Welcome Me to Willoughby Close by Kate Hewitt

Author:Kate Hewitt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance
Publisher: Tule Publishing Group, LLC
Published: 2020-05-28T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Owen watched as Emily sat down across from him, having just been to the breakfast buffet. She had a plate with some fresh fruit and little bowl of yoghurt, and a cup of coffee, which she placed precisely to the top right of her plate. Knife and fork were set in parallel lines on either side of the plate, and it wasn’t until she had everything arranged just so that she looked up and caught him staring. She frowned.

“What is it?”

He nodded towards her food. “You’ve got a little routine going there, don’t you?” He’d meant it teasingly, but colour flooded her face as she looked away.

“I like things a certain way.”

“Yes, I can see that.” He eyed her speculatively as she gave her fork one last tweak and then spread her napkin in her lap. Emily David was proving to be far more of a conundrum that he’d originally thought. The last twelve hours had certainly shown him that. Her mother…her vulnerability…their kiss.

Their kiss, Owen acknowledged, had been mind-blowing. Life-changing. He’d kissed a fair few women in his time, but no one, no one, had made him feel like that. As if the top of his head was coming off and his heart was expanding to fill up his body. It had been sweetness and fire and yearning and completion all at once, and it had just been a kiss. He didn’t know whether to be terrified or elated. He decided he was both, not that he was going to reveal either emotion to Emily anytime soon. He had a feeling she’d be completely freaked out, and he might be, too.

But that kiss certainly put today in perspective, because coming to London wasn’t so much about offering a favour to a friend, but supporting a woman he was already starting to care about. Which was something else he wasn’t going to be telling Emily anytime soon.

Because that really did freak him out.

“So what’s the plan?” he asked as he dug into his plateful of bacon and eggs. “Go to the hospital, see your mum…?”

“Yes.” She took a sip of her coffee, her gaze lowered. “I’ll need to meet with her care team and see what their thoughts are. I imagine…” She paused, her throat working. “I imagine she’ll have to stay in hospital for some time.”

Which begged all sorts of questions. What was wrong with her mum? What had happened? Owen decided not to ask. Emily clearly didn’t want to volunteer the information.

She lifted her gaze, her slate-coloured eyes wide, her expression direct and resolute. “I don’t know how long I’ll be, so it’s probably best if you return to Wychwood. I’ll catch a train back.”

So that was him told and sorted. Owen didn’t reply, just kept watching her thoughtfully. Unnerving her, clearly, because she put her coffee cup down and narrowed her eyes. “What is it?”

“I don’t have to be back to the pub anytime soon.” Darren, his second-in-command, had offered to open and man the bar this evening if needed.

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