Much Ado About You

“How many years ago was that?”

Roane seemed to stop breathing at the question, and then his voice was gruff as he replied, “Oh, it was a long time ago. You hungry?”

I blinked at the abrupt subject change. “Um, the heat kind of kills my appetite. Are you hungry?”

“I can wait if you just want to lie for a while.”

“I do.” I launched back into questioning him. “Do you see your parents often?”

“Every year. They usually come home around July or August for a few months, but they’re traveling this year. They’ll be home at Christmas instead.”

Depending on how things progressed between us, I might not even get to meet Roane’s parents. The thought sobered me. No, it more than sobered me. It upset me.

“Have you . . . have you talked to your mum since you got that voice mail?” His voice was gentle, like he didn’t want to spook me with a question I might not want to answer.

I pressed a quick, reassuring kiss to his pec before I replied, “No. I’ve talked to Phil, but I haven’t spoken to Mom directly. Phil says she’s doing okay. I . . . just don’t want things between her and me to affect my time here. I’m being selfish for once.”

“It’s not selfish, Evie.”

“I don’t want to talk about my mom,” I whispered, turning to look up at him. He stared down at me with that tender expression I’d come to know and love. “Tell me about your ex-girlfriends before I expire of curiosity.”

He flashed me a quick, boyish smile. “What do you want to know?”

“Who they were, what they were like, why it ended?”

Roane shook with laughter. “Not much then?”

“Stop teasing and talk.”

With a melodramatic sigh, he brought the hand not tracing patterns on my skin to rest above his head, as if settling in to tell a tale. “Excluding primary school sweethearts, at high school there was one serious girlfriend. Justine Miller. She lived in Alnwick and was an absolute swot.”

“What’s a swot?”

“Someone that prefers school and learning to socializing. That was Justine. But she was cute and funny, and when she made time for me, I liked being around her.”

“Did you lose your virginity to her?”

“Aye. She actually was the one that pushed for it. She had a thirst for knowledge about everything, including sex. We were fifteen.”

“Wow.” My eyes almost bugged out of my head. “That is young.”

“I suppose. It didn’t seem so to us. We grew up knowing about the mating rituals of animals,” he chuckled. “Sex was always around us.”

“I guess.”

“What age were you?”

“Eighteen. Chace had been pushing for it since we were sixteen, but I wanted to wait. Still pisses me off that he’s the guy who took my virginity.”

“No regrets, Evie. Justine wasn’t the love of my life, but she was my first time. No changing it. And I wouldn’t want to. She’s a piece of my story. Just like Chace is a piece of yours and without him you’d be a slightly altered version of yourself. Who wants that?”

Huh. That was true. “You’re very wise.” I snuggled deeper into him. “Okay, tell me more about your women.”

Roane chuckled. “You speak as if there was a harem of them. There wasn’t. Justine and I broke up just before graduation. Then first year of uni, I met Saskia. She was from Kent and so gorgeous and popular, I judged her as shallow before I really knew her.”

Ugh. She sounded stunning. Her name evoked an image of a tall, tan blonde with feline green eyes. Someone who could play tennis and ski and hobnob with royals.

Jealousy was an ugly creature stirring to life in my chest.

“But . . . well, she fancied me.”

I bet she did.

“And she made it her mission to make me her boyfriend.” There was a tenderness in his voice I didn’t like. “We were different in so many ways, opposites really. But underneath the shallow socialite, there was a loyal girl with a kind heart. Which I broke.” He sighed heavily. “We were together all through university. I’d stayed at her parents’ place during the summer, she’d stayed at mine. But the closer we got to graduation, the more she was talking about us getting engaged and moving to London to work, and I knew that it wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted to travel, aye, but I think I already knew deep in my heart that I wanted to work the farm. And Saskia wasn’t made to be a farmer’s wife. So, I broke up with her.”

Emotion clogged my throat. When I’d asked Roane to tell me about his past relationships, I honestly hadn’t thought I’d feel so possessive . . . and so ludicrously upset by what he’d had with this Saskia person.

It was silly.

She was an ex for a reason.