She was staying well behind her wall.
While setting up The Green Dragon’s online accounts, he’d stumbled across a handful from Wisteria, including Daphne’s. Clearly, she hadn’t been at it long—her follower count barely cleared triple digits—but her humor peeked through, nonetheless.
And she’d actually taken his suggestion about The Lizzy Bennet? Finn tried—really tried—not to grin, but it clawed its way out anyway. No doubt her reference to being “low on patience” had everything to do with him. He wouldn’t deny he enjoyed lingering in a woman’s mind long after he’d left, even if it was for all the wrong reasons.
Still, he hated to admit he was mildly disappointed she hadn’t turned up at the pub before he and Lucy left for dinner at the Wisteria Manor. Surely a woman who’d dared a chalkboard duel wasn’t above escalating hostilities.
Then again, maybe his implying their “fake amor” in front of her tearoom had been a bit much.
But honestly, she’d started it. He’d been perfectly content in his antisocial Britishness until she’d shown up with her sunshine and scones far too early in the morning for civilized conversation.
And then left him a note on his own chalkboard.
Her fault. Plain and simple. He was merely finishing what she started.
If flirting and milkshakes followed, then all the better.
Still grinning to himself, Finn crested the hill and spotted the large stone sign that read: Wisteria Manor.
And the sprawling stone house poised on a hill overlooking the town of Wisteria certainly lived up to its reputation with its grand Victorian architecture softened by cascading wisteria vines. As lovely a combination of quaint and elegant as anything Finn had seen back in England.
Lanterns flickered along the drive, drawing them through a tangle of wildflowers and towering trees. Against the evening blush, the gray stone glowed, the mountains rising like silent sentinels behind it. The whole thing looked like the kind of place you’d find in a painting.
Which, annoyingly, made him think of Daphne again.
He frowned and guided the car around back, where Harry and Maggie’s portion of the manor branched off like an annex. The rest of the house held guests eager for that blend of small-town charm and old-world grandeur—a tagline Harry had leaned into with unrelenting glee.
In the rearview mirror, Lucy’s wide-eyed awe reflected back at him.
“It looks like a castle, Daddy.”
Right on cue.
“Fits this town, doesn’t it?” he said. The place was nothing like the old manors back home, but it belonged here somehow, nestled into the wild tangle of mountains.
Margaret Coleman met them at the door, her golden hair touched with silver, her smile so warm it erased any hesitation Finn thought Lucy might have had in being apart from them for a year.
“There’s my sweet girl!”
Lucy darted into Maggie’s arms before Finn could so much as blink.
“Look how big you’ve grown,” Maggie said, casting a grin up at Finn. “Whatever you’re feeding her, it’s working.”
Finn grinned and followed Maggie and Lucy through the door into a cozy sitting room complete with rock fireplace to match the exterior of the home.
“I brought the dragon you gave me for my birfday.” Lucy brandished her green stuffed toy for Maggie’s inspection.
“It rarely leaves her side,” Finn added, leaning in for his own hug from Maggie. “Even inspired the pub’s name. Bit of Tolkien thrown in.”
Maggie’s smile softened. “Isn’t that the sweetest thing? I thought after not visiting for a year, she’d have forgotten about us.”
“Not with the weekly video chats.” Finn slipped farther into the entry. The chats had helped ease some of the ache after his father’s death. Harry and Margaret had taken on the role of surrogate grandparents for Lucy as if they’d been made for it.
“Well, I’m glad they bridged the span of time until I got to hug her again.” Margaret pressed a kiss to Lucy’s head, then looked back up at him. “And I have a good notion Wisteria is going to love The Green Dragon as much as the folks who run it.”
“Well, maybe not the local tea shop owner next door.” Harry’s rich laugh preceded him into the room.
Maggie’s chuckle blended in with her husband’s as Harry came up beside her, his arm resting at her waist. “News travels fast around here, Finn.”
