Passionate Harvest Read online

  “Yes, and I’m thrilled that Uncle Nick left you the house. It’s been your home for such a long time.” Lucy gave the older woman’s hand a reassuring pat. “Uncle Nick left me his share of the vineyard.” She took another sip of her tea.

  Maggie helped herself to one of the custard creams and frowned. “That must have come as a surprise.”

  “Of course, being Uncle Nick there are strings attached.” Lucy wondered if Maggie had known what was in the will. Nick had confided in his elderly sister about almost everything.

  “Ah,” Her aunt blew out a breath.

  “What was he thinking? I don’t know anything about growing grapes or producing wine. I’m sure Dominic isn’t happy about it.”

  “Oh love, you know your Uncle Nick. He worried about you taking those jobs with the holiday companies and he said lately you’d seemed rather unsettled.”

  Lucy nibbled at the edge of a custard cream. She thought she’d done a good job of sounding bright and breezy in her emails and during the Skyped conversations with her godfather. She clearly hadn’t done such a great job after all.

  Maggie surveyed her shrewdly over the brim of her mug. “He thought maybe a year back home, here, might help you to decide what you really wanted to do. When he knew that he wasn’t going to get better he changed his will. I told him he should talk to you first but you know what he was like. You do know you can come back and live here, don’t you pet? This is your home too you know.”

  Surrounded by the cosy comfort of Maggie’s kitchen, Lucy allowed herself to dream of coming back. Of leaving Tenerife which held both good and bad memories for her, and swapping her tiny apartment share for her old room here in this house.

  “That’s really kind of you, Maggie.” To Lucy’s dismay her voice wobbled as she tried to answer her aunt and two large tears plopped onto the scrubbed pine surface of the table.

  “Oh love, there now.” Maggie grabbed a box of tissues from the countertop and passed them across to her.

  “I’m sorry.” Lucy grabbed a handful of tissues and scrubbed at her eyes and nose uncaring about the black streaks of mascara that appeared on the soft paper.

  “What is there to be sorry about? I’d love to have you back here, you know that. I know you have your job and everything but I got the impression that you aren’t as happy out there as you’ve been making out.” Maggie gently rubbed Lucy’s arm, the way she’d always used to when Lucy had been younger and had come home from school upset about something.

  “What would I do though at the vineyard?” She didn’t add ‘and what about working with Dominic’, although it was at the forefront of her thoughts.

  “Dominic would soon show you the ropes so you could learn how the business runs. He can seem a bit cold when you first meet him but when you get to know him he’s got a good heart. Nick has lots of books in the study which would help you, I’m sure you’d pick it up without too much trouble.”

  “I’ve signed a contract, I’ve got obligations, I can’t simply drop everything and move back here,” Lucy sniffed. It was a mad idea, even if her inheritance was worth so much money. How could she possibly manage everything?

  “Do you really want to go back to Tenerife?” Maggie asked.

  Loneliness swept through Lucy like a physical ache as she considered returning to the island. It had been such fun when she’d first arrived there. Blue skies, a job she liked and above all there had been Christopher. What a fool she’d been where he was concerned. There wasn’t anything on Tenerife now to really draw her back, except a sense of obligation.

  Maggie sighed, “Forget I asked that. You’ve just come home and with the funeral and all the travelling now isn’t the time to be making any kind of decision.”

  “I am glad to be back, Aunt Mags. I only wish that it wasn’t for such a horrible reason.”

  “I know love.” Her aunt drained her tea and stood, steadying herself with the edge of the table before carrying her empty mug to the sink.

  Lucy realised she had been wrong earlier, Maggie had aged. Perhaps it was time she finally came home to take up her unexpected inheritance and to stay with her elderly aunt.

  * * *

  Dominic headed back to his small cottage on the edge of the vineyard properties. Mr Fullwood’s revelations about the contents of Nick’s will still hadn’t quite sunk in. What had Nick been thinking, to leave his shares to Lucy? The girl had no idea of what was involved in running a business, any kind of business. She was a nursery nurse.

  When he’d impulsively made the offer to buy her out he’d known he wouldn’t be able to raise so much capital in such a short time frame. If Lucy decided she couldn’t make it through the twelve months and the shares went onto the open market there were plenty of buyers out there who’d be anxious to snap them up. He and Nick had received offers before, usually from larger conglomerates eager to incorporate Oakdale into their businesses.

  The only thing he could do was to persuade Lucy to stay for twelve months working for the vineyard. Somehow he had to find jobs she could do which would keep her happy but not so happy that she wouldn’t be relieved to give him first option to buy her out at the end of the year. It also meant he had twelve months to raise as much capital as possible.

  Lamplight shone from one of the cottage windows as he pulled up outside. It looked as though Bob, one of the vineyard workers had remembered to stop by. He slipped his key in the lock and heard the familiar patter of Mutley’s paws on the red quarry tiles of the boot room floor as his dog came to greet him. He grabbed the huge dog’s collar to prevent him from planting his huge paws on his one good jacket.

  “Hey, down boy. Did you miss me?” He scratched the dog’s head, fussing him until the animal contentedly settled and followed at his heels as he entered the kitchen.

  Dominic slipped off his coat, draped it over the back of one of the kitchen chairs and dropped his keys onto the counter top. He opened the fridge and pulled out a small bottle of lager. Popping the stopper he took a long pull of the cold drink. Tomorrow he had to take Lucy on a tour of the vineyard and convince her she wanted to stay. Not an easy task when they hadn’t exactly got off to the best of starts. To make matters worse there was something about her that unsettled him.

  He wasn’t sure if it was the sadness in her dark blue eyes or the frisson of electricity that he’d felt when he’d tucked her arm in his at the cemetery. Either way it wasn’t good. He didn’t have time for relationships, especially ones which mixed business with pleasure. That was a lesson he’d learned the hard way and the reason he’d left his home in California behind to take up a partnership in the UK, in Oakdale. A fleeting memory of Sasha, smiling like a contented cat the last time he’d seen her flashed through his mind.

  “Damn you, Nick.” He took another swig of lager. Perhaps by tomorrow he would be able to come up with a plan.

  Chapter Two

  Lucy woke the next morning to bright sunshine and the aroma of a freshly made cup of tea next to her bed. A hasty panicked glance at her bedside clock told her that she’d overslept. She only had an hour before Dominic was due to call and take her on a tour of the vineyard.

  Lucy sat up and took a long draught of her tea. She’d dreamt about Dominic, a crazy hazy dream involving grape vines, her Uncle Nick and Dominic’s ice blue eyes. If she were being honest with herself, she thought as she dragged her slightly crumpled jeans from the wardrobe, her dreams had mostly involved Dominic. The idea felt faintly disturbing and she shivered despite the warmth of the morning as she pulled on her pale blue tee shirt.

  She took extra care with her hair and make-up before running downstairs to the kitchen. Quite why she felt the need to impress him didn’t bear too close an inspection, especially given the nature of a few of the dream fragments she could remember. She could only assume the stress of the previous day had unsettled her both equilibrium, and her libido.

  Her Aunt Maggie had already gone out, leaving her the spare set of house keys along with a n
ote on the pine table.

  ‘Gone to the supermarket, the cereal you like is in cupboard. Have a good time at the vineyard. Maggie’

  Lucy smiled as she dropped the keys into her bag. Darling Maggie, she’d almost certainly gone to buy more of the things that she knew Lucy liked best. Like the blend of coffee she preferred and the extra strong cheeses that Uncle Nick had always said smelt like old socks. Maggie and Nick had always spoilt her.

  The smile left her lips as quickly as it had bloomed as she remembered her godfather. Before she had the opportunity to follow Maggie’s instructions to fix herself some breakfast the dull diesel roar of Dominic’s car sounded at the front of the house. Nervous butterflies replaced low level hunger in her stomach and she left the cereal packet unopened on the counter.

  Lucy grabbed her bag and a soft wool sweater ready to answer the door. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so jittery. And, even though she’d been expecting it, the sharp imperious trill of the doorbell still made her jump. Sucking in a breath, she tugged the door open, mentally bracing herself ready to meet Dominic again.

  * * *

  Dominic paused on the step of Maggie’s house for a moment before pushing the bell. He’d lain awake half the night trying to work out all the different options for the future of the vineyard in his head. Despite sacrificing his sleep, he still had no answers. Whichever way he looked at it, whether Lucy decided to stay and work for a year or, if she decided to abandon her inheritance, the outcome couldn’t be good.

  He scarcely had time to lift his finger from the bell push when the door opened.

  “I’m all set.” Lucy lifted her lightly tanned arm to show him her sweater and bag.

  “Are you wearing flat shoes?”

  A flash of dismay crossed her face. “These are the best I’ve got with me. Obviously I only packed a few things.” She raised one leg to display a slender foot encased in a denim blue canvas wedge heeled shoe.

  “You’ll have to be careful when we walk beside the vines. The ground is uneven.” He opened the passenger door of the car for her. Lucy might have very pretty feet but he could only hope she wouldn’t twist her ankle in a rabbit hole in her impractical shoes.

  “Did Nick tell you anything about the vineyard?” He glanced at her.

  The morning sun streaming in through the side window lit up her honey blonde hair like a halo.

  “He talked about it quite a lot. How many bottles he expected to get, about the shop and the craft place he had planned in the barn.” He heard her sigh, soft and breathy, “I can’t believe he left me his shares though. It was a longstanding joke of his that he’d leave me a drink in his will, but this is crazy.” She shook her head as if still unable to take it all in.

  “He never mentioned his intentions to you?” Nick certainly hadn’t said anything to him. Dominic hadn’t liked to ask too much even when he could see Nick’s health was failing. He’d tried to bring the conversation round to it a couple of times but Nick would simply clap his hand onto Dom’s shoulder. ‘All taken care of. Nothing to worry about, I promise.’

  He risked another peep at her as the traffic slowed. Her eyes were downcast and she worried the skin of her bottom lip between her teeth. The action was surprising sensual. “No, never.” She shook her head again and her hair shimmered in the sunshine like molten gold.

  “He didn’t say anything to me either,” Dominic said grimly, and turned off the main road into a country lane. Having Lucy as a passenger was oddly disturbing to his senses.

  “Typical Uncle Nick.” Her voice wobbled.

  “Mr Fullwood said Nick was your godfather?” He pulled into a lay by to allow a tractor to pass and took another look at her face. Lucy Morgan wasn’t at all like the young woman he’d imagined when she’d been late for the funeral.

  “Yes, he was my father’s best friend when they were young. I moved in with Nick when I was young and he and Maggie bought me up. I’ve always called them aunt and uncle even though we aren’t really related.”

  “What happened to your parents?” His curiosity was aroused by the flat matter of fact tone of her voice.

  “Nothing. They had me and then after a few years, when I was six, they decided that they weren’t really cut out to be parents. I got sent to boarding school and they took off around the world. I hear from them every few months when they end up somewhere with internet connections. I’ve left messages for them to tell them about Nick.” Her voice had regained its strength and she stared straight ahead, yet he suspected she wasn’t actually looking at the field in front of them.

  “That must have been, must still be, very hard.” He couldn’t imagine anyone doing that to a child, especially at such a young age. His own family, though small, had always been close. At least they had been until his brother Jake had fallen in love with Sasha and Dom’s world had fallen to pieces.

  Even though the road was clear he made no move to continue their journey.

  “I ran away from boarding school when I was twelve. I made a big bonfire of my uniform, Uncle Nick and Aunt Maggie took me in. To all intents and purposes they’ve been my parents.”

  Tears sparkled unshed in her eyes and the proud tilt of her chin told him of her struggle to remain in control of her emotions.

  Dom groaned as he remembered how he’d greeted her, “And then to make things worse I behaved like a complete arse when I met you yesterday.” God, he couldn’t have been more hurtful if he’d tried.

  “Yes, you did,” She agreed levelly, “But, you did make it up afterwards by taking me to see the floral tributes. I really appreciated that.” She gave him a watery half smile. “We should get moving again before the tractor comes back.”

  He hesitated for a moment unsure if he should try and say something to console her. Deciding he would probably only make things worse, he obeyed her instruction to drive on. Silence hung heavy in the air between them and, sensing Lucy wasn’t in the mood for conversation, he turned on the CD player. They finished the journey to the strains of Take That, not his usual taste in music but one he suspected Lucy probably quite liked.

  He parked the car in one of the spaces reserved for him and Nick outside the converted barn which served as the nerve centre of the vineyard. Lucy looked around with interest.

  “Wow, I didn’t realise it would be like this. I mean I’ve seen some pictures of it before, obviously, but it looks so much bigger than I expected.”

  Dominic had grown used to the surroundings of his workplace barely noticing the busy car park, the path leading to the small courtyard which Nick had planned to develop as a craft centre, and the restaurant and shop.

  “What’s over there?” She nodded towards the other large barn on the far side of the car park.

  “The functional end of things. That’s where the magic happens and the grapes get turned into wine, bottled, and stored.”

  She nodded, a thoughtful frown on her face. “Uncle Nick showed me pictures of the grapes growing and the inside of the shop. It’s hard to grasp the scale of the place just from looking at pictures though.”

  “There are less than ten commercially producing vineyards in the UK, this is one of the largest. We grow a few grape varieties and our best seller is our sparkling white wine. I think it’ll be better to show you the fields first while the weather is good.”

  He set off towards the path that led to the vineyard trail, a signed circular walk which led around the grape growing areas and through the orchard where they grew pears and apples for cider production. Lucy hurried to keep pace with him so he adjusted the length of his stride allowing her to keep up.

  Within a couple of minutes they were surrounded by long rows of vines. He paused along the trail to show her the different types of grapevines, explaining how they were secured to the wires. It was quite a long trek and he had a lot to explain to her as they walked.

  “I knew you produced red and white wine. I didn’t realise you made sparkling wine although Uncle Nick did menti
on something about cider.”

  They stopped at the top of the ridge, at the highest point so Lucy could look down along the rolling lines of vines. He hoped she wasn’t struggling too much in her ridiculous shoes.

  She appeared to be glad of the breather, her small pert breasts rising and falling as she studied the view. Guiltily he tore his gaze away and forced himself to focus on the vines.

  “Yes, we don’t produce the cider ourselves, we grow the fruits and sell it on but I think Nick would have liked his own label cider.” A wry smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. Nick was always full of plans, always full of life. Maybe he should have pressed him a little harder about the disposal of the shares when he’d first become ill. Somehow it hadn’t seemed appropriate and Nick had blithely assured him that everything was taken care of. Plus, he’d thought, and Nick had thought too, that he’d recover.

  “Sounds like Uncle Nick, he was a pretty hands on kind of man,” Lucy agreed.

  The ground grew more uneven as they started the descent, recent heavy rains had washed away some of the gravel exposing the rocky undersurface. He would have to get one of the workers to make some repairs. The path narrowed before the entrance to the orchard and he took the lead, walking ahead of Lucy.

  The sound of shoes sliding on the loose screed and an anguished yelp made him turn. He was just in time to take hold of her arms and prevent her from falling. She clutched at the sleeves of his sweater, her eyes wide with alarm. Once again, his body tingled as he steadied her and his breath caught in his throat.

  “You were right about these shoes not being very good for walking along here.” Her voice was breathy as he released her arms and he wondered if she too had felt the electricity between them.

  “The path needs some repairs. I’ll get Bob to look at it later.”

  * * *

  Lucy tucked her hair behind her ears and prepared to tackle the final few yards of the path. She hoped her expression hadn’t betrayed her when Dominic had unexpectedly turned to break her fall. She had to have imagined the spark she thought she’d felt when he’d caught her in his arms. After all, she wasn’t sure she even really liked him, especially now he’d route marched her through the vineyard.