Will He Ask Her to be His Bride?. Trish Wylie

comes down I’ll get supper ready. Though after lunch I couldn’t imagine wanting to eat another thing today.’

      ‘Well, I can, easily, so be generous.’ He paused. ‘Not that I need to say that, Hester. Generosity comes naturally to you.’ His dark eyes held hers. ‘It was a lucky day for me when you came back into my life.’

      Hester flushed, deprived of speech for a moment. He held the look a moment longer, then smiled and carried on up the stairs. Hester pulled herself together and went up to check on Lowri’s progress and found her wrapped in her robe, gazing out of her window at the view. She turned with a sigh.

      ‘I wish Mr Anderson would sell this house to Daddy. I just love it here. I’m sure Grandma would love it too.’ She frowned. ‘But she doesn’t like flying—perhaps Daddy could bring her here by train if we have another holiday here.’

      ‘In the meantime,’ said Hester practically, ‘let’s get that hair dry so you can dress and help me put supper on.’

      One of the many attractions about the holiday for Hester was the lack of hurry about everything. There was no rush to make supper and if Lowri went to bed later than usual it didn’t matter in the slightest, because next morning she could sleep until she woke naturally.

      ‘I thought we’d have bruschetta first,’ said Hester, when a very clean and shining Lowri reported for duty. ‘That’s thick slices of the bread we bought, with a sprinkling of olive oil and some of those gorgeous tomatoes chopped and topped with basil, anchovies and olives.’

      ‘I’ve never had anchovies,’ said Lowri, inspecting them. ‘They’re all furry. How can you have furry fish?’

      ‘Magic. But you can have yours without, if you like.’

      ‘Does Daddy like them?’

      ‘I don’t know. So we’ll just go as far as the tomatoes and basil, and put the olives and anchovies in little pots to add as required.’

      ‘I’ll do that, then,’ said Lowri promptly. ‘What else are we having?’

      ‘Turkey, ham and salami. I’ll whip some lemon juice and this wonderful olive oil together for a dressing for the lettuces, and you can get the cheese out.’

      Connah crossed the hall later and paused in the kitchen doorway, unnoticed for a moment as he watched Hester and Lowri working together, the gleaming fair head bent to the shiny dark one. Then Hester looked up and smiled and the idea that had germinated in Albany Square, and had been growing in strength ever since, crystallized into certainty.

      ‘It’s a hive of activity in here,’ he commented, smiling, and Lowri whirled round to beam at him.

      ‘Supper’s almost ready, Daddy.’