She had to get out of here for a while. She needed a bit of peace and quiet. But she didn’t want to ask Roger to move the lorry. Could she wait until they had finished? He had said the scaffolding would be up by lunchtime, but that was hours away.
She could go for a walk. The weather was perfect for that today. Except the grass on the cliff would probably still be like a quagmire after yesterday’s downpour, if her front garden was anything to go by. The scaffolders had already had to place metal plates beneath the upright poles to stop them from sinking into the sodden ground.
She could venture down Old Oak Lane. But that would necessitate passing Tom’s cottage. Jasper might spot her and think she was spying on him. Or worse than that, that she was stalking him or something.
Now she was being ridiculous. Why shouldn’t she take a walk down the lane without Jasper or anyone else for that matter questioning her motives? It was a free country after all. The lane only led out into the main road at the other end, so if she wanted to stay on firm ground, the only option was to head inthe direction of the village. If that meant passing Tom’s cottage then so be it.
Jasper might be out, so there might not be any need for her to feel anxious.
Why should she feel anxious, anyway? The misunderstanding, if that was what it had been, was entirely down to him. She had not tried to seduce him in any way, shape, or form.
But Jasper might think she had.
Perhaps it would be good for her to make it clear that was definitely not the case. She could make a joke of it. Show him that it was no big deal. Make it clear that she only thought of him as Tom’s grandson. Better yet, she should say she didn’t think of him at all.
Except that wouldn’t be entirely true. In fact, it would be an outright lie. Since meeting Jasper Bright she had thought of little else but him. His build. His voice. His hair. His face. His kissable lips. His come to bed eyes.
Not that his eyes had told her he wanted her to come to bed. Although … when she had opened the front door to him last night, she had seen something in those gorgeous eyes that had made her think he liked what he saw. Those eyes had scanned her from head to toe, just as her eyes had scanned him.
But she must have misread the look in his eyes because just ten minutes or so later, the man had bolted from the cottage, indicating quite clearly that he had no interest whatsoever in going to bed with her.
Not that she had asked him to.
She had only met the man last night.
She didn’t even want to go to bed with him.
Did she?
No. She found him attractive, she would not deny that. Very attractive.
But her thoughts had gone no further until Jenny had told her that Jasper had rejected her, and then, like it or not, last night, as Lara had tossed and turned in her bed, and tried to understand what had happened, she had felt rejected. Something she hadn’t felt since…
Well. Not since she had gone to live with her aunt and uncle and cousins, fourteen years ago.
