see Tiarnan’s jaw clench, and she felt his pain at Rosie’s insistent use of Tiarnan. He looked for a moment as if he was going to say no, but then he slowed the Jeep at the bottom of a small drive and Rosie jumped out. Another small girl appeared, and the two started squealing and running towards each other. Tiarnan waved at the woman who had appeared in the doorway of the house, and Kate guessed it must be the little girl’s mother.
He turned then and shook his head at Kate. ‘See? We’ll be lucky to get her back for dinner, but she’ll want to see Mama Lucille …’
Tiarnan kept driving southwards out of the small town, and after a couple of minutes turned right towards the sea into an open set of gates that were wildly overgrown with frangipani and exotic flowers. They emerged from under a dense canopy of foliage into a small forecourt in front of an idyllic white-painted villa.
It was old colonial French-style, and had a wooden deck wrapped around it and what looked like a long balcony above, with an intricately carved railing. Shutters were painted bright blue, and everything looked pristine and lovingly cared for. A shape appeared in the open front door, and Kate saw a huge, buxom woman with the biggest, whitest smile she’d ever seen in her life.
Tiarnan had stopped the Jeep, and as he helped her out he smiled and said, ‘May I present the inimitable Mama Lucille …?’
The woman came to the top of the steps and put her hands on ample hips. She looked from left to right. ‘Where is my baby girl?’
Tiarnan took the steps two at a time and gave her a huge hug before standing back, ‘Where do you think? She had to stop and see her partner in crime—your granddaughter Zoe. No doubt they’re already driving Anne-Marie crazy.’
Mama Lucille shook her head and laughed a big belly laugh, and as Kate came shyly up the steps behind Tiarnan she could see that this woman truly was some sort of universal earth mother. She looked ageless.
Mama Lucille set Tiarnan aside and put her hands on her hips again. ‘And who is this vision?’ She glanced at Tiarnan with a wicked gleam in her dark eyes. ‘Is she an angel come to save us all?’
Before Tiarnan could answer, Kate stepped forward and smiled. ‘No angel, I’m afraid—just Kate. I’m an old friend of Tiarnan and Sorcha’s.’
Kate’s innate humility struck Tiarnan forcibly. She was one of the most famous models in the world, but she had absolutely no evidence of an ego to reflect that; no expectation that people should know her. The realisation unsettled him for a moment, and he had to concede that Kate was surprising him—exactly as she’d done in San Francisco, when he’d imagined things going differently. He was somewhat belatedly aware that he didn’t really know her that well at all, and with that awareness came a tingling sense of anticipation.
Kate was holding out her hand, but Mama Lucille waved it away and dragged Kate into her massive bosom. ‘Any friend of theirs is a friend of mine.’ She pulled back then and held Kate away from her slightly, looked her up and down critically. ‘Are you a model, the same as that sister of his?’
Kate nodded.
‘Hmph. Thought so. Too skinny—just like that other one—but I’d say she’s bigger now, after the baby!’ Mama Lucille guffawed again and pinched Kate’s cheek. ‘Don’t you worry, angel. A few days of my cooking and we’ll put some fat on those hips …’
Kate had to laugh as she imagined her agent’s horrorstruck face if she arrived back a few pounds heavier, and with that came the familiar yearning to just let go and stop being so aware of things like her weight.
Before she knew it, Mama Lucille had disappeared in a flurry of movement, with a promise of some dinner in a couple of hours. A young girl with a shy pretty smile appeared and took their bags into the house.
Tiarnan took Kate by the hand. She would have pulled away, but he held her with easy strength, looking at her with an assessing gaze that made her toes curl.
‘Come on, I’ll give you the tour.’
Kate felt dizzy by the time Tiarnan was leading her upstairs. The house was completely charming. All dark polished wooden floorboards, white walls and beautiful old furniture. White muslin curtains fluttered in the breezes that flowed through open sash windows, with latticed shutters wide open. She’d seen a butterfly dart in one window and out through the next with a flash of bright iridescence. It was truly a home. Kate could imagine the doors always open, people coming and going all day, and yet it had a tranquil air that beguiled and seduced …
‘Do Mama Lucille and Papa Joe live here too?’ Kate asked as she followed Tiarnan up the stairs and tried not to look at his bottom. He glanced back and she coloured guiltily.
‘No. Even though I’ve been trying to get them to move in for years. They’re on the other side of the property. There’s a back entrance, down by the private beach, and they live in the old gate lodge. Mama Lucille says she prefers it because there’s not enough room for her family to come and stay, and it’s the only way she and Papa Joe get peace and quiet to themselves.’
Clearly, from the warmth in his voice, Tiarnan was as crazy as Rosie was about this place and the people. It made Kate’s heart do a funny jump in her chest. And what also made her heart feel funny was that the same impression she’d had on the plane: she’d never seen this more relaxed side of Tiarnan before. There’d always been something slightly aloof about him, distant and distinguished. Formidable. And here all that was being stripped away. Distance—keep your distance, she repeated like a mantra in her head, futile as she knew it was.
She got to the top of the stairs to see a wide open corridor, doorways on each side, and a huge window seat at the end with what she could imagine must be a spectacular view over the garden. Tiarnan was leaning nonchalantly against a door that led into a bedroom.
‘This is your room.’
Kate looked at him warily as she passed him and went in. Her bag had already been deposited inside. The same lovingly polished floorboards were echoed in the antique furniture. Old black and white photographs hung on the walls. A huge four-poster bed was in the centre of the room, its muslin drapes pulled back. A small door led to a white-tiled bathroom with a huge stand-alone bath and shower in the corner. It screamed understated luxury. A pair of open veranda doors led out to the second level wooden balcony, along which trailed vine-like flowers of colours so vibrant it almost hurt to look at them. And beyond that lay the unmistakable clear blue waters of the Caribbean. This truly was paradise.
She turned at the open door and looked back at Tiarnan, her heart thumping heavily. ‘It’s beautiful. Really.’
He walked towards her with all the grace and danger of a dark panther, and Kate could feel her eyes grow bigger as he came closer. Her loose linen trousers and shirt suddenly felt constricting, but he just took her hand and led her outside and to the left, where she could see an identical set of open doors. He stopped at the entrance and Kate could see another room, a little bigger and obviously decorated along much more masculine lines. His room.
He didn’t even have to say it. The understanding was heavy between them. Within this stunning house and these two rooms they were as effectively cut off and private as they wanted to be. He let go of her hand and looked down at her. Kate felt unbearably hot right then, and it had nothing to do with being in the tropics.
He gestured with his head back to her room. ‘That used to be Rosie’s room when she was smaller, so I could hear if she woke during the night, but she hasn’t
