‘Explain your plan carefully to Rose. She won’t thank you for throwing your money around, unless she understands why you’re doing it. Rose is determined to stand on her own two feet, and I admire her for it.’
‘You like her?’
‘I like her a lot,’ Sofia confirmed, ‘and I want you to be happy, but that means taking off your blinkers to see things from Rose’s point of view. Can you do that, Raffa?’
He refused to be drawn on the subject of Rose.
‘You want me to butt out of your love life?’ Sofia suggested.
‘I don’t need your advice,’ he confirmed.
‘True,’ she said. ‘You need crowd control.’
Ice rushed through Rose’s veins as she clutched her phone to her face. Her oldest brother, Declan, was on the other end of the line, telling Rose that Raffa Acosta had indeed bought the Old Hall. What next? she wondered, though in fairness the building had been derelict for some time, with no sign of anyone with either the money or the inclination to restore what had once been a thriving estate. ‘How do you know this?’
‘He phoned me. The man himself,’ Declan explained, sounding as pleased as Punch.
‘Raffa Acosta phoned you?’ Rose’s brow pleated in puzzlement. Raffa hadn’t said a word to her. ‘What else did he say?’ she asked suspiciously.
‘He’ll be making an offer for the farm next,’ Declan said, in what Declan would call his ‘only half joking’ voice.
There was no joke about it, as far as Rose was concerned. ‘And you think that’s a good idea?’
‘It would be a solution,’ Declan confessed. ‘It would let you off the hook, for a start.’
‘I don’t want to be let off the hook.’
‘Why do you keep on supporting our father, after the way he treated you and our mother?’
And my brothers, Rose thought, taking a moment to revisit the past before returning her attention to the call. ‘He’s ill, Dec. Alcoholism is an illness. Our father needs help, not blame. If we did sell the farm, I’m frightened the shock might tip him over the edge. I can’t just let that happen, and then walk out on him.’
‘That’s easy to say when he’s not trying to knock your teeth out.’
‘He’d never do that to me,’ Rose declared. ‘All that bluff and bluster was just the drink talking.’
‘He’d only have to fall on you, to knock you out flat.’
‘I think I’m a bit nimbler on my feet than he is. Look, I’ll get back to you, Dec,’ Rose soothed, knowing Declan was remembering things in the past that couldn’t help either of them now. ‘I’ll let you know what I find out,’ she promised.
Raffa was buying up the Old Hall as well as the pub? Rose’s heart pounded like a jackhammer at the thought. What was he up to? He’d admitted he was in Ireland for business. That had stung at the time, but now the possibility of selling the farm had entered her mind, she was forced to consider it. The money it raised would allow her father to have the best treatment, while her brothers would each get a stake to plough into a business of their own. With Raffa at the helm, the farm animals would have the best care, and the land would be maintained to the highest standard. Was it such a bad idea? There was no point dwelling on it now. She had to speak to Raffa.
‘A new era unfolds!’ the landlady at the pub exclaimed the moment she heard Rose’s voice. ‘Señor Acosta is not only keeping us all on, he’s increasing our wages. What a marvel he is, Rose. The man hasn’t stopped all day.’
No, Raffa had definitely been busy, Rose reflected tensely as she replayed the conversation with Declan. ‘If he’s still there, I’m coming over to speak to him. See you soon—’ Before the landlady had a chance to answer, Rose had cut the line, grabbed her battered waxed jacket from the hook behind the door, and was on her way to confront a man causing more uproar in the village than if aliens had landed.
There was no doubt Raffa could do a lot for the area. Equally, trying to stop him doing anything people in the village disagreed with would be like trying to stop a juggernaut in its tracks.
Ideas flooded Rose’s mind. Digging out her phone with frozen fingers, she placed a call, and hurried on. She’d barely walked half a mile when she heard a powerful engine approaching. Pressing back into the bare twigs of the hedge, she gasped with shock as the vehicle roared past, shooting filthy water into her face. There was only one man who could afford to drive a car like that around here. Boss or not, she shook her fist at the disappearing tail lights. The SUV screeched to a halt. Raffa must have seen her through the rear-view mirror. Good job he hadn’t heard her swearing at him. Mud-drenched, she stalked towards him. Not only was Raffa Acosta a control freak, who thought he could buy up Rose’s home town, he was also, she reluctantly noted as he opened the driver’s window, the hottest guy this side of hell.
‘What do you think you’re doing?’ she blazed on a breath tense with anger.
‘I wanted to see you.’
‘Well, now you’ve seen me, what d’you think?’ She held out her arms, to reveal the extent of her soaking.
‘You need a bath?’ Raffa suggested in a husky drawl that would have made her toes curl, if they hadn’t been frozen solid in her boots.
‘Hop in, Rose. You’ll be warm in here.’
