Page 33 of Finding Love at Roseford Blooms
In the end, Lizzie stepped in. ‘I’d best be off,’ she said. ‘I’ll, er, see you some other time to talk about what we were, er, discussing earlier?’
Simon’s look of disappointment and frustration would stay deliciously in her memory, Lizzie thought. She was in absolutely no doubt that, had Elspeth not been there, she and Simon would have been embarking on a wonderful night together. She felt the same emotions as Simon told Elspeth to go to the kitchen, and that he’d be there in a moment.
Turning back to Lizzie, he moved her gently back against the dark oak panelling of the entrance hall. ‘God, my niece has the worst timing!’ he growled as he leaned to kiss her again. Lizzie could feel that barely contained arousal as they moved their bodies together, and she couldn’t resist pushing herself even closer, until they were both breathless and aching for more.
‘Goodnight, Simon,’ Lizzie said, once she could draw breath again. ‘I’ll see you soon.’
‘You’d better,’ Simon replied. ‘All the hot chocolate in the world isn’t going to make up for not spending the rest of the night with you.’
‘Are you coming, Uncle Simon?’ Elspeth’s voice emanated from the back of the house.
Simon raised a suggestive eyebrow at Lizzie, and she burst out laughing. ‘Hold that thought,’ she said softly. Leaning up to kiss him once more, she pulled open the front door and walked down the pathway to the main gate.
What an evening, she thought as she began the walk up the hill to Bee’s cottage. The doubts about how Simon felt about her had been thoroughly chased away by the fire in the kisses they’d shared. She only hoped that they’d get the chance to finish what they’d started soon.
29
Simon woke blearily the morning after the wedding.
Elspeth, contrary to her tired appearance when he’d found her at Roseford Hall, had kept him talking long into the night, despite his best efforts to send her to bed. He supposed he shouldn’t have put quite so much sugar and whipped cream in the hot chocolate he’d made her, but he had to admit it had been nice to spend some time with his youngest niece, even if it meant having to say goodbye somewhat prematurely to Lizzie and miss out on the incredible night he was sure they would have had together. He’d phoned Sarah, who’d been grateful for his intervention. Fleur and Elspeth’s relationship had been under strain lately, as one became a teenager and the other was still more interested in playing games. Simon hoped that, eventually, the sisters would become close again. Sarah seemed pleased that Elspeth had come to Simon, and thanked him for having her.
Rolling over in bed, he was also quite glad that he hadn’t spent the rest of the night making a dent in the stocks of champagne in the marquee. He’d had a fair bit through the day but not enough to leave him with a hangover. A slight fuzziness of the head was to be expected after a long day and late night, but things could’ve been so much worse.
As he got up, he ran an idle hand through his hair, threw on an old pair of jeans and a T-shirt and his knackered old trainers and went to chivvy Elspeth along. She’d stayed in the bedroom a couple of rooms away down the corridor. It used to be the room that she shared with her elder sister back when they all lived in the family quarters of Roseford Hall, and he hadn’t yet got around to doing anything else with it. So, short of making the bed up last night, it hadn’t been much hassle to have her sleeping over.
But she needed to get back to her mother and sister or Sarah would soon be ringing to find out where she was. He wasn’t looking forward to having that conversation. Sarah had always struggled to completely understand the personality and motivations of her youngest daughter, and Elspeth, having run away back to the old family home late last night, wouldn’t have done a great deal to aid that understanding.
As he headed down the corridor, Simon’s thoughts again drifted back to Lizzie and he resolved to send her a text as soon as he dropped off Elspeth. Perhaps they could meet for breakfast and, he thought hopefully, maybe even pick up from where they’d left off last night.
As he walked into the room where Elspeth was sleeping, he wasn’t surprised to see that she still had the covers pulled up around her ears.
‘Come on, lazybones!’ he called just loud enough to elicit a groan from his niece. ‘It’s time to get you back to your mother.’
In response, Elspeth rolled over and put the pillow over her head. ‘Can I just stay here a bit longer?’
‘Normally I’d say yes, you know that, but I’ve got too much to do this morning, such as making sure that the chapel is sorted out before the hall reopens on Monday, so you’ll have to move it, squirt!’
Reluctantly Elspeth struggled out from underneath the duvet, stretched and reached for the dress that she’d taken off the night before. Simon had lent her one of his T-shirts to sleep in and it fell almost to her knees.
‘Can I have some breakfast before I go?’ Fleur asked.
‘Only if you’re quick. Your mum’ll be expecting you back.’
‘I doubt it,’ Elspeth replied. ‘The amount of wine she had last night I doubt she’ll even have surfaced yet.’
Simon winced at the way Elspeth said that. The actions of adults through the eyes of a child had a harsher patina than was probably the reality. Children, especially those approaching being teenagers, seemed to see things in black and white, but Simon knew that Elspeth’s view of Sarah wasn’t reality; it was the supercharged emotional response of a child on the cusp of adolescence.
‘We both know that she’ll be looking forward to having you back,’ Simon said. Elspeth just rolled her eyes, and mooched past Simon in the direction of the kitchen.
A short time later, Simon was walking Elspeth back to Sarah’s cottage on the edge of the Roseford estate. The sun was warm, and the light breeze in the air meant he couldn’t help but feel optimistic. He’d definitely get in touch with Lizzie after he’d dropped Elspeth back home. They had a whole day to pick up where they’d left off.
Elspeth kept up a steady stream of chatter as they walked, and Simon only half listened. In the distance, he could see the marquee company beginning to dismantle the huge white canopy, and the catering team loading the last of the boxes of glasses and crockery. The wedding had been such a long time in the planning, and now, in a few hours, Roseford chapel and the grounds would be returned to normal. He was sure this was just the first of many celebrations that the chapel would see, but this one would always be special.
The huge white canopy of the marquee was being carefully packed away as they skirted the field. Simon couldn’t help thinking back to the conversation he’d had with Finn about staging some kind of festival in the grounds. If Roseford Hall could host a wedding, surely it wasn’t a huge leap to host a bigger event? He resolved to give it some thought when he’d mopped up the last bits and pieces from this weekend. After all, Finn had offered him his support, which was something to be taken very seriously.
As they drew closer to Sarah’s cottage, which she’d recently named, to Simon’s amusement, Riverside View, due to its proximity to the more often than not dried-up stream that ran through the bottom of her garden, Elspeth darted up the garden path calling for Holmes.
Hearing his young mistress’s voice, Holmes came bounding out of the house, meeting Elspeth halfway. His high-pitched, joyous bark of welcome at the sight of her never failed to make Simon smile.
