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“Promises, promises,” said Hannah, her eyes closed, her mouth smiling widely.

Lottie laughed. “Careful what you wish for.”

Hannah’s eyes fluttered open. “Oh, really?”

“This is a conversation for another day,” said Lottie, a teasing lilt in her voice. “But for now, I ought to actually sort out your window. And we really should rejoin the party downstairs.”

“Oh yes, you’re the hostess with the mostest,” said Hannah.

Lottie stood up and smoothed down her dress. Her hair was a little dishevelled as she grabbed a screwdriver and started to fix the window clasp.

Hannah sat up and adjusted her own clothing. She laughed at the juxtaposition of Lottie in her glamorous dress, one foot on the armchair to get the right angle and her tongue poking out with effort. Lottie felt ridiculous.

“You are so beautiful,” said Hannah. Lottie ducked her head, not sure what to say.

“God, I may as well have a heaving bosom à la Bridgerton, the way I’m carrying on.” Hannah organised her clothing and fanned her face.

“Right, I think that should hold,” said Lottie, after ten minutes of fiddling about. She’d resorted to hitting it with a hammer in the end.

“Well, thwacking it like that will either kill it or cure it,” said Hannah drily.

“Finesse never was my thing.” Lottie looked at Hannah and smiled. “I do love that suit. When you first walked into the castle you were wearing something similar, and I noticed.” She pressed her lips together. “I didn’t acknowledge why I noticed it. I was too busy being annoyed that you didn’t recognise me.”

“Yes, that. Well, if truth be told, seeing you knocked me off my stride completely, for so many reasons.” Hannah smoothed down her shirt collar. “I was running away from all the pressures of London, hoping not to have to meaningfully interact with anyone for a few days. I was looking forward to being anonymous. But…”

“But then I popped up behind reception,” Lottie filled in.

“Exactly. And you made me feel,” Hannah paused before continuing, “something.”

“Something? What kind of something?” Lottie took a seat in the armchair that was now facing away from the window and into the room. She wanted to know more about how Hannah felt, what was going on in her mysterious brain.

“I don’t know, excited, scared, freaked out. It was confusing,” Hannah admitted, leaning against the wall beside the door to the room.

“I can imagine. It does sound like you’ve had a pretty intense time,” said Lottie, who was running a hand up and down the velvet on the arm of the chair. “And even coming here hasn’t stopped that, with all this threat stuff.”

“Mmm,” said Hannah. “But let’s not talk about that now. Let’s go and get a drink and enjoy tonight.”

“Let’s,” said Lottie. She wanted to talk more to Hannah, to ask what they were doing, where this was going, how it could possibly work. But she knew they needed to go.

Chapter Forty

LOTTIE

Lottie was deep in thought. She’d had flings with occasional visitors to the area before. Just sex and laughter and a couple of meals out here and there. But she was increasingly aware that she had genuine feelings for Hannah. She felt the pain of Hannah dealing with the death threats almost physically, wanting more than anything to be able to help her in some way. To protect her.

She replayed the words Hannah had said when they left her room: “Let’s enjoy tonight.”

Lottie had turned the words over in her mind, looking at them from each angle while eating the lavish dinner Anya’s team had prepared. Perhaps it was just Hannah wanting to move the conversation on. Or perhaps it was her highlighting the inevitably short-lived nature of their relationship. While Hannah had no departure date yet, she wouldn’t stay forever.

Lottie imagined her life in a few months’ time. No Hannah, Freya away at college, Zack in Manchester, leaving Lottie to the same life she’d been living for twenty years. There had to be more. This had come back to her time and again after the conversation she’d had with her niblings on their walk. She resolved to talk to Anne-Marie and see if she had any thoughts on what might be next for her, professionally. As for what was next for her personally, she had no idea. She desperately wanted to know what Hannah was thinking, but given the pressures she was experiencing, Lottie didn’t want to add anything to her plate.

“You OK, Lotts?” asked Zack, nudging his aunt. “You’ve been staring at your mince pie for about five minutes.”

“Oh, sorry, love. Just thinking about what I need to do this evening ready for tomorrow.” Lottie was a terrible liar, but Zack seemed to be humouring her.

“Well, don’t worry too much. Me and Tom will help with cooking dinner tomorrow, and Freya announced earlier that she had plans for pudding,” he said, an eyebrow raised.

“Did she?” Lottie didn’t try to hide her surprise. Tom was standing beside Zack and he nodded his head.