Bella shook her head. ‘You should get out of London more.’
‘You’re probably right.’
There was a pause between them as they both sipped their coffee. Just as Bella was wondering how to make an exit, her attention was drawn by a long, demanding yowl.
‘Hello, darling!’ Relieved to have something other than her rapidly emptying coffee mug to pretend to focus on, she looked across the kitchen and saw Monty standing in the kitchen doorway. He already looked a hundred times more alert than he had when he had been in the cattery. Bella watched as he yawned and stretched out his long striped front paws before he walked, tail held high, towards the pair of them.
‘Has he had any breakfast?’ She glanced at Noah.
‘Not yet,’ Noah replied. ‘I wasn’t sure how much to give him, so I thought I’d check with you first.’
‘Very sensible thinking,’ Bella smiled, the previous oddness between them forgotten. ‘He’s not above pretending he’s starving to get some extra rations!’
‘He was always the same when he lived here before.’ Noah leaned down and, presumably because Monty was feeling more tolerant before breakfast, stroked the top of the old cat’s head. ‘Oh, you love me now, don’t you, you old bugger.’
Smirking, Bella got up from the table and sorted out Monty’s bowl of food. ‘Here you go, old chap.’ She popped it down in the corner of the kitchen, near the back door, and for a minute or so both she and Noah watched Monty like anxious parents.
‘This is daft!’ Noah gave a short laugh. ‘It’s not like he’s our baby!’
‘I’d hope you wouldn’t be making your baby eat off the floor,’ Bella remarked, raising an eyebrow in Noah’s direction.
‘Well, not unless they were very lucky!’
Both of them burst out laughing, and the tension dissipated.
‘Let me know if you need a hand with the shed.’
‘I will, but only if you’ve got nothing better to do. It’s your day off, after all. You should take it easy.’
Bella smiled, and as her eyes locked with Noah’s, she was sure she didn’t imagine something flowing between them, a kind of electricity that was making her skin tingle and her breath shorten. ‘I’ll, er, be sure to remember that,’ she said softly.
Noah gave her a warm smile, and then, mindful that Monty should still be under house arrest, he opened the back door carefully and shut it swiftly behind him. Bella watched him make his way across the overgrown garden, trying to convince herself she wasn’t admiring his very sexy back view.
35
In the event, Bella decided she wanted to change a few things around in her room, and her and Noah’s paths didn’t cross again until Sunday afternoon. Given that the cottage was so small, this felt like a miracle, but Bella was used to sharing houses with people and had grown adept at marking out her own space.
At around two o’clock, Bella was considering having a late lunch when Noah came through the back door again. The afternoon was very warm, and he looked sweaty and dishevelled. Instinctively, Bella made to leave the kitchen, but he started to chat while he grabbed a large glass of water.
‘I can’t believe what Grandpa kept in that bloody shed! My brothers and I never thought to check it after he moved into the home, but there must be decades of stuff in there.’ He shook his head. ‘At least it’s all in meticulous order, though.’
‘That’s something.’ Bella edged towards the kitchen door. She was trying not to watch Noah’s throat as he glugged down the first glass of water and then filled the tumbler again.
‘I’m bloody starving now – what do you say to a bite to eat down the pub? Celebrate our new living arrangement?’
Bella laughed. ‘Thanks, but I like to keep my distance from there when I’m not actually working – otherwise I feel like I need to jump behind the bar and help out.’
‘We can’t have that.’ Noah paused. ‘Well, how about I nip to the farm shop and grab something for us, then? The garden’s a no-go area but we could split a picnic in here?’
‘Honestly, Noah, there’s no need. I’m happy with a bit of toast.’
‘I insist.’ Noah looked at her with those irresistible brown eyes again, and she wondered how anyone ever denied him anything.
‘Oh, all right then,’ she conceded. ‘Mine’s a Saint’s Farm mature cheddar cheese and pickle, if they’ve got it, on crusty white.’
‘Spoken like someone who’s a regular!’ Noah laughed. ‘Your wish is my command. I’ll be right back.’ Grabbing his door keys from where he’d hooked them on Jack’s wall-mounted key holder, in a matter of moments she heard the electric hum of the Tesla pulling away from the cottage. Bella smiled to herself; the farm shop was about a ten-minute walk away, but Noah was obviously as hungry as she was.
Bella looked down at Monty, who was staring, clear-eyed, back up at her. ‘Don’t look at me like that,’ she said. ‘Just because he’s all hot and sweaty, and he’s gone to buy me my favourite sandwich, doesn’t mean I fancy him!’
