Posy’s hands were truly trembling like they’d never trembled before as she unlocked the door, though a part of her, a huge part, wanted to flee upstairs, jump into bed and pull the covers over her head.

‘Oh hi, Sebastian,’ Posy said once she got the door open. She cringed at the shrill note to her voice. ‘What’s up?’

He was dressed all in black with an intent look on his face as he stepped into the shop, then shut the door behind him and turned the key.

Posy leaned back against the display table and clutched the rim with her sweaty hands. ‘Bit late for social calls, isn’t it?’ she asked.

Still, Sebastian said nothing, but stood looking at Posy with his head tilted to one side. He didn’t seem angry, he didn’t seem like he was about to laugh and poke ten shades of fun out of Posy and her ridiculous Regency romance either.

So maybe he hadn’t read it and this really was a social call.

‘I’m glad you stopped by,’ Posy said a little desperately. ‘I think I gave you the wrong thumb drive last night. I’ve got the right one upstairs. No need to look at the one you have, there’s nothing important on it. Nothing important at all. Nothing that would interest you, but it’s—’

‘Ill met by moonlight, my dear Miss Morland,’ Sebastian said, as he took a step closer to where Posy stood, her eyes widening in alarm. ‘How enchanting you look. So adorably dishevelled.’

Oh, no! No! No! No! NONONONONO‌NONONONONONONO!!!!!!!

Posy attempted a carefree laugh and ended up choking while her heart thundered away like a marathon runner’s on the approach to the twenty-six-mile marker. ‘Have you been drinking?’ she spluttered. He was still taking steps towards her. ‘I think you should go, Sebastian. It is late and I’m really tired. Anyway, it’s Saturday night. You must have a hot date.’

Sebastian continued moving closer and taking his sweet time about it. ‘I find I grow tired of tavern wenches, courtesans and other men’s wives.’ And he must have memorised every awful word that she’d written because he tapped one finger against Posy’s lips as she stared at him in horror and tried not to swoon. Not at Sebastian’s nearness. But because even with an industrial fan whirring away in the corner, it was suddenly very hot in the shop. Posy was burning up. Oh God, he smelt so good. ‘But I’ll wager I won’t grow tired of you.’

Posy sidestepped the table, one hand up to ward Sebastian off because he was smiling now and it was a smile as devilish as his Regency counterpart’s. ‘Please, Sebastian, you have to go now,’ she said. But as she turned to flee, he caught hold of her arm and pulled her close enough that he could lean down and … was he kissing her cheek? He was, just the lightest brush of his lips and Posy couldn’t have moved if she’d wanted to.

She did want to, she really did, but her legs didn’t seem to have got the message.

‘By all means make me chase you, Miss Morland. The hunt only quickens my blood,’ Sebastian whispered in her ear, and he kissed Posy’s burning, blushing cheek again – because he’d read her awful novel, realised that along the way she’d developed feelings for him and he thought it was a huge joke. He thought he could come here and mock her.

‘Don’t!’ Posy tried to pull away, but his arms were around her waist now. ‘This isn’t funny! It’s actually very hurtful. Please don’t do this to me.’

Sebastian let his hands drop to his sides and Posy wanted him to say something, break character, tease her so she could come back with a few snappy one-liners herself – that was what they did. Then Sebastian took hold of her hand, drew it to his mouth and kissed her palm, while Posy stood there wary and mistrustful.

Sebastian frowned, maybe it was because her palm was very, very sweaty, which might have explained why he pressed a kiss to the corner of Posy’s mouth instead. ‘I must, for I will have no peace of mind until I do,’ he said and softly kissed her again. ‘How you torment me, intrigue me, possess me with thoughts of making you mine.’

‘All right! That’s enough,’ Posy said, because it was. Without a thought for his suit, she pushed Sebastian away. ‘I shouldn’t have written what I did. In fact, I didn’t write it. I was reading it for a friend of mine and I thought it would be funny to swap the names. Which was wrong. OK, I know it was wrong but—’

‘Why should you be left in peace when I am in torment?’ He sounded as if he meant it, which was the cruellest thing of all. Or maybe it was the way he was prowling towards her again, like a long, lean panther with a predatory glint in his eye.

‘You’ve done some pretty shady things to me over the years,’ Posy told him furiously, her hands on her hips. ‘I think this is even worse than when you shut me in the coal-hole. You are an absolute rake!’

‘Oh do shut up, Morland,’ Sebastian said, suddenly dropping his facade. ‘I’m genuinely trying to seduce you, so bloody well let yourself be seduced!’

He looked as shocked at his words as Posy did, but then her arms were suddenly around his neck because Posy realised that actually she would like to be seduced by Sebastian – she’d like it very much. ‘Well, in that case, go on then,’ she said. ‘Bloody well seduce me!’

He did seduce her. Or rather he kissed her and she kissed him back. When it wasn’t saying hurtful things, Sebastian’s mouth was wonderful. Tender but demanding, playful but fierce and Posy didn’t ever want to stop kissing him, even as they ricocheted off the shop fittings until they were stumbling to the stairs, still locked together in a frantic embrace.

There was an interlude as they lay sprawled uncomfortably on the stairs and tried to catch their breath, while Sebastian unbuttoned Posy’s flower-sprigged blouse with shaking fingers. ‘I’m trembling,’ he told her with a sly smile. ‘Quivering, wavering, but mostly trembling.’

‘Shut up!’ Posy said. ‘I never want to hear you quote another word from Ravished by the Rake.’

‘You’d better kiss me again, then,’ Sebastian said, and so Posy did as she was told, although when they’d finally made it to her bed and were tugging at each other’s clothes until they were skin on skin, he lowered his head to kiss the freckle just above her belly button and murmured, ‘Contrary to popular belief, I do respond to the word no. So I’m asking you nicely, will you let me into that soft inviting place between your silken thighs, Morland?’

‘You are a very, very bad man,’ Posy said, as she wiggled under him in a way that made Sebastian clench his jaw. ‘But seeing as how you’re already halfway there, you might as well, I suppose.’

‘That was good,’ Sebastian said afterwards. ‘Very good. What you lacked in experience, you made up for in enthusiasm, Morland.’

Posy felt as if she was floating on a cloud of euphoria, though she wasn’t floating but lying in Sebastian’s arms while he stroked her hair, occasionally backtracking when his fingers encountered a knot. ‘Whereas you had both enthusiasm and experience,’ she pointed out. Then she didn’t know what else to say. It had been a while, a long, long while since she’d entertained a gentleman caller, and she wasn’t sure if they were meant to have a lengthy debrief about what they’d just done, which would then lead to a tense discussion about what would happen next. Which would then lead to an argument, which would only end with either Sebastian storming out or Posy throwing him out, and she didn’t want that to happen. For one thing, she could barely move.

But it was going to get complicated, not to mention awkward, because they had a complicated and awkward past and oh God, she’d just had sex with Sebastian and now she was another name on the long list of women he’d bedded than dumped for a newer, shinier model.

Posy no longer felt euphoric, she was gripped by panic, but before she could force her cotton wool limbs to tense, Sebastian nuzzled a spot behind her ear and tightened his arms around her. ‘Morland, I hate to kill the mood, but I’m absolutely parched. Do you think you could go and make me one of your undrinkable cups of tea?’

‘If it’s that undrinkable, why should I bother?’ Posy snapped. Oddly, the snapping and the uncalled for dig about her exemplary tea-making skills didn’t kill the mood, even when Posy had to grab her dressing gown and put it on under the covers because although they’d just made love, striding about naked was something she wasn’t ready for. Snapping at each other and trading insults was what she and Sebastian did, and the fact that they were still doing it after doing it made Posy feel more at ease with the situation.

And because it was an auspicious occasion, she used the posh Clipper teabags, fresh full-fat milk and even arranged some HobNobs in a decorative pattern on a plate. Then she carried her laden tray back into the bedroom where Sebastian was lounging on her M&S floral bed linen and looking very comfortable with his surroundings.

‘You were gone far too long,’ he complained, and just as Posy was about to point out in her defence that even he had to wait for a kettle to boil, he assumed a sorrowful expression. ‘I missed you terribly.’

‘I was five minutes,’ Posy protested as she handed Sebastian a mug and as their fingers brushed, it started off a little conflagration so that all Posy’s nerve endings began to tingle from the tips of her toes right up to the top of her head, where it felt as if her hair was standing on end. Though, truthfully, her hair probably was standing on end after being tousled and tugged, and there had been one point where Posy had found herself upside down and half hanging out of bed.

‘I’ve never met anyone who blushes as much as you do,’ Sebastian noted as Posy quickly shed her dressing gown and dived back into bed. ‘I suppose it’s quite endearing now that I know that you blush all over. And I mean all over.’

Sebastian wasn’t blushing because he was impervious to embarrassment, but his hair was also in a state of wild abandon and it was silly when they’d known each other so long, were lying in bed together, to suddenly feel so shy.

But this was outside of Posy’s usual remit, whereas Sebastian must have been used to making post-coital chitchat and lounging about in beds that weren’t his own. And those other women. None of them lasted very long and she and Sebastian weren’t friends … and now Posy didn’t even know what they were …

‘You’re thinking very loudly, Morland.’ Sebastian put down his mug of tea so he could kiss Posy’s shoulder. ‘It’s giving me a headache.’

‘I hated it when we weren’t speaking,’ Posy blurted out. ‘When you stopped coming round. And if this means that’s going to happen again, because you really don’t have a good track record when it comes to long-term relationships, then maybe it’s better that we cut our losses now. Just agree that this was a moment of madness and that we’re better off—’

‘Getting married,’ Sebastian interjected smoothly. ‘Especially now that I’ve taken advantage of you. Isn’t that the way it works in those awful romances of yours?’

‘They’re not awful,’ Posy said. ‘Well, the one I wrote was, but didn’t I take advantage of you and … Hang on! Rewind! Did you just … Did you just propose to me?’

‘Once again, Morland, I have to ask if you ever listen to a single word I say? You know, I quite liked being a Romantic Hero,’ Sebastian decided as Posy tried to sit up. ‘Please stop fidgeting. Though you should know that I don’t have the upper body strength to lift you on to my horse. And I can’t ride, but anyway, we’ll still have to get married.’

It was the incentive Posy needed to succeed in freeing herself from Sebastian’s arms so she could stare him in the eye. He didn’t look as if he was joking. He looked deadly serious. ‘Why on earth would we have to do that?’ she asked.

Sebastian sat up and stuffed a couple of pillows behind him, then crossed his arms and sighed as though he couldn’t understand why Posy was being so dense. ‘Well, Lavinia adored you – though she adored me too, so she wasn’t a particularly good judge of character. I did try to tell you this last night.’

‘You did?’ Posy frowned. ‘I don’t remember that at all.’

‘Once again, I have to point out that you never listen to anything I say, do you?’ Sebastian shook his head sadly. ‘We were talking about your big sleep and how Lavinia kept telling me that you weren’t ready to wake up. Let me ask you a question; why do you think she left me the mews and you the shop?’

‘She said, in her letter, that she wanted us to be friends.’ Posy smiled. ‘She also said that I should give you a clip round the ear from time to time.’ Then her expression became more serious. Whenever the topic of Sebastian had come up, Lavinia would shake her head and look exasperated but also tender at the same time and say things like ‘He’s such an impossible boy. Heart of gold, of course, but one would be hard pressed to find it when he hides it so well.’ But then … ‘She did say a couple of times that you needed the love of a good woman.’

‘You weren’t the only one to get a letter,’ Sebastian said, and he twisted out from under the quilt to grope on the floor for his trousers. He returned with his wallet, which he opened and pulled out a folded sheet of cream paper. ‘Here.’

Seeing Lavinia’s navy blue handwriting still hurt a little. In the same way that Posy would occasionally find a list from Lavinia at the back of a drawer in the office or an old stock card and she’d be hit with the loss of Lavinia all over again.

Dear Sebastian

Darling, darling boy. How hard it is to say goodbye. Please never be in doubt of just how much I love you. And because I love you, I only want to see you happy – and I know that there’s only one thing that will make you happy.

Posy.

She’s not ready yet, Sebastian. She’s still fast asleep. Still lost. But I know a way to make Posy find herself again and once she’s found herself, then she’ll find you.

That’s not the only reason why I’m leaving Bookends to Posy, but it’s one of the reasons. It’s her home and I made a promise to her and Sam when their parents died, that it would always be their home. But I know the business is in a terrible mess and Posy must be the one to sort it out. I have every confidence that she’ll transform Bookends’ fortunes. Breathe life into it again. She needs to know that she’s strong and that she can stand on her own two feet, and once she can do that, she’ll be able to handle anything. Even you, my darling boy.

Obviously, I’m leaving the mews to you, which will be a clever way to bring you closer to Posy. Help her, by all means, Sebastian, but don’t bully her. If things take a turn for the worse or the bailiffs are outside, then please offer her guidance and support, but give her the time and the space that she needs.

You’ll both get there in the end and if you’re even a fraction as happy as Perry and I were, then you’ll have such golden years together.

I’m counting on it. Counting on you. Don’t let me down, Sebastian.

I may not be around for much longer but I will never stop loving you.

Lavinia xxx

It was hard to read the last few lines because Posy’s eyes were blurry with tears that trickled down her face, off the top of her nose and her chin, because Sebastian had been right the night before when he’d said that she wasn’t a pretty crier.

‘She really did love you, Sebastian,’ Posy said, because that was clear even if she couldn’t begin to make sense of everything else Lavinia had written to him.

‘And she loved you too. Always said that if she were a betting woman she’d put money on the two of us ending up together,’ Sebastian said softly. ‘I’m only following Lavinia’s last wishes, Morland.’

‘You sure about that?’ Posy asked. ‘One of Lavinia’s other last wishes was that you didn’t bully me, but you managed to ignore that request.’

Sebastian pretended to choke on the sip of tea he’d just taken. ‘That wasn’t bullying. It was tough love. And a lot of the times that I tried to sweep in and save the day, you’d already saved it without me. You’ve become your own woman, Morland.’ Sebastian gave Posy a sidelong glance with a hint of arched eyebrow that did things to parts of her that she was sure were still recovering. ‘Just as Lavinia said you would.’

‘It’s still not even half a good reason to get married. Married!’ Posy pulled the duvet over her head so she wouldn’t have to look at Sebastian, who seemed to have inherited Lavinia’s exasperated but tender expression.

‘It’s an excellent reason to get married. But I do have other reasons too. Would you like to hear them?’ he asked solicitously.

‘No,’ Posy said from underneath the quilt.

‘Sorry, can’t hear you, Morland. Was that a yes? Well to start with, you’re great with Sam, so it stands to reason that you’ll be a good mother, though we probably shouldn’t have children right away. Not until he’s gone to university and you’ll be what, thirty-one then so we’ll need to get a move on. Two or four kids, I was thinking – no odd numbers, someone will always feel sidelined. Certainly not one child, singular, I was a single child and look how I turned out.’

Posy pulled the duvet away so she could sit up and punch Sebastian on the arm. It wasn’t a hard punch, but he made a big show of screwing up his face and rubbing the spot where she’d barely touched him. ‘Are you really talking about the number of imaginary children we’re going to have?’

‘But we have to have children, otherwise it would be a waste of your childbearing hips! Also, for the record, you have fantastic tits.’ And because they were right there, in front of him, Sebastian couldn’t seem to stop himself from rubbing his thumb over one rosy nipple, which was distracting. Very distracting. ‘You’re not still going out with Count Jens of Uppsala, are you?’

‘You are never going to stop quoting bits of that horrible book at me, are you?’

‘Never. I have the whole thing committed to memory. And it’s not horrible. It’s a first draft. A work in pro-gress. I found it rather gripping. Also, I liked Lord Sebastian Thorndyke. He was very thrusting and dy-namic,’ Sebastian remembered fondly, as he moved on to her other breast until Posy slapped his hands away and dragged the duvet up to cover her chest. ‘Are you still seeing him, then?’

‘We decided, or Jens decided, that we were better off as friends.’ This wasn’t going anywhere, it couldn’t. They certainly weren’t getting married, but … ‘So, what about you and Yasmin, then?’

‘I haven’t seen Yasmin since the book sale. She sent me a text to say that I was too much for her.’ Sebastian shifted around so he was lying on top of the covers with his head in her lap. ‘It’s your turn to stroke my hair now, Morland.’ He waited until Posy was obeying orders and then sighed. ‘You see, I’m not very good with women.’

Posy’s hands paused from winding through Sebastian’s curls. ‘Sebastian, you’ve been out with thousands of women.’

‘Don’t stop and not thousands. Hundreds. Not even a hundred. I can get women, but then I don’t have a clue what to do with them,’ Sebastian said very quietly. ‘I spent my childhood being fawned over by my grandparents and a succession of nannies, while each consecutive stepfather loathed me, then I was packed off to an all boys school where I happily hung out with the other geeks and played computer games until I couldn’t see straight. When I was eighteen and went to university I suddenly had all these girls chasing after me, without any effort on my part, so I never bothered to make any effort. I’m not entirely sure that was a good game plan.’

‘Sebastian, much as it pains me to say it, you’re beautiful and rich and Lavinia was absolutely right: you have a kind heart when you bother to let people see it. So of course girls were going to be interested in you,’ Posy said.

‘I’m not beautiful,’ Sebastian insisted. ‘It’s hardly manly.’ Then he held up an arm. ‘And I’m weedy. Thank God for a well-cut suit. You should see me in jeans and a T-shirt – I look like I’ve been on a year-long hunger protest.’

‘I always thought you were beautiful,’ Posy admitted. ‘Until you locked me in the coal-hole.’

‘Let it go, Morland,’ Sebastian advised. ‘I am terrible with women. For instance, when I really like a girl, really like her, instead of declaring my intentions, I end up insulting her. I’m a hopeless case.’

‘Sebastian, you insult everybody!’ Posy pointed out.

‘Actually I don’t. Yes, I’m tactless, but when I’m with you, I fall over my words and even when I’m trying to be nice, it tends to go horribly wrong. I will try harder in future though, I promise. Now, back to our wedding plans.’

Posy’s heart had perked up. As if it could dare to dream again, but now she shut her eyes. ‘There will be no wedding. We haven’t even been on a date!’

‘What’s the point in dating? Dating is boring. We’ve known each other forever, so when you think about it, we’ve skipped the dating bit and moved right on to the part where we’ve already been married for years.’

‘Sebastian, we argue all the time.’

‘The snapping of courtship. Your parents used to argue. There was that time when Angharad didn’t speak to Ian for three whole days because she was in the middle of making a cake and he took the recipe book she was using and sold it before she’d mixed in the dry ingredients,’ Sebastian said. Posy didn’t remember that at all, but she stored it away now to tell Sam. Sam! She couldn’t even begin to think of what Sam would say about these new developments. ‘And Lavinia and Perry loved a good barney. He told me that they spent the first year they got married in one long, continuous fight, and that once she threw a whole roast chicken at him. I don’t mind if you want to throw roast chickens at me.’

‘Says the man who has a fit if I so much as touch his suit jacket.’ Posy trapped a big, fat curl between her fingers. ‘I do like touching your hair though – not that that’s a good basis for a marriage. Not even close, so let’s just talk about something else, all right?’

‘Well, I don’t fancy a long engagement. How do you feel about big weddings? Knowing you, you’ll probably want the big poofy dress and the centrepieces and a choreographed first dance, but I reckon we could get married in the Registry Office in Euston one morning and be in Paris in time for dinner. We could take Sam along, if you wanted. In fact, where is Sam?’

‘He’s staying at Pants’ house. Said the paint fumes were giving him a headache.’

‘We should probably get dressed quite soon and mosey on over to Pants’ house so I can formally ask Sam for his sister’s hand. I wonder if we could get married on Monday if we got a special license? How long does it take to get a special license? Where’s my phone? I’ll google it.’

Posy screamed then. ‘I’m not getting married. Are you mad? Why on earth would I get married to you?’

‘Because I’m in love with you, Morland. Do keep up. Been besotted with you for quite a while now, though it took me some time to figure it out. It’s why I’ve spent these last few weeks trying to show you how much I care about you, and now that I’ve done that, we can spend the next sixty years arguing with each other, then having fantastic make-up sex. It will be great.’

‘Shush. Stop it.’ Posy placed a finger on Sebastian’s lips to quieten him. ‘We’re not getting married. I might have feelings towards you, a crush, but I don’t love you.’

Sebastian kissed the tip of her finger then took Posy’s hand away from his mouth. ‘Oh, don’t you?’ He didn’t seem the least put out by her confession. ‘I think you’ll find that you do. There I was, worrying that you saw me as a substitute big brother – you even said as much last night …’

‘You were the one who insisted that I saw you as an overbearing big brother,’ Posy pointed out. ‘But I only agreed about the overbearing part.’

‘Well, it’s a pity that you couldn’t have been a bit more specific and we could have closed the deal last night,’ Sebastian snapped, but then he smiled. ‘I suppose I can forgive you when all this time you’ve been writing a romance novel with you and me as the star-crossed lovers, and you’re always banging on about Happy Ever Afters so I bet you had one planned for Miss Morland and Lord Thorndyke.’

‘Well, yes, but they’re not real …’ And then Posy recalled what she’d been writing an hour before; a happy ever after. Her heart and her fingers were way ahead of her. ‘Perhaps. Perhaps I could love you, but that doesn’t mean I’m getting married to you.’

‘We are getting married.’

‘We really are not.’

‘Beg to differ, Morland.’

There was no telling him. Sebastian wouldn’t listen once he’d got an idea in his head. So Posy said what she’d said the last time she’d found herself in this position.

‘Fine, whatever.’