O, Fortuna

Chapter 21

Grace stood motionless between the door and the bed for some time, body thrumming, eyes closed, sucking on her bottom lip, able to taste Liam there. She heard the Jag's departure and took in the first proper breath she had managed since she had awoken to find Liam by the bed. She wondered if he realised how deadly he looked in his grey suit, shirt and silk tie...probably not, in fact, she wouldn't mind betting it had been June's keen eye and taste that had once selected that ensemble for him. Grace grinned to herself, touching her fingers to her mouth, muttering a brief quiet word of thanks to her late great aunt for her intervention, on the suit front certainly, but more so that Grace had been granted chance to see Liam in it, even if her hormones were currently raging at the lost opportunity to see him out of it.

She took a perch on the edge of the bed, finally able to feel her heart rate steadying but could not seem to make the smile on her face disappear, replaying the last few all too-brief minutes with Liam in her mind. Grace did not consider herself lacking in confidence when it came to the opposite sex but she had never really found herself inspired enough to be quite so bold as she had with Liam. She was thankful to know he understood her now at least, even as the realisation hit home that she was not going to see him again for months and when she did, Grace had no guarantee of there being anything more between them than what had happened this morning, there simply may not be an chance for it.

Grace donned her swimming costume and headed for the pool, happy to find relief from some tension in there, though not the currently most pronounced of it that made numerous, ravenous parts of her anatomy sensitive to the touch and remained so even as she showered half an hour later.

The farewell from Faridah was a little unexpected. Thomas was eager to shake her hand and offer his continued services on the property, if that was what she wished and Grace wasted no time in consideration of this, informing him straight away there was no one she would rather have in charge of the place. Rosa, in contrast, actually wept as she hugged her guest good-bye, expressing her gratitude at finding Grace so worthy a successor to June, a sentiment that left Grace briefly gobsmacked and not a little teary-eyed herself, before reminding the housekeeper that she could call her any time, that she would love it if Rosa wrote to her and let her know where it was she wanted to take that holiday.

Several minutes down the road, Deanna piped up with a question that left Grace, once again, temporarily speechless.

"Did Liam manage an apology to you? I bet he didn't." Her attention firmly on the road before her, Grace hoped, would be enough to prevent a blush creeping into her cheeks. She coughed.

"Yes, of a fashion." In her periphery vision, Grace noted the passenger sitting a little forward in the seat to observe her better.

"Right.." Deanna nodded slowly "but it wasn't a very good one, there was a protest jammed in there, I bet, something about the moral high ground, maybe?"

"At first, yes" Grace responded, definitely able to feel her face warming "but we had a bit of a..chat. We've not parted as enemies, if that's your concern."

"Right" Deanna nodded again, apparently satisfied by the reply but still observing Grace, who glanced briefly toward her, then asked

"Problem?"

"I don't think it is" came Deanna's response "time will tell though." Grace frowned perplexedly, chuckling a little.

"You're not going to expand on that statement at all?"

"Not for the moment" Deanna replied and even out of the corner of her eye, Grace could see her passenger grinning, a silent expression that Grace tried her best not to mirror, not easily achieved when the memory of the earliest part of the morning came to front of her thoughts. But then Deanna gushed out "He's not easy to get to know, though I think you've already realised that for yourself." Grace nodded to this "and he's been through some stuff that no one can really understand and he's had a few problems dealing with it."