It was a tone that even Brice knew he would be wise to take note of!
What was the saying, it was always the quiet ones to watch out for…? Sabina, for the most part, was coolly self-possessed, seemingly completely unruffled, but the last few minutes had shown him there was also another side to her; Sabina, if pushed too far, came out fighting!
On balance, Brice decided it was a trait he rather liked…
What a disaster! What an absolute mess, Sabina muttered to herself as she changed out of the gold gown into a pink tee shirt and denims, fully intending to go ahead with her avowal of needing some air.
She straightened from putting on her sandals, breathing deeply. What was she going to do? What could she do?
She was engaged to Richard, a man who had never shown her anything but kindness and concern, and she was in love with Brice, a man who— Who what? A man who had also shown her kindness and concern. In his own way.
But Brice had shown her something else, given her a realisation of her own capacity for passion that, until meeting him, she hadn’t known existed.
How could this have happened to her?
Last November she had been deeply upset, her self-confidence in shreds because of what had happened. Richard had already been a friend, she’d occasionally had dinner with, and having seen her obvious distress he had made his suggestion that, for their mutual benefit—Sabina for Richard’s protection, Richard because he liked the idea of being seen with the most photographed model in the world—the two of them become engaged, it hadn’t taken Sabina too long to decide that she liked the idea, too.
But she hadn’t realised when she’d come to that understanding with Richard that she was capable of loving someone in the way she now loved Brice. If she had thought for a moment she could ever feel this way about another man she would never have accepted Richard’s kind offer.
Sabina had gone round and round in her head with these same thoughts as she’d lain in bed the previous evening unable to sleep, wondering what to do next.
One thing she did realise…she had to tell Richard how she felt, knew she could no longer go on being engaged to him, taking advantage of his kindness, sharing his home with him, when she had these feelings, longings, for another man.
And she had no idea how to go about telling Richard that!
If she had known, even partially guessed, how this weekend was going to change her life, then she would have run as fast and as far as she could in the other direction.
And being alone with Brice in his bedroom-studio, with her newly discovered feelings towards him, had been absolute torture.
She stood up, tired of her own company too now; it was too easy to just sit and think when she was alone.
The gardens, the ones she could see from her bedroom window. She would go there. Anywhere, to get away from Brice!
And maybe, by the time she had taken a leisurely stroll through the gardens, Hugh and Richard would have returned from their drive. Although the thought of seeing Richard, with her emotions in such confusion, wasn’t particularly appealing, either. Because she knew, instinctively, that he was not going to be pleased with what she had to say to him…
Oh, damn Brice McAllister. She wished she had never met him.
‘Going for a walk?’
Sabina turned sharply as, having reached the bottom of the stairs in preparation of escaping, she found herself confronted with Hugh McDonald as he came out of a room at the end of the hallway.
‘Richard has borrowed the car to drive to the village and pick up a newspaper,’ Hugh supplied the answer to the question Sabina had just been about to ask.
She smiled indulgently. ‘He hates it if he misses the business section even for one day.’
Hugh nodded. ‘So he said. If you’re going for a walk, would you like some company?’ he prompted gently.
She would love some company, anything to escape her own tumultuous thoughts. But… ‘I’m sure we’ve already disturbed your routine enough for one day,’ she excused.
‘Not in the least,’ the elderly man dismissed with a smile. ‘A man of my age never minds being disturbed by a beautiful woman!’
Sabina laughed, not because she knew she was meant to, but because she genuinely found Hugh’s teasing refreshing after the intensity of emotion of the last twelve hours. ‘In that case—’ she linked her arm in the crook of his ‘—I would love it if you would accompany me on my walk.’
‘Where would you like to go?’ Hugh prompted once they were outside in the late May sunshine, blossom on the trees, birds singing amongst their branches.
‘I’ve had a thing about walled gardens ever since I read about one being brought back to life in one of the books I read as a child,’ she admitted guilelessly.
Hugh grinned down at her, looking much younger than his eighty-odd years. ‘I think I must have read the same book,’ he acknowledged conspiratorially. ‘Although we don’t do as much with those gardens any more,’ he added sadly. ‘It was my wife who liked to cultivate them, you see.’
Sabina had already realised that he was a widower of some years’ standing. ‘That’s a pity,’ she murmured softly.
‘Yes,’ he acknowledged thoughtfully. ‘Actually, Sabina, I’m quite pleased to have this time alone with you.’ Hugh looked down at her with quizzical eyes. ‘Tell me—from a young female point of view—do you think my family is likely to want to have me committed if I tell them I’ve fallen in love again, at my age?’
Her eyes widened in alarm at the sudden intimacy of the unexpected question. ‘I’m not sure—I don’t—erm—’
‘Sorry.’ Hugh chuckled at her obvious surprise, shaking his head self-derisively, ‘I didn’t mean to shock you.’
‘You didn’t,’ Sabina assured him, feeling embarrassed now at the stupidity of her own reaction.
‘I just wanted someone else’s opinion before broaching the subject with any of the family.’ Hugh frowned. ‘Although I think Brice already has an idea…’ He grimaced.
Brice would, Sabina thought irritably, preceding Hugh into the first walled garden as he held the door open for her, instantly enchanted by the profusion of wild flowers whose sight and perfume assailed her senses.
‘So what do you think?’ Hugh prompted softly.
Her eyes shone with pleasure as she looked around her. ‘It’s beautiful! Exactly as I would have imagined it—’
‘I was actually referring to our earlier conversation,’ Hugh corrected dryly.
Which she had no idea how to answer! Hugh, despite being in his eighties, was still an attractive man; so why shouldn’t he fall in love, at this age or any other? But, on the other hand, in view of her own reaction to her mother being involved with someone, she could see how Hugh’s family might be more than a little surprised by his news…
‘I can clearly see men in white coats and bars at the windows in your eyes!’ Hugh murmured self-derisively.
‘Not at all.’ Sabina laughed throatily. ‘You’ve just put me in something of a dilemma, that’s all,’ she admitted ruefully. ‘You see, I’ve just encountered something—similar, in my own life, where my widowed mother is concerned,’ she confided softly.
Hugh looked at her with narrowed eyes. ‘And?’
She grimaced. ‘I didn’t react too well, I’m afraid,’ she admitted regretfully.
‘Ah.” Hugh nodded.
‘Indeed,’ Sabina sighed. ‘My only advice to you would be not to take too much notice of initial reactions.’
He raised silver brows. ‘Meaning yours wasn’t too good where your mother was concerned?’ he guessed shrewdly.
She gave a self-conscious laugh. ‘Meaning my reaction was pretty awful,’ she admitted with regret.
After all, was her mother finding someone else to share the otherwise loneliness of life such a terrible thing? In view of the mess Sabina’s own life had become in the last twelve hours, the realisation that she was engaged to one man while finding herself deeply attracted to another one, to the point of knowing herself in love with him, she was inclined to think not.
‘Tell me, Sabina,’ Hugh began slowly, watching her with thoughtful curiosity. ‘What do you think of my grandson?’
Her eyes widened at this next sharp turn in their conversation. ‘Which one?’ she delayed awkwardly.
Hugh smiled. ‘You’ve met Logan and Fergus, too?’
‘Only Fergus. We—’ She broke off abruptly; how would it sound to this elderly man if she told him she and Brice had had dinner with the McClouds? ‘But I’ve seen Logan,’ she continued slightly breathlessly. ‘They look very alike, don’t they?’ she dismissed lightly.
‘They are alike.’ Hugh nodded. ‘McDonalds, every one. I made sure of that,’ he added firmly.
And he was obviously proud of each and every one of them. With good reason; each of the men, besides being extremely attractive, was very successful in his chosen field.
‘But you didn’t answer my question about Brice, Sabina?’ Hugh persisted, his gaze narrowed assessingly.
‘I think,’ she avoided teasingly, ‘that Brice gets his bluntness from his grandfather!’
The elderly man chuckled with pleasure. ‘I brought them up to believe that honesty is always the best policy—even if you end up making a few enemies along the way. And talking of honesty,’ he began slowly. ‘Sabina—’