Much Ado About You

Alone.

Where was Viola?

I turned to Roane. “I’m going to help Milly.”

He gave me an affectionate smile followed by a quick kiss to the lips. My mouth tingling with his sweet touch, I strode to the bar and lifted the top to get behind it.

Milly shot me a startled look.

“I used to bartend after college,” I explained. “Who’s next?”

She almost sagged with relief. “Thanks, pet.” She gestured to the opposite end of the bar. “Start down that end.”

Time passed quickly as I poured pints and mixed drinks for the seemingly never-ending line of customers. I didn’t know how long we’d been working when Milly called from the other end of the bar, “Evie, can you go down to the cellar and get another bottle of Macallan? I’m pouring the last of it now.”

I nodded. Weeks ago, Dex had given us a tour of the pub’s cellar, where they kept their stock, to show us their personal wine collection. He’d let us select a bottle, and we’d drunk to my staying another three months in Alnster. Hurrying out from behind the bar, I pushed through the door marked staff only that led into a large hall. That hall branched off to the stairs that led up to their family apartments, stairs that led down to the cellar, and a door that led to the kitchen.

I’d taken the first flight of stairs down to the cellar, when I heard the murmur of voices. The sounds from the bar area made it hard to hear, but I was pretty sure there was someone down there. Thinking it was probably Dex, I kept walking until I could hear the two voices clearly.

I abruptly stopped, tense as a rabbit in the headlights of a car.

“Do you think I’d be this fucking persistent for just anyone, Vi?” I heard Lucas snap, his voice carrying up to me on the echo of the bare concrete walls.

Holy crap.

“Oh, so I should feel special because the great Lucas Elliot deigns to pursue me?” Viola replied, hurt apparent in her cutting response.

Lucas must have heard it too, because his tone softened. “You know that’s not what I meant. I just . . . I can’t let this go. I don’t think you can either.”

Holy double crap.

I pressed a hand to my chest, my heart beating hard for Viola.

“I told you that night on the beach that we can’t.” Viola sounded so sad. “You were right to push me away all those years ago because of your dad. I don’t want to cause problems between you and your family. I don’t want to be the person that causes such a rift.”

“Aye, you say that, but then every time I touch you, kiss you”—his voice deepened to a masculine huskiness that made my eyes widen—“you light up like a fucking fire. Are we just supposed to ignore that?”

“Maybe it’s just lust.”

“You think this is just lust? Goddamn it, Viola, if I wanted just sex, I could get it anytime.”

She snorted in derision. “Aye, I’m aware of that, Lucas. I am very aware of that. You’re practically legendary at uni. And I’m to believe I’m not just another shag for you.”

“You don’t believe that. You’re just saying that to piss me off.”

“Well, you do fuck other girls to piss me off.”

“I haven’t touched another girl since I realized you feel about me how I feel about you.”

“But we can’t be together!”

“Do you want me to go? Do you want to see me with someone else . . . because I can’t bear the thought of seeing you with another guy. I’d kill him.”

“You don’t mean that. You can’t mean that. We can’t. We can’t.” Her voice broke. “I’m sorry.”

“The choice about my family should be mine, Vi, not yours. It’s bullshit. It’s a lie. You’re lying . . . you’re tearing my fucking heart out, and I think that’s what you meant to do all along. You finally got one up on Lucas Elliot.”

Just before I heard the slam of the basement door, I heard Viola cry, “Lucas, no!”

Then the door slammed again as Viola chased after him.

I sagged against the wall, wrung out by the angst I’d overheard.

What the hell? How had these two become worse off than they were before my little seed of encouragement?

Twenty-Two

Sundays had become precious to Roane and me. For most people in the village it was a day off work, the day they visited church to worship, and an afternoon they gathered at one another’s homes for roast dinner, but agnostic Roane and I loved it for a different reason. It was the only day in the entire week when we could spend every minute together. The man’s body clock forced him to wake early every morning, even though we’d both agreed that we wouldn’t work that day. My own body clock seemed to have synced to his, and when I felt him stir, I rolled into him and kissed him awake so he wouldn’t get out of bed.