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‘I’ sound proved her words

‘I’ll just leave it here’ Seb tried to put the i, bubble-covered limbs and bare, wet torsos out of his mind as he placed the tea onto the small table by herHe didn’t have time for distractions, especially naked ones

He turned and took in the bedroom properly He hadn’t set foot in here since Daisy had o It had been the first suite tackled by her h the nineteen-fifties chintz floallpaper still covered the walls, the furniture was still the heavy, stately ’s, the paintas fresh and white and the room smelled of a fresh ht floral scent

It wasn’t just the aesthetic changes though Daisy had somehow taken the room and made it hers from the scarves draped over the bedposts to the hat stand, co selection of her collection Every tiht a few more There were times when Seb feared the entire castle would be overtaken by hats

Pictures of her parents and sisters were on one bedside table, a tower of stacked-up paperbacks on the second A brief perusal showed an eclectic mix of nineteen-thirties detective novels, romances, two of last year’s Booker Prize shortlist and a popular history book on Prince Rupert by one of Seb’s colleagues and rivals

Jealousy, as unwanted as it was sharp, shot through him She did read history, just not his books it seemed

‘Get over yourself, Beresford,’ he muttered, half amused, half alarmed by the instant reaction It was professional jealousy sure, but still unwarranted Unwanted

A brief peek into the dressing roo table bestreith pots and tubes, photos of herself and her sisters and friends he had yet to meet tucked into the mirror The study was a little more austere, her laptop set up at the desk, her diary, open and filled with her scrawling handwriting, next to it

Hawksley Castle had a new mistress

Only the bed looked unruht bathe, dress and work in her rooms but she slept in his Much as her nineteenth-century counterpart ht have done she arrived in his bed cleansed, moisturised and already in the silky shorts and vest tops she liked to sleep in Not a single personal ite door

A buzz in his pocket signalled a et a decent nal this side of the castle Seb quite liked not being wired in twenty-four hours a day

He pulled his phone out and listened to theas he did so