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A gurgle of laughter escaped her. ‘Rob’s an actor,’ she said. ‘His main concern when we were in bed was ensuring the camera got his best side.’
He stared at her. ‘You have to be joking.’
‘Not a bit of it,’ she said, still giggling. ‘Ask the director. Ask anyone. For Rob, love scenes are just work, and he takes that extremely seriously. Besides,’ she added more soberly. ‘He doesn’t play around. He’s a one-woman man, which is why I’m sure that he and Daisy will get together again. She’s the other half of him.’
There was a silence, then he said quietly, ‘Let’s hope you’re right, and it works out for them.’ And began to make love to her again.
And as her body lifted to his touch, the words, Because it never can for us seemed to hover unspoken in the ether.
They were still there in the back of her mind, impossible to shake off, when they eventually ate lunch, sitting on a terrace at the rear of the house overlooking the swimming pool, with Rhianna wearing one of his shirts.
‘I really wish we’d arrived in daylight,’ she said, drawing a deep breath. ‘I’ve only just realised there are mountains.’ She shaded her eyes, studying the range of jagged grey peaks towering towards the sky that filled the distance. ‘They’re spectacular. And is that actually snow I see?’
‘It’s usually there somewhere on the cordillera,’ Diaz agreed. ‘So are bears, although I admit I’ve yet to see one.’
She shuddered. ‘Just as well, I imagine.’ She paused. ‘And everything’s so green. I didn’t expect that.’
‘We get a fair amount of rain here,’ he said, adding laconically, ‘Don’t confuse Asturias with Andalusia.’
‘Here—the mountains. In Cornwall—the sea. You seem to have picked the best of both worlds.’ She managed to keep a wistful note out of her voice.
He shrugged. ‘I have roots in both. After all, this is where Jorge Diaz was born, even if the original house no longer exists.’
Seen in daylight, the farmhouse itself wasn’t particularly beautiful, just a large rambling structure with white walls and a roof of faded terracotta tiles, but it fitted solidly and reassuringly into its landscape.
Like Penvarnon, she thought, it had all the makings of a home.
It suddenly seemed necessary to change the subject.
She waved a fork at the clustering trees beyond the garden’s perimeter fence. ‘Is that your apple orchard?’
‘Part of it.’ He offered her some tomato salad.
‘My God, she said. ‘What happens to all the fruit? I didn’t know the Spanish were big on apple pie.’
‘These apples make cider,’ he explained. ‘They drink a great deal of it here in the north. But it’s quite mild, unlike scrumpy.’
‘And your pool.’ She raised an eyebrow. ‘After what you said about the house, do you reckon that’s a comfort rather than a luxury?’
‘I’d say both. You can try it after we’ve eaten, and give me your opinion.’ He smiled at her. ‘It’s also pretty much a necessity. Asturias has always been a big coal mining area, and most of the rivers are still polluted, so not much swimming there.’
‘Can’t something be done about that?’
‘Yes, but it all takes time.’
My cue, she thought. Aloud, she said lightly, ‘Which reminds me—my time here is running out fast. I really need to find out about flights to London.’
‘Dressed like that?’ His grin teased and warmed at the same time. ‘You’ll be a sensation.’
She forced a shrug. ‘I get my clothes back tonight. I can leave tomorrow.’
There was a brief silence, then he said, ‘Of course. I’ll see what I can arrange.’
Making her realise just how much she’d hoped he would say, Don’t go. Not yet. Stay with me.
Which proves he’s far more of a realist than I am, she told herself ironically. A man with roots and his future planned. A future that could never seriously include the girl whose mother wrecked his parents’ marriage.
Whereas I—I’m the twenty-first century equivalent of a strolling player, a rogue and a vagabond who performs and moves on.
Had their time together achieved the desired effect? she wondered, pain stabbing at her. Had it cleared her from his mind and appeased his body? When she left, would he finally be rid of her, even if it hadn’t happened as he’d expected?
‘What are you thinking?’ His question cut abruptly across her reverie.
She pulled a rueful face. ‘Oh—just that I’m probably going to have some explaining to do when I get back.’
