‘My parents were driving me mad, trying to marry me off to lady this or that, telling me what my life should be, how my life should be and who I should live it with. I couldn’t take anymore so I booked a ticket to the furthest place I could think of, closed my business and took off. Probably not the wisest decision but…’ He shrugged. ‘I couldn’t deal with the pressure anymore.’
‘Sometimes you just have to get away from everything. I understand that.’
He tilted his head slightly. ‘Yeah, I think you’re one of the few people who can understand.’
‘Do I get another question?’
He gave me that grin again and I really wished he wouldn’t keep doing that. ‘Why stop at one?’
‘Why are you back in England?’
‘I missed it. I loved it out in New Zealand but I’m older now and I guess I missed home. Once my marriage broke down a few years ago, I felt there was nothing to tie me there anymore. I’ve been thinking about coming home for a few years, but my wife was very against it, and I could understand that. All her family and friends were out there, her career. She had no reason to move and I was losing my reason to stay. We’d been growing apart for a while anyway, and I think it had come to its natural end.’
‘I’m sorry.’
‘Don’t be. She met someone else within six months and got married again.’
‘Yes, but you didn’t.’
He gave a brief smile. ‘That’s true. But never say never, eh?’
‘I’m sure there’s a lady so-and-so somewhere out there for you.’
‘Oh, I really hope not.’
‘You wouldn’t get married?’
‘Like I say, never say never. I’m just not interested in that aristocratic lifestyle.’
‘You are still going to be an earl one day, Jack. Unless you’re planning to renounce the title? Can you do that?’
He shrugged. ‘I try not to think about it most days.’
I pulled a face. ‘Always a good strategy – ignore it and it might go away.’
‘Still the smart-arse, I see?’
‘It seems you bring out my aptitude for it.’
‘I do my best.’
I rolled my eyes, swiped the mug from in front of him and got up to put them in the dishwasher.
‘We need to talk about rent.’
‘No, we don’t,’ I said, my back still to him.
I heard the chair scrape on the floor and when he spoke again, his words were closer. ‘Yes, we do.’
I turned to object and caught my breath as Jack was closer than I thought.
‘You’re doing work in the garden for me,’ I said, not looking at him as I squeezed out of the space.
‘That hardly makes up for what I’d be paying for rent and food.’
‘Of course it does. It would have cost me loads to have somebody come in and do what you’ve done already, especially someone of your calibre, but this way, I don’t have to have strangers in my house. That makes it even more valuable to me.’
‘I’m a stranger.’
