Page 102 of The Key to the Last House Before the Sea

NESSA

Nessa paced between the stones, out of sight of the cottage. She didn’t want Billy to think she was spying on him. Even though he’d got his son to spy on her.

He had! He’d got his son to keep tabs on her, day and night, so she was totally within her rights to see what he was up to now. And she hated the thought of Gabriel facing his father’s wrath on his own.

She could hardly believe what Gabriel had done. She stroked the bracelet on her wrist. He’d put his job and his relationship with his father on the line. His father would be furious with him, and she was going to find out what was going on. Even if that meant listening at the back door.

Nessa had started circling round to the back of the cottage when the front door opened and Gabriel strode out.

He looked shell-shocked, his face pale and his eyes tired. He walked straight to the edge of the land and gazed out across the ocean.

Did he want to be alone? Nessa stood still, not sure what to do. But he cut such a lonely figure, outlined against the swell of the sea. So lonely, she couldn’t bear it.

‘Are you all right?’ she asked, walking over and standing beside him, the breeze coming in off the sea lifting her hair.

Gabriel nodded, his eyes still fixed on the horizon. ‘I will be.’

‘Was it awful with your dad?’

‘Not really. I thought he’d be furious but actually he was sad. And that was harder to bear.’

When Gabriel turned to look at her, Nessa’s heart broke. Vulnerability was etched across the face of this incomprehensible man. He’d driven her to distraction. He thought she was ridiculous. And yet he’d kissed her. And today he’d wrecked everything that mattered in his life to save what mattered in hers.

‘What’s happening about your job?’

‘I’ve left the family firm by mutual consent with immediate effect.’

Nessa’s breath caught in her throat. ‘He sacked you?’

‘No, I resigned. In effect, I resigned the moment I rang Amelia and told her about my suspicions.’

‘I can’t believe you did that.’ Nessa moved a little closer until her arm grazed his. ‘Why did you do that?’

‘Because of this place, because I didn’t want something beautiful under the soil to be destroyed, because it was time for me to move on and make a different life. Because of…’ He stopped talking and turned his face back towards the sea.

‘So what will you do now?’

‘I’m not sure. Something to do with art. Somewhere away from London. I can sell my flat, which will give me a financial cushion for a while.’

‘I’m sorry.’

‘Why are you sorry?

‘I’m sorry that standing up for me and the Ghost Village has cost you so much.’

Gabriel shrugged. ‘It was time to make a change. And you helped me with that.’ He scuffed his feet into the grass. ‘So what about you? I see you’re still wearing the Roman bracelet.’

Nessa grinned. ‘Amelia’s sending some security firm to pick it up and transport it to her Roman jewellery expert. She had kittens that I’m still wearing it, but I’ve promised not to let it out of my sight. She was reassured by the fact I’ve kept it safe for this long. So I’d better not drop it in the sea by accident.’

Gabriel snorted. ‘I think Amelia would literally kill you.’

‘Probably. She’s quite scary. My gran would never believe that the bracelet she loved was two thousand years old. I can hardly believe it myself.’

‘Me neither. That was the icing on the cake.’

‘Did you know what my great-grandmother’s mosaic really was?’

‘No. But I had a feeling about it.’

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