Aria looked away, embarrassed at the memory of the bunk-bed bonking.
‘Caravans are for less affordable areas. The trend is in luxury villas,’ said Nic, and Aria shot him a glance to see if he’d cut in to rescue her. A flare of his nostrils suggested he had, but Justin pointedly ignored him.
‘I take it you are part of the Hetherington family,’ Nic’s friend said. ‘Perhaps we could have a chat later.’
Justin raised an eyebrow. ‘And you are?’
‘Giorgos Castellanos. My sons and I have interests in the land that surrounds the lake, and it could be in everyone’s interest to cooperate on bids,’ the older man replied, clapping Nic on the back.
His dad?Aria let out a breath. She could barely keep up with anything today.
‘Would that be one of the sons who was desperately trying to secure the land we bought an hour or so ago?’ Justin sneered. ‘My family is well respected here and we’ve got all sorts of irons in fires. You might own a piece of the lake, Castle, but you are an outsider, and we don’t consider you credible competition in a community that looks after its own.’
Venturing a glance at Nic, Aria saw him grimace. While she’d disagreed with him on so many things, she couldn’t help hoping he’d stand up for himself against this bully.
Instead, his father heaped kindling on the fire. ‘That would be my younger son, Theo. You’ll consider us credible when we buy it from you later on. Nic here will be wiping his ass with your paperwork, believe you me.’
‘I’d appreciate the heads-up on that before I’m cleaning his toilet,’ Sophie whispered to Aria, before bending down to stroke Tiger.
‘He asks you to clean his toilet?’ Aria hadn’t envisaged Sophie settling into the role of wifey, but she equally wouldn’t have expected a submissive mouse.
‘Pays me to do it! I’m his cleaner, duh.’
Still holding the end of a tepid torpedo her dog was barking to get his teeth around, Aria tried to process this information.
Nic took the reins now. ‘My father is the latest investor to fly in to tour our burgeoning site, which is on the brink of becoming one of the UK’s leading luxury holiday villages. We are offering national and international visitors the best, most comfortable Lakeland experience.’
Justin was straight in with his counterbid. ‘Unsustainable, untenable nonsense. The mass market is all about affordable luxury. Our static mobile homes are the ultimate getaway, while providing jobs for local people who run the parks,’ he said, finally turning to Aria. ‘I heard on the grapevine you were looking for employment. We have a vacancy, for a cleaner.’ His tone indicated how lowly a role he felt this would be.
‘There’s nothing wrong with a bit of domestic help,’ snarled Sophie.
‘Nothing at all,’ Nic quickly jumped in.
‘But you are probably too busy with your little eco project, Aria,’ Lu-Lu said, gesturing at the gate, where precisely no one was stopping to look at the information Aria had spent so long putting together.
‘Be quiet, Lu-Lu,’ Justin blurted out before Aria could come back on the slur.
‘Please don’t shush women. It’s disrespectful,’ Nic said.
‘People have to earn respect,’ Justin flashed back. ‘And my family has done that in the four corners of the county. But you wouldn’t recognise the weight of the Hetherington name, being from London.’
Aria jumped in. ‘He’s actually from Brighton.’
‘We used to sponsor little events like this. But we’ve stopped now as we have bigger plans,’ Justin ploughed on. ‘We’re applying for a licence to host weddings in four of our parks. The king of caravans is about to become the lord of love. And we’ll be having our own wedding this summer in our flagship park, overlooking magnificent Morecambe Bay.’
‘You missed out, Aria!’ Lu-Lu giggled as Justin grabbed his new fiancée by the hand and kissed her jewelled knuckle.
Unnerved, Aria dropped the remains of her hot dog and Tiger went straight in for the floor buffet. She let him feast, slowly retying the arms of her wetsuit around her stomach while her mind whirled. On one side of her was Justin, a man she was once planning to marry and now despised. On the other was Nic, a man she had hated on first sight but was now crushing on. A man who had come to her with a proposal. Last time a guy made her an offer to change her future, it didn’t end well. But another look at Lu-Lu’s smug face and massive diamond helped her come to an unexpected decision.
‘Actually, yours won’t be the only wedding this summer,’ she rushed in. ‘Nic and I just got engaged.’
The group fell silent.
Aria’s cheeks burned. What had she done? Would Nic go with it? She hadn’t spoken to him since that night he came to her in the hut. When their eyes locked, she thought he looked the most shocked of all. Was he regretting his impulsive action? Because two seconds into their engagement, she was already regretting hers.
‘Enemies to lovers!’ Sophie was the first to come forward, moving in for a hug. When she released Aria, she narrowed her eyes. ‘Massive news, woman! Why didn’t you tell me? I knew something was going on, you sneaky devils!’
Aria moved over to Nic, shyly taking his hand as Justin and Lu-Lu exchanged glances and muttered muted congratulations before backing off to spread the gossip. She looked up to see a quizzical smile on Nic’s face.
