Page 83 of A Sky Painted Gold

“Now, tell me,” I demand. My head is reeling, and while I couldn’t be much happier about my current situation, I have absolutely no idea how it has come to pass.

“I came to see you,” he says simply. “I tried to stay away, but I couldn’t. I drove down to Cornwall in the rain like a madman and I was headed for the farm when I saw the smoke coming from the chimney here. It wasn’t hard to guess who had broken in.”

“Why were you trying to stay away?” I ask, frowning.

Robert rubs his fingers across my forehead, smoothing the frown away. “Well, for starters, I was sort of under the impression that you were in love with Charlie,” he says.

“What?!” I pull away to get a better look at him.

He nods. “I see now that I had that part wrong.”

“Of course you had that wrong,” I say. “What on earth were you thinking?”

“Well, to be fair, you did rather throw yourself at me and call me by his name,” Robert says mildly.

I blush crimson. “Well, that is not really the whole story…”

“And when I tried to talk to you about it, you said that you had no idea it was me. A thought that, by the way, made me feel completely miserable.”

“Did it?” I ask, dazed.

“Yes,” he says. “And you also told me that if you had known it was me then you definitely wouldn’t have kissed me in the first place.” Robert doesn’t look like he enjoys remembering that bit of the conversation.

“Ah,” I say. “I can see how that could look bad.”

“How generous of you to admit,” Robert says.

“But in my defence,” I protest, “I did think you were going to apologize for the kiss and tell me that it was a mistake, so I just got in first.”

“I see,” Robert says indulgently. “Very sensible.”

“I thought so at the time,” I huff, needled.

“Mmm.” Robert continues. “And then, you know, Caitlin was always going on about you and Charlie, and when she announced her engagement you seemed so upset … so you see, until about ten minutes ago I had no idea that you were pining for me.”

“I wasn’t pining for you,” I exclaim, trying to recover some sense of dignity.

“Well, I was pining for you,” Robert says.

“Were you?” I ask. “Really?”

“Yes.” He nods. “And for much longer than you were pining for me, I think. I was planning to come here and throw myself at your feet and just hope for the best.”

“So, you thought I liked Charlie… Is that why you didn’t tell me when you and Laurie called off the engagement?” I ask, and he nods again.

“That, and another reason,” he says. “And you didn’t correct me on the pining front that time,” he points out.

“No.” I smile. “I didn’t.” There is a pause. “I’m sorry about Laurie,” I say. “I mean, I’m not really sorry, obviously.” I smile up at him. “But I hope it was OK. For both of you.”

“I told you she was kind,” he says, his eyes holding something teasing in them. “And this one I really can’t ever repay her for. You see, she knew that I’d fallen in love with someone else.”

And then he kisses me again, and again, and this time we are on the floor, and this opens up all sorts of interesting possibilities that we are both keen to explore. And as Robert kisses me I feel beautiful and desirable and burning up with love for this handsome, funny, maddening man.

“Oh, Robert!” I say, at one point, breaking away from him. “I’m moving to London.”

“Are you, darling?” he murmurs.

“Yes, in a couple of days,” I say, screwing up my nose. “I have a job and a place to live, and I’m excited about it.”