The Little Village Bakery: A feel good romantic comedy with plenty of cake (Honeybourne Book 1) (13 page)

‘Jeez, have you ever taken a chance in your whole life?’ Dylan cried. ‘Always mister careful, mister goody-two-shoes schoolteacher, mister bloody voice of reason. Would you listen to yourself?’

‘I took a chance, remember. It didn’t work out all that well, did it?’ Spencer said quietly, his jaw muscles tight.

Dylan started a reply but Spencer stood.

‘Thanks for the drink, Millie, but I’d better get back. I have marking to do.’

‘I’ll see you to the door,’ Millie said, glancing at Dylan uncertainly. ‘And I’ll think about what you asked me for the school project.’

‘Thanks. I appreciate that.’

Spencer turned briefly towards Dylan, but he was gazing down into his glass. ‘See you around.’

‘Yeah,’ Dylan said without looking up.

Millie frowned, annoyed on Spencer’s behalf. She looked at him, his shoulders hunched in defeat as she followed him through to the front door. His obvious distress pained her. Whatever had happened in the past between these two, feelings still ran deep. Jasmine had told her briefly that they’d had a falling out, but she had never known what over. It seemed that, despite their efforts, the rift wasn’t quite mended yet. Millie wanted nothing more than to throw her arms around Spencer right now and give him a hug.

‘For what it’s worth,’ she said, keeping her voice low, ‘I think you’re right.’

Spencer gave her a tight smile. ‘I appreciate that. How about I come over one night during the week? I’m still interested in what we were talking about.’

‘That sounds lovely. Thanks for popping by.’

Millie waved him from the step and closed the door with a sigh. Then her expression hardened as she made her way back out to the yard.

‘I thought you two were friends.’

‘We are.’

‘So what was all that about? Why go out of your way to make him feel small? That’s not how friends treat each other.’

‘I happen to think he’s wrong, that’s all.’

‘No…’ Millie narrowed her eyes, hands on hips. ‘There’s more to it than that.’

‘Spencer knows me well enough by now. He won’t take offence.’

‘I think he very much took offence. You were mean and dismissive.’

‘You think?’

‘Yes.’

He folded his arms. ‘Poor Spencer. That’s what everyone always thinks. He’s so sweet, so harmless, so vulnerable. You want to wrap him up and keep him safe.’

Millie raised her eyebrows in a silent question.

‘He’s not what everyone thinks he is,’ Dylan continued.

‘So?’ Millie shrugged, feeling vexed on Spencer’s behalf. She had never liked to hear someone bad-mouthed when they weren’t present to defend themselves and she especially didn’t like it now. ‘I speak as I find and I happen to think he’s a kind and sensitive soul. Besides… We all have our dark secrets. We’re entitled to keep them too if they don’t harm anyone.’

‘Oh? So what’s yours?’

Millie couldn’t help but smile at the flirtation that was now in his voice and the danger in his question. His mood changed direction as quickly as leaves on an autumn wind. ‘Never mind mine, what are yours?’

‘I don’t have any. Scratch the surface and you get more of the same.’

‘Which is?’

‘I don’t know. You should ask Jasmine that.’

Millie watched him, waiting for more, but his attention seemed to flit elsewhere as quickly as the statement was made. He glanced around the tiny walled yard.

‘Are you keeping all this?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘When I start the building work.’

Millie took in the space and then looked back at him. ‘Why would I get rid of this? It’s lovely.’

‘But you could get an extension here, something to make more space for the business. It makes sense.’

‘No…’ Millie took a seat. ‘I need somewhere quiet, away from the business, somewhere to collect my thoughts. I like it out here.’

‘It’s your call.’ He stretched his legs out and yawned. ‘How do you feel about having me around a lot in the next few weeks?’

‘You can start the building work?’

‘Why not? Haven’t got much else to do.’

Millie smiled. Despite her misgivings about involving Dylan, about the debt she would owe him and how he might want repaying, her stomach was now aflutter at the news. ‘I’ll help you,’ she said breathlessly. ‘I won’t be much good but I’ll do what I can.’

‘Any good with a cement mixer?’

She laughed. ‘No, but point me in the direction of the on switch and I’m sure I can have a go.’

‘I’ll bring some things over on Monday. Bony will get me started and then he’ll have to go off to Salisbury for a job there, but he says he’ll call in from time to time.’

‘What about money?’ Millie asked doubtfully, the first flush of excitement now tempered by more practical and worrying considerations. ‘What if I don’t have enough to finish the work?’

‘If you sold those potions you would have, no problem…’ Millie frowned and opened her mouth to argue but he laughed. ‘I know, I know. We’ll come to some arrangement. And a respectable one at that. Give me what you can at the moment to get started and then we’ll follow the plan with Jasmine to start raising the rest.’

‘It’s a lot to raise in a short time.’

‘I’m in no rush and Bony is already loaded, he can wait for his money. Don’t sweat it.’

‘You’ve been so kind to me. Everyone has. I don’t know how I can repay it.’

‘Stick around for a while,’ he said with a smile. ‘Promise you won’t move away any time soon and that will be payment enough.’

‘That’s easy to promise. I’ve done enough moving to last me a lifetime.’

O
ver the next week
, Dylan was in and out of her home so often that Millie became thoroughly used to his presence. Without even realising it, she was starting to feel comfortable with him. Their chats in between working became longer, more intimate, more revealing. And any worries Millie might have had that he would be a sloppy worker, or easily distracted from his task, were so far unfounded. To her delight he had made short work of removing the old and crumbling plaster from the walls of the kitchen, ready for an electrician to come in and fix the wiring. Millie had hardly been able to tear her gaze from the flexing of his glistening muscles as he worked; a desire building inside her that she hadn’t felt in a long time.

‘You need a break,’ she said on the Friday afternoon as she watched him, shirtless, sanding down the old ceiling beams.

At her voice, he span round and slipped on the ladder, almost tumbling off it. ‘How long have you been there? I thought you’d gone out.’

‘About ten minutes,’ Millie said with a sly smile. ‘I was admiring the view.’

‘Oh yeah?’ Dylan made his way down. He leapt from the bottom rung and flexed his muscles. ‘A bit dusty, but still the goods, eh?’

‘I meant the beams… They look great now all that muck is off them.’

Dylan grinned and took a seat on a rough bench fashioned from old wooden crates. He had put it together to take breaks on during the first day, so he didn’t dirty Millie’s other furniture, and she had been struck by how sweet the gesture was. As the week had progressed, she had been struck by more than that too. From behind her back, Millie produced a can of beer and offered it to him.

He took the can and turned it around to look at the label. ‘The good stuff.’

‘I figured you deserved a treat for working so hard.’

‘You’ve worked pretty hard too. You’re not having one?’

Millie shook her head. ‘Not just yet, it’s still a bit early for me.’

Dylan smacked his lips as he took a swig from the can. ‘It’s never too early for a good beer.’ He patted the dusty old bench next to him. ‘Care to sit and watch me drink your beer instead?’

‘Why not?’ She took a seat. The air between them seemed supercharged and Millie was suddenly, painfully, aware of the need to speak, to break the frisson that fizzed and crackled and stole all rational thought.

Eventually, Dylan said, ‘Weirdly, I’ve quite enjoyed working this week.’ He let out a low chuckle. ‘I never thought I’d hear myself say that.’

‘Weirdly, I’ve quite enjoyed it too.’

He turned to her. ‘You actually like me being around?’

‘I wouldn’t go that far,’ she laughed. ‘But it hasn’t been
too
much of a chore.’

‘That’s good to hear.’ He took another gulp of his beer and wiped a hand across his forehead.

Millie tried not to make it obvious as she watched him, but there was no hiding the gaze that lingered just a little too long on his lips, the parting of her own, the quickening of her pulse. Could she trust this man with her heart? Could he be the one to transform her, to banish the sadness that haunted her? It had seemed such an unlikely prospect when they first met, but she had seen a different side to him these last couple of weeks; the kindness and consideration for others that his sister displayed so openly was buried just a little deeper in him, but it was there all the same.

‘I feel I need to repay you somehow,’ Millie said, firing him a coy glance.

‘I could think of a few ways,’ he laughed.

‘Why don’t you try me?’

Dylan turned to her, eyebrows raised in disbelief as he set his beer down on the floor. ‘I don’t know what you mean…’

‘Oh, I think you do. You were keen enough that night I slept at your house—’

‘But I didn’t—’

‘No, you were the perfect gentleman in the end. I was drunk and you didn’t take advantage of me. I’m beginning to think that you really aren’t the man you pretend to be to everyone.’

‘Don’t let that get out. My reputation will be ruined.’

And then Millie leaned over and kissed him.

Almost immediately his hands were all over her, hunger in every caress as he kissed her in return. He was sweaty, covered in dust, but she didn’t care. He fiddled desperately at the top buttons of her shirt, but then he suddenly stopped, and yanked himself away.

‘This isn’t right…’

Millie regarded him with a quizzical look. ‘You’re refusing me?’ she asked, but she wore a half-smile.

‘I know. The world has gone upside down, right?’ The smile he returned was one of bewilderment. He ran a hand through his hair and shrugged. ‘I consider my reputation well and truly knackered now.’

‘I don’t think so…’

‘It’s just… I really like you, Millie. I mean,
properly
like you, in a way I’ve never felt for anyone before. And I want to do this, more than anything. But the reasons have to be right… I want you to like me too.’

Millie had hoped that this would be his reaction. A few weeks ago she knew he would have jumped at an offer to sleep with him as repayment for working on her home, but here he was, telling her how wrong it was. Her heart was fragile, and she needed to be certain of the man who took on the job of strengthening it. Dylan Smith had seemed like the most unlikely of candidates, but his actions today showed her that perhaps he was the man after all.

As he gazed at her, Millie was suddenly struck by how vulnerable, how young he looked. All he wanted was love. Jasmine had often talked about how their parents’ death had affected her, but Dylan never talked about it. She could see now that it had rocked him to the core, had damaged something so deep that even he couldn’t reach that place to mend it. Millie needed healing, and so did he. Perhaps it was a good match after all. Perhaps they could heal each other. She reached over, gently took his chin in her fingertips, tracing the line of fine stubble beneath her touch. He stared at her uncertainly. Millie was filled with a new courage. She had spent so long waiting for the universe to put her life back on track, but she could do that herself. This was where she took that step into the void, and she would fly or fall. She leaned over and kissed him again.

‘Wow…’ he whispered as her lips left his. He had let her take complete control this time, and she knew that it was his way of making her feel safe. ‘I could get some more of that.’

‘You can have a lot more of that,’ Millie smiled.

She reached for him again. His fingers went back to her blouse, fumbling at the buttons, his hands slipping inside the first gap to caress her breasts and she gasped as a wave of desire crashed through her, the sheer force of it taking her by surprise.

Then he pulled away again, breathless, his expression pained. ‘You’re sure?’

‘I’ve never been more sure of anything.’ Millie straddled him this time, plunging her hands into his hair as she pressed her mouth to his, dominating every move they now made. She heard him groan beneath her, and knew that she now owned him completely. She was hot, desperate for him, but not as desperate as he was for her and the idea was thrilling.

And then a knock at the front door boomed through the old building.

‘You need to get that?’ Dylan panted.

‘No. They can come back.’ Millie kissed him again, her tongue dancing with his.

The knock came again, more forceful and insistent this time. Millie pulled away with a frown.

‘They sound like they really want you,’ Dylan said. ‘Nobody is more pissed off with their timing than me but perhaps you ought to get it.’

‘What if it’s your sister?’

‘We’ll just have to pretend we’re playing Scrabble.’

Millie giggled as she buttoned up her blouse. ‘Try to remain hot while I’m getting rid of whoever it is.’

‘I’ll be waiting. You’ve no idea how long I’ve been waiting.’ The look in his eyes was warm and genuine, enough to leave Millie in no doubt of his need for her.

She smiled as she went through to the main shop to answer the door. Smoothing a hand over her hair, she opened it, expecting to see Jasmine or Ruth, a polite excuse already formed and waiting on her lips.

She stopped dead, losing all colour as the door swung open to reveal a face that she hadn’t seen for a long time, one she had hoped never to see again.

‘Hello, Millicent,’ the woman said coldly. ‘I was beginning to think I’d never track down your hiding place.’

M
illie stumbled back
against the doorframe. ‘Rowena,’ she said in a weak voice.

‘Surprised to see me?’

‘Where…’

‘Aren’t you going to ask me in?’ Rowena stepped back and swept the front of the building with a critical gaze. ‘I never had you down as a hovel sort of girl.’

‘What are you doing here?’ Millie hissed, her faculties returning. ‘How did you find me?’

‘It’s not that hard really. A few well-placed questions up in Millrise, a newspaper report down here about your plans to breathe life back into the…’ she crooked her fingers into speech marks, ‘heart of the sleepy village of Honeybourne, a chat with the village gossip… and
voila
.’

‘You have to go.’

‘But I only just got here.’

‘And you’re not welcome.’

‘Oh…’ Rowena stepped forward, forcing Millie back from the threshold and into the building, ‘I think I am.’

‘Why do you have to keep tormenting me? Haven’t you had enough? I’m truly sorry for what happened to Michael but don’t you think I’ve paid for that now?’ Millie cried, emotions overwhelming her. She’d worked so hard, finally got to the place where she could start to move on and it was all about to be snatched from her.

‘There is no price you can pay that will atone for what you made him do.’

‘Rowena… please…’

And then Millie’s legs almost buckled beneath her as another voice came from beyond the room. She clung to the shop counter and tried to calm her breathing.

‘Millie… Is everything ok?’ Dylan appeared at the doorway.

‘Of course,’ Millie replied stiffly.

‘Only I heard you…’ he began, confusion in his expression as he looked between the two women. ‘I wondered if you were alright.’

‘I’m an old friend of Millie’s,’ Rowena said, sidling past Millie before she could do anything. ‘And you are?’

‘A neighbour,’ Dylan said carefully, glancing at Millie for guidance. But she simply looked down at her feet, desperately trying to control the emotion that squeezed her throat. ‘I’m helping out, with the renovations.’

‘How noble of you. And I bet you’re just fabulous at it too.’

‘I try,’ he replied.

‘And so handsome… You know,’ Rowena said, eyeing him up and down, ‘you remind me a lot of my brother.’

‘Do I?’ Dylan asked hesitantly.

‘You’re about the same age as he would have been, too, at a guess.’

‘Dylan…’ Millie found her voice and looked up at him, her eyes silently trying to communicate what she dared not speak in front of the newcomer. ‘I think Rowena and I need to talk some things over. I don’t suppose you’d mind popping back later?’

He looked from one to the other again, clearly trying to weigh up the situation. Then he nodded. ‘Sure. You know where I am if you need me… It was nice to meet you, Rowena.’

Rowena nodded carelessly and took herself to sit in the window seat. Millie walked with Dylan to the door.

He stepped out into the street, and then turned to face her. ‘You’re sure you don’t need me to stick around?’ he said in a low voice.

Millie shook her head. ‘It’s something I have to sort myself. I wish I could tell you about it, but I can’t… Not yet.’

‘Don’t shut me out, Millie. We’re past that now… Alright?’

‘I won’t.’

He hovered for a moment, uncertain of the etiquette of the strange moment in which he found himself. And then he turned with a barely audible sigh and left for his own house. Millie watched him go, regret scoring her guts. Already she knew that all she had hoped for, only an hour ago, could never be. She would never be free of the guilt that plagued her, of the mistake that Rowena had brought back to her doorstep. The sooner she accepted that, the less it would hurt.

‘You can’t stay here,’ Millie said as she closed the door behind her and turned to Rowena. ‘I don’t have any room.’

‘Don’t you worry. I’ve rented a cottage in the neighbouring village.’

‘For how long?’

Rowena was silent for a moment as she held Millie in a penetrating gaze. ‘For as long as it takes to ruin your life.’

‘It won’t bring him back.’

‘It will bring him justice and it makes me feel good.’

‘Michael would hate to see you become this, you know that.’

‘As he isn’t here to express an opinion either way we’ll never know if that’s true, will we?’ She glanced around the dusty room, arching a pencilled brow. ‘It’s a bit of a tip, isn’t it? But I see you have some facilities…’ Her eyes fell on a pack of beers, one missing from the corner. ‘And you are geared up to entertain. Do you always ply your builders with beer while they work? You must be popular.’

‘He was taking a break and he was hot.’

‘Oh, he’s that alright. Lining him up as your next victim, are you?’

‘What else can you get from me, Rowena? I mean, really, what else? Are you going to spend your entire life following me around so that you can drive me out of wherever I go? Are you really so twisted by vengeance? We used to be friends. I loved Michael as much as you. When he died… I was angry and hurt too. And I know it’s my fault but I can’t change it. If you don’t stop this destructive path you’re on, then…’

‘Then it will be your fault. You’ll have that on your conscience too and I’ll love every minute of your suffering.’ Rowena stood up and brushed down her long black skirt with a sneer. ‘God, it’s filthy in this place. And it stinks.’

‘Rowena—’

Rowena held up a hand to silence Millie. ‘Don’t think this is over,’ she snarled as she headed for the door. ‘It’s only just begun.’

J
asmine watched
with a huge grin as the triplets squealed and laughed, willing their swings higher and higher in the best kind of sibling rivalry. She turned to Dylan as they sat on a garden bench together, the sun skimming the distant treetops as it began its fiery descent for another roasting evening.

‘Thanks so much for putting those up. I’ve been asking Rich for weeks but he’s in his creative bubble so expecting him to do practical things is hopeless.’

‘Ah… And how is the Oscar-winning film score coming along?’

‘I don’t think it’s going very well…’ Jasmine lowered her voice, despite the fact that her husband was locked in a soundproof studio in the house, the smile fading from her lips. ‘It’s making him snappy too. Not good for the kids to be around right now…’

‘Is it bad?’

‘Nothing I can’t handle.’ She let out a sigh. ‘I just wish he’d talk to me about it. This is Rich all over – brilliant company when things are good, but unable to let anyone in when he’s feeling low.’

‘I suppose he wants to spare you.’

Jasmine let out a mirthless laugh. ‘I don’t call this sparing me. You can’t say two words to him at the moment without a look that could fry you on the spot. I’d take half his problems any day to avoid that. We’re supposed to be in this together, that’s what marriage is about.’

‘He’ll snap out of it once he gets his mojo back.’

‘God, I hope so. I just hope composer’s block is all that’s bothering him and it’s nothing more serious.’

‘Don’t you take any shit from that man.’ Dylan sipped his glass of beer. ‘You’re far too good for him and he knows it.’

Jasmine fired a sideways look at her brother, but his expression betrayed not a hint of irony. ‘I think that’s the first time you’ve ever actually paid me a compliment,’ she said.

‘Don’t get used to it.’ He flashed a quick grin.

‘How are the renovations going?’ Jasmine asked. She was more tired from Rich’s recent frustrated moods than she cared to admit and suddenly felt the need to talk about something completely unconnected.

‘Really well. This time next week I reckon Millie will be able to make her next batch of pies for Doug in her own ovens.’

‘Seriously? That’s amazing!’

‘I mean, she won’t be anywhere near ready for business, but the kitchen should be plastered and the mains gas and electricity for it should be good to go. She keeps harping on about food standards inspectors and stuff, saying she can’t bake in there until she’s got her certificate, but the way I see it, she’s not actually trading yet, she’s just donating the food in return for favours, so I don’t see how she can get into trouble.’

‘She wants to do everything right,’ Jasmine replied sagely. ‘I can’t say that’s a bad thing. And she has put up with you for an entire week without throwing anything at your head… Things must be going well.’

Dylan laughed. ‘We’ve got on better than I could have imagined.’

They were quiet for a minute or two, only the sounds of squealing from the swings and birds in the outlying woods punctuating the silence. Jasmine waited for him to say something else, but his look had become distant as he gazed across the garden and out to the fields that bordered it.

Jasmine finally broke the hush. ‘You
do
like her, don’t you?’

‘It’s crazy, but…’ He shook himself and grinned. ‘She’s a good laugh. Pretty fit too.’

Jasmine sighed. It was as close to an admission of love as she was going to get from him. And it was more than she had ever heard from him about any woman before. ‘Pretty fit? She’s absolutely beautiful.’

‘Yeah,’ he said with obvious longing in his voice. ‘Out of my league.’

‘Not if you’re deserving of her. It’s what’s inside that counts.’

‘Cliché alert…’ Dylan turned to her with a mocking grin.

‘Shut up. You know what I mean. If you like her, don’t mess it up by being a dick.’

‘How could you say that about your baby brother?’

‘Because I know him very well, that’s how.’

‘You adore me really.’

‘Sadly, that’s true. But it doesn’t mean that you’re not a dick sometimes.’

‘Aren’t all men?’

Jasmine’s gaze travelled to the house, where she imagined her husband working feverishly in a dim, locked room. ‘Sometimes. These days quite a lot.’ She turned her attention back to Dylan. ‘I wondered if Millie would call tonight. We were supposed to be making plans for a craft fair in Lymington next week.’ She glanced at her watch. ‘It’s getting a bit late for her now though.’

‘It’s only just gone nine,’ Dylan said, checking his own. ‘There’s still time. Unless she’s still with that woman who turned up today.’

‘What woman?’

He shrugged. ‘Someone named Rowena. Said she was a friend of Millie’s from way back.’

‘Millie’s never mentioned her to me.’

‘Millie never mentions anything from her past,’ Dylan reminded her.

‘True… So what was this Rowena like? Let’s see if we can figure out whether Millie is an ex-KGB spy.’

‘To be honest, if I turned up on someone’s doorstep and made them look that pissed off I wouldn’t bother going back.’

‘Millie didn’t seem pleased to see her?’

‘Quite the opposite. And Rowena… Well, I can’t say I cared that much for her. She was creepy.’

‘Really?’ Jasmine’s expression was thoughtful as she watched the triplets, who were now playing some elaborate, made-up game of what looked like swing tag. ‘No wonder Millie hasn’t mentioned her before. I wonder what she wanted.’

‘I don’t know but her timing was lousy.’

Jasmine shot him a sideways look. ‘I bet you were even less pleased to see her then.’

‘I can’t say I was that chuffed about it. I had to take a very cold shower when I got home.’

‘So, you really might be an item, you two?’

‘I think we could be getting there.’

‘And you mean what you say about not messing her around?’

‘Scout’s honour.’

Jasmine smiled. ‘She’d make a fabulous sister-in-law.’

‘Bloody hell!’ Dylan spluttered. ‘Steady on!’

Jasmine erupted into a fit of giggles. ‘Oh my God, you’re so easy to wind up!’

‘Well bloody stop it. You want me to have a heart attack?’

‘Oh, don’t be so melodramatic. I’m glad if you like her and she likes you and you’re getting it together. I like her a lot myself and it would be great for us all to be able to spend time together. Just make sure this one lasts longer than a week, eh?’

M
illie paced
the stone floor of the front shop. Her gaze went to the window for the fourth time that minute. Every time she expected to see Rowena’s mocking face at the window. The shadows on the bakery floor told her that the sun was setting. She had promised to see Jasmine this evening, but somehow she couldn’t seem to make herself venture out.

What was Rowena planning? Millie had spent the rest of the day obsessing over it, all thoughts of her glorious moments with Dylan banished to make way for unease and fear. Rowena hadn’t tracked her all this way to leave her alone now that she had found her. Millie had run from her once and she wasn’t sure she had the strength to do it again – let alone the finances, now that she had sunk everything she had into the pile of dust and bricks that currently surrounded her. She could draw all the protective circles she wanted around herself, but she couldn’t stop Rowena’s acid tongue working its way through her friends and neighbours. The idea was terrifying. Rowena had the cunning, the vindictive streak and the power to destroy Millie’s life and it seemed like she had every intention to do just that. Even when they were friends, Millie had been a little afraid of Michael’s sister; she always had a slightly unhinged side to her that made Millie wonder about how far she would go for revenge if someone crossed her. It looked as though Millie was about to find out.

There was a gentle knock and Millie’s heart raced before Dylan’s voice came through the letterbox. ‘Millie, are you there?’

Heaving a sigh of relief, Millie opened the door a crack. Dylan seemed to do a double take. She guessed she looked as pale and strained as she felt, but couldn’t bring herself to care.

‘We were worried…’ Dylan said. ‘I mean, Jasmine was worried. You told her you would go over.’

‘I’m sorry. I don’t feel well. Would you apologise to her for me?’

‘I don’t think she needs an apology. She just wanted to know you were ok.’

‘I’m fine, just a little under the weather. I’ll text her to apologise.’

‘Anything I can do?’

‘No, thank you.’

There was a pause. ‘Want me to come in?’