace and quiet? And drinking. She definitely needed wine if she planned to seriously contemplate her future.

      * * * *

      Cora was still rabbiting on beside him, but since her topic hadn’t changed once in the last twenty minutes, Alex felt justified in tuning her out while he turned his attention to more interesting things. Like the blonde across the room, clearly being bored to death by a conversation with an elegant older woman whose hair didn’t move.

      ‘And I think it’s wonderful that you’ve come home to Felinfach, Alex, I really do,’ Cora said, unnecessarily, as she’d already expressed the same sentiment three times. Alex loved his cousin dearly, but God did she love to talk.

      ‘I’m glad,’ he said, also for the third time. It wasn’t a lie; his cousin’s opinion mattered to him. She tended to be an excellent judge of character, something borne out by her choice of fiancé, he felt, after a long, wine-soaked evening in the man’s company a few days before. He should ask her the blonde’s name.

      ‘It’s just…’ Cora said, and stopped. That was new. Alex paused in his consideration of the way the blonde’s hair swept across her shoulders when she shook her head, revealing a very elegant neck.

      ‘Just?’ he prompted, looking at his cousin.

      Cora bit her lip. ‘Just… Are you sure you really want to stay? Not sell the cottage and go back to London? Don’t you think you might be, well, a little bored, here in Felinfach? I mean, it’s hardly the capital…’

      ‘I know. I did grow up here too, remember?’ Even though it seemed like a lifetime ago, now. Once, he’d been one of the boys hanging out round the rundown old mill, causing trouble and somehow never getting caught. Before he grew up and grew responsible, of course.

      ‘Yeah, but that was years ago.’

      Alex winced at the implication about his age, even though he’d been thinking the same thing. ‘So maybe Felinfach’s got more exciting,’ he said. Cora raised her perfectly plucked brows. ‘Maybe I’ve grown more boring?’

      That surprised a laugh from her. ‘Somehow I doubt that.’

      But he had, Alex knew.

      Maybe it was looking after his dad, these last six months. Seeing a man he loved, respected and admired facing the end of his life. Hearing him look back over the last seventy years and talk about what had mattered to him, and what had turned out not to matter at all.

      Alex’s brother, Gareth, had helped out too, but he had a wife and two small boys as well as a full time job. And Alex hadn’t minded sacrificing his weekends to spend time with dad. For the first time in years there was something that mattered more to him than work. And he realized, one quiet evening in the cottage, that he liked it that way.

      He didn’t want the cut and thrust of the City any more. Didn’t want the endless parties, the late nights that became early mornings, the stress and the responsibility and the indigestion. Hell, he didn’t even really want the women that went with it all, any more.

      He’d talked it all through with his dad, in conversations more meaningful and deep than he’d had with anyone in years.

       ‘The key, Alex, is to find your dream, what will make you happy for all the years ahead. And then to find someone who’ll thrive on living it with you. Someone whose dream matches yours. Just like your mum and me had.’

      With his dad’s words echoing in his head, Alex had started making changes almost immediately – taking on a couple of local clients, to get back into the swing of small business accounting, trimming down his hours in the City. He’d hoped to be able to move back full time before his father passed, but he’d been too slow. He’d missed his chance. It wasn’t a mistake he was planning to make again.

      He, Alex Harper, was ready to settle down, to find his future, and he was going to go after it with the single-mindedness that had served him so well in his career thus far.

      Now he just needed to find the right woman to settle down with.

      ‘Seriously, Alex,’ Cora said, placing a hand on his arm. ‘I’m just trying to understand. It’s a huge change for you, and I know…’

      She stalled, and something compelled Alex to say, ‘Go on.’

      ‘I just worry that you wouldn’t be doing this if it wasn’t for your dad.’

      He shouldn’t be surprised that Cora had realized that, or even that she thought it was a bad thing. It was what everyone in London thought. A knee-jerk response to a traumatic event. Some of his ex-colleagues, he knew, were even placing bets on how long it would take him to ditch the countryside and move back to London.

      They were going to be disappointed.

      ‘I’ll admit, Dad getting sick, and so soon after Mum died… Maybe it made me speed up my plans.’ The last words his father had spoken to him, in a phone call a few days before he’d died, echoed round Alex’s head. I don’t want you to spend your life at one thing, only to realize it wasn’t what mattered at all. But he wasn’t ready to share that with anyone just yet, not even Cora. The conversations he’d had with his dad were private. And the pain of knowing he’d never have them again still hadn’t dulled.

      He shook his head to dispel the miserable thoughts, and smiled at Cora in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. ‘I was always going to move home eventually, Cora. Settle down. And yeah, talking with Dad over the last few months helped me to crystallise what it is I really want. I don’t think that’s a bad thing. And doing it now, hell, I don’t even have to worry about selling Mum and Dad’s cottage.’

      Cora didn’t look entirely convinced.

      ‘What are you even going to do here?’ she asked. ‘Besides stripping that hideous wallpaper out of the cottage, of course.’

      ‘Oh, you know. This and that.’ Alex shrugged, trying to decide how much to tell her. ‘Some accounting, I guess. I’ve already been working with a few clients remotely – the Avalon Inn up the road, for one. Once I told them I was moving back permanently, they were very keen to get me on board. There’s been no accountant practicing in the town since Mr Phillips retired last year. I’m needed here.’

      Cora eyed him with suspicion. ‘And you think that’ll be enough of a challenge for you? After years in the City?’

      ‘I’ve got some other plans, too.’ Alex looked away. Too soon to mention his new career direction just yet. He’d not discussed it with anyone except his dad. He’d wanted to wait until he had something concrete to show people. Something to prove he was serious.

      And in the meantime… ‘For starters, who’s the blonde?’ He nodded in her direction, and realized with a start that she was watching him too. His pulse kicked up a beat. Maybe Felinfach wasn’t nearly as boring as Cora made out. And he could definitely do with a distraction, to take his mind off Dad.

      The blonde looked away again, but not before Alex saw a delightful pink colour flush across her cheeks. Definitely not boring.

      ‘Lily?’ Cora said, and Alex blinked. ‘Don’t you remember СКАЧАТЬ