Alec isn’t Willoughby, though, she told herself as she got back into bed. You’re just being paranoid.
But he’s flirting with both you and Mia!
Yes. No matter which way she looked at it, she couldn’t get around that. She wasn’t imagining it.
But perhaps that’s just his affable personality, and he doesn’t mean any harm in it. He’s just naturally friendly.
Sarah shook her head. Why didn’t she believe that?
Closing her eyes, she imagined herself back on Dartmoor with the wind in her hair and the realization dawning on her that she was in love with this man. It was all so ridiculous. How could she possibly be in love with him, when she’d known him such a short time? She was behaving like Mia—worse than Mia, because this went against the very grain of her being. She was a rational woman who was always in control of her life.
But you’re not in control now, are you?
Sarah sat up and thumped her pillow. Why couldn’t love be rational like everything else? What right did it have to bulldoze through your reasoning and leave you spinning?
She opened her eyes and stared up at the ceiling, knowing that falling in love wasn’t the real issue here; it was the fact that Mia was so obviously falling in love as well.
And what are you going to do about that?
It was an impossible situation. Two sisters in love with the same man. How on earth could that have happened?
With so many questions whirling around her head, Sarah didn’t manage to get to sleep until after three in the morning. After an appalling nightmare in which both she and Mia were chasing Alec across the tors of Dartmoor, she slept soundly, not waking until nine o’clock, which was horribly late for her, and she spent the rest of the morning trying to catch up with herself.
She was just about to take a book out into the garden when there was a knock on the door. Sarah froze, knowing that it could be only one person. What should she do? Ignore it and hide in the depths of the house?
There was a second knock and then a voice.
‘Sarah? It’s Alec. I need to talk to you.’
She swallowed. She really didn’t want to talk to him. She wanted to banish him from her mind and move on, but it was clear she wasn’t going to be able to do that until they left Barton Cottage.
‘Come on!’ he called through the door, knocking again. ‘Let me talk to you.’
She could ignore him no longer, realizing that it would just be postponing the inevitable.
Opening the door, she stared at Alec. ‘What do you want?’
‘That’s not very friendly,’ he said, his eyes twinkling mischievously.
‘Mia’s out. At least I think she’s out. Her trainers have gone, anyway. You’re very good at timing it for when Mia’s out jogging.’
‘I saw her go up the lane. I hid behind a tree so she wouldn’t see me.’
Sarah gasped at his subterfuge.
‘Well, you know what she’s like. She’d be linking arms with me and marching me off for the whole of the day, and I wouldn’t be able to get to see you.’
‘But you’re meant to be her friend, not mine,’ Sarah said.
‘Who says?’
‘I do. Mia’s the one you met first.’
Alec let out a loud laugh. ‘I’m not for sale to the first person who claps eyes on me! I think I should have a say in this, don’t you?’
‘But I’m busy,’ she said, not sounding very convincing, even to her own ears.
‘So I see,’ Alec said, nodding to the paperback in her hand. ‘A busy day of immersing yourself in fiction. You couldn’t possibly squeeze in a quick conversation with a real person.’
‘That’s right,’ Sarah said. ‘I’m on holiday, and I can do precisely what I want.’ She retreated into the house and shut the door in his face. Her heartbeat was racing wildly. She wasn’t used to being so rude, but it had seemed the only thing to do.
‘Sarah?’ he called through the door, banging on it with his hand. ‘Sarah!’
She stood perfectly still for a moment. She couldn’t go in either of the front rooms, because the curtains were open, and he would see her.
Stay calm. If you ignore him, he will leave.
The next thing she heard told her that he had no intention of leaving.
‘Alec?’ She walked through to the sitting room, and her eyes widened in surprise at the sight that greeted her. Alec had taken full advantage of the window Sarah had opened earlier that morning and was in the process of climbing through it.
‘What are you doing?’ she screamed.
‘What does it look like?’
Sarah flapped her hands as Alec pushed his body through the window frame and came tumbling down onto one of the sofas.
‘You impossible man!’ she cried, but then she laughed at the sight of him crumpled in an ungainly heap among the cushions.
Alec laughed too as he pushed himself back into a shape that vaguely resembled a man. ‘I’m nothing if not resourceful,’ he said, running a hand through his disheveled hair.
‘You should have just knocked again,’ Sarah said.
‘You mean you would have opened the door?’
‘No,’ she said.
Alec frowned at her. ‘Looks like I had no choice if I wanted to talk to you.’ He smiled at her, and it was such a heart-melting sort of a smile that Sarah couldn’t remain angry with him. He was like a naughty puppy that would completely wreck a room but then sit in the middle of it looking totally adorable and beyond reproach.
‘Won’t you listen to me?’ he asked her, his eyes pleading.
‘I don’t know what you can possibly have to say to me.’
‘I just want to get a few things straight.’
Sarah sighed and sat down opposite him. She was still holding her book, her fingers tightened around it anxiously, as if she were holding onto a lifebelt.
‘Before you begin,’ she said, ‘I want to say that I don’t like what you’re up to.’
Alec frowned. ‘What exactly am I up to?’
‘If this is some weird kind of seduction game of yours, it won’t work—not this time.’
‘Sarah, I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
She shook her head. ‘I know what you’re up to. You’re playing me off against my sister, aren’t you? Is that how you get your thrills? Have you done this sort of thing before?’
‘No!’ he said in protest. ‘You’ve got me all wrong.’
‘Have I?’
‘Yes,’ he said, leaning forward, his eyes beseeching her.
‘I’m not worried for myself, you understand, but when somebody messes around with my sister—’
‘I’m not messing around with Mia.’
Sarah’s eyes narrowed at him. ‘Because if you try to trick her—’
‘I have never tried to trick your sister,’ he interrupted again.
‘You promise?’
‘I promise. But I can’t be held responsible if she flings herself at me.’
Sarah shook her head. ‘You must understand this about her: she’s young and she’s recklessly passionate, and it would be wrong to take advantage of that. You do understand me, don’t you?’
‘Yes, I do,’ he said, and he was suddenly on his feet crossing the room toward her. He knelt down in front of her and took her hands in his. The book she had been holding fell to the floor.
‘Leave it,’ Alec said when she made to retrieve it. ‘Listen to me. You can’t just shut yourself off from this, Sarah. I know how you feel about me.’
‘How do you know? I haven’t told you how I feel at all.’
‘You don’t need to. I can see it in your eyes.’
‘That’s rubbish,’ she said, instantly lowering her gaze.
‘No, it isn’t. Why do you keep running away from this? What’s so wrong about it?’
‘It’s wrong because of Mia.’
Alec sighed. ‘Can we just stop thinking about Mia for one second?’
‘No,
’ Sarah said.
‘If Mia didn’t exist—’
‘But she does exist,’ Sarah said in her matter-of-fact way.
‘If it were just you and me here, are you telling me I still wouldn’t stand a chance with you?’
‘There’s no point talking like this.’
‘No, you’re right,’ he said, his hands reaching up to cup her face. ‘No point in talking at all.’
Sarah gasped at his touch and didn’t move when he lowered his lips to hers and kissed her. A few brief moments of bliss followed, but then Sarah broke away. ‘I can’t do this,’ she said. ‘It’s so wrong.’
‘But it isn’t. Can’t you feel it? This feels right.’
Sarah closed her eyes and he kissed her again, and there was no denying that it felt wonderful, but that didn’t make it right, did it? Wonderful things weren’t necessarily good for one. Sitting in the sun for hours felt good, but it was likely to leave one with horrible sunburn. Eating a whole tub of chocolate ice cream felt good, but that wasn’t good for you either.
‘Sarah, admit it. This is meant to be. You know it is.’
She shook her head. ‘I… I have to think about this,’ she said.
There was the sound of a key scraping in the door. The two of them sprung apart just in time, as Mia ran into the hallway. Her face was flushed from her jog, but Sarah suspected that it wasn’t nearly as red as her own face.
Sarah waited for realization to dawn on Mia, feeling quite sure that it would, but it didn’t. Mia merely looked from one to the other with an innocent smile on her face when she saw Alec.
‘Were you waiting for me?’ she asked.
‘Yes,’ Sarah said. ‘Of course he was.’
Chapter 27
What is it?’ Shelley said, her mouth half stuffed with scone. Mia didn’t respond, but her face had drained of all color, and she was staring into the middle distance as if she’d seen a monster there. Shelley followed her gaze, and her eyes settled on a tall, dark-haired man who was staring right back at Mia.
‘Mia?’ Shelley tried again, grabbing her friend’s hand and squeezing it. At first, Mia didn’t seem to respond. There was a brief flicker of something in her eyes, but it passed quickly. She merely got up, slowly and calmly, and walked through the maze of tables and chairs where people were enjoying their afternoon tea.
Shelley watched, spellbound. What was Mia doing? Who was the man?
‘Alec?’ she whispered to herself. Was this the mysterious Alec Mia refused to talk about? He was certainly handsome, with his dark hair and intense gray eyes, but what was he doing here in Bath?
A few words were exchanged, but Shelley couldn’t hear them above the mutterings of the tea crowd. What was being said? It didn’t really matter, because of what happened next.
It was as if everything were in slow motion. Shelley watched as Mia’s hand rose in the air and slapped the dark-haired man across his cheek. The sound seemed to echo around the Pump Room, and teacups clattered in saucers and the pianist stopped playing. Shelley almost choked on her scone and was on her feet in an instant, as if ready to spring to her friend’s defense, but there was no need, and she watched as Mia pushed her way through the sea of tables back toward Shelley.
‘Are you okay?’ Shelley asked.
Mia sat down, but then stood straight back up again. Her eyes looked glazed and she seemed to be twitching with restlessness.
‘Mia, talk to me for goodness sake! Who’s that man? Is it Alec?’
Mia didn’t respond.
Shelley looked back toward the dark-haired man. ‘He’s coming over,’ she said.
There were a few gasps from the tea crowd as the man pushed his way urgently through the tables and chairs.
‘Stay away from me, Alec!’ Mia cried.
So it was Alec, Shelley thought.
‘I just want to talk,’ Alec said.
‘Well, I don’t want to talk to you!’
‘I came all this way, Mia. Please, just listen to me.’
‘Get your hands off me!’
One of the waistcoated waiters sidled over to their table. ‘I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to ask you to leave,’ he said, his tone polite but firm.
Shelley’s mouth dropped open in surprise, and she realized that the whole of the Pump Room was watching them.
‘But we haven’t finished our tea yet,’ Shelley said.
‘If madam would accompany me.’
Shelley couldn’t remember having ever been called madam in her life. She tried to catch Mia’s eye, but she was still arguing with Alec as a second waiter did his best to escort them out of the Pump Room.
‘My scone!’ Shelley suddenly said, doubling back to pick up the scone loaded with jam and cream. There was no way she was going to pay for something she hadn’t finished.
By the time she was outside, Mia had vanished into the crowds and Alec was nowhere to be seen either. Where had they gone? Shelley sighed. This isn’t what she’d expected when they went for tea in the Pump Room.
***
Mia ran through the streets of Bath, tears blinding her vision. What was Alec doing in Bath, and why had he sought her out?
She looked back over her shoulder and saw him running after her. He was gaining on her.
‘Mia!’ he cried. She could hear the anguish in his voice, but she didn’t stop running.
I have to get away from him, but where? It was hard to run in a nineteenth-century costume, and she wasn’t sure how long she could keep it up. She thought about diving into a shop, but then she would be cornered. An idea occurred to her. The Jane Austen Centre. She could hide in the ladies room there. It was tucked away downstairs and might be the perfect hiding place. Even if he found it, he wouldn’t dare follow her in, would he?
Mia picked up her pace as much as she could in her long dress and turned the corner at the end of the road that led to the Jane Austen Centre. If she was quick enough, she could make it inside before he saw where she’d gone.
Charging past a Regency-clad gentleman standing in the doorway, she dashed through the hallway, ignored the shop for the first time in her life, and charged down the stairs to the toilets, thanking her lucky stars that they were empty, because her face was streaming with tears.
She pulled a tissue out of her handbag and did her best to mop up her face. It was then that she saw the portrait of Mr Darcy on the opposite wall. It was a representation of Colin Firth in his famous role and was from one of the most romantic scenes from the 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, the moment where Darcy is watching Elizabeth at the piano and a look of total love fills his face.
Mia gazed at it for a moment. ‘Oh, Colin!’ she cried. ‘What am I going to do?’
Chapter 28
Barton Cottage
Don’t forget your DVD,’ Mia said to Sarah from the hallway. ‘It’s still inside the machine.’
‘Of course it’s not still inside the machine. I took it out last night,’ Sarah said, wondering why Mia still perversely thought that a person with OCD could possibly forget anything. She walked through to the hallway and saw Mia standing in the open doorway, looking out across the lawn to the estuary. It was a perfect May morning. A blackbird’s rich song could be heard from the hedge and a light breeze carried the sweet scent of spring.
‘I don’t want to go,’ Mia said as Sarah joined her.
‘I’m afraid we have to.’
‘Do we? Can’t we hide away somewhere on the estate? There are acres and acres. I’m sure we wouldn’t be discovered for weeks.’
‘What, pitch a tent in the wood somewhere?’ Sarah said.
‘Why not?’
Sarah laughed, quite sure that Mia was crazy enough to do such a thing.
‘Maybe we can come back again,’ Mia said.
Sarah nodded.
Half an hour later, the car was packed and Sarah had vacuumed, dusted, and cleaned every surface in the house, even though she didn’t need to. Mia had stopped telling her off for su
ch things, having experienced enough holidays with her in the past to know that Sarah couldn’t leave a place without making sure it was spick-and-span.
Finally, it was time to leave.
‘Wonderful holidays are always laced with sadness, because one knows that they can’t last forever,’ Mia said as they closed the door of Barton Cottage for the last time.
‘That’s very poetic,’ Sarah said.
Mia sighed. ‘It is a bargain we make when we book them. We expect perfection, relaxation, beauty, and inspiration. Only then will we be content to go back to our humdrum lives.’
‘Oh, dear,’ Sarah said, ‘that does sound depressing.’
Mia’s face did, indeed, look a little longer than usual. Her eyes weren’t quite as sparkly as normal, and her pretty mouth was down-turned as she looked along the path by the estuary.
Suddenly her whole face lit up, and Sarah knew why, without even looking. Alec was there.
‘Good morning!’ he called up from the path as he picked up speed to join them at the garden gate.
‘I thought we’d missed you,’ Mia said, running to greet him and flinging her arms around him.
‘You didn’t think I’d let you go without saying good-bye, did you?’
‘Of course not,’ Mia said. ‘But you nearly missed us!’
‘I can’t believe you’re going. You’ve only just arrived,’ he said, directing the statement at Sarah.
She nodded and looked away.
‘I can’t believe you’ve got another whole week here,’ Mia said. ‘I’m sure there must be room for me in your cottage.’ From the tone of her voice, she was joking, but Sarah knew that she was hoping for a last-minute reprieve so that she could stay with Alec.
Alec laughed lightly but didn’t offer to let her stay.
‘We’d better get going,’ Sarah said.
‘Then I’d better say good-bye properly,’ Alec said. Mia immediately launched herself into his arms and kissed him passionately on the mouth.
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