‘She’s right. There isn’t anything of value to the estate.’
‘I know, but it was the way she said it. All scornful, like.’
‘She’s just doing her job.’ Giselle didn’t know why she was defending the woman, considering she’d taken an instant dislike to her. Or maybe she did know. It wasn’t Claire’s fault that jealousy had risen its head again.
Claire knew Rocco better than she did. Not physically, but physical was only skin deep. Those two had a connection that was outside Giselle’s experience.
Jinny sighed. ‘It’s the uncertainty I can’t handle. Is the craft centre going to close or not? Will Rocco sell it?’
Oh, he was going to sell it all right; Giselle didn’t doubt that for a second. And she wasn’t entirely sure what would hurt the most: saying goodbye to her studio and everything she’d worked so hard for, or saying goodbye to the man she’d fallen in love with.
Rocco checked the time yet again. He thought he was being discreet, but his mother clocked him doing it.
‘Am I keeping you from something?’ she asked archly.
‘There are a few things I’d like to wrap up before we leave.’
‘Would it have anything to do with that girl?’
‘As a matter of fact, it does.’
‘Surely you don’t expect to carry on with this relationship once you return to London. It’s hardly feasible.’
Rocco ran his hand through his hair, exasperated. Until his mother’s arrival, he’d been trying hard not to think about going home, stupidly pretending that things could carry on as they were. But now Beverly was forcing him to make a decision.
However, the problem with her not-so-subtle manipulation was that he might make a decision she didn’t like.
His mother pressed on. ‘You’ve known her, how long? A week? Two?’
‘I’ve known her longer than that. I met her when I went to Venice the summer I dossed around Europe.’
‘That was just after you’d finished university!’ It surprised her, and he felt a momentary satisfaction. The feeling swiftly disappeared when she added, ‘You couldn’t have kept in touch, otherwise you wouldn’t only be taking an interest in Skye now. Therefore, I say again, you’ve known her for two weeks. People change. Take you, for example: would you say you’re the same person now that you were when you were twenty?’
He’d been twenty-one, nearly twenty-two, but she had a point. He didn’t know Giselle as well as he wanted, but he was thoroughly enjoying getting to know her. Or he had been, until his mother had brought him down to earth.
He had to face facts: staying on Skye wasn’t an option. It was simply too difficult to travel to and from London. He needed to be there, not all the time, but a lot of the time. Distance working was possible, but much of what he did was networking and making contacts. Moore Asset Management’s clients liked the personal touch, not a face on a screen.
His life was there. Giselle’s was here. And tonight would be the last time he’d hold her. When he left tomorrow, it would be for good, because it would be too painful to leave her for a second time.
Chapter 21
Rocco slammed the lid of his laptop shut and got to his feet. Beverly blinked over the top of her glasses.
‘Where are you going?’
‘I’ll see you in the morning.’
‘Rocco!’ his mother called after him, but he didn’t stop. ‘What about dinner?Rocco!’
Taking the stairs two at a time, he was in the castle’s impressive hallway and out the door in seconds, speeding across the car park to Giselle’s studio, praying she was still there.
She was.
Startled, she leapt to her feet when he barrelled inside. ‘Come on,’ he said, holding out his hand.
‘Where are we going?’
‘Anywhere, as long as it’s not here. I’m not wasting another second of our last day together.’
