Much Ado About You(59)

All day.

Caro had seen the farm. She wasn’t interested. Truthfully, I think she just didn’t want to be a third wheel.

Great.

“Enjoy that.” Milly winked at me.

Over the past few weeks, the winks, hints, and innuendos about my friendship with Roane had increased to the point it was like water off a duck’s back for both of us. It felt like the entire patronage of The Anchor was willing me to jump Roane Robson’s bones. Belly fluttering at the mere thought, I waved goodbye and headed outside to the parking lot, where Roane said he’d collect me.

The sun shone strong in a cloudless sky, and since we were headed somewhat inland where there wasn’t even a sea breeze for relief, I had worn shorts, a loose-flowing tank top, and a pair of Wellington boots I’d bought online. They were dark pink and cute as hell.

I’d pulled my hair up high in a ponytail to keep it off my neck, and I could feel the sun burning hot on my nape as I waited.

Through the brown filter of my sunglasses, I noticed movement across the street and started when I saw Lucas Elliot walking toward The Alnster Inn from the direction of the harbor.

“Hey, Lucas!” I called out before I could stop myself. Shifting my sunglasses into my hair, I skipped across the cobbled road as he stopped midstride. His brow puckered with obvious confusion at my approach. “How are you?”

Lucas crossed his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes. “I’m all right. What can I do for you?”

Honestly, I’d approached him without really thinking about what I was doing, but the words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. “Viola heard about the altercation at the inn. She was grateful you stuck up for her.” She hadn’t said as much, but I knew her well enough to know that she was.

Hopefully.

Lucas scowled. “Who told her? She doesn’t need to know people say stupid shit like that.”

Oh, he so liked her.

It was a struggle to keep a straight face. “Small town.” I shrugged. There was no way I was telling him it was my fault.

“Why do you think I care what Viola thinks of me?” His gaze was far too searching, far too perceptive. “Why do you care?”

“I care because I care about Viola. And I’d like to think that you’re a good guy underneath all your bluster. She doesn’t deserve shit from anyone.”

“Right, well, you don’t know us. You’ve been here all of a few months; that doesn’t make you an expert on this village. Stay out of things between Viola and me,” he warned. “She’s a big girl and she can handle it.”

“Can she?”

Lucas’s head snapped back like I’d slapped him.

I smirked. “Ah, see, you think you’re so smart, that you know everything. Well, I do know Viola. And I know women. As a tough-talking variety of the species myself, I can say with some authority that sometimes we women bust a guy’s balls so he won’t see just how much his words hurt us.”

He shook his head, green eyes flashing with disbelief. “Why would anything I have to say matter enough to hurt Viola?”

“Yeah, Lucas.” I made a “duh” face. “Why would your words matter enough to hurt her?”

It took a second but slowly that disbelief and confusion softened to understanding. And then shock. Before veering between disbelief again and something I couldn’t quite work out.

He opened his mouth to respond, when a beep of a horn stopped him.

Glancing over my shoulder, I saw the Land Rover. Roane gestured from the driver’s seat. Shadow’s head was hanging out the window, his tongue lolling from his mouth.

I gave them a quick wave and turned back to Lucas, who was scowling at his feet in thought. “Well, see you around.”

He glanced up at me warily. “What are you playing at here?”

This guy was so suspicious. For someone this sharp, he really was blindly clueless about Viola. “I’m just looking out for Viola, that’s all.”

Lucas curled his upper lip. “Aye, well, I doubt very much Viola would want you telling her enemy that he has the ability to hurt her feelings.”

“Her enemy?” I scoffed. “Why on earth would a smart guy like you go out of his way to make an enemy of Viola Tait?” I shook my head at him as if he were a moron. “I’ve lived in one of the biggest cities in the US, kid. I’ve met a lot of people in my thirty-odd years on the planet. And she’s a singular kind of woman. Intelligent, confident, kind, loyal, fierce, protective, witty as hell, funny, drop-dead gorgeous and no ego to go with it. Whatever guy ends up with Viola will be the luckiest guy in the world.”

He smirked. “What are you? Her publicist?”

I narrowed my eyes. “Why did you stick up for her with that old guy if you’re so indifferent to her?”

“Again, why do you care?”

“Answer my question first.”

With a heavy sigh, he crossed his arms over his chest. “I already told you why. I would stick up for anyone who was the target of that kind of bigotry.”

Remembering how he shook with fury over what that old villager had said, I mirrored Lucas’s sigh. “You’re young and cocky and right now you think you’ve got years to make mistakes and fix them. But you don’t, Lucas. That’s why I’m here. Because I graduated from college and the next eleven years of my life passed by in the blink of an eye and I found myself with nothing but regrets over the choices that I’d made. I don’t want you, or anyone, to wake up in ten, twenty years’ time, and wonder what could have been. Such benign little words—‘what if.’ But at some point in life, those two words become the scariest two words in the English language.”