‘You’re very generous. Thanks for letting me stay here.’
‘It’s no problem, Leo.’ She disappeared to return with a big navy blue blanket and a couple of pillows. ‘Make yourself comfortable and help yourself to whatever you need. Mine’s a black coffee if you’re up first and fancy bringing me breakfast in bed.’ Again her eyebrows winged up, in suggestion.
He laughed in spite of himself. ‘Sleep well.’
‘I intend to. You on the other hand probably need to spend a few hours working out how you’re going to win Anna over and explain where you spent the night.’ With that she departed, waving a hand over her head in farewell.
Leo plumped up the pillows, kicked off his shoes and lay down, pulling the blanket over him. He’d really thought that things had changed but nothing had. Anna had always had one foot out the door, ready to bolt. Nothing had changed. She would never trust him. He’d worked so hard on his plan to prove that he could be steady and reliable, like that idiot boyfriend of hers … but obviously it wasn’t in his nature and Anna knew that better than he did. He did have the capacity to love and to love wholeheartedly, to love one woman – but it wasn’t enough. Not for Anna.
He would never be enough for her.
* * *
He woke to Zdenka’s earthy laugh and looked at his watch with surprise, rubbing his blurry eyes until they adjusted enough to see the time. It was after nine. He cradled his forehead in one hand and sighed.
It sounded as if Zdenka was on the phone, and very chipper she was too, whilst he felt he’d been flattened by a tank. Throwing off the blanket he hauled himself to his feet and wandered through to the kitchen. Zdenka stood with her back to him, on her mobile, looking out of the window. Outside, a blanket of snow trimmed the rooftops like icing on gingerbread houses. Zdenka must have seen his reflection because she turned and broke off. ‘Morning, Leo.’ Then she said to the person on the phone, ‘I have to go. I will make the arrangements.’
She ended the call.
‘Michaela says hi, although I don’t think she’s very pleased with you.’
He groaned inwardly. He gave a weak smile and followed his nose to the pot of coffee on the side, pouring himself a cup. It disappeared in a couple of swallows.
‘So what are you going to do?’ asked Zdenka.
‘I’m going to check into a hotel.’
‘Giving up so easily.’
‘Zdenka, I’m not giving up. I’m facing reality. Anna and I were never meant to be and she’s always known it. Just a shame it took me so long to catch up.’
‘In that case you can come and look at another property with me today.’
‘I don’t feel like it.’
She gave him a twisted smile. ‘You owe me. Besides, what else are you going to do today?’
Leo shrugged. It was something to do although all his enthusiasm for the project had died. Opening a brewery and pub in Prague wouldn’t be the same without Anna.
ChapterThirty
‘Where’s Leo?’
‘I don’t know.’ Anna pushed a plate of pastries towards Becs. She’d woken early and, finding that Leo was still absent, had been unable to go back to sleep, so she’d popped out to the bakery, half hoping she might see him on the way, out on the street somewhere.
Groggy with tiredness, she took a big gulp of coffee. Sleep had been impossible after he’d left last night. She kept listening, hoping to hear him come back. When she’d finally drifted off, she had a horrible anxious dream where she couldn’t find Leo’s number on her phone and every time she did a search, she kept hitting the wrong buttons and misspelling his name.
Becs picked up a pastry and took a big bite, issuing a satisfied sigh as she chewed. ‘Fresh. You’ve been out already?’
‘Mmm,’ Anna nodded. ‘I think me and Leo broke up last night.’
‘W-what?’ Becs spluttered, having trouble swallowing her coffee.
‘He went out. Didn’t come back.’
‘What do you mean, he went out?’
‘Last night. We had…’ She paused. ‘It wasn’t even a row. A discussion. Talk.’ She huffed out a lengthy sigh.
