Instantly, lounging in a robe felt immensely appealing.
She kicked off her shoes and stepped out of her dress... then remembered the whisky she’d meant to pick up, Mairead’s favourite tipple from her original home on the Isle of Mull. ‘Crap.’ She crossed the room and located the minibar. Therewere only two miniature bottles of Scotch and – of course – neither of them was Ledaig. She groaned. What a pain. She’d have to dress again and...
She glanced at the smart black room phone and the magic wordsRoom Servicejumped out at her. ‘You’d be shocked at my laziness, Gran,’ she said aloud as she lifted the receiver. She dialled eight and when her call was answered said, ‘Could I have a bottle of Ledaig in Suite Two, please?’ She went on to explain that there should be a bottle left from the funeral and how to spell ‘Ledaig’.
‘Of course, madam,’ came a female voice. ‘Someone will be right up.’
While she waited, Jade ran the bath, emptying the bottle of deliciously sandalwood-scented bubble bath into the gushing flow. She could read on her phone while she soaked. British or American books and magazines kept her English up to date. Then, realising that room service was about to arrive when she was in her underwear, she belted herself into one of the fluffy white robes and slid into the padded slippers that proved a balm to her aching feet.
When a knock sounded at the outer door, prepared as she was forsomeoneto deliver her order, she hadn’t anticipated that it would be Leo Sartori.
Clutching the doorknob, she took in his height and the way his hair fell forward. Despite the blue jacket that brought out the colour of his eyes, with a tray balanced on his hand he looked like a butler. His face was more lived-in than when she’d held it between her hands and kissed it, half a lifetime ago, though his laughter lines exceeded the lines of fatigue – just. Stupidly, she said, ‘You don’t work here.’
One side of his mouth lifted. ‘True. I offered to help. And I wanted to check you were OK.’ He hesitated, his smile fading. ‘Your whisky.’ His tray bore a full-sized rounded bottle of amberLedaig whisky and a cut-glass tumbler on a white napkin. He furrowed his brow.
She read concern in his face and belatedly considered hangovers and pickled livers. ‘I’m not going to drink itall.’
‘Right.’ He waited. She remained in the doorway. After a moment, he said apologetically, ‘I think the idea is that I carry in the tray and place it neatly on the table, mentioning cordially but respectfully that you’ll find ice in your minibar and asking if there’s anything else I can help with.’
‘Oh.’ Briefly, she considered taking the tray from him – he wasn’t the only one who could balance it on one hand – and then shutting the door. But that would be venting her mood on the wrong person... even if it was one who’d once broken her heart.
She stepped aside. ‘I’ve already located the ice tray and I don’t need anything else. Thanks,’ she added belatedly, as he stepped past her. Then she caught sight of steam billowing out through the bathroom door. ‘Oh, shit, the bath!’ She almost collided with him as she spun on her heel and plunged into the steam to grapple with the tap, losing a slipper en route.
When she returned to the main room, he was still standing by the table between the two padded swivel chairs. The tray was neatly arranged.
‘Waiting for your tip?’ she joked feebly, feeling caught out in just a robe and undies, but managing to at least retrieve the errant slipper.
He smiled. Then he sobered. ‘I wanted to say something about Mairead, Jade. She was a wonderful woman. I don’t have a single bad memory of her.’
His words seemed to pull a drawstring tight inside Jade’s throat. Grabbing the whisky bottle, she twisted the top but her hands were moist from the bathroom steam. Gently he took it and cracked the seal before handing it back, then he fetched ice from the minibar.
‘Thanks,’ she muttered, tipping two ice cubes from the glass bowl he proffered into the cut-glass tumbler and pouring in enough Ledaig to cover them. After a moment’s thought, she lifted the open bottle and sent him an enquiring look.
His blink of surprise as he realised that he was being offered a drink was almost comical. ‘Thanks. Great.’
Soon they were sitting in the cream-coloured chairs, the whisky bottle on the table between them, their gazes on the ever-changing view up the south-west leg of Lake Como. ‘To Mairead,’ he said, in a toast. ‘Trust her not to want a sad funeral.’
She lifted her own glass, eyes burning. ‘To Gran, who I’m sure considered ordering a ceilidh band so we could dance Scottish reels.’ As he chuckled, she took a healthy gulp of Ledaig and its peaty burn flayed the back of her throat. It made her voice husky. ‘How long will you be home? Sheenagh told Gran things didn’t work out with Isabella and your hotel. I’m sorry.’ Sheenagh had kept Mairead updated with her family’s news, the highlights of which Mairead then conveyed to Jade. Though always listening politely, Jade had deliberately not exhibited much interest in Leo. They’d gone their separate ways. A little curiosity was natural, but too much might have indicated that she wasn’t over him – which she was. Obviously.
‘Things certainly didn’t. She and her dad have taken on the hotel.’ His bleak expression turned his eyes more grey than blue.
She decided that he wasn’t – as she’d thought downstairs – older and wiser, but older and warier. Try as she might not to, she still knew him. Knew that voice and the flat expression in his eyes. Leo had been hurt. ‘I’m sorry,’ she repeated.
He looked into his glass. Then his shoulders lifted on a sigh and he surprised her by continuing. ‘I thought we were solid, busy getting on with life, bringing our dream of our own, independent hotel to fruition. But I’d underestimated the effect of her dad being back on the scene.’
Jade lounged deeper into her chair, keeping a hand on the vee of her robe to avoid flashing her underwear. ‘He hadn’t been around?’ She hadn’t realised she and Isabella had had an absent father in common. She hadn’t thought they’d had anything in common. Except... well, yeah. Leo.
He lifted his eyes to the panoramic view of the lake where a motorboat churned a line of white froth behind itself as it headed into the expanse of water. The sun was sinking towards the mountain opposite, bathing the lake in a rosy glow and turning terracotta roofs orange. ‘He and her mother, Maryam, split when Isabella was fourteen. He went to South Africa, where he had family. The first summer, he gave Isabella a fantastic few weeks with him at his new place, with a pool. Her mum said it gave her princess tendencies.’
Jade managed not to say, ‘Sothat’swhere she got it from,’ remembering how snooty Isabella had been at Massimo’s wedding.
‘Trouble was, he never invited her again. Even once she could afford the fare herself, he fobbed her off.’ Leo frowned. ‘Maryam said Teddy was selfish and irresponsible, so what could Isabella expect? Isabella held that against her mum and was too young to exercise judgement about her dad, I suppose. Anyway,’ he sipped his drink absently, ‘contact continued by email or phone and when Teddy told Isabella he was returning to the UK, she was ecstatic.’ His lips twisted wryly. ‘I didn’t mind being sidelined at first. It washugefor her. She hadn’t seen her dad for more than twenty years. Then it turned out Teddy had money to invest. If he became a sleeping partner, it would free us from an onerous mortgage on the Black Falcon. Like a fool, I didn’t take Maryam’s opinion of Teddy as due warning.’
‘And you got shoved out?’ Jade began to feel sorry for him.
‘Yep.’ He sipped whisky again. ‘I was outvoted. Ganged up on. It was painful, perhaps because I was so powerless.’ He slanteda smile that didn’t reach his eyes. ‘That’s why I’m here to take a breath before I start looking for another business.’
‘In hospitality?’ Whether it was the whisky or talking about something other than losing Gran and gaining two sisters, Jade was interested. She sipped again, feeling the burn in her throat become a comforting glow in her stomach.
