Page 81 of A Daring Desire

“Well?”

Ciarán looked up, torn from his thoughts by Catherine’s voice.

He blinked and looked around and took a moment to realise it really was the same house.

“What did you do?” he asked in astonishment.

“What didn’t I do might be easier to explain,” she said, looking appallingly smug.

Ciarán toured the house, increasingly bewildered as it seemed entirely different. Even the layout had changed where walls had been taken down and, in some cases, built.

“Wasn’t this my father’s study?” he asked, looking at a large drawing room, where sun streamed in through the windows.

She had painted the walls a pale olive green with curtains of the same shade trimmed with gold fringing. The furniture was covered in a lovely cream damask fabric and arranged in comfortable seating areas that invited you to sit and read a book or talk to guests.

“Well, that part was, and such a dark, dingy room I have never seen.” She shuddered. “So, I decided this ought to be the formal drawing room and knocked the wall down to join it to the small parlour on the other side. I’ve made you a new study. Come and see.”

She took his hand, pulling him through a house he did not in the least recognise.

“I can’t even remember what room this was,” he admitted, staring at the handsome study she had created, with a large oak desk and thick carpet underfoot. The view gave out onto the back gardens and a vista of rolling hills beyond. It did not feel like the house he remembered at all. He stared at her, awed by everything she had achieved. “Is this witchcraft?” he demanded, laughing.

She grinned at him and shook her head. “Silly. This is just someone with a wonderful flare for design, doing their best work.”

He snorted, unable to deny it and enjoying her triumph as much as she clearly was.

“That’s not even the best bit,” she said, and there was such excitement glittering in her eyes he could not help but get caught up in it. She took him up the stairs, puffing by the time she reached the top.

“Perhaps you ought to sit down. The rest can wait,” he said, sliding his arm around her, but she shook her head.

“I’ll lie down in a minute. We’re going to our bedroom, anyway.”

He smiled and went to turn left towards where the lord and lady’s chambers had always been before, but she stopped him.

“Um… it’s this way now.”

Ciarán frowned, and then shook his head. “Lead on, then,” he told her, quite bewildered by how the house seemed to have been entirely rearranged.

“I decided we only needed one bedroom, not one each,” she told him as they reached the door. “For I’m not sleeping in a bed that you’re not in. So, we have our own dressing and bathing rooms. But this is ours to share. I thought it would be far nicer to look out over that splendid lake. It’s such a beautiful view.”

Ciarán pushed open the door and walked in.

He let out a breath of shock. Unsurprisingly, a large oak-framed bed dominated the spacious room, which was painted in shades of pale blue, white, and gold. A huge canopy framed the bedhead, swathes of silken fabric gathered around the elegant wooden bedframe. His feet sank into the thick carpets as he walked in, and the atmosphere was one of such peace and calm, he could not quite accept how different it was.

“This room was… green?” he asked hesitantly, not in the least sure.

“Red,” she replied, laughing at his obvious confusion.

Ciarán shook his head and walked to the window, looking out at gardens which were a riot of colour, down towards the lake that glinted in the sunshine. He looked around at her as Cat took his hand.

“It’s like you’ve worked a miracle,” he admitted. “It feels… entirely different. Like a new house.”

“It is a new house, it’s our house. It’s ready for us, Ciarán, for our new family, and all the happy memories we will fill it with. The past is dead and gone, my love. Let it go.”

He stared at her and gave a huff of laughter. “I ought to know by now, it’s no use fighting.”

“Well, not when you know I’m right,” she said frankly. “You must admit I was right about you and me, and I’m right about this, too.”

“Very well, love. Have it your way, you usually do,” he said, pulling her into his arms and kissing her hard, just to remind her he was not without skills of his own. When he drew back, she was breathless and flushed, her eyes dark with pleasure and he was about to suggest they christen the new bed, when she gasped, and clutched at her belly.