Christmas at Butterfly Cove: A delightfully feel-good festive romance!. Sarah Bennett

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СКАЧАТЬ shook his head, mouth twisting in amusement. ‘You’re incorrigible.’

      He preened. ‘It’s a skill, don’t be jealous.’ They burst out laughing.

      His brother took a deep draft of his beer, amusement fading. ‘We’re thinking about having them down for a weekend next month. Mia and Kiki have already set their hearts on some huge family Christmas, so we’re thinking it would be a good idea to introduce them to the children beforehand.’

      ‘Christmas? It’s months away. Who the hell is thinking about Christmas?’ Luke sputtered.

      ‘It’s exactly ten weeks today,’ Aaron said in a way that told Luke he’d been subjected to more than one conversation on that point. ‘It’s the number-two topic of conversation between the ladies of Butterfly Cove.’ The way he eyed Luke, it was obvious what subject was at the top of the gossip hit parade.

      Luke stared into the depths of his beer, knowing the amber liquid held no answers, but hoping Aaron would get the message and not press the point. Aaron cleared his throat, and Luke braced himself for the worst. What he heard instead shocked a laugh out of him. ‘There’s a surprise birthday party for me next weekend.’

      ‘I thought the clue was in the word ‘surprise’?’

      Aaron chuckled. ‘Charlie told me about it. Made me promise to keep it a secret. I had to cross my heart and everything.’ Luke could picture him doing exactly that. The little girl hung the moon and stars for his brother. He had a sneaking suspicion it had something to do with Aaron being able to indulge his love for Disney films.

      ‘Well, I’m sure it’ll be a hoot. Show me your shocked face – you can’t spoil the surprise.’

      Aaron gurned at him, contorting his face into evermore ludicrous expressions until Luke held a hand up in surrender. ‘Stop, stop, for God’s sake, before I do myself an injury.’ He clutched a hand to his aching ribs, marvelling at his brother’s ability to lift his mood.

      ‘I don’t know what you’re laughing at,’ Aaron sniffed. ‘You’ll have to pretend you don’t know anything about it when Kiki calls to invite you.’

      And, he was even better at blindsiding him. Knowing the way those bloody women schemed, they’d probably cooked up the idea of the party just to try and force him to go down there. ‘I’m not coming to Butterfly Cove.’

      ‘Luke…’

      The ever-present simmer of anger in his gut boiled over. ‘Leave it!’ Damn. None of this was Aaron’s fault, not Kiki’s or Mia’s either. There was only one person responsible for turning his life upside down.

      Again.

      He shoved a hand through his hair. ‘Sorry.’

      His brother hunched closer across the table. ‘You have to speak to her sometime, bro. I don’t know what happened to her in New York, but she’s a mess.’

      His temper spiked again. ‘And how is that my problem?’

      Aaron gripped his forearm. ‘She’s your wife, Luke. For better, for worse and all that.’

      He’d heard enough. He loved Aaron, but if he didn’t shut the hell up, Luke would say something unforgivable. He stood up, lifted his glass and drained the last third of his pint. ‘We’d better get back.’ He left the table without another word.

      He was a couple of hundred yards up the road before Aaron caught up with him. Falling into step, he kept his eyes fixed on the road ahead of them. ‘We heard your argument, Kiki and me. After the wedding.’

      Luke stopped dead. ‘What?’

      Aaron faced him, one shoulder lifted in an apologetic shrug. ‘Outside the barn. We didn’t mean to. We were in the shadows at the side of the building.’

      What the hell had they been doing lurking in the dark like that? It had been the night Aaron finally opened his heart to Kiki and… oh. The embarrassed flush on his brother’s face spoke volumes. He raised an eyebrow at him and the redness darkened.

      ‘Yeah, anyway. We weren’t snooping, but we heard what Nee said, about leaving you being a mistake. She sounded pretty sincere to me. Can’t you at least give her a chance to explain?’

      A car approached, and they stepped onto the grass verge to let it pass. As soon as the road was clear again, Luke started walking. He didn’t want to think about the wedding. Didn’t want to think about how delicate and slight Nee had looked, the aching sorrow in her voice when she’d tried to talk to him. He heard Aaron’s footsteps behind him. Without looking around, he held up a hand in warning. ‘No more. The subject is closed.’

      He couldn’t give her a chance to explain, because then he’d have to admit to the true source of his anger – himself. For all his protestations, he didn’t care why she’d left. He just wanted her back. And what kind of an idiot did that make him?

Chapter Three

      It had taken all her powers of persuasion, but Nee had eventually convinced Mia and Kiki she was the best person to travel home to help their dad. She’d made sure not to give any hint leaving Butterfly Cove was anything more than a temporary arrangement. A bit of space away from everyone would hopefully give her time to think, and to come up with a plan for what she would do now her art was lost to her.

      She had other reasons too. So many things had moved on while she was away, and running to catch up was exhausting. Her sisters had reached a compromise with their father over the past and were moving forwards. Nee had watched him at the wedding, especially with the little ones, and hadn’t been able to stifle a bite of jealousy when he’d balanced a laughing Charlie on his feet and danced around the marquee with her. She rolled her shoulders to shrug off the unwelcome reminder. Nee had never been a jealous person, never doubted her own worth and importance to the people in her life who mattered, until…

      The announcer called her station and she watched the people around her stand and sway their way between the seats towards the door. She remained seated. Her suitcase perched in the rack by the corridor door, hemmed in on all sides. What was it that made people so desperate to be first off? She’d never been on a train where people didn’t start queueing five minutes before arrival. Nor on a flight where someone didn’t pop their seatbelt open before the indicator light turned out. Once that first click sounded, a wave of others invariably rippled around the cabin. As if once one person had disobeyed the rules, it made it all right for them too. You could always spot the Brits in those situations by their guilty glances, as though they expected to be told off.

      The platform came into view through the window beside her and Nee watched the people crammed by the door and counted silently in her head, three, two, one… The train jerked to a halt as the driver applied the brake, sending one unprepared passenger staggering into the person in front of him. A domino ripple of bumps, pushes and glares followed. She shook her head. Every time. As soon as the crowd thinned, she slipped from her seat to join the back of the group, pausing to haul her case down from the rack as she passed it.

      A tall, dapper figure waited for her on the platform, and she couldn’t help the small smile on her lips. Rain or shine, George Thorpe would be dressed in his usual uniform of pressed trousers, smart shirt and a jacket or buttoned-up cardigan. СКАЧАТЬ