Page 131 of Rough Around the Hedges

Although the brunette in this particular picture in front of me who was whispering in Oliver’s ear was really pissing me off.

“I don’t think so! If he’s going to tell you not to even look at another man, where does he get off touching other women? He’s kissing this one’s cheek!” She swiped to another photo. “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander, and this is not good for the goose or the gander!”

I pressed the button to lock the tablet and pushed it away from me. “Those are his people. His circle. His friends, maybe even family. Cheek kisses are acceptable greetings, you know.”

“Looks more like an old flame than anything!” She stubbornly unlocked it again and read it. “Yes, here you are! ‘Miss Alexandra Beaufort, once rumoured to be the childhood fiancée of The Duke of Hanbury, was also in attendance and spent considerable time with the duke and his mother. Given their previous relationship, could wedding bells be ringing for the de Havillands?’What a load of old tosh!”

“Stop.” I pushed the tablet down and stared at her. “They grew up together, and he sees her as a sister. Their fathers were best friends. I doubt there’s anything to it.”

“Why are you being so defensive? Why aren’t you upset?” She sniffed, looking at me sadly. “Oh. You are upset.”

I jerked my head around and stared out of the window. The branches of the tree outside smacked against the window as wind rustled through its leaves, and rain occasionally hammered the window as the breeze caught it.

There was barely a cloud in the sky yesterday, now we had torrential rain and wind.

Yesterday, I’d been laughing and joking, happy that I’d even been able to talk to Oliver just once, never mind twice on the phone.

Now, there was a hollow sensation in the pit of my stomach.

What a difference a day could make.

“It’s not that I’m not upset,” I said quietly, unmoving. “It’s just that I don’t have much of a right to be. We’re not in a relationship. I have no right to tell him what he can and can’t do or who he can’t or can’t touch or see. Even if we were in a relationship, I wouldn’t have that right.”

“Even after what he said to you yesterday?”

A small smile crept onto my face. “He didn’t mean it seriously. He said it because he knew it would piss me off.”

“You said it was hot!”

“It kinda was.” I paused. “What can I say? I’ve read too many romance novels to not be excited by a jealous, slightly possessive man in real life.”

Isa blinked at me. “Yeah, that’s actually a red flag. I don’t think Dr Waffles the chicken therapist is working out for you.”

She wasn’t wrong, but he was cheap.

“But hey, if it tickles your pickle…” She shrugged. “I won’t judge you.”

“The point is,” I said, flattening my hands on the table and meeting her gaze full-on. “I am upset. I’m upset because it’s a reminder that despite what’s happened between us, we really do live in two completely different worlds. If he didn’t have business to attend to here, he’d never step foot in a place like Hanbury, and I would certainly never visit London again. Our paths crossed by pure chance, not because of some divine intervention or because it was going to happen sooner or later. It’s a reminder that even if things were different and he wasn’t selling the allotments and we weren’t in some weird hate-love-sex situation, we still wouldn’t work.”

“You don’t know that.” Isa finally pushed the tablet away from her and leant forwards, slumping on the table. She dragged her hand through her hair. “He doesn’t hate being here, you know? And besides, London isn’t a million miles away. It’s not like it’s a six-hour flight. It’s, what? Half an hour from Exeter at a push? Maybe it would work.”

“No, it wouldn’t. The life I have here—this little quiet, cosy existence that revolves around contentiously named chickensand vegetable plots and pruning shears is not the kind of life he wants. It’s not the kind of life he lives. So, all of this…” I motioned to the tablet. “Doesn’t really matter in the end, does it?”

“Ro.” She said my name sadly, as if she were the one with an aching heart and not me.

“And before you say it,yes, I am going to talk to him. I’m going to lay it all out and explain that we should have ended this before, because as great as the sex is, a proper relationship wouldn’t work between us.”

“I remember telling you to talk it out, not unilaterally decide on your own.”

“Ah, I have to. Otherwise, do you know what will happen? I’ll get swept up in his seduction and fall prey to his sexy little schemes.” I wiggled my finger. “No, no, if I let him talk me out of it, I’ll end up naked again.”

“I dunno, can’t you just keep him as a fuck buddy?”

“Oh, yeah, sure. That sounds like a great idea, Isadora. Let me just keep having sex with the man I’ve stupidly fallen in love with. That won’t end badly at all.”

She tilted her head to the side. “You know what, it could work.”

What was wrong with her?

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