It was becoming a habit, a most annoying one. A loud banging on the door rousing me from my bed at some unearthly hour. I rolled over and waved an arm around, trying to find the clock. I picked it up and glared at it accusingly. Eugh. 8.30 a.m. on a day when I could quite legitimately stay in bed until midday. What sort of crazy person was hammering at my door at this time. Muttering under my breath, I pulled on some clothes and padded downstairs, hoping it wasn’t a dog with an emergency walk requirement. Just as soon as I got rid of whoever it was, I’d make myself a mug of tea and climb back into bed.
I pulled open my front door to find Max Golding.
‘Morning!’
He stood on the doorstep looking obscenely handsome for first thing in the morning – oh God – was that even allowed? I steeled myself, trying to keep a cool head and attempting to work out what exactly Max was playing at, but whenever I saw him like this I couldn’t help but give in a little.
He clutched a bottle of champagne in one hand and a wicker basket full of goodies in the other. I couldn’t stop myself from peering over to look inside at the contents spilling over: yoghurts, fresh orange juice, croissants, cinnamon and orange muffins, jams, strawberries and melon. His gaze ran up and down my trackies, a fetching shade of washed-out blue today, and took in my mussed-up hair and sleep-deprived, make-up-free face.
‘Don’t tell me you forgot about our breakfast meeting?’
‘What breakfast meeting?’
‘The one I would have told you about if only you’d picked up the phone to me yesterday?’
I crossed my arms huffily in front of my chest, twisting my mouth to stop the smile twitching at my lips. I was so angry at him, furious that he’d kept me in the dark about his plans to buy the pub and yet now, with him standing here in front of me, in all his romantic gorgeousness, everything was becoming so muddled in my head.
‘Yes, well I was very busy yesterday.’
‘I gathered that. Look, if you don't want to come out, can I at least come in? I just want to talk to you and bring you up to date on all the news.’
Reluctantly, I pulled back the door to let Max through, wandering ahead of him to the kitchen and parking my bum on a kitchen stool. I rubbed at my eyes, trying to force myself awake. ‘I know it all already. You’ve bought the pub. Eric is leaving. The pub might stay as it is or else it might be transformed into a lovely home for some outsider coming into the village looking to find their country idyll. Not that I’m worried about that because no one else round here seems to be concerned, so why should I?’ I let out a deep breath. ‘What else is there to know?’
‘Are you working today?’ asked Max, totally ignoring my mini rant.
‘Later. This afternoon.’
‘Great. We can have some of this then,’ he said, proceeding to ease the cork from the champagne. ‘Some Bucks Fizz! Well it is almost Christmas.’ I laughed. Now we were nearing November, the weeks would fly by quickly enough. I hadn't really given it much thought until now, but maybe it was time for me to get my Christmas spirit out from the cupboard.
I watched as he made himself at home in my kitchen amazed at his arrogance. I’d only let him in because I'd wanted to know one way or the other what his intentions were and here he was opening cupboards and pulling out glasses and bowls as if he owned the place. Clearly he was a man used to doing exactly what he wanted, where he wanted and when he wanted. He poured two glasses of champagne, topping up the fizz with fresh orange juice before handing one to me, our eyes locking for a moment, catching me off-guard, my body suddenly remembering what such a look had promised and delivered once before.
‘Thanks,’ I said, stifling a yawn, wishing I’d been better prepared, half wishing I’d ignored the door and gone back to sleep. Then again, I would have missed Max in all his early-morning glory. In jeans and black polo shirt, he looked effortlessly stylish. Gorgeous, in fact. I swallowed hard, wondering how long it took him to perfect his ‘breakfast meeting’ look. I suspected he hadn’t even given it a second thought. Probably just fell out of bed looking like that. His mussed up hair oozed sexiness and my fingers twitched to run through it.
What was I thinking? I gave myself a stern talking-to, remembering I had good reason to be irritated and annoyed at Max, and the way he’d treated me. Yes, I was very annoyed at him. Serious and grumpy face back on.
From his basket he pulled out a checked tablecloth and laid it over the breakfast bar, along with all the goodies he’d brought along. I watched in awe as he laid out all the different items, although I pretended to be wholly unimpressed. I popped a strawberry into my mouth relishing its sweetness and washed it down with some champagne. It was hard to stay cross with someone when they were bribing you with such delightful treats.
‘I know I’ve upset you and I wanted to apologize, to make it up to you. I promise you there was no intention to mislead you or lie to you. Really.’
He looked contrite enough, but if there was one thing I’d learned about Max in the short time that I’d known him it was that he was totally convincing and totally charming. The same charm he’d no doubt used in his extensive business dealings to date. It was part of what he did, part of who he was. The charm wasn’t for my benefit alone and I needed to remember that if I wasn’t to be swayed by it.
‘You knew how concerned I was about the pub and you didn’t say a thing. The other night when we had dinner together you could have mentioned something.’
‘Well the other night over dinner I had more pressing things on my mind.’
His dark eyes flashed with desire as his gaze ran over my face.
‘See! That’s exactly what I mean. You’re evasive. I don’t like it when you’re not being straight with me. First you failed to mention you had a very attractive girlfriend waiting for you at home, then you forget to tell me you’d actually bought the local pub, the one where I work, the one you knew I had a vested interest in. I just don’t understand. What other secrets are you keeping from me, Max? Do you have a wife hidden away, three children at boarding school and a secret gambling addiction you haven’t told me about?’
‘Ah well, that thing I wanted to talk to you about…’ His dark eyebrows lifted, his brown eyes growing wide with amusement. I glowered at him, failing to see the funny side and he held up his hands in a gesture of defence. ‘I’m only kidding. No, I don’t have any of those things, I promise.’ He reached across and took hold of my hand. Part of me wanted to snatch it away again, but I was enjoying the physical contact too much. ‘There’ll be no more secrets. It’s unfortunate that you learned about Sasha and the pub the way you did, before I’d had a real chance to explain the situation and I apologize for that. I guess I’m a bit of a control freak. I like to get everything sorted and organized before showing my hand. I’ve done enough business deals to know that nothing is confirmed until the paperwork is signed. Things fall through at the last minute all the time. I was waiting for the contracts for The Dog and Duck to be signed before saying anything. That’s all it was.’
He was looking at me intently while I distracted myself with a Danish pastry, littering crumbs over the worktop. It sounded convincing enough and Max was always so plausible. The trouble was my personal feelings for Max had got in the way of any logical thought process and I found it hard to think straight in his company. I found it hard to concentrate on anything but the look of him, the scent of him, the fact that his hand was still entwined with mine.
‘Okay. I guess,’ I said giving him the benefit of the doubt. I gave a small smile, our eyes meeting across the breakfast bar, my insides burning with heat. Quickly, I dropped my gaze. ‘So you’re now the proud owner of a pub?’ I said, extracting my hand.
‘Yes. And I couldn’t be more pleased.’
He’d said there would be no more secrets, so I just had to ask him straight.
‘And will it be staying as a pub or are you planning on renovating it into a home and selling it on?’
‘What!’ Max grabbed hold of my hand again. ‘That’s crazy. Where on earth did you got that idea from?’
‘Well it wouldn’t be the first time, would it? Johnny told me you’d already bought a couple of pubs and sold them on as private homes.’
‘Ahh right, Johnny. The same Johnny who was in love with you. The Johnny who looks out for you and worries about you, the man who thinks I will end up hurting you because he believes I might be falling in love with you too.’
He paused, looking at me intently, a thousand fireworks alighting in my head.
Falling in love? No! Stop it right there. Just breathe. And think. Stop being so stupid. He didn’t say he was falling in love with me. He said Johnny thought Max might be falling in love with me. Something quite different. I steadied my breathing as Max gave a rueful smile, resting his hands on the stool between his legs.
‘It’s true what he says, but they were purely business deals. And they were pubs that ceased trading months before and had been standing derelict for some time. I’m not the monster you seem to think I am. I don’t go around taking over thriving businesses and throwing the landlords out on the street.’
I shifted on my stool, feeling uncomfortable. When he said it like that I wondered if I hadn’t been a bit hasty in my judgement of him.
‘And you should know me well enough by now to know that The Dog and Duck has a special place in my heart. I bought the pub precisely because I wanted to secure its future. Granddad would be turning in his grave if he thought I’d be turning the pub into housing. I could never do that. I want to keep the pub at the centre of our community just as much as you do.’
‘Really?’ The relief in my chest escaped in a sigh.
‘Yes. Absolutely.’
‘Well I’m sorry,’ I said, taking a sip of my bucks fizz, as though it was a minor understanding on my part. As though I was totally in control. As though my heart wasn’t thumping loudly in my chest. He couldn’t possibly know the maelstrom of feelings I’d been wrestling with inside.
‘Apology accepted.’
‘And I’m sorry too about confronting you yesterday when you were with your colleague. I shouldn’t have done that. That poor man, what he must have thought of me?’
‘Oh don’t worry about it,’ said Max, with a dismissive wave of his hand. ‘I explained to Peter.’ A look of amusement was back on Max’s face, the smile on his lips teasing me.
‘What did you explain to Peter exactly?’
‘You know, that you were the mad dog lady of the village, prone to random bursts of outrage and he wasn’t to worry about you. I would check up on you later.’
‘You didn’t?’ I stood, placing my hands on my hips.
‘I may have done. Totally believed it actually. And true to my word I’m here checking up on my favourite dog lady.’
Max came over and pulled me towards him, placing one hand on my waist, the other tilting my chin up to meet his lips. He leaned forward kissing me gently.
‘No don’t!’ I pushed him away, taking a step backwards from his approach.
‘Ellie?’ Concern flashed over his features. ‘What’s the matter? I was joking! I didn’t really tell him you were a crazy dog lady.’
‘Yes, well please don’t kiss me.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because I haven’t brushed my teeth. And I haven’t showered either.’ My nostrils twitched involuntarily. ‘If you must know, I think I’m smelling a bit iffy.’
‘Oh, is that all?’ He leaned in, nuzzling his nose into the crook of my neck, sending shivers around my body. He sniffed exaggeratedly, making, quite frankly, disgusting slurping noises, his tongue caressing my skin, which had me backing away from him and squirming in delight at the same time. ‘Mmm, you smell absolutely delicious to me, good enough to eat, in fact.’