‘Eew, you’re wet,’ she squealed, pushing him away.
‘But adorable,’ he teased, winking at her.
Anna rolled her eyes. She seemed to do a lot of that when he was around. ‘Go and get dressed, Leo, and stop flaunting your abs. No one’s impressed.’
He raised an eyebrow as if to point out that her hands hadn’t been complaining not so long ago, but with his usual grace he simply patted his stomach. ‘All bought and paid for.’
‘Very nice,’ said Michaela with a cheery grin.
He saluted and sauntered off towards the house.
Leo was Leo. Always had been, always would be.
‘He’s very cute,’ said Michaela.
Anna shrugged. ‘Yes, and everyone thinks so.’
‘Even you.’ Michaela gave her an encouraging smile.
‘That ship has sailed,’ said Anna.
‘Are you sure? Sometimes he looks at you and he looks sad.’
Anna’s heart pinched, false hope jumping in where it had no place to be. She shook her head. ‘You’ve got it wrong. He’s far too busy having fun. I think Zdenka’s very keen.’
‘Oh, they’re two of a kind.’ Michaela gave a dismissive wave. ‘They like to flirt. There’s nothing there. There are some that use their charm to get what they want and hurt people by being careless. I don’t think Leo is like that. He likes you. A lot.’
‘No,’ said Anna, quickly ignoring her final statement. ‘He isn’t like that.’ He was warm, funny, generous and kind. She’d ignored so many of the good things about him, focusing too much on the fear of what it would be like to lose him. Look where that had got her and now she was in love with him all over again and he clearly didn’t feel the same anymore. Not that she could blame him. She was the one that had walked out on him and now she was realising she’d might have made a terrible mistake.
ChapterTwenty-Two
‘This is really lovely,’ said Anna as they drove through beautiful green, rolling countryside, the hills topped with smatterings of rocks.
‘This is the Palava Protected Landscape Area. There are lots of trails and walks. You can walk from Pavlov to Mikulov, it’s not too difficult and takes about two hours.’
The town of Mikulov was an absolute delight, Anna decided, with its old stone buildings perched on the hillside, glowing in the early evening golden sunshine and topped by the distinctive Lock building, which Jan explained was a castle built in the 1200s. It had been burned to the ground in 1945 but restored in the ’50s and was a hodge-podge of cream buildings topped by terracotta roofs, with a verdigris onion-topped spire. Opposite was another striking rounded hill. ‘That’s Holy Hill,’ said Michaela. ‘Another good walk. It’s protected landscape with lots of wildlife and wildflowers and people make a pilgrimage to the church, St Sebastian. It is one of the oldest Ways of the Cross in the Czech Republic and people have been coming here for hundreds of years.’
When they reached the town centre, Anna’s attention was captured by a striking building.
‘I love that, what is it?’ she asked, pointing to the distinctive black-and-white decoration on an elegant house on one side of the town square. White figures dressed in mediaeval costumes covered the walls in little vignettes, boxed in with elaborate floral motifs.
‘That is sgraffito and dates back to the Renaissance.’
‘It’s beautiful. I think I saw something similar at Prague Castle but I didn’t know what it was.’
‘You mean the Schwarzenberg Palace. That is a very good example.’
‘Can we take a closer look?’ asked Anna.
‘Yes. I thought we could have a local beer here in the square. It is good for people-watching,’ said Jan.
‘Always need to try the local beer,’ said Leo, sitting up straighter in the back of the car. ‘Good for our beer education.’
‘Do you need any more beer education?’ Anna teased, determined that there wouldn’t be an atmosphere between them. Michaela and Jan were such good hosts, she didn’t want them to feel uncomfortable.
‘Always,’ said Leo.
Jan and Michaela laughed. ‘It would be rude for us not to help,’ said Jan.
