by Alyssia Leon
* * *
Stifling a yawn, Molly nestled back into the warm passenger seat of the four-by-four as Jake steered the vehicle up a smooth road that gently wound up the mountainside. She slipped off the uncomfortable heels and spread and flexed her aching toes, relishing the cool air on her throbbing feet. He hadn’t said anything more to her since they left the hotel, and though her mind swirled with all the things she wanted to say, she dared not voice any into the frosty atmosphere between them, so she kept her gaze resolutely fixed outside the window.
The twinkling lights she’d seen in the distance when she’d first entered the confines of Chateau Blanc revealed themselves to be huge imposing chalets, nestled into the mountain-side, each a marvellous structure of wood and glass, and several all lit up and glowing. They were dotted across the area, well spaced out from each other. Billionaires obviously weren’t keen on cozying up to the neighbours. One they passed had waving blue spotlights shooting up from its hidden garden, weaving neon spirals in the night sky. Images of bubbling champagne and beautiful women in skimpy bikinis filled her mind at the sight of a luxury-car dealership’s worth of four-by-fours and sports cars parked out front. She fiddled with the hem of her dress. Did Jake have pool parties here? Isn’t that what rich people did?
She shot a covert glance in his direction. The lights of the chalets outlined his grim profile as he stared out at the paper-smooth road before them with more attention than it needed. He radiated tightly leashed fury, and she could only dread what he must be thinking of her. She stared out the window again. Whatever he thought of her, she was all right with it. She had to be. She’d got what she’d wanted. She’d seen him again. The tears that were too close for comfort welled up again and she quickly blinked them away, silently gathering his jacket around her and clutching it tight.
Just then he turned the four-by-four off the road and she goggled up at the chalet that rose before them. It stood, nestled in a mini forest of pine trees, three floors high with towering walls of glass divided by rugged wooden beams. Wide balconies ran the width of each floor, their handholds highlighted with strips of gold lighting that matched the lights shining down from the broad angled roof.
The four-by-four pulled on to a stone-paved driveway beneath the chalet, where tall gleaming steel pots each containing a perfect ball of evergreen bush lined either side like stern sentries on guard.
Jake stopped the vehicle and got out, and she fumbled at her seatbelt with trembling fingers. He came around her side and pulled the door open, then reaching an impatient hand across her lap, clicked the catch loose, freeing her from the belt. She pressed back into her seat, careful not to let any part of her come into contact with his arm.
Straightening, he jerked his head towards the chalet. “Come on.”
The thought of jamming her swollen feet back into the killer heels made her shudder and she stepped bare foot out of the high vehicle with one hand clutching his jacket around her. The soles of her feet first met the cold ridged metal of the footrest and then the cool smoothness of the grey stones.
He growled in irritation, his frowning gaze on her red feet where the skin on the heels was already bubbling up into fat juicy blisters. Shuffling her feet in a futile attempt to hide them from him, she quickly reached back into the vehicle to grab her shoes. But before her hand could close over them, he caught her up and swung her high into his arms.
She gasped. “I can walk!” And wriggled against him, her hands braced against his shoulders.
“Be still!”
She subsided, and clasping her close, he strode towards the sliding glass doors of the chalet where a grey-haired man in a black uniform was waiting. Jake snapped something in French and with a nod, the man hurried away. Jake strode on, up a short flight of steps and into a long room with light wood floors, grey stone walls, and an entire side of curving glass window. A welcoming fire roared in a giant fireplace at the far end of the room, and he deposited her on to a large white couch in front of it. It could have easily served two people as a bed.
Kneeling down on the wide sheepskin rug in front of the couch, he took both her feet in his hands and gently examined them.
She stared at his bent head, remembering the last time he’d done something similar, and a rush of sorrow pulled at her heart. That time he’d cared, maybe. Now she was nothing more than an increasingly unwanted irritation.
“They’ll be fine,” she mumbled, pulling her feet out of his hands.
“Like hell they will!” His hard gaze skewered her. “What possessed you to put on this ridiculous show? Were you so desperate—”
Thankfully he was cut off by the grey-haired man reappearing with a basin of steaming water. She sat wide-eyed and stiff, struggling to regain her composure as the man placed the basin by her feet, along with a white fluffy towel. Jake thanked him, adding something else that had the man nodding and rushing off again.
Jake moved the basin closer to her feet. “Put them in here.”
Without protest, she lowered both feet into the water, curling her toes as the soothing warmth washed over her wounded skin. He reached into the water with both hands and ever so gently stroked her feet.
She couldn’t bear it. “Please don’t,” she whispered, reaching down with one hand to grasp his, stilling its movement on her skin. Their eyes met, and she glimpsed a bleakness in his before hardness shuttered over them. Drying his hands, he got to his feet and went to stand by the fire with his back to her, his hands thrust deep into his trouser pockets.
She stared at his broad back. Maybe she should demand he take her to the airport, anything so she didn’t have to stay here and torture herself, but the words refused to form on her tongue.
“Why are you really here, Molly?” He turned back to her, his expression unreadable.
She swallowed. What to say? That she’d wanted to see him just once more? That she loved him? She’d promised him in Barrowdene she’d never shackle him with her declaration of love, and she wasn’t going to do so now. The pity in his eyes would kill her.
She glanced down at her feet, seeking time to pull together a calm she didn’t feel, and lifting them out of the water, rested them on the soft rug, letting the warmth of the fire dry them.
Coming here had been a mistake. Her only hope was he’d let her leave and soon.
“I told you. It was to return the papers.” She straightened on the couch, still clutching his jacket to her despite the warmth of the room.
“Barrowdene wasn’t charity. You’re the best person to look after it.”
That wasn’t the impression he’d given earlier. “I can’t believe that, Jake. Besides, I’m not living in Appleby anymore. I have a new life now.”
“With whom?” he snarled, pulling his hands from his pockets and clenching them into fists at his side.
Shock almost had Martin’s name slipping from her tongue, and her fingers tightened on the jacket’s lapels. “Why does it matter?”
“Is it Brian Wilkins?”
Her cheeks heated and she stared at him, fuming. How dare he? He’d been all set to make a night with Elka if she hadn’t come along, and here he was blasting her about Brian.
“Answer me!”
Her silence obviously infuriated him. “It’s not your business!” She shot to her feet. “I can do anything, with anyone, and you don’t get to have a say in it.” Whipping the jacket from her shoulders, she held it out to him. “Call me a taxi, Jake. There’s nothing more for us to discuss, and my plane leaves soon.”
In a couple of strides he was before her, and grabbing the jacket, he hurled it over the back of the couch. “What if I want to make it my business?”
“God! Why?” She glared up at him as he loomed over her. “Why are you so determined to put me through this misery?”
He flinched back as if she’d slapped him. “Because I’ve been here before, and I won’t suffer it again.” He turned back to the fire, his shoulders rising and falling with his deep steadying
breaths. “Sienna would do this to me. She’d come running back after leaving me for the next guy who was going to give her the world on a golden plate.”
Molly stood rigid. He hadn’t asked if she knew who Sienna was. He didn’t need to. Everyone knew. She was the one woman he’d truly loved. A love Molly hadn’t been able to compete with.
“And you took her back.” Her quiet words weren’t an accusation, merely matter of fact.
He turned back to her, his eyes hooded. “Every time.”
She nodded, blinking back the tears that rose. What had she expected?
“Except the one time.” His face expressionless, he watched her. “She found the one man who was ready to deliver on his promise, only his price turned out to be too high. He’d wrung her dry and threw her out before she knew what was happening. She died running to me again.”
If he felt any pain, he kept it well hidden, but she sensed the regret in his words. If Sienna had lived, he would have taken her back.
Molly drew herself straight. If only he’d held even a pinch of that love for her, but she refused to let her agony show as weakness, and pride laced her words. “I only came here to return Barrowdene, Jake. I’m not running after you.”
“You, who hardly ever stepped out of Appleby in her life. Why would you suddenly fly across countries to return a piece of paper?”
“Because…” The truth trembled on her tongue.
Why should she hide it? She would never see him again after this. Let him know. At the very least, it might set her free. With a deep breath she drew her courage. “I think, all my life, I’ve held a dream.” She clasped her hands together in front of her. “I always imagined I’d live happily in Appleby with a loving husband and children, and as I grew up, that dream became more of a mission. At the time, Brian fitted in nicely with my dream.” He grimaced at the mention of Brian’s name, and she gave a wry smile. “It wasn’t love, though. I thought it was. But I didn’t really know what love was until I met you.” She glanced down at her bare feet, before meeting his intense gaze again. “I love you, Jake. I always have, even though I knew you’d leave and destroy my dream. I never returned to Brian. I couldn’t. Not after you. I lied to you that night in Barrowdene to protect myself. And yes, here I am, using a piece of paper as an excuse to see you one last time.”
He stared at her for a long moment, a muscle working in his jaw as if he couldn’t find the words.
And she waited for the axe to fall.
“If this is true…” he said, his voice strained. “Why didn’t you come with me when I asked you to?”
“Because you weren’t offering love, and I couldn’t be with you knowing I’d be the one with my heart on the line, while you tired of me bit by bit. And one day you’d meet another woman and it would all be over.”
She closed her eyes and breathed out. What she wouldn’t give to crawl into a lonely hole somewhere far from his gaze right now and let the tears fall. When she looked at him again, he was still staring at her as if she was something not of this world. “You needn’t look so worried, Jake. I didn’t come here to plead for anything. In fact, I wasn’t going to tell you any of this. But I’m not sure how long I can hold myself together, so if you could call me a taxi back to the airport please, before I become a blubbering mess?”
Her voice faded away and he shook his head in a daze. “Hell, Molly, I’ve been such a fool.” He was with her then, grasping her arms. “I nearly let my fear of the past destroy everything precious to me now. I don’t know how to beg your forgiveness.”
Precious? She stared at him wide-eyed, unable to believe the conclusions her mind was jumping to. “But… you love Sienna,” she whispered.
“No, I never loved Sienna. I felt responsible for her, and maybe for a time I mistook that as love. She entered this lifestyle because of me and I couldn’t protect her from the effects of it.” He cupped her face with shaking hands. “I never wanted to make that mistake with you, Molly, but you’re so much stronger than that. I love you, my darling, and I always will.”
Tears flowed down her cheeks and she sobbed.
Wrapping his arms around her, he clasped her tight to him. “My Molly,” he breathed into her hair. “These days and nights without you have been torture. Say you’ll stay with me, that you’ll never leave.”
She nodded against his chest. “Always. I’ll always love you, Jake, and I’ll be with you for as long as you want me to.”
“Forever.” He pulled back slightly and gazed lovingly into her eyes. “I want to give you your dream, but we’ll have to—”
She stopped him with a finger to his lips. “It was never really about Appleby. I have a better dream. I want to be wherever you are. That’s my fate and I happily choose it.”
He grinned, and pulling her back to him, captured her mouth with his. Breathing a small sigh of relief, she melted into him, loving the feel of him again after so long apart. His tongue delved into her mouth and caressed hers, and his sweet taste filled her. It was like finally coming home.
He broke the kiss with a ragged groan, his breathing as strained as hers as he rested his forehead against hers. “We’ll have to get married. The sooner the better. That’s what I was going to say.”
She laughed. “If you’re asking, then yes.”
“I wouldn’t take a no from you, my Molly,” he said with a smirk. “Not anymore.” He pressed a kiss to her lips and scooped her up into his arms. “But first I need to take you to our bed and keep you there for a very long time until I’ve managed to convince myself you’re really here with me.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck and snuggled into him as he strode from the room. This was perfection. The only place in the world she wanted to be right now was in his arms.
Epilogue
Two Weeks Later
The bells of St. Mary’s church pealed once more just after the wedding photos were taken. They’d already rung loud and proud for a full fifteen minutes after Molly and Jake had stepped out of the church as man and wife.
Reverend Harrington, looking dignified in his priest’s robes, glanced up at the bell tower with his usual surprised glare. “They’re keen today,” he said of the six bell ringers of St. Mary’s. “Looks like this extra set is just for you, Molly.”
The resonant peals rang out into the blue October sky and danced through all of Appleby. Not that many people were still in their houses to hear. They had all turned up at the church this sunny Saturday morning to witness her marry Jake.
She smiled and pushing back the short veil on her flower-braided hair, glanced up at Jake as he stood beside her on the rose-bedecked church steps, looking magnificent in his three-piece grey suit and silver necktie.
Bending, he placed a kiss on her lips. “You invited the entire village,” he murmured.
“They’d have come anyway.”
It had taken him by surprise. He’d only invited Damon and Lilayni, and had been expecting a small wedding, but Appleby didn’t do small, not for the ‘Lord and Lady of Barrowdene’ and their wedding had been hijacked into a village celebration. Luckily she’d warned Norma’s crew beforehand, and they were waiting back at the house, complete with a huge marquee pitched on Nate’s beloved lawn, ready to cater for a packed lunchtime reception. Just as well. Groups of people were already leaving the church and heading across the road to Barrowdene for lunch.
She glanced around, still unable to fully take in that she was standing here today, now as Jake’s wife. Everything had moved so quickly in the two weeks since she’d gone to find him in Chateau Blanc. He hadn’t been kidding when he’d said he wanted them married soon. He’d practically browbeaten poor Ian Harrington into speeding up the church’s usually sluggish wedding preparations, and even her wedding dress had been sorted in record time without her having to lift a finger. It was her mother’s dress and Nan had altered it to fit. Now the cream lace gown with its three-quarter sleeves and off-the-shoulder neck, clung to her curves and swept to the gr
ound looking like it had come straight from a high-end designer’s showroom.
But really the day had only turned out the wonderful way it had because everyone in Appleby had pulled together for her. Smiling in contentment, she clutched her pink and red cascading bouquet of Barrowdene’s roses. It was good to be back in her village.
Damon came up to them, looking suave in his suit, which was a darker grey than Jake’s for his position as best man. He kept a possessive arm around a smiling Lilayni, who wore a dusky-pink dress similar to Molly’s other bridesmaids: Sophie, Anna, and Kitty.
“You are glowing.” Lilayni kissed her on both cheeks.
Molly laughed. “And you, Lilayni.”
The sadness that had been in Lilayni’s eyes weeks ago in Barrowdene’s orchard had completely vanished, and from the tender way Damon gazed at her, it was easy to see he was as in love with Lilayni as she was with him. Maybe he always had been.
“You’ll be wanting to get the reception started if you intend to leave for France by afternoon,” Damon said to Jake.
“I’d leave right now if I could.” Jake’s look was brooding as he slid an arm around her waist and drew her to his side. “I have a sudden need to get my wife all to myself.”
She gaped at him. “We can’t just ditch everyone.” But the raw desire in his voice thrilled her.
“Molly.” Nan, in a smart cream jacket and dress, came to the steps and looked pointedly at her rose bouquet. “Are you ready?”
“Give me a moment,” she said to Jake.
With a nod he released her, and bunching up her long dress to keep its white hem off the grass, she went with Nan around the side of the church. Nan was walking much better now that her leg had completely healed. It also helped that Jake had hired two new full-time staff to help her around Barrowdene. Nan had no need to work anymore, but Molly doubted any of them would ever persuade her to sit down and rest.
