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‘Oh, not you again!’ I cry as I whirl round to see Jago coming out of what I can only presume is the bedroom, dressed only in a pair of black hip-hugging boxers. Very distracting boxers, if I may say.
I try to keep my eyes on his face, but his lean yet muscular body is difficult to ignore, starting from the wide shoulders and six-pack. Let’s stop there. Do not look any further, Emmie.
‘The feeling’s mutual,’ he drawls in a low, sleepy voice.
His hair is a silky mess and his jaw is covered in morning stubble. He sits down and runs his hands over his face.
‘Sorry, if I’d known you were coming, I’d have brushed my hair and baked some biscuits!’ he smirks.
‘What are youdoinghere?’ I demand. ‘You’re practically everywhere!’
‘Actually,’ he says slowly and pointedly, ‘I live here.’
‘Oh, come on! I thought you said the cottage was your home.’
‘No,’ he says, ‘the cottage is my property.Thisis my home.’
Oh my God in heaven. Is there no getting rid of him?
I clench my teeth. ‘Have you got proof?’
‘I don’t need proof. I’ve been living here forever.’
‘Well, not anymore, you won’t be. It’s mine, too.’
‘What?’ he groans. ‘Impossible!’
‘Check with Lister & Ass!’ I hiss.
He rubs his face. ‘No, no, no, there’s been a huge misunderstanding. Someone somewhere has made a massive mistake.’
‘No mistake,’ I assure. ‘It’s all very clear – I get 50 per cent of the bargeandthe cottage.’ He doesn’t need to know about the money, does he? ‘It’s all in my grandfather’s will.’
‘Very difficult to believe, seeing as he’d already left it to me.’
I cross my arms. ‘Well, then it looks like we have a huge problem on our hands.’
‘Yeah – you.’
‘I beg your pardon?’
‘You heard. Before you arrived, everything was tickety-boo.’
‘It doesn’t look like that to me, seeing your reputation. There’s no way I’m sharing my inheritance with some… some… confidence trickster who bamboozled my grandfather into a false friendship just to get something off him.’
‘We were friends!’ he suddenly roars, raking a hand through his unruly black locks. ‘What part of that did you not get? I’ve lost someone I actually loved, while you – you didn’t even know he existed.’
I’m sorry for him, truly I am. But it’s not up to me to sort out the misunderstanding. I have enough problems of my own. So I channel my inner Mary.
‘You are kindly requested to meet me at the shop tomorrow to talk about this. Where hopefully everyone present will be dressed!’
‘Oh, come on, Emmie,’ he drawls. ‘Lighten up. It was just a naked woman, you know?’
‘And I’m sure you’ve had your share of them,’ I blurt before I can stop myself.
His expression changes to one of surprise.
‘Look,’ I say, trying to windmill myself back to the higher road. ‘It’s obvious that we won’t be getting rid of each other soon, so we need to come to some sort of agreement.’
