Page 71 of Moonlight Kisses at Willow Tree Hall

‘This is abduction,’ she said softly.

But by the time they had reached the traffic lights at the end of the road, she had closed her eyes and had fallen asleep.

The journey back home was quick and, very soon, he had pulled up in front of his house.

A soft sigh caused him to look over at Lily, who was slowly waking up now that the engine was switched off.

‘Where are we?’ she said wearily, rubbing her eyes.

‘My place,’ he told her. ‘Come on. Let’s get you inside.’

28

Lily wondered whether she was hallucinating.

She had been upset. Drank some disgusting-tasting alcohol to numb the pain of the day. Then her grandad and Jack had appeared. Some kind of explosion. And now she appeared to be in Jack’s empty house.

Not entirely empty, she realised. At least it had furniture.

She walked across the oak floorboards of the huge lounge. She felt groggy with a thumping headache.

But even in her drunken haze, there was no denying that Jack’s house was glorious, if a little lacking in any personal touches. It felt modern and glamorous. And yet there were no photographs and no ornaments: nothing to distinguish it from anyone else’s home. It had lovely furniture, but there was little else.

Perhaps he didn’t need anything else when the view was so incredible. She watched Jack slide open the tri-fold windows so that the whole front wall of the house had now disappeared and there was only the moonlight shining down onto the river nearby.

‘Mmmm,’ she said, collapsing onto a white-cushioned sofa.

‘Are you hungry?’ asked Jack, staring down at her as he handed her a mug of steaming hot black coffee.

Lily shook her head, which made the room spin. She hurriedly put down the coffee in case she spilt it on the white sofa.

‘I think you probably need to get into bed so you can sleep it off,’ he said, leaning forward to replace her coffee with a glass of water. ‘Drink this instead, if you don’t want the coffee.’

‘When did you move back in here?’ she asked, with a yawn.

‘Drink your water.’

‘You’re changing the subject,’ she muttered, before taking a sip.

‘My house, my rules.’ He softened his words with a small smile.

She stifled another yawn as she sank back onto the cushions, overwhelmed with fatigue.

Jack quickly stood up to move around the coffee table. ‘You’re going to feel horrible tomorrow,’ he told her. ‘The quicker I get you into bed the better.’

Lily smiled as the double meaning of his words hit him and he shook his head in dismay.

‘It’s OK,’ she found herself saying. ‘I trust you.’

Jack reached out and gently lifted Lily into his arms. It was the second time in as many hours that he had held her like this. He wondered whether he would ever carry her in that way again, and found himself aching inside at the thought that he might not.

He took her upstairs and into the master bedroom, which overlooked the river. He laid her down on the bed before drawing the curtains.

He looked back to where she lay, looking tiny and fragile in the middle of the large bed.

His main problem at that moment was that Lily being placed in danger had stirred up all kinds of emotions inside him, none of which he wanted to acknowledge. He didn’t care. And yet, he hated to admit to himself that he did.

‘You don’t have to take care of me,’ she murmured, half asleep.