Stanley smiled shyly.
‘I thought we weren’t standing on ceremony here?’ said Allegra.
Elijah laughed. ‘She’s got me there, hasn’t she?’
When they all had a drink, they went back outside, where the late-afternoon sun was casting long shadows across the garden, which was just as Allegra remembered it as a child. There, directly in front of her, was the old wooden shed, with its walls and sagging roof draped with a cascade of honeysuckle as well as the branches of the elderberry tree. Elijah’s grandfather used to retreat to the shed whenever he could, smoking his pipe while potting on the tender young plants he’d grown from seed.
To one side of the shed was an uneven brick path that led to the rest of the garden and then eventually down to the River Stour, which skirted the village and fed the pond at Island House. ‘Do you still have your father’s vegetable patch?’ Allegra asked.
‘Of course, I wouldn’t be without it. Fancy a look, Stanley? Though don’t be running away with the idea it’s as grand as the kitchen garden up at Island House,’ Elijah added.
The boy nodded and obediently followed him.
‘Am I allowed to come?’ asked Allegra. She was feeling horribly left out. It was she who’d wanted to spend time with Elijah, not Stanley!
Elijah must have caught the irritable tone to her voice. ‘You go on ahead, Stanley, I’ll catch you up. Go on, off you go. I think you’ll find something you might like at the end of the path, the other side of the privet hedge.’
When the boy had disappeared out of sight, Elijah came and stood in front of Allegra.
‘Do I detect jealousy?’ he said, his voice low, his gaze boring into her.
She stared back at him, mustering defiance. ‘Don’t be ridiculous. Of course I’m not jealous.’
‘Are you sure?’
The intensity of his words, and the powerful presence of him standing so close – so close she could smell the soap he must have washed with – did away with any more defiance. ‘I’m sorry, caro,’ she said. ‘It’s just that we don’t have much time and I want to talk to you.’
‘And I want to talk to you too.’
‘You do? You could have fooled me.’
He sighed and shook his head. ‘The only person I might be fooling is myself.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘There’s something I’ve wanted to do ever since the night of the dance.’ He put a hand to her chin and raised her face to his, then very lightly kissed her. Without a moment’s hesitation, she kissed him back, but he pulled away. ‘We’re not children any more, Allegra,’ he said gravely. ‘Our actions have consequences. If I kiss you, it’s because it means something to me. I need to know that it means the same to you. I don’t want to leave here without knowing where I stand with you.’ His eyes were dark with an emotion she had never seen in him before, and his voice was thick.
‘Then kiss me again and you’ll know.’
‘No. I want to hear you say the words.’
‘What words?’
‘That I matter to you.’
‘Elijah, how could you ever think you didn’t?’
‘Because you’re you and I’m me. We come from different worlds.’
‘Non è vero, caro. It’s not true.’
‘You might not have been born directly into the world that your cousins were, but like it or not, you’re one of them; you’re a Devereux.’
It was just as she’d feared: something that hadn’t bothered him as a child now did. ‘I’ve never felt as if I were,’ she said adamantly.
His expression softened. ‘And I’ve never felt this way about a girl before. I can’t stop thinking about you. We’ve spent hardly any time together since you came back, but you fill my every waking thought. Every time I see you at Island House I want to stop what I’m doing and be with you.’
‘How can you think so well of me? I left you all those years ago, I said such terrible things, and now I’m carrying another man’s child. I’m completely unworthy of your—’
