‘Why not? Extra accommodation at the inn for patients attending for assessment, or for staff coming here for interview. I’d say the set-up is perfect,’ he confirmed.
Rose’s expression was utterly transformed. ‘Are you serious?’ she asked, as if hardly daring to hope.
‘Yes.’ He sounded calm, but inwardly he was in turmoil. Nothing mattered more to him than Rose. The thought of not seeing her again was unacceptable to him. Somewhere along the way, between the humour they’d shared and the verbal battles they’d indulged in, as well as their night of passion, a change had happened, but she wasn’t ready to hear that yet, any more than he was ready to say the words she wanted to hear. ‘I need a head groom,’ he said instead. ‘You need a solution for your father.’
‘You’d build a retreat in Ireland to get me back to Spain?’
‘Yes,’ he admitted with a one-shouldered shrug.
‘So, I’m another of your charities.’ She bristled. ‘I don’t mean to be ungrateful, Raffa, but I know how you love a good cause.’
‘Your father won’t be the only one to benefit from it, Rose.’
‘I’m sorry.’ Mashing her lips together, she turned her head to avoid his gaze. ‘I shouldn’t get so het up. It’s just that I don’t know what to say.’
‘Don’t say anything—except, “I’m coming back to Spain.”’
‘Is this leading to an offer for the farm?’ she asked suspiciously.
‘Declan does have an interest in selling the farm,’ he admitted.
‘So, it’s all been decided without any input from me?’
‘No. Of course it hasn’t. You and your brothers would all have to agree to sell.’
‘How many have you talked into the deal so far?’
‘There’s just you to persuade now,’ he admitted.
‘So, I’m the last to hear.’
‘You’ve been through so much—’
‘Don’t—don’t do that!’ She held up her hand as if warding him off. ‘Don’t say you’re protecting me. I’m not the baby sister. Treat me as I deserve to be treated, with the same respect you show my brothers.’
‘That has always been my intention, which is why I’m here to talk about it in person.’
‘If you approach it the right way, selling the farm could be an answer to our problems,’ she conceded. ‘It’s not what I want, but I have to be pragmatic. My father needs money spending on his care, and the farm could provide that.’ Lifting her chin, she stared him in the eyes. Beneath the bravado, he saw a young woman struggling to hold everything and everyone together. Crushed beneath the weight of perceived duty, Rose had yet to come to terms with the fact that she was no longer needed by her brothers as she had been in the past.
‘Whatever happens in the future, the Kelly name will remain above the farm,’ he pledged.
‘With the Acosta brand on every horse, man and drystone wall?’ Rose suggested as the enormity of the sale of her family’s farm overwhelmed her.
‘Don’t think of me as a wrecking ball. These purchases are the fastest way to help you and your brothers, as well as your father, and others like him. All I ask is that you see the broader picture and take your feelings for me out of it.’
But she couldn’t. Some sort of dam had burst inside her, and a wall of pure emotion hit him square in the chest as Rose sprang up and shoved her chair back so hard it crashed to the floor. He’d never seen her like this before, hands shaking, face drawn. Trapped between a past she couldn’t change and a future she couldn’t see her way clear to reaching, Rose was as close to a breaking point as anyone could be. He stood in the same instant, ready to catch, soothe or deflect blows, if that was what it came to.
‘You don’t have to do everything on your own, Rose. Accept help when it’s offered. You have no difficulty accepting help for your father. Why can’t you accept help from me?’
‘Because my father’s situation at the bakery is temporary until he starts treatment, while your suggestion means permanent change.’
‘Is that such a bad thing?’
‘It narrows down my options, and my brothers’ options too.’
‘What if I told you that I’ve asked Declan to manage the farm?’
Rose’s lips turned white. ‘So, it is all decided. I was going to ask you who would pay for Declan to come home, but there’s no need for that, is there? Because you’ve already arranged it. You’re like the hub of a wheel, directing us all around you—how fast we move, where we go, and when.’
