Aaron’s hands tightened on hers. ‘Will you?’

She shook her head. ‘Can’t now, because … um, have you spoken to Lee about Alice?’

He brushed his brother away with an impatient shrug. ‘They’re not going to try again. He told me last night. But, listen—’ he gripped her still more fiercely ‘—I’m not going to let them get inside our relationship any more, whatever they do.’

Joy blossomed in her chest. ‘Me, neither. Or me, too – whichever’s right. Alice came this morning. I think she’s upset about Lee but trying not to show it. I can’t promise she’ll stay away though because I think she suspects Lee was The One, and she let him go so there would always be a chance she’d pop back up.’ She turned to face him squarely. ‘I think she’d genuinely hoped … Anyway, she’s gone travelling again. And I have sole possession of the Roundhouse because she’s manipulated Hugo out of the way too.’ She told him about her cousin’s insouciant blackmail.

Instead of looking pleased, though, Aaron frowned. ‘Even if Alice comes back to the Roundhouse sometime, it doesn’t have to matter. You could move in with me.’

It was such a shock that she had to pause to get her breath before she answered. ‘I’m not sure that’s the best idea—’

‘Lee and Daisy are going to move to Hunstanton,’ he added persuasively. ‘We’ll be alone.’

‘Yes, but Genevieve—’

‘Forget what happened with Genevieve,’ he broke in, knitting his dark brows over the bridge of his nose. ‘I didn’t want her moving in because she was the wrong woman. You’re the right woman.’ And he closed in for a hard, hot kiss, as if to prove it. ‘I’ve talked to Genevieve and I’m pretty confident she won’t try and make trouble for you any more.’

‘But—’ Clancy said loudly, intent on getting a word in ‘—Alice has taken Genevieve travelling with her! Apparently she stayed at Genevieve’s cottage last night after talking to Lee and she’s persuaded her that she needs a break from Nelson’s Bar.’

Aaron’s jaw dropped. ‘Seriously?’

Clancy nodded, freeing a hand to stroke seawater droplets from his arm. ‘Alice and I had a row yesterday. I told her she took from me but didn’t give and that I wasn’t going to look after her half of Roundhouse Row any more. She was so shocked she came up with a plan to rebalance the scales.’

He looked bemused. ‘And that’s taking Genevieve away for a bit?’

Breathless all over again, but this time with joyful anticipation, she laughed. ‘Only partly. Alice has offered me something else. Something really valuable in my opinion, and not just in money. Something that will – if you agree – make me very happy and settled, here in Nelson’s Bar.’

Silently, his eyes searched hers.

Clancy took a big breath. ‘She’s offered to let me buy her out of Roundhouse Row,’ she said in a rush. ‘If you’re up for it. It will have to wait until my money comes through but we’d be partners. We could live in the Roundhouse. It wouldn’t be my space or your space. It would be our space.’ She waited, hardly daring to breathe.