Page 115 of The Village Inn of Secret Dream

‘Whatever’s the matter?’ he asked, aghast. ‘I heard you rush out and there’s broken bottles of champagne in the hallway.’

He stepped forward to take her into his arms, but she glared at him.

‘Don’t you dare touch me,’ she hissed.

He stopped short and stared at her, aghast. ‘Belle? What is it? What’s happened?’

‘I heard you.’

He looked puzzled. ‘Heard what?’

‘Your little jig is up!’ she carried on. ‘Hoping to make a secret deal, were you? I’m such an idiot!’

She was so angry. Angry with Pete and angry with herself too for believing that he cared for her and the inn.

‘Secret deal?’ he said. ‘What are you talking about?’

‘I thought you’d discovered something about yourself here,’ she said. ‘I thought you liked it here.’ Her voice caught as she tried to control her emotions. ‘With me.’

He took a step forward. ‘I do,’ he said urgently.

But she wasn’t listening to him. ‘I thought you’d changed, but it was all about the bottom line, wasn’t it? That’s all it’s ever been. About the bloody profit!’

‘You need to listen to me,’ he told her.

But she shook her head. ‘You lied to me! You led me to believe in something. In you. In us. And now this! I knew it. I knew I couldn’t trust you.’

She couldn’t speak any more, her throat was too full of tears and she sank down onto a nearby bench and sobbed.

‘Don’t cry,’ he told her, rushing over to sit next to her. ‘I hate it when you cry.’

She tried to shuffle away from him, but there was nowhere to go. He put his arms around her and wouldn’t let her move away.

‘Yes, I received an offer on the inn,’ he told her. ‘Somebody has just offered me very good money to buy it, in fact.’

‘I heard,’ she muttered.

‘But I said no.’

She sniffed, wiping the tears away with the back of her hand. ‘I don’t believe you.’

‘I told him that it was a family business and I intend to make sure it remains so,’ said Pete.

‘Family?’ She was confused.

He took her chin gently in his fingers and lifted her face so that she could see into his eyes. ‘Well, we haven’t exactly got as far as discussing kids yet,’ he said with a soft smile. ‘But yeah, I was hoping that we could grow old here and have half a dozen children.’

Belle was shocked. ‘I don’t understand,’ she said, staring at him blinking rapidly. ‘I thought it was all about business.’

He smiled gently at her and shook his head. ‘No. It’s love.’

She stared at him, the tears still wet on her eyelashes. ‘Love?’

‘You asked me once why I never came home,’ he said. ‘It’s because I knew that if I saw you just one more time, I’d fall in love with you all over again.’

She caught her breath. ‘All over again?’

‘I fell in love with you the first time I saw you,’ he told her. ‘I had such a crush on you, but you were all hurt and wounded and I couldn’t get near you. So I figured being able to see you every day as a friend was the next best thing.’