Page 16 of A Little Love Song in Seabury (Seabury #16)

LEAH

L eah surfaced to the sound of the waves beyond the clifftop windows mingling with notes from a piano being played in the next room.

Will .

She smiled, turning onto her back and reaching out to stroke the pillow next to her. It was still warm from his cheek.

He was gone from her side again… but this time, it didn’t sting, because she knew why. He wasn’t really gone at all, he was just capturing their time together in the best way he knew how.

Letting out a yawn, Leah stretched luxuriously.

As promised, Will had helped her tick off another item from her bucket list—the afternoon nap to end all afternoon naps.

She’d slept long and deep… not that it was a surprise.

All that sea air and sun as they’d fed each other strawberries had worked like magic.

By the time they’d arrived back at the house, they hadn’t been able to keep their hands off each other. They’d barely managed to get through the front door before they were tugging at each other’s clothes, stealing hungry kisses, and tripping over each other in their haste to get inside.

Leah turned over and grinned into the pillow as Will’s playing became louder, faster and more insistent. It was like he was reliving the same moment!

Stretching out again, Leah marvelled at how long and languid her limbs felt. But she wasn’t going to be able to stay still for much longer. She longed to kiss him again… to feel those talented fingers of his playing across her skin…

‘Get a grip!’ she muttered, sitting up and wriggling as a flutter of anticipation ran through her body.

Life was about to become seriously complicated if her brain kept tugging her sideways into these naughty thoughts! How on earth was she going to get any work done?!

Work!

It felt like someone had just tooted a horn right in her ear.

Work was the one thing neither of them had mentioned since the beach.

What did all this mean beyond today? She’d been about to jump ship…

not because she actually wanted to, but because the idea of being around Will every day, organising his life while living her own in parallel, had been more than she could bear.

But… what about now?

Well, one thing was for certain—she needed to destroy that letter. Whatever Leah decided to do, that cold, formal note wasn’t the way she wanted to tell him.

With a quick glance towards the bedroom door, Leah slid out of bed and crept towards her bag, which was sitting on the plush armchair near the window.

She didn’t know why she was tiptoeing around. By the sound of the music still drifting through from the next room, Will was still safely lost in his own little world.

Leah reached into her bag and drew out her trusty diary. Retreating to the edge of the bed, she placed it in her lap and started to riffle through the pages, hunting for the envelope she’d stashed in there before leaving for Seabury.

Where the hell was it?!

Taking a deep breath, Leah started again at the back of the book and worked methodically towards the front cover.

‘Where are you?!’ she muttered when she’d made her way through the pages for the second time with no luck.

Perhaps it had dropped into the bottom of her bag?

Leah hurried back to the chair and rummaged right to the bottom of the soft grey leather sack. She came across plenty of other random detritus, but there was no sign of a white envelope with those two little words on the front.

‘Shit!’ she breathed, turning back to the bed again.

Grabbing the diary by its covers, she waggled it violently over the white duvet. Notes, cards and scraps of paper fluttered from its pages like confetti, but not one of them was what she was searching for.

‘Think Leah, think!’ she hissed, as the music from the living room softened into a run that tiptoed down her spine.

Yesterday. She’d been in such a hurry to get out of Seabury House, she’d sent her bag flying.

‘Oh no!’ she gasped. She must have dropped the letter. Which meant there was basically an unexploded bomb sitting somewhere in Seabury House’s hallway!

‘Leah? You awake?’ came a tentative call from the next room.

Damn . Leah held her breath. Two seconds later, the music started again.

Grabbing her mobile from beside the bed, Leah tiptoed into the opulent ensuite and locked the door behind her.

There was only one thing she could do now!

Leah knew Connie was probably down at the wool shop, but with any luck, Rosie would be at the house.

‘Hey hey!’ said a sunny voice after just two rings.

‘I need your help,’ said Leah, her voice low and urgent.

‘Uh oh,’ said Rosie, sounding horrified. ‘What’s the idiot done to cock things up this time?’

‘Huh?’ said Leah.

‘Will?’ said Rosie, as if that explained everything.

‘Oh. No… he’s perfect!’ she said, unable to keep a little smile off her face. ‘It’s me, I’m the idiot.’

‘Trust me, it’s not you!’ chuckled Rosie.

‘I’m serious!’ hissed Leah. ‘This is urgent. I’ve done something really stupid, and I need your help before it’s too late.

’ Leah was about to pause to catch her breath, but ploughed on before Rosie could start making more jokes.

‘When I was up at the house yesterday, I dropped my bag in the hallway and a bunch of stuff fell out.’

‘Uh huh?’

‘I’m missing a letter. It’s really important and I can’t find it.’

‘Oh, he must have really pissed you off!’ said Rosie.

‘What? No!’

‘You’re talking about the resignation letter, right? Your resignation letter?’

‘How’d you know about that?!’ said Leah. ‘Oh my god… have you read it?!’

‘I… erm…’

‘Rosie?!’ hissed Leah. ‘Look… have you got it there?’

‘I… I thought you said things were going well?’ said Rosie, sounding disappointed. ‘Anyway, where are you calling from?’

‘Why’s that important?!’ said Leah, sinking onto the edge of the tub.

‘Just humour me.’

‘Okay, fine. I’m hiding in the ensuite at the cliff house.’

‘Ensuite?!’

Leah could almost hear Rosie wiggling her eyebrows.

‘Yes. Now tell me how you know about that letter!’

‘No,’ said Rosie. ‘It sounds like things have progressed far enough.’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ said Leah, wanting to grab Rosie, give her a little shake and beg her to help.

‘I think you should go and ask Will about the letter,’ she said, her voice uncharacteristically gentle all of a sudden.

‘I don’t understand?’ said Leah, practically begging now.

‘He’s got it.’

‘Shit!’

‘You’ll be fine,’ said Rosie.

‘But…?!’

‘Trust me.’

And with that, the line went dead.

‘Hey Will.’

Leah had waited until his hands came to rest and he gave his customary little nod, which signalled he’d reached the end of the piece.

It had taken every ounce of her nerve and patience to stay quiet… and now she was struggling to blink away the emotion the music had just wrung from her. It had been stunning—heart-breaking and tender… and the last thing she needed right now.

‘Hi!’ said Will, turning a beaming smile on her, only for it to slip. ‘You’re… dressed?’

Leah nodded. There was no way she was willing to have this conversation wearing one of the fluffy guest robes. So, she’d pulled her smart black trousers back on, her slightly crumpled white shirt… and her hair was pulled back in the most severe up-do she could manage.

Leah needed her armour again, and it looked like Will had noticed… even if he clearly didn’t understand what had changed since he’d left her napping so peacefully in his bed.

‘What’s up?’ he said with a little frown.

‘I’ve lost something,’ she said quietly, not really knowing where to start.

‘Something?’ he echoed.

‘A letter.’

‘Ah. The letter.’

Leah’s heart sank. So, Rosie had been right.

‘You’ve got it?’ she said.

Will nodded.

‘Is that what all this has been about?’ she said. Her voice felt like it was coming from a long way away.

‘All… this?’ he said, looking confused.

‘Don’t be cute,’ she huffed. ‘Today. The picnic. The beach. The strawberries… the…’ She paused.

Her throat was aching with what felt like anger, or maybe unshed tears.

‘The nap ,’ she finished, gesturing impatiently at the bedroom.

‘Was it all just to try to keep me here? With you? To stop me from resigning?’

‘No!’ gasped Will, jumping to his feet and taking two strides towards her before freezing in place. ‘No!’ he said again, more gently this time. ‘All that… all this? It’s because I love you. I am in love with you, Leah. And whether you stay or go is completely up to you.’

He paused for a long moment, breathing hard.

‘Do I want you to stay? Yes, of course I do, more than anything! But will I be okay if you go? Probably. Eventually.’

He paused again, running his fingers roughly through his hair.

‘Either way,’ he said, his voice thick with emotion now, ‘I love you. So much that you’ve taken over my heart and soul and head. I love you so much that every time I’m near you, the music starts again.’

Leah swallowed hard and sniffed. ‘But… what if I have to go?’

‘That’s your choice,’ said Will, looking crushed.

‘And if I stay?’

‘That’s your choice,’ he said again, his voice sounding choked now, even as a smile tried to force its way onto his face.

Leah nodded, but she wasn’t ready to answer. Not yet.

‘Look,’ he said, ‘as we’re talking business, there’s something I need to give you, too. A letter I brought with me. I actually wrote it when we were in Paris, but I was just waiting for the right moment to talk to you about it.’

Leah blinked.

What was happening?!

‘If you do decide to stay, please will you consider this?’

Will headed across the room, grabbed his jacket from the sofa and took a piece of paper from the inside pocket before holding it out to her.

Leah took it and, at a nod from him, flipped it open.

Sure enough, it was written on headed stationery that Will must have swiped from the hotel they’d stayed at on the last leg of his tour in Paris.

It was dated two weeks ago, and covered in his chaotic script.

Luckily, she was used to deciphering the swooping swirls and squiggles.

With another glance at Will, Leah read the letter through to the end. Then she read it again, just to be sure.

‘Your agent?’ she said. ‘You… wanted me to be your new agent?’

‘Want. Not wanted,’ said Will. ‘Present. Not past.’

‘Really? You still want it after… everything?’ She took a deep breath as images of him leaning down to kiss her bombarded her senses. ‘After today, I mean? After everything that’s happened.’

‘There’s no one I want more,’ said Will. ‘You’ve been doing the job for weeks anyway. You’d make an amazing agent. We’d make an amazing team. What do you say?’

‘I don’t know…’ she said slowly, though her heart was racing with excitement.

‘If you decide to stay, be more than my PA, Leah,’ said Will.

‘Be my everything. Agent, girlfriend, mother of my children… I want everything! Of course… it’s your choice.

I’ll take whatever you’re willing to give me.

And if your answer’s no, I promise I’ll accept it.

But you’re already everything to me, Leah. Everything.’

Leah let out a long, slow breath, then closed the gap between them.

‘Okay,’ she said.

‘Okay?’

Will stared down at her, his eyes wide and hopeful as she took one of his strong hands in hers. Raising it, Leah kissed his fingers.

‘Okay.’ Her heart was so full of William Pepper that she felt like she was going to explode.

‘To which bit?’ said Will.

‘To everything.’