Sunshine Over Bluebell Castle

by Sarah Bennett

  Turning back towards the lake, Will tried to judge the distance from the water. It was far enough to make him glad he hadn’t been one of the poor sods who’d had to cut and lug great blocks of ice in the dead of winter to fill the ice house in its heyday. The sound of splashing from the water lured him down through the trees towards the bank, and he couldn’t help but smile at the sight before him.

  Hair slicked down her back like a mermaid, Igraine was cutting through the water in strong, confident strokes. No delicate dog-paddling for her, like the way his mum had swum at the local pool when she’d taken him swimming as a kid. He’d always found it odd the way she craned her neck up, trying not to get her hair wet when diving under the water had always been the best bit in his opinion.

  The remains of a wooden jetty stretched out into the lake in front of him, a remnant from the ice-cutting days, he supposed. Though the planks didn’t look too bad, he decided he wouldn’t try his luck with them and instead circled around the bank until he found the spot where the main path through the woods opened up. A pair of boots and socks sitting on a nearby log told him this was the place Igraine had entered the water and he sat down beside them to tug off his trainers and the short liner socks beneath.

  Hands in his pockets he edged into the water, keeping an eye on the sandy bottom beneath his toes. A darker shadow appeared a foot or so in front of him, and he stopped, assuming that was where the bank fell away. He glanced up to see Igraine had spotted him and was moving towards him in a graceful breaststroke that sent ripples across the lake behind her.

  She stopped a little way from him, hands sculling at her sides. ‘What are you doing here?’ There was no censure in her tone, only a curiosity.

  ‘I heard you were skiving off, so I came to find you,’ he teased.

  Laughing, she scooped a handful of water at him before tipping her head back until her hair floated free like dark strands of seaweed. ‘Can you blame me, when the water is so lovely?’

  It wasn’t only the water that was lovely. Her dark vest and shorts clung to her skin, outlining her curves, and as she floated back in the water, he spotted bright flashes of pillar-box red. Igraine had always struck him as the sensible type of woman, and as he watched her scarlet-tipped toes fluttering in the water, it felt like he’d learned a new secret about her. ‘It does look very tempting,’ he said, layering a double meaning into his words.

  Igraine let her body drop back under the water, her hands stirring at her sides the only movement as she studied him for a long moment. It was impossible to tell what she was thinking behind the smooth mask of her features, so when she said, ‘Well, you’d better come in and join me then,’ he all but stumbled back in surprise.

  It didn’t take him long to recover, not when those pretty pink lips of hers spread into a delicious smile of invitation and she kicked her legs to propel herself backwards into the water. Yes, she might have invited him to join her, but he was still going to have to work to catch her. Taking a couple of steps back to give himself room, Will charged forward into the shallow water, raising his hands over his head to dive in as the edge fell away. Her shriek of delight reached his ears before being muffled by the water closing over his head, and when he surfaced it was to find she’d turned and was swimming away from him in that efficient front crawl he’d seen earlier.

  Pausing only to shake the water from his head, Will set off in pursuit. Damn, she was strong. It took all his effort to make any headway, and he began to wish he’d kept up with those youthful swimming lessons. She paused ahead of him to glance back, flashing him a wide grin before she struck off in another direction. Deciding there was no chance of chasing her down, Will bided his time, circling around her to cut off her escape until eventually they were only a few feet from the opposite side of the lake.

  Igraine didn’t notice her error until too late, and he gave her a grin of his own as he watched her head turning left and right, working out she had no more room to manoeuvre. Sucking a breath into his lungs, Will sank beneath the water and waited until he was deep enough his movement wouldn’t give away his position before he swam at right-angles to where he’d last seen Igraine. As he’d expected, she made a final bid for escape, a long lean pale leg flashing in the water before him. Stretching out, he closed his hand around her ankle, dragging her back in the water as he used his other hand to stroke towards her until he could surface with an arm locked around her waist.

  They came up for breath, sputtering and laughing, Igraine twisting in his hold, but not hard enough she had any real chance of breaking free. A patch of her shoulder lay bare between her hair and the thick strap of her vest and he pressed his lips to it, tasting cool water and sunshine on her skin.

  ‘That’s cheating,’ she gasped, her head falling back to rest against his shoulder, giving him better access to the long smooth column of her neck. Taking full advantage, Will shifted his lips from her shoulder to nibble at a point beneath her ear, earning him another one of those delicious gasps. So distracted was he by trying to tempt another such sound from her lips he didn’t pay attention to the way she tangled her legs around his until they were suddenly submerged.

  Spitting out a mouthful of lake water, Will surfaced to find a laughing Igraine several feet away from him. She’d found her way to the shallow edge of the bank and was sitting waist-deep in the water, legs stretched out before her. A handful of water sloshed over his head, scooped up in her cupped palms. ‘You didn’t think I was going to make it that easy for you, did you?’

  Paddling over, he slid onto the sandy bank beside her shuffling closer until their bodies touched from hip to ankle. ‘I’ll admit I had hopes in that direction.’

  She nudged his shoulder. ‘But where would be the fun in that?’

  Will contorted his face into a leer. ‘Come sit in my lap and I’ll show you how much fun it would be.’

  Another handful of water hit him square in the face. ‘In your dreams.’

  ‘Every night, sweetheart. Every damn night.’

  Her breath caught, a little huff of sound that sent fire shooting through him in spite of the cool water surrounding his lower body. ‘Melody …’

  Will cocked his head to the side, but she was staring straight out over the lake, refusing to meet his gaze. There was a tension in her body, a need he could tell for one final reassurance that she could trust him. ‘Means nothing to me; has never been anything to me, I swear it.’

  There was a long silence before she finally gave a quick, sharp nod. ‘Okay then.’

  Not the most romantic of declarations, it had to be said. ‘Okay then?’ he repeated, unable to keep the amusement from his voice.

  ‘Yes,’ she said, swinging one leg over his hips to straddle his lap, her arms coming up to encircle his neck. ‘As of now, you and I are officially seeing each other. No secrets, no skulking around and hiding in dark corners because Lord knows it was embarrassing enough watching Arthur and Lucie trying to pretend there was nothing going on between them.’ She cupped his cheek then, her thumb feathering along the scar.

  He held his breath, waiting for her to flinch away like so many other women had before, but her touch was a tender caress, as though she was trying to soothe away the long-forgotten pain of his injury. It broke something open inside him, laid bare a vulnerability, a need for total acceptance he hadn’t been aware of. It was too much, and yet he craved it like a man starved. Not wanting her to sense how deeply affected he was by her touch, he curled his arm around her waist and hitched their bodies closer. ‘I quite enjoyed skulking around in a dark corner with you.’

  She laughed. ‘Me too, but think how much more fun we can have somewhere comfortable.’

  ‘Good point.’ He claimed her lips in a hot, sweet kiss. ‘A very good point, in fact, and I think we should retire to somewhere comfortable right this minute.’ He locked his hands on her hips, ready to carry her off there and then.

  She rocked down on him, and suddenly he decided that sitting waist dee
p in the lake was the most comfortable place on earth. ‘There’s no rush, is there? We’ve got the whole summer to enjoy ourselves. Just relax and see where the moment takes us.’

  He knew where he hoped it would take them, but for all the sensuality in her movements, he could still sense the reticence in her. She might have lowered the drawbridge to grant him access, but there would still be a lot of defences to overcome before she’d let him near her heart. Right now, he’d take what he could get and, as she’d said, they would see where the moment took them. ‘It’s quite hard to relax when I’ve got my arms full of the most delicious woman in the world, but I’ll do my best.’

  *

  They spent another hour or so in the lake, making out like teenagers between bouts of playing in the water. When they finally made their way back to the other side where they’d left their shoes, Igraine was visibly shivering and Will couldn’t feel his toes properly. His trainers would be fine without socks on, so he used his to dry Igraine’s feet as best as he could before she tugged on her thick socks and boots. He waited whilst she wrapped the thick length of her hair around a fist and twisted to wring the worst of the water from it before looping it into a simple knot. The sun had moved far enough around, there was no need any longer for her hat, so she carried it in one hand, the fingers of the other tangling in his hands as they strolled back through the woods towards the castle.

  They didn’t say much, which was fine by Will as he had plenty to think about. It was all very well for her to declare they wouldn’t hide the fact they were together from her family, but he wasn’t sure how welcome the shift in their relationship would be-particularly with her brothers. There’d be a conversation or two to be had with them, his instincts told him that, and he needed to be prepared for it. Well, he had nothing to hide as far as Igraine was concerned so they could bring it on.

  Reaching the edge of the woods, Igraine tugged at his hand to bring them to a stop. She stared up at him, a hint of determination in her eyes. ‘If Arthur or Tristan say anything to you, tell them to mind their own bloody business.’

  He couldn’t help but chuckle; clearly they’d been on the same wavelength. ‘I can handle your brothers.’ Unable to resist the sweet lure of her, he encircled her waist and drew her up against him, ignoring the clinging wetness of their clothing. ‘I’d much rather be handling you.’

  It was a corny line, but it earned him a giggle and a flurry of kisses which quickly turned into something deeper. Fighting the urge to press her up against the nearest tree, Will clenched a fist in the back of her vest and eased her reluctantly away. Panting, he rested his forehead against hers. ‘Come to me tonight,’ he urged, knowing it was too soon, but unable to ignore the painful ache in his body.

  Her fingers curled into his shoulders, flexing and releasing like a cat kneading him with her claws. ‘I’ll think about it.’

  Closing his eyes, he pressed a brief kiss to her temple. ‘Think very hard about it.’

  Her cheek rubbed against his, as she nodded in agreement. ‘I will. I …’ She trailed off, and he forced himself to stand still and be patient while she sorted through whatever was going on in her head. ‘… I need a little time.’ She glanced up at him through her thick lashes. ‘If that’s okay?’

  ‘Of course,’ he answered at once. For all the desire thrumming through his veins, he never ever wanted her to feel pressured into anything. ‘Don’t ever be afraid to tell me to back off.’

  Fisting her hands in his shirt, she dragged him down for a hot kiss then gave him a little shove. ‘Back off.’ Turning she flounced along the path a few steps before turning to grin at him over her shoulder. ‘Just don’t go too far, okay?’

  She held out her hand to him and he jogged to catch up, taking her hand once more in his own. He liked how she fit there, like all the other ways they fit together, like all the ways they would fit together some night soon. ‘I’m not going anywhere.’

  *

  Other than a few raised eyebrows, and a knowing smirk from Igraine’s uncle, their entrance into the dining room hand-in-hand later that evening provoked little response. Lucie’s mother had arrived at some point whilst he and Igraine had been playing in the lake, which served as a good distraction. Will couldn’t help but notice the way Lancelot’s eyes strayed to Constance every few moments, nor the way she lit up when speaking to him and surmised he wasn’t the only one with romance on his mind.

  The conversation turned towards plans for Arthur and Lucie’s wedding. ‘The announcement will be in the paper on Monday,’ Arthur said. ‘So, we really ought to give some thought to nailing down a date.’ He glanced across the table towards Lucie. ‘Are you sure you want to go ahead with it this summer? We can wait until things are less chaotic around here, if you’d prefer?’

  She shook her head. ‘Let’s get on with. I’ll be too distracted with preparing the exhibition to start panicking over flowers and table decorations.’

  Not looking convinced, Arthur turned his attention towards Will. ‘It’s down to you then.’

  ‘Me?’

  ‘Yes. Are you sure you can stick to the timetable you included with the quote you emailed earlier?’

  The initial flutter of panic over how he was suddenly responsible for a wedding quickly faded. ‘I’ll have to get final confirmation from my contractors once you give me the go ahead, but assuming we can get cracking next week, then I’m going to say we can have it all finished by the middle of August.’

  ‘That’s cutting it fine.’ Igraine was frowning beside him. ‘We’d only have two weeks before the summer fete. If you wanted to host the wedding there, it’d have to be the weekend before the bank holiday which wouldn’t give us much time to prepare.’

  Will reached for her hand. ‘I’ve built in a week of testing and trouble-shooting for the fountains within the timescale I quoted. There won’t be any works going on in the field area itself so we can get the demarcation ropes installed and whatever marquees and tents you decide on pitched during that same week.’

  He turned to Arthur. ‘Depending on how big you want the wedding to be, we could repurpose the marquee for the fete. It wouldn’t take the hire company long to strip out the wedding fixtures and fittings.’

  ‘The one we had for my birthday party worked very well, I thought,’ Morgana chipped in. ‘I think you’d want something similar for the wedding and it would be big enough to site the smaller stall holders you’re hoping to attract.’

  Lucie nodded. ‘The website is going live next week as well, so we should get an idea of numbers of vendors who want to take part in the fete in plenty of time to plot out the final layout.’ She tapped her lip. ‘The only thing I’m not sure about is how the catering would work when we’re so far away from the castle.’

  Tristan leaned forward. ‘You can hire some pretty sophisticated set-ups these days. As long as there’s a water and power source to connect to.’ He turned to Will. ‘Can we sit down with your contractors and work that out?’

  It should’ve occurred to him before that they’d need to supply the site for more than just the water garden. ‘Of course. Why don’t you and I go down there first thing and survey it out?’

  ‘Perfect.’ Tristan sent Lucie a teasing grin. ‘If you fancy something a bit out of left field for the reception, we could get some high-end mobile catering vans in rather than bother with a full kitchen set up.’

  Arthur scoffed. ‘High-end and catering vans don’t exactly go together. We’re not having our guests eat off the back of a burger van.’

  ‘Think about it for a minute. I’m not talking about burgers, or fish and chips-well, not exactly. I was thinking more along the lines of someone who could do a hog roast, or a carvery. You’re probably not going to want a load of hot food, so something like that with a decent cold buffet to support it would be ideal.’

  ‘And you could get a Mr Whippy van in rather than bothering with desserts.’ Will was joking, mostly, but the talk of catering vans had conjured up
memories of the excitement around his estate when the chimes of an ice cream van had sent him and all the other kids flooding into the streets clutching a pound coin.

  ‘What a fantastic idea!’ Lucie grinned at Arthur. ‘What do you say?’

  ‘It’d certainly be different …’

  ‘Well, I for one think it’s a capital idea,’ Morgana declared, as though that settled the matter. ‘Now, if everyone has finished their main courses, I’d quite like some cheese.’

  ‘Oh, we’ll need a cheese board for the wedding, most definitely,’ Arthur said, and the conversation about the catering went around again as Maxwell entered the room and cleared away their plates.

  Deciding he’d caused enough mischief, Will let the talk drift over his head and turned towards Igraine beside him. She had that funny half-happy, half-sad look on her face once again. ‘Everything all right?’ he asked, leaning close enough to speak at a volume only she would hear.

  Meeting his eyes, she quirked her mouth in a little smile. ‘Yes, fine. I’m just going to miss all this after the summer.’

  Not understanding, he frowned at her. ‘What are you talking about?’

  She blinked sharply, then sat up straight. ‘Oh, nothing. Never mind me.’ Maxwell approached then and she turned from Will to pass the butler her plate, entering into a discussion with him about what she might want for dessert.