Thursday was as beautiful, weather-wise, as Wednesday had been. The sun was shining, the sky was a cloudless baby blue, and it was warm again for the time of year. Harrison walked down to the lake and brushed the small amount of remaining snow from the bench. There wasn't even a frost this morning, and the snow on the ground was rapidly turning to a coffee coloured slush.

The last few days had been a complete shock to his system. Juliet had walked back into his life at Merry's Christmas Tree Farm on Monday, nearly drowned on Tuesday — but given him a small amount of hope — and walked back out of it on Wednesday.

And as if that wasn't bad enough, Luke had spent Wednesday afternoon telling him his own plans for the future, which astonishingly involved Juliet's younger sister, Zoe.

If Luke's relationship progressed with Zoe the way Luke seemed positive it would, Juliet would be in Harrison's life forever. Only not in the way he wanted. So close, and yet so far.

It would be inevitable that they would meet at family gatherings; he couldn't avoid them all. For the past twenty years he had managed to evade spending Christmas with his grandfather, but he had always spent time with Luke over the holidays, and seen him on birthdays and several times throughout each year. If Luke set up home with Zoe, Harrison could hardly ask him to spend those times at Harrison's home, and not his own with his wife, and possibly her family. And then of course, Luke and Zoe would have a family of their own, to whom he would be an uncle and Juliet, an aunt. There was some irony in that.

He was happy for Luke, of course. Luke had found love and someone to share his life with; something Harrison had failed miserably at. His love was unrequited and had been for twenty years. But he wasn't going to think about that yet again.

Once Harrison had recovered from the shock of Luke's news, he and Luke had spent Wednesday evening discussing Luke and Zoe's potential business. Luke would receive the money from his trust fund on his thirtieth birthday, and that was a couple of hundred thousand pounds. More than enough to start a new venture. But his birthday wasn't until February and Harrison could see how enthusiastic Luke was and how keen to get the ball rolling. Luke had only asked for Harrison's advice, and for some moral support to help him and Zoe get the business off the ground. Harrison had offered to give Luke the start-up money as a Christmas and early birthday present. That meant they could begin their future together right away. Luke had jumped at the chance.

When Harrison had turned thirty, he had come into his trust fund, but he had already started a business, years before, and made plenty of money of his own. As the eldest son, Harrison had not only received more money than Luke, he had also inherited an ancient family trust – and that now included The Grange. And that was when he had discovered the full extent of his grandfather's deception.

If he could have hated the old man more, he would have. Instead, what he discovered had actually made him feel sad for Rufus Bow.

Rufus hadn't purchased The Grange with his own money twenty years ago; he had used money that had actually belonged to Harrison. Well, to Harrison from the ancient family trust, and money from Harrison's own father, who, prior to his death, had made Rufus executor of his will, a trustee of his estate, and given power of attorney. Which basically had meant that the million or so Harrison's father had made from running his own extremely successful housebuilding business, together with a couple of million from the ancient trust, had been sitting in a bank account for Rufus to use however he wished – the only proviso being that it must be to Harrison's future benefit. Strictly speaking, Rufus had never owned The Grange. It had always belonged to Harrison. He simply hadn't known about it until his thirtieth birthday.

And when, eight years ago, he had discovered the truth, he had been sorely tempted to kick the old man out without a penny. At least, without a penny of Harrison's money. Rufus did have money of his own, simply nowhere near as many zeros as Harrison. Instead, Harrison had merely decided he would never speak to the old man again. Not that they had spoken much since the day Harrison left The Grange as an unhappy and resentful eighteen-year-old. The only thing they had discussed during all those years had been Luke, and what was best for Luke's future.

The one thing Harrison had never understood was why Rufus was so hell-bent on owning The Grange. He had a perfectly good home of his own. And so had Harrison's parents. Maybe neither house had been as grand as The Grange, and certainly nowhere near as old, but they had both been fairly impressive. Rufus had sold both houses.

It had only been about three years or so ago, and then by pure chance, that Harrison had uncovered Rufus' final secret. And he had certainly kept it a secret. Rufus' father, Harrison's great-grandfather, had been engaged to Juliet's great-grandmother, and apparently been madly in love. Madly, being the appropriate word. It seemed the man was a bit of a tyrant, to put it mildly, and his fiancée had second thoughts. She broke the engagement off, which caused substantial embarrassment to the Bows, apparently. But who could blame her? Even Harrison had heard stories of how truly evil his great-grandfather had been. Well, the man certainly blamed Juliet's great-grandmother, and also the woman's father for not forcing his daughter to honour her engagement. And he swore that one day he, or one of the Bows, would own The Grange. Even after he married Harrison's unfortunate great-grandmother and had Rufus, the man had been obsessed. Rufus had spent his childhood and long after, constantly hearing that one day, the Bows would own The Grange.

But Harrison's great-grandfather hadn't been the first Bow to want the place. The Bows had wanted it for hundreds of years before. That was another thing Harrison had discovered three years ago when he had finally taken the time to go through all the old papers, records, letters and diaries he had also inherited on his thirtieth birthday.

The revelation had unnerved him, almost as much as when he had uncovered Rufus' deception. It had also made him question his long-held feelings for Juliet. Was there some rogue gene or something in the Bow family that drew them all to the Bells and to The Grange? It was more than a little worrying. Or perhaps something in the Bows was repeatedly attracted to something in the Bells. Perhaps the families were actually meant to be together.

That thought made him laugh out loud. It wasn't his fault he was still in love with Juliet; it was simply in his blood.

And now his younger brother Luke had succumbed. He too had fallen in love with a Bell. It was like a virus. Well, scientists had always said that falling in love was merely a chemical reaction – a biological drive. Did that make the situation better, or worse? And did it even matter? He had fallen in love with Juliet. Luke had fallen in love with Zoe. At least one of them would have a happy ending.

Harrison spent the morning walking around the grounds, and eventually, once Kiki was up, dressed and ready for action, they had had lunch and then spent the afternoon working. He wanted to get the ball rolling with regard to the finances for Luke before the banks, the lawyers, and the accountants shut down for the Christmas holiday.

To say that Kiki was astonished regarding Luke and Zoe, was possibly an understatement.

'What is it with that bloody family?' she said.

Harrison laughed. 'I've been asking myself that question all morning. I blame the universe. We're all made up of stardust. Perhaps, billions of years ago, the Bow's stardust and the Bell's stardust were part of the same star, and we've spent billions of years trying to reform.'

'What? Have you started drinking early? I know it's the festive season and I've seen your grandfather with a glass in his hand at eleven a.m. but consuming alcohol before seven in the evening is a first for you.'

'No, Kiki. I haven't been drinking. But I suppose you could say I am a little punch-drunk. There's been one surprise after another since I got here.'

'You can say that again.'

He did have several glasses of wine with dinner, and a brandy or two after that, but by the time he went to bed, he began to wish he hadn't. Kiki had been getting a little tactile all evening and as they walked upstairs she linked her arm through his.

'We haven't spent much time together, have we? Just you and me, I mean.'

'No. There hasn't been much time for work, I agree.'

Kiki tutted. 'I wasn't talking about work, Harrison. I was talking about us. I was hoping we could spend more time getting to know one another. That's one of the reasons I came here.'

Harrison furrowed his brows. 'We do know one another.'

'Oh, Harrison. I mean, I was hoping that there might be more to our relationship than work. And please don't say we're friends. Or that I'm like a sister to you. I don't want to be your sister, Harrison. And I want to be so much more than your friend. Can't you see how I feel about you? Don't you find me attractive?'

'Of course I do. Any man would. You're gorgeous, Kiki.'

'So?'

He hesitated. 'Er. So ... What?'

'Are you being intentionally obtuse?'

'I'm not being intentionally anything. I'm not sure what you're saying.'

'I'm saying I'm attracted to you, Harrison. Sexually attracted. I'm saying I want to go to bed with you. To have sex with you. To have a relationship with you. Wouldn't you like that?'

'Er.'

'Er? What do you mean, “Er”? Is that all you have to say? Jesus, Harrison. I'm offering myself to you on a plate. What more do I have to do?'

Harrison gave a little cough, ran his free hand through his hair, and sighed deeply as he turned to face her at the top of the stairs.

'I'm sorry, Kiki. I don't know what else to say. You're gorgeous. And I'll admit the thought of us having more than a working relationship has crossed my mind once or twice. But the plain fact is, I don't have those sort of feelings for you. I don't love you, Kiki. I like you a lot, but that isn't enough. Not for me at least.'

'That's nonsense. Complete and utter nonsense. Are you telling me that you've been in love with all the other women you've gone to bed with? We both know there have been a few.'

'No. In fact, I don't think I've been in love with any of them. Not really in love, in any event. But it's different with you.'

'Why?'

'Because with those women, I saw them, I was attracted to them and things progressed naturally from there. I didn't know them beforehand. I wasn't friends with any of them. If you and I slept together now, it would probably ruin our friendship. It would definitely affect our working relationship. We couldn't just have a casual affair. And I can't offer you anything else. We don't have a future together, Kiki. Not as husband and wife.'

'Why do we need to be husband and wife?'

'Because that's what I want for my future. I want someone I can share it with.'

'You can share it with me.'

He shook his head and lowered his eyes. 'No, Kiki. I can't.'

'Well then, let's not worry about the future. Let's just have fun tonight, and for several nights to come.' She laughed seductively and wrapped her arms around his neck.

He sighed deeply and with his hands, he removed her arms, and held her hands in his. He looked into her eyes and smiled wanly, shaking his head. 'No, Kiki. It wouldn't be fair, and that would stop it from being fun.'

'You don't know what you're missing, Harrison.'

He gave a light-hearted laugh. 'Oh I think I do. And I may very well kick myself for it in time. But for now I must do what's best for both of us. And going to bed with you is not what's best for you, or for me. Good night, Kiki. And pleasant dreams. Let's both forget we had this conversation in the morning.'

'Huh! And pleasant dreams to you, Harrison. Why any man would want to spend his nights alone when he could be in bed with me, is beyond my comprehension.'

'It's beyond mine, too. But that's the way it is.'

She turned and marched down the hall to the Dawn room and slammed the door behind her.