She insisted on getting the dishwasher filled before she’d go with Leo to the conservatory to drink the coffee she had made. She didn’t really want more coffee but she did want to spend time with Leo.
‘I think it’s time you retired,’ he said as she handed him coffee and a plate of biscuits.
‘Why?’ said Gilly, smiling at his joke. ‘What would I do with myself if I didn’t have my guests? I’d only get up to mischief.’
‘You could get up to mischief with me,’ he said. ‘I want to take you to Vienna.’
‘Vienna!’ said Gilly.
‘I think Paris and Venice are rather overdone, don’t you? I don’t want to take you to a romantic cliché.’
Gilly was taken aback. The thought of being taken to Bognor Regis by Leo would have seemed romantic. ‘It sounds wonderful.’
It did. Already she was imagining a gorgeous little boutique hotel, going to amazing world-class restaurants, chauffeured limousines. The number of bedrooms involved was for contemplation inprivate. It wasn’t that she hadn’t thought about sleeping with Leo, but her imagination had never got her from being fully clothed to being naked in his arms. She just didn’t see how it could happen, at her age.
‘But we can’t go if you’re still running a B & B.’
‘I do go on holiday …’ she protested.
‘But presumably it takes planning?’
‘Of course, but it must be the same for you, surely?’
Leo nodded. ‘Some, of course, but I can work from anywhere. It’s not the same as being a bed and breakfast landlady.’
Gilly had a sudden vision of herself standing at the door of a boarding house in some desolate seaside town, her arms folded, her expression grim. Her excitement about his invitation dimmed a little. ‘Well, no.’
He smiled and put his hand on her knee. She felt it all over her body.
‘Did you get Martin’s email?’ he asked.
‘What? How did you know he’d sent me an email?’
‘He copied me in. He realised you didn’t really like the house they showed you before so he’s found somewhere else. It’s got a proper granny annexe.’
Gilly swallowed. ‘I’m not sure I’m ready to live anywhere with the word “granny” in it. I’m still a working woman.’
His laugh was very sexy. ‘That makes you sound like you’re on the streets, if I may say such a thing.’ Then he rubbed her knee. ‘Now I’ve offended you. I’m sorry. Let’s look at this house, shall we?’
As Gilly went to find her laptop she realised Leo and Martin must have met before they all had lunch together, and wondered where that was, and why they hadn’t mentioned it. Was it something to do with Martin and Cressida wanting to move? But then she decided it wasn’t important.
‘OK,’ she said, having joined Leo at the partially cleared breakfast table. ‘Let’s have a look at this house.’
It was over-modernised, Gilly felt, but it would suit Martin and Cressida. ‘So I am supposed to sell my house so Martin and Cressida can buy this?’ She tried very hard to keep her voice neutral.
‘The joy of this one is, you could build in the garden,’ said Leo, ‘and so add to the value of the property. It could house staff or be rented …’ He paused.
‘When I die?’ said Gilly, suddenly feeling very old. Looking at the price of the property Martin had been so keen to show her meant he was expecting a good chunk of money from the sale of Fairacres.
‘Maybe you wouldn’t want to move in there? Maybe you could just have it as a fallback position.’
‘Sorry? I’m not quite following.’ Leo was implying she wouldn’t need to live there, so where did hethink she could live instead? In his house? However she might feel about him, it was far too soon for her to think about cohabiting.
‘We can talk about it later,’ he said easily. ‘Now you get your diary up on your laptop and we can find a weekend when we can go to Vienna – a long weekend. It’s a fascinating city.’
At that moment Gilly regretted her failure to fully master using the diary function on her laptop and relying on an old-fashioned desk diary for her B & B bookings. She realised it made her look ancient, as if she couldn’t grasp new technology. She could, but she was a bit lazy about it, Helena always said.
Leo didn’t comment when she came back with her diary. Ulysses followed her into the room and jumped on the sofa between them. ‘So,’ she said, ‘when were you thinking of?’
