Anyway, whether or not she got another note back from Malcolm today, she was going to see him and go riding with him again tomorrow, then he was going to come to dinner at Sycamore Cottage for Christmas Eve the next day, and she had all of that to look forward to. And after that, she and Maddie had a cozy Christmas Day planned, then they would head to London for a few days before they had to fly home, and she would get to walk by Buckingham Palace and know she’d met the Queen a few days before. She smiled. This vacation was unlike any she’d ever had before.

She glanced at her watch. Julia had said she’d have lunch ready at one, and it was almost that time. She should make her way into the kitchen.

She stood up and winced. How was it that she’d spent less than an hour on that horse, but her whole body hurt? Could she really handle doing it again?

She went through the front hallway on her way to the kitchen, and just as she walked by, James opened the front door.

“James, hello,” a now-familiar voice said. “I have a note for Ms. Vivian Forest, if you would be so kind as to—”

Vivian stepped forward.

“Ms. Vivian Forest is right here,” she said. Had he been delivering the notes to her all morning? She assumed he’d had someone else deliver the notes, but she had no real idea.

“Oh!” he said. He looked adorably confused to see her standing behind James. She smiled at him, and he smiled back.

Oh God, did she look okay? She’d obviously gotten dressed in actual clothes and put on makeup this morning; no matter how nice the Duke and Duchess were, and how much they told her to treat this house as if it was her own, she was still staying in a house with royalty, for God’s sake. She couldn’t walk around braless and without her hair done in a house with royalty. But she hadn’t gotten dressed and put makeup on with the intention of seeing Malcolm right away. And after her accidental jet lag–induced nap, she had no idea what her hair looked like. Plus, she definitely didn’t have lipstick on.

James opened the front door wider and stepped back, so Malcolm had no choice but to come inside.

“I believe that’s for me,” Vivian said, and reached out for the note in his hand.

James faded away into the back of the house.

Malcolm handed the note to her.

“It is,” he said. “I’m sorry to disturb you. If you’re in the middle of something, I can just . . .”

Vivian shook her head.

“No, I wasn’t, but if you’re busy, I can . . .”

She stopped, only because she didn’t know what the end of that sentence was supposed to be. She could what? Go hide away in another room and read her letter and smile at it instead of smiling at him? That’s what she would have done if James had brought her the letter, but now that Malcolm was here in person, she wanted to see him, not just his handwriting on the page.

“Oh no, I have some time, if you wanted to . . .” He also trailed off just like she had.

They looked at each other and smiled, and she made a quick decision.

“I’m just about to have lunch. Would you like to join me?” she asked. “Julia made some sort of soup, and I’m sure it’ll be delicious.” There, she’d done it again. If he was too busy or just didn’t want to, he could say no, but she didn’t want him to walk back to his tiny office at the top of that enormous house; she wanted him with her.

He bit his lip. He was going to say no, wasn’t he?

“As charming as Julia’s soup sounds, I have a better idea. You haven’t seen much of the area yet, other than the Sandringham Estate. Would you like to go into town for lunch?” He looked at his watch. “I have a phone call at two thirty, so we can’t linger too long, and maybe you’d rather stay here, but . . .”

She shook her head.

“I’ll get my purse and my coat.”

She ran up two flights of stairs to her bedroom, her book under her arm and Malcolm’s note gripped between her fingers. The first thing she did when she got into her bedroom was look at herself in the mirror. Thank God, all of her frenzied feelings of the morning hadn’t made her hair as disheveled as her emotions felt. Then she opened Malcolm’s note, read it, and laughed. She tucked it into the pocket of her suitcase where she’d put the rest of his notes, and put some lipstick on.

Maddie would tease her forever if she knew she was going out with Malcolm again. Vivian hadn’t told her yet that she’d invited Malcolm for Christmas Eve dinner, even though she had cleared it with Julia first. She’d almost held back from inviting him to dinner; she knew her daughter would never let her live it down.

But, as her mother always used to say, life is short. Between her sister’s illness, her work colleague who had died suddenly the year before, and other crises that had hit her friends and family members, that maxim resonated a lot with her after the past few years. It was one of the reasons she’d given in and had come on this trip with Maddie. You never knew what could happen. She’d gotten the chance to flirt some more with an attractive British man. She wasn’t going to let this slip through her fingers.

Malcolm was still alone in the front hallway, thank goodness. James appeared with her coat, just as she was about to look around for him. She was pretty certain that man was magic.

“Thank you, James,” she said. Malcolm took her coat from James and helped her slip it on. She thanked him, like this was a normal and everyday thing for a man to do and not something making her swoon inside.

“Thank you.” She turned to the front door and then back around with a start. “Oh no, I need to apologize to Julia for missing lunch. Do you want to wait for me here?”

Malcolm shook his head.

“I’ll come with you. We can go out through the kitchen door.”

Vivian led Malcolm through the house to the kitchen and came upon Julia stirring something in a big red pot. It smelled delicious.

Before she could say anything to Julia, Malcolm stepped in front of her.

“Julia, please forgive me, but I’m stealing Vivian here away for lunch. I hope it doesn’t ruin your plan.”

Julia looked up at them and shook her head.

“First you come and steal all of my scones, then you steal my guest away. What are you going to do next?” She waved them out the door. “No hard feelings, this time.”

Vivian looked at Julia. She still felt guilty for bailing on her for lunch, when they’d discussed the soup just this morning.

“I’m so sorry, Julia. I don’t want you to think . . .”

Julia brushed her apologies away.

“Go, and have a great time, and come back and tell me how much better my food is.” She grinned at Malcolm. “Glad you can join us for Christmas Eve. Unfortunately, there are no scones on the menu.”

Malcolm opened the back door for Vivian.

“I take that as a personal slight. I hope you realize that.” Julia’s laughter rang out at them as they walked out the back door.

Malcolm put his hand on her back to guide her to the right when they got outside. She felt that small touch throughout her body.

“This is the easiest way to get to my car.”

It was colder than the day before; Malcolm put his hands in his pockets and hunched against the cold. She really couldn’t hold out against the hat any longer, could she? She took a few bobby pins out of her coat pocket and twisted and pinned her hair into a messy bun at the nape of her neck. With a sigh, she pulled her hat on.