Page 74 of The Key to the Last House Before the Sea

When Nessa said nothing, Gabriel stood silently, not sure what to do next. Had he instigated their kiss or had she? Would she like him to kiss her again or was she already regretting what had happened?

A horrible thought crossed his mind. Perhaps she’d been playing him, getting him to care about her so he’d let her win. Or maybe she thought he was playing her for the exact same reason.

Everything had been crystal clear when she was in his arms. He wanted her and she wanted him. But now, after his father’s call, his head was buzzing with jumbled emotions.

‘I guess I’d better be going,’ he said, desperately hoping she’d ask him to stay. But she nodded in the firelight.She wanted him to leave.

The whole thing had become a sorry mess, thought Gabriel, pushing his arms into his coat. He wrenched open the front door but his jaw dropped at what was waiting for him outside. The thunder and lightning had moved off but rain was still falling and the black sea was roaring. Spray was blown into his face and he tasted salt on his lips.

Nessa had moved to stand beside him. ‘You can’t go out in this. You’ll never get up the cliff road to Driftwood House.’

What was she going to suggest? Gabriel held his breath.

‘I’m upstairs on the camp bed now but the sleeping bag and bed roll I used at first are still in the corner. You’d better sleep down here, if you don’t mind roughing it for one night.’

Gabriel took another look outside, at the ground turned into a quagmire by the relentless rain and the white spray dancing in the wind. He didn’t fancy his chances of reaching Driftwood House. But more than that, he couldn’t leave Nessa alone in this isolated house on such a wild night. Not after what had happened here seventy-five years ago.

‘I’m sure I can manage one night, seeing as you’ve managed twenty-seven so far.’

He closed the door and found the sleeping bag while Nessa busied herself tidying away bowls of half-eaten stew. She wouldn’t look at him.

‘I’m going to get an early night,’ she said, pausing at the foot of the stairs with a hurricane lamp in her hand. ‘Look, about what just happened…’ She hesitated. ‘I think we’d better forget all about it. I mean, we both know it didn’t really mean anything. It can’t mean anything because our lives are so different.’

‘We got swept away, being marooned here in the middle of a storm.’

‘Exactly! I knew you’d feel the same way.’ Her face was ghostly in the glow of the flickering lamp. ‘I hope you sleep well. I’ve left the fire to die down gradually so it should stay warm in here for a while.’

She began to climb the stairs and Gabriel heard the rafters creak above him when she walked into the bedroom.

Deciding to stay fully clothed for warmth, he climbed into the sleeping bag and zipped it up.

What would James and his father think of him, sleeping on the floor of a derelict cottage, in part to protect the woman they believed he should be trying to get rid of at every opportunity? The woman who obviously regretted kissing him. What on earth would they think if they found out about the kiss?

Gabriel closed his eyes, suddenly feeling bone-weary. So far he’d made an utter shambles of everything, including his relationship with Nessa, if you could call it that.

Basically, he was stuck in the middle, between a woman he had pointless feelings for and a father whom he loved in spite of his failings. And his reputation at work was about to nosedive when the Sorrel Cove project didn’t go ahead as planned.

‘Idiot,’ he whispered, opening his eyes and staring at the ceiling, dark with shadows cast by the dying fire. ‘Why am I such an idiot?’

He would get back to London as soon as possible, he decided. That was the only way forward. He was stuck in Heaven’s Cove for another couple of days, until Nessa had completed thirty nights in the cottage. But he’d keep his distance, as much as he could, and then get back to his ordered life. Away from a woman he wanted but could never have because their lives were too different and she didn’t want him.

His father would blame Gabriel for Nessa’s continuing hold on the cottage. That was inevitable. And he’d bring in the big guns to try to get her out. But maybe, just maybe, the lease would stand up and his father would lose.

Gabriel wasn’t sure what he felt about that. He wasn’t sure what he felt about anything any more, because the Ghost Village had seeped into his soul and messed with his mind. He berated himself for being fanciful. Ridiculous, even. But here, in this old, isolated cottage with a storm raging outside, that’s how it felt.

He closed his eyes, determined to get some sleep. But he kept thinking about the kiss and hearing Nessa’s words in his head: It didn’t really mean anything

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