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‘Got to hand it to him,’ Ross said to Finn, ‘He’s got his head screwed on the right way.’
‘Of course I have, Dad. I want to be a chef not a celeb and I want a private life. I don’t want the media poking its nose into my business all the time.’
‘I don’t blame you on that.’ Finn nodded. ‘Right then, Chef, what’s next?’
‘You can peel some more spuds for mash.’
‘We’re having mash as well today?’ Finn frowned. They usually only had one type of potato with Sunday lunch, unless it was Christmas, in which case Cole spoilt them with a variety.
‘Well we are having a guest,’ Cole said and Finn looked at Ross who looked over at Darcie. She was sitting on the corner sofa folding fabric she’d bought online to turn into waistcoats to sell at the shop. As well as being a businesswoman, Darcie was pretty nifty with a sewing machine and had been making her own clothes since they were children.
‘Darcie?’ Finn said and she looked up.
‘Yes?’
‘Cole said we’re having a guest.’
‘We are.’ She smiled.
‘Anyone I know?’
‘Yes.’ Her smile broadened and Finn widened his eyes at her in warning. She was winding him up like she ued to do when they were younger.
‘Are you deliberately withholding this information or is there a reason why you don’t want to tell me?’
‘What? No.’ She laughed. ‘I just thought it would be a nice surprise for you.’
At that moment, the doorbell rang and they all froze.
‘I’ll get it, shall I?’ Finn asked, already making his way to the front door.
He straightened his shirt, took a deep breath then plastered a smile on his face. After all, it had to be someone important if Darcie was playing games with him. And while his sister might still wind him up sometimes, he would never want to be rude to a guest so he’d be as polite as if he was about to greet royalty.
He opened the door, about to make a joke along the lines of expecting King Charles, but when he saw who was there, his voice died in his throat. Instead, he made a strange noise deep in his throat before choking out, ‘Oh, hello… I didn’t know you were coming.’
The woman on the doorstep blinked back at him before offering a shaky smile in return.
‘Hello, Finn.’
Finn stood back to let her inside but as he closed the door behind her, he had to take a moment to lean against the wall because suddenly he felt like his legs didn’t have the strength to hold him up. He probably would have been less surprised if it had been the King.
Chapter8
Ellie
Ellie stalked through to the kitchen-diner on wobbly legs. She’d known Finn would be here, of course she had as Darcie had told her he would, but seeing him again was a different matter. He was… simply breath-taking. Although decades had passed since she’d last seen him and since, well, that fateful night when she’d made things awkward between them, he was still gorgeous. In fact, if she was being completely honest with herself, he was bloody delicious. Age had not ruined him or faded him, it had simply refined him, made him a finer version of the young man he’d been. At nineteen, he’d been tall, handsome and slim but now… Now he was a man. With his greying hair and beard, his sparkling blue eyes and lightly tanned skin — that she presumed was from all the time he spent outdoors with his job — he had aged like a fine wine.
Wow! Just wow!
And she knew from Darcie that Finn was single. A manlike thatwas single. It seemed crazy.
Would he like what he saw when he looked at her?
Her heart sank like a balloon deflating. Finn might have aged but so had she and she didn’t think she’d grown finer with age. There were bits of her that no longer defied gravity, her hair was no longer thick and lustrous as it had once been and she had lines around her mouth and eyes. She was happy with herself and who she was, but it didn’t mean that Finn would look at her and find her attractive. Of course it didn’t.
Her attention was soon called to being greeted by her hosts and to a glass of wine that Darcie pressed into her hand.
‘This is my son, Cole and my daughter, Millie.’ Darcie gestured at her children and Ellie smiled at them and said hello.
