Page 65 of Coming Home to Sturcombe Bay
“Cassie.”
“Yes, I know. Liam told me.”
“Oh . . .”
“It’s really beautiful here.” She glanced out over the bay. “You’re so lucky to live here.”
“Yes.”Oh, come on. You can do better than that.“Have you known Liam long?”
“Not very long. We met at a fundraiser for the Horse Rescue Society.” Her eyes were bright. “I suppose you must know him quite well. He’s such a lovely man — so different from most of the men I know. They’re all over you like a rash, but Liam’s a real gentleman, you know what I mean?”
“Yes, I know.”Oh lord, she had to escape. “Well . . . um . . . it’s nice to have met you. I’d better be getting this little one back to her mum.”
“Of course. Goodbye. See you around.”
“Yes . . . Goodbye.”
Trying not to look as if she was running away she trundled the buggy around the corner of the path and circled back up to the terrace.
Lisa and Vicky still had their heads together over wedding plans. “Hi.” Cassie parked the buggy next to the table. “She’s been as good as gold. Another coffee, anyone?”
Vicky glanced up with a smile. “Yes, please.”
“Right.” Cassie slipped away to the bar in the lounge.
So that was Liam’s girlfriend. Dammit, she seemed really nice, as well as being stunningly beautiful. It would have been so much easier if she’d been a bitch . . .
No it wouldn’t. She’d hate to think of Liam being with a woman who was horrible. And it wouldn’t be very nice for little Robyn, either.
Oh well, she’d known all along that there was no future for her with him anyway, so there was no point letting herself be bothered about it. Schooling herself to put on a smiling face, she set the coffee mugs down on a tray and carried it out to the terrace.
Chapter Twelve
What was a black Lexus doing parked outside the house, gleaming in the early afternoon sunshine? Cassie glanced at the rental company sticker in the rear window. Of course, it might not be anyone visiting them — there were quite a few cars parked on Cliff Road.
“Hi, Mum — I’m home,” she called as she opened the front door.
“Ah, here she is.” Her mother appeared in the doorway of the sitting room, a big smile on her face. “You’ve got a visitor, love. All the way from Australia.”
“What . . . ?” Startled, Cassie dumped her shopping bag in the hall and dodged past her mother as six feet five of gorgeous blond Australian surfer dude rose from the sofa and held out his arms.
“Hey, babe!”
“Dougie!” She crossed the room straight into a big Dougie bear hug. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to see you, babe.”
“Oh yes?” She laughed up at him. “You flew ten thousand miles just to see me?”
“Of course. Well, no,” he confessed, his sunny blue eyes smiling. “I had some business in London. Then I thought, hey, why not pop down and see Cass while I’m here?”
“Popdown? It’s almost two hundred and fifty miles.”
“Two hundred and fifty miles?” His curly blond fringe flopped as he shook his head. “That’s no distance.”
“Dougie, you’re a walking cliché. Okay, it’s nothing for you to drive two hundred and fifty miles to get a pint of milk, but people who aren’t from Queensland regard it as alongway.”
“It’s a long way on your piddling little English roads, all bendy twisty,” he conceded. “But it only took around four hours.”
