A Surprise Christmas Wedding - Phillipa Ashley Page 0,95
and I’ll make some calls. I’ll meet you back here in twenty minutes?’ He forced himself to speak to Connor. ‘I’ll give you a lift home.’
‘How will Keegan get here?’ Connor whined, without a word of thanks. ‘Lottie mentioned a tractor.’ He pulled a face.
Jay restrained the urge to swear. ‘We’ll think of something.’
‘OK. Connor, come back inside!’ Lottie snapped.
She vanished inside, leaving Jay to wonder exactly what had gone on in the cottage. Once again, he forced himself to consider the possibility that things weren’t as he feared and Lottie was telling the truth. He couldn’t imagine that Lottie would want to rekindle her relationship with an arse like Connor – but he wouldn’t put anything past the man.
Connor lingered a moment after Lottie had shot back indoors, obviously desperate not to be seen by anyone else. ‘Thanks. You know how awkward this could look with Keegan if she found out that I’d – um – spent the night here?’ He smirked. ‘People do jump to conclusions but you know what it’s like. We all do stuff we regret when women are involved. No one’s perfect, are they?’
Connor winked and Jay’s stomach turned over. Surely, surely, Lottie wouldn’t have slept with him? Not after their kiss … The guy had to be winding Jay up?
‘It’s none of my business …’
‘Thanks all the same. You’ve got me out of a hole.’
‘Don’t thank me. I’m doing this for Lottie. No one else. Trevor!’
It was best if he walked away before he told Connor exactly what he thought of him. That would really wake up the Firholme residents. Jay strode off, taking Trevor on a different route than he’d planned. They headed for the lane that led from the estate entrance and out to the public road.
The gritter hadn’t been able to reach the public road yet, so it was thick with a layer of as-yet undisturbed snow. Trevor romped ahead, his black head vanishing and reappearing amid the drifts. No matter how often Jay told himself that Connor had been drunk and simply wandered all that way through the snow to Lottie’s place uninvited, the worst-case scenario that she had invited Connor to the Bothy and wanted him to stay over still couldn’t be magicked away. He tried to force his mind on addressing the immediate problem: transporting Connor home, and then the bridal party back to Firholme.
After a ten-minute outing to enable Trevor to complete his morning ‘ablutions’, Jay took him home, wiped the snow from his coat and dried him. He then settled him in the kitchen with his breakfast before he headed out again. It was now light and he had to admit, under a blue sky, Firholme resembled Narnia. On any other day, he’d have been uplifted by the sight of the place he loved covered with sparkling snow from fell top to lake shore.
He called his grounds supervisor who was already up and marshalling everyone who lived on site or nearby to help clear the track from the main road. He was still talking as he rapped on the door of the Bothy.
Lottie answered, dressed now, in an oversized sweater and jeans, her hair caught in a ponytail that bobbed up and down as she let him in.
Jay noticed two cereal bowls on the coffee table, alongside two mugs. He heard water running upstairs and assumed Connor was in the bathroom.
‘Connor turned up after midnight. Keegan had found out Connor and I used to live together so she threw him out and he ended up here. I didn’t want him to stay but he’d have frozen – literally – if I’d turned him away. Who was I going to knock up at that time of night? Shayla? You? How could I explain him coming here? You do believe me, don’t you?’
‘It’s not my business to believe anything …’ he said, treading carefully. ‘You don’t have to explain.’
Lottie opened her mouth as if she might apologise but instead, her voice rose. ‘Actually, you’re absolutely right. I don’t have to apologise or explain. To anyone. Because I haven’t done anything wrong.’ She sounded sad and tired. ‘It’s you, Jay – you who have the problem with trust and I can’t do a thing about that. Only you can make that shift. Only you.’ Her voice was breaking. ‘And now, I have to call Shayla and tell her why the bride is threatening to call off the wedding.’