‘You really didn’t have to,’ she told me, taking the bottles of red and white, ‘but thank you.’
‘You’ve given me a home and a job and now supper,’ I said seriously, ‘the least I can do is supply the wine.’
She shook her head and laughed as I closed the door behind me.
‘And you’ve restored my other half’s sanity,’ she pointed out. ‘I think that’s already a fair trade. No Nell,’ she noticed as I shrugged off my jacket.
‘No, not tonight.’
It was warm in the house and the sitting room, which I hadn’t seen before, had a fire burning brightly in the grate and was lit mostly by candlelight. It wasn’t the grand, formal room I had been expecting and I felt my shoulders relax. I could already tell it was going to be a lovely evening, getting to know my new employers better and talking about our vision for the beautiful garden. My creative flame had almost been snuffed out when Eloise died and Jackson then stamped on it, but now, thanks to Luke’s enthusiasm for the Winter Garden, I could feel it warming up again, poised to burn just as brightly as before.
‘No Nell?’ queried Luke, echoing Kate.
‘No,’ I said. ‘She had a bit of a scare yesterday and is still feeling a bit unsettled. I thought it best to leave her at home.’
‘I have a horrible feeling,’ came a voice from the shadows, ‘that might be my fault.’
There was no mistaking who the voice belonged to and I let out a long slow breath. So much for my prediction that it was going to be a great night. I wasn’t much in the mood to spend an evening with the giant who had terrorised my four-legged best friend.
‘Your fault, Finn.’ Luke frowned. ‘How so? Have you two already met?’
The Viking stepped into the light, towering above us all and making Jasmine, who he scooped up and held comfortably in his arms, look as tiny as her sister.
‘We’ve sort of met,’ I said, keeping my eyes on Luke. ‘I went to introduce myself last night, but Finn bawled at Nell and me before I got the chance to say hello and Nell made a run for it. You know how sensitive she is.’
The words were out before I could check them and everyone’s eyes, including Jasmine’s, swung back to Finn. So much for my recent conviction to not let my mouth move faster than my brain.
‘I’m so sorry,’ he said, setting Jasmine down again. ‘I really didn’t mean to scare her.’
‘Then you shouldn’t have shouted,’ I pointed out, unwilling to accept his apology, even if it did sound heartfelt. Clearly, I was on a roll. My love for Nell had awoken the lioness in me. ‘You scared us both.’
I took my first proper look at him and found, like me, he had left his hair loose, but the sides were plaited to keep it off his face and surprise, surprise there was Thor’s hammer hanging on a leather thong around his neck. Son of Odin, the god of thunder, really was standing among us.
‘I didn’t mean to,’ he said, taking a step closer to me. ‘It’s just that I panicked. I hadn’t cleared the studio floor all week and I was worried she’d stand on a shard of metal or something. The studio is no place for a dog with soft padded paws.’
‘I see,’ I swallowed, taken aback by the kindness in his eyes.
‘I just didn’t want her to get hurt,’ he said, his voice softer but still deep.
‘Well, there was still no need to shout,’ I said. My tone sounded curt when pitched against his. ‘If you’d just asked me to wait outside at normal volume, then she wouldn’t have run off and ended up cowering in her basket all day, would she?’
‘Oh, poor Nell,’ gasped Jasmine.
I had forgotten that she and Kate and Luke were listening.
‘She’s feeling a bit better now,’ I said for Jasmine’s benefit, definitely not Finn’s.
‘You’re right,’ he said, still staring down at me.
When I risked a closer look, I could see that his eyes were curiously grey, but speckled with dark, almost black, flecks. I struggled to look away, momentarily mesmerised by what I had intended to be just a fleeting and accusatory glance.
‘I shouldn’t have shouted,’ he agreed.
‘And you didn’t even come after us,’ I swallowed. ‘You didn’t even come to see if I had found her.’
‘I was going to,’ he said, sounding even more remorseful, ‘but I thought it might