by Susan Napier;Kathryn Ross;Kelly Hunter;Sandra Marton;Katherine Garbera;Margaret Mayo
‘Yes.’ She answered with her back towards him as she washed her hands under the cold-water tap. A necessity as the only hot water she had had been boiled on the stove. When he made no immediate reply she turned and met his gaze. ‘Look, I know you think I’m mad and I know you want the land here…but I’ve decided to give it my best shot,’ she told him honestly. ‘So I’m sorry but I will have to turn down your…generous offer to buy the place.’
He frowned. ‘I think you are making a mistake.’
His words irritated her; obviously he wanted rid of her. ‘Yes, well, it’s my mistake to make, isn’t it?’
‘Certainly.’ He inclined his head. ‘But at least wait until after the builders have given you their estimates before closing your mind completely to my offer.’
Caitlin shook her head. ‘I want the house. I’m sorry, Ray. I’ve made my mind up—’
‘And I’d advise you to get more than one estimate on the work that needs doing here,’ he cut across her as if she hadn’t spoken. ‘Madeline’s nephew, Patrick, is a willing worker but inexperienced.’
‘Yes, I know how the game works. I get a few estimates and choose the best.’
He nodded. ‘And remember the best doesn’t always equal the cheapest.’
She glared at him. ‘You think I’m a helpless female, don’t you?’
‘No.’ He smiled to himself as he saw her eyes blaze. ‘I’m just giving you some advice.’
‘No, you’re not. You’re thinking, She’s not going to last here…I’ll give her two months and then offer her less for the land and by that time she will be so broke and so ready to leave that she’ll take it.’
‘Maybe I am.’ He laughed at the look of outrage in her eyes. ‘You don’t know what you are taking on here, Caitlin—’
‘Well, whatever I am taking on, I’m going to give it my best shot,’ she said firmly. ‘So, now that we’ve sorted that out, shall we have a coffee and discuss Monday night?’
Ray shrugged. ‘Okay. We’ll put the subject of you selling in abeyance. And we’ll discuss it again when you’ve had the builders’ reports.’
Caitlin ignored that. She didn’t want to discuss the subject again, she desperately wanted to stay here and make it work. ‘So what time do you want me to come over on Monday night?’ she asked lightly instead as she filled a pan of water to put on the stove.
‘About six-thirty, but don’t worry, I’ll call for you. Whereabouts will you be staying? There’s a hotel in the village that’s very good—’
‘Hotel?’ Caitlin frowned and looked over at him. ‘Why would I stay in a hotel? I’m staying here.’
‘You are not thinking of sleeping here tonight, are you?’ He sounded shocked.
‘Of course I am. This is going to be my home now.’ She glanced around at him. ‘Will dried milk do? As I have no fridge yet I didn’t bother buying fresh.’
‘I take my coffee black. But, Caitlin, you can’t possibly stay in this house.’ His dark eyes seemed to pierce right into hers with steady determination.
‘Why not?’
‘Well, for one thing, it’s got no electricity.’
‘I’ve already sorted that problem.’ She reached into her shopping and held up a candle. ‘I’ve been told it won’t be possible to reconnect me for a few weeks. So unless I want to wander around in pitch-black these will suffice.’
He shook his head. ‘I can’t see how you can possibly contemplate sleeping here until you have a new staircase and a new roof.’
‘I’m going to sleep downstairs in the dining room.’ She took some mugs from a box. ‘I’m afraid you’ll have to have instant coffee. It will be a while before things start to get civilised around here.’
‘You’re not kidding.’ Ray’s voice was derisive. ‘Look, you’d better stay with me up at the house, at least until you’ve got the electricity fixed.’
‘That’s a very kind offer, Ray, but honestly I’ll be fine.’
‘I don’t think so.’ He reached out and touched her lightly on the face. ‘Come and stay with me, Caitlin, for a few days at least. I don’t like to think of you here alone.’
The gentleness of his tone, the touch of his hand and the thought of spending even more time with him sent a mixture of panic and pleasure through her in wildly disconcerting waves.
The water in the pan started to bubble. A bit like her temperature around him, she thought wryly as she stepped back from him. ‘That’s very kind of you, Ray. But this place isn’t as bad as you think.’
That statement met with silence. Hastily she turned away from him and made the coffee.
‘Actually I made a great discovery as I was moving the furniture from the lounge. The sofa pulls out into a bed. So I’ll be fine on that.’
There was a lot of incredulity on his face as she handed him his drink. ‘The place is uninhabitable,’ he said bluntly.
‘No, it’s not. I’ve got this great old stove.’ She patted the bar on the cooker behind her. ‘You can burn anything in it, and I found a load of old wood out the back so it should keep me going for ages.’
He still didn’t look convinced so she put down her coffee. ‘Downstairs is fine, Ray, and there is even a downstairs bathroom. Come on, I’ll show you what I’ve done to the back room this morning.’
Ray followed her through a door at the far end of the kitchen into the dining room. It was a charming space with south-facing windows that looked out towards the olive grove and the purple mountains beyond. Like the other downstairs rooms, she had obviously scrubbed it out. There was a white tablecloth on the pine dining table and a white jug of blue irises. The sofa bed was under the window and was already made up with white linen, a colourful patchwork quilt and several scatter cushions. He had to admit that with a few womanly touches Caitlin had succeeded in making the place look comfortable and homely. Ray was impressed at what she had accomplished in such a short space of time and he felt he might have underestimated her; there seemed to be more to Caitlin than first met the eye.
‘You see, this will be quite adequate for now,’ she said defensively, then as she caught him looking up at the cracks in the ceiling added quickly, ‘Obviously it still needs sorting out properly, but that will have to wait.’
Ray perched himself down on the arm of the sofa. ‘I’ll agree you’ve certainly made the place look a lot better.’
‘I can sense the word “however” hovering on your lips,’ she said wryly.
‘Can you?’ He looked over at her then and smiled. ‘Maybe it is, but I won’t say it…not just yet anyway. You are a very stubborn woman, Caitlin.’
She shrugged. There was a certain way he had of looking at her sometimes that made her feel almost lightheaded. And she liked the way he said her name; it rolled from his tongue sometimes almost like a caress.
She tried to blot those thoughts out very firmly. Her name sounded attractive on his lips because of his accent. And he probably bestowed that look of teasing, sensual approval on a lot of women.
‘So all I’ll say instead is that if you have any problems you can phone me.’ She watched as he put his coffee down on the window ledge and took a gold pen from the top pocket of his shirt. ‘Have you got a piece of paper? I’ll write down my mobile number for you.’
‘I won’t need to phone you, Ray,’ she said determinedly, ‘because I’m not going to have any problems; I’ve got everything under control.’
‘I’m sure you have.’ He grinned. ‘But you never know, you might want to phone me anyway.’ He reached out and caught hold of her hand. ‘It doesn’t matter about paper, this will do.’
She watched as he turned her wrist and proceeded to put his number on her arm in blue ink.
The touch of his hand and the cool firmness of the pen against her skin were unsettling. ‘There, you can write it down somewhere safe later.’ He smiled into her eyes and that was even more disquieting.
‘Thanks.’ Her heart was thumping against her chest in a most peculiar way. She pu
lled her hand away from his sharply and hastily took a step backwards. ‘But as I said before I have everything under control, so you won’t be getting any damsel-in-distress calls from me.’
‘Well, maybe you’ll change your mind and want me to rescue you when the old timbers begin to creak and the bullfrogs start their nightly chorus, or when you’ve had enough of playing house and waiting for builders.’ He put the pen away and stood up.
‘In your dreams,’ she replied, her voice hardening. ‘It will take more than a few frogs to make me run scared.’ Now she wanted to scrub the number off her arm immediately. ‘I will manage here,’ she said quickly. ‘Being alone doesn’t bother me and, anyway, I’m expecting to have this place up and running as a bed and breakfast business by the end of the year. There are five good-sized bedrooms upstairs that will lend themselves very nicely to having en suites put in.’
‘It’s an ambitious project.’
‘Maybe, but once I make my mind up to do something I usually see it through to completion.’ She raised her chin slightly.
‘That’s something else we have in common, then.’ Ray smiled and stood up. ‘Well, you’ve got courage, Caitlin, I’ll give you that.’
There it was again, that rolling, sexy emphasis on her name. No man had a right to sound that good as well as look that attractive. He should come with a health warning, she thought hazily. Warning: this man could seriously affect your heartbeat.
‘So, anyway, I’ll see you Monday night,’ she said, hastily gathering her senses.
‘Yes, I’ll pick you up at six-thirty,’ he said, heading towards the door.
‘There’s no need, I’ll make my own way over,’ she told him firmly as she followed him back through the house. Somehow it seemed important that she arrived under her own steam, maintained her complete independence.
She thought he was going to argue the point, but he didn’t. ‘Okay.’ He stopped at the front doorway and looked back at her. ‘And don’t forget, ring if you need anything,’ he said over his shoulder as he strode away towards his car.
She watched as he drove away, his vehicle crunching over the uneven surface of her drive. Then as he disappeared silence fell and darkness started to steal over the landscape.
Caitlin looked down at the number written so boldly on her arm and went inside to wash it off. But before she did, she found herself writing it down in her address book; why, she didn’t know. She’d never ring him, she told herself sternly. Never. Then she returned her phone calls from that morning and tried to reassure her mother that she was fine.
As soon as Ray reached the château he headed for the phone and dialled his business partner in Paris. ‘We’ve got more of a problem with plot twenty-seven than I had first thought. Yes, Murdo’s property. One very determined lady is in residence and it looks like it’s going to hold back the whole development.’
He tapped his fingers impatiently against the rosewood counter as he waited for the reply, and then grinned. ‘Yes, she is, actually. No, I’ll take care of it. It’s a temporary hitch, I’m sure. Oh…and see if you can get hold of a copy of Murdo McCray’s last will and testament.’
Chapter Four
CAITLIN had never lived alone before. At eighteen she had got a job at a central London hospital and had moved straight from living at home into the nurses’ accommodation there. She had shared a room with two other girls and it had been a very lively time. When they hadn’t been studying for exams or working they had been out partying. There had never been a dull moment…or a quiet one.
That was when she had met Julian Darcy, a first year intern, incredible-looking, and as sexy as hell. She had fallen completely under his spell. For a full year they had dated and Caitlin had honestly thought he was the one…but unfortunately Caitlin hadn’t been the only one the suave doctor had been whispering sweet nothings to.
Julian was the reason she had moved away from her job in London to work in Manchester. She had moved into a flat up there with her best friend, Heidi, who was also a nurse. And slowly she had recovered her confidence and her heart. The two of them had really enjoyed sharing a flat. And again there had rarely been a time when Caitlin had felt alone. They had made lots of friends and gone out on lots of dates and then they had both fallen in love, Heidi with Peter, Caitlin with David. It had been during the run up to Heidi’s wedding that David had asked her to move in with him. She hadn’t said yes straight away; she hadn’t been sure if it was the right thing for her. But David had been persistent. He had wooed her with bouquets of flowers, extravagant gifts. And he had told her over and over again how much he loved her, how much he needed her…and how he wanted to be with her forever.
It was the forever bit that had finally won her around. Caitlin had witnessed her own parents’ divorce when she was twelve, and she never wanted to go through anything like that. Commitment was important to her. So when she had moved her things in with David’s she had honestly thought it was for the rest of her life.
They had got engaged a few months later and had intended to get married the following spring but somehow the date hadn’t been set for another two years.
Murdo had sometimes remarked that David wasn’t her soul mate, because if he were she wouldn’t have kept putting off the wedding date.
She had dismissed the notion out of hand. Now she wondered if it was true. Maybe subconsciously she had known David wasn’t right for her. Maybe she had even been on the rebound from Julian?
Lying alone on the sofa bed, in the darkness and deepest silence of the French night, Caitlin reflected on the past and tried to make sense of it. Maybe she was just destined to always fall for the wrong kind of man. She’d read articles about that—about women who kept making the same kind of mistakes. Trouble was, she had tried to play safe with David…had thought he was steady and reliable…
But when she had found out about his gambling debts all her trust in him had evaporated overnight. If he had lied to her about that, what else had he lied about? And worst of all David had refused to acknowledge that he had a problem. Suddenly their life together had seemed like a façade and she just hadn’t been able to go through with the commitment of marriage. After deep contemplation in the weeks that had followed, Caitlin had contacted everyone to tell them the wedding was cancelled. It was the hardest thing she had ever had to do.
At first light of dawn Caitlin got up. Work was the best way of keeping her mind off her problems. And it wasn’t hard to keep busy. There was so much to do. Sunday passed in a haze of hard exertion, and then on Monday morning Patrick arrived.
He was a good-looking man in his late twenties with tousled dark hair and serious eyes. He wandered around her house with a worried look on his face, scratching his head, making Caitlin feel as if she were waiting for a life and death doctor’s report.
‘So what do you think, Patrick?’ she asked finally when she couldn’t stand the suspense of waiting any longer.
‘I think,’ he said in careful pidgin English, ‘that the house needs much work. First it needs to be rewired…next it needs damp proof…and new stairs…new roof…’
‘So how much money are we talking here? Don’t forget I want new bathrooms.’
Patrick scratched his head again. ‘The roof is a job for my brother Raul. But I can do everything else. It will probably take a few months. If you like you can pay me by the week and buy the materials separately.’
‘That sounds acceptable…So how much do you estimate it will cost?’
Patrick named a sum that was just within her budget and a wave of relief rushed through her. However, the feeling was short-lived because it was then that Patrick delivered his bombshell.
‘Unfortunately, that is not the end of the work that needs to be done,’ he said slowly. ‘You see, you are not connected to the main water supply here and that is something you should rectify.’
‘But I’ve got water,’ Caitlin said with a frown.
‘That supply comes from a nearby well. You don’t
know how long it will last. Maybe a month…maybe six months…maybe six years…’ Patrick shrugged. ‘It is—how you say?—unreliable. You need to get connected to the mains.’
‘And how much will that cost?’
‘It’s a big job, not one I can do,’ Patrick said firmly. ‘There is a lot of land here needing brand-new pipes. My cousin had a similar problem last year.’
‘And how much did he pay to rectify the situation?’
Patrick shrugged and then went on to name a sum of money that, on top of all the other work that needed doing, sent her budget wildly in excess of anything she could afford.
As the sun started to fade and Caitlin got ready for her evening with Ray, she was still reeling from Patrick’s assessment. If the water ran out she would be beaten here before she had even started. But if she fixed the water first she wouldn’t be able to afford the structural work on the house. It was a catch-22 situation and a depressing thought. However, as she washed her hair in cold water and boiled pans of water in order to have the shallowest of baths she tried to convince herself that everything would be okay. Maybe the water would last six years. After all that rain the other day maybe sixteen years! Patrick wasn’t an expert on the subject; he had admitted that, so she would look on the bright side.
Trying to forget about her financial problems, Caitlin stepped into her black dress and peered at her reflection in the small vanity mirror. The last time she had worn this dress had been to a cocktail party for David’s work. Back then it had been a snug fit over her hips; now it seemed to hang a little loose. However, in the soft glow of candlelight she looked presentable. The cold water seemed to have given her hair a luxuriant shine and her skin had a soft honey glow from two days of sunshine. But would she pass scrutiny under the blaze of electric light at Ray’s residence? Caitlin felt a flutter of butterflies. Then, annoyed with herself, she stepped away from the mirror and picked up her bag. It didn’t matter what she looked like; she wasn’t trying to impress Ray, and this wasn’t a date.