She yelped. He swore and grabbed a cushion to hide his manhood. Bella quickly clamped a hand over her eyes and turned to get out the room, bouncing head-first off the doorframe and landing on her back on the floor.

‘Ow!’ Bella said, her hand still over her eyes.

‘Crap, Bella, are you OK?’ came Zach’s voice from somewhere just above her. She didn’t dare look.

‘I’m so sorry, I just wanted to tell you there were spare logs for the log burner in the cupboard under the microwave. I should have knocked. I didn’t realise you’d be naked and, erm…’ All she could think about how delicious he looked. ‘Why are you naked anyway? Where are your boxers?’

‘I normally sleep naked. Well, I used to before I ended up on the streets. Force of habit, getting undressed for bed,’ Zach said.

‘You sleep naked?’ There was something so sexy about that thought. ‘God, that’s hot.’ She peered through her fingers at him. He was standing over her, thankfully still holding a cushion with one hand. He smiled at her comment. She flushed, clamping a hand over her mouth. She’d just told him he was hot. Was there no filter on her mouth at all? ‘I can’t believe I just told you I think you’re hot. I must have banged my head harder than I thought.’

He offered a hand to help her up, she took it and he pulled her to her feet. He gently swept her hair off her forehead to look at her bruise, his eyes clouding with concern. ‘I think you’ll live.’

‘Not if I die of embarrassment first.’

‘There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. If I told you I think you’re incredibly sexy would that make you feel better?’

She stared at him, finding it impossible to believe that they were standing there having this conversation when he was stark naked.

‘You’re attracted to me?’

‘Of course I am; you’re smart, funny, passionate, incredibly beautiful.’

She literally felt her mouth fall open though there were no words to fill the silence. No one had ever said those things to her.

‘I’m attracted to you too,’ she said, quietly.

Neither of them said anything for a moment and she found her cheeks burning red again.

Eventually he took a step back away from her. ‘Goodnight Bella.’

Feeling stung and confused she took a step away from him and then, when he didn’t say anything else, she left the room, closing the door behind her.

Her day had started off so normally and now it had ended in a very bizarre way. But one thing was for sure, her life was suddenly a lot brighter now that Zach had crossed her path.

* * *

Bella woke the next day to a bright spring sun bursting through her curtains. She opened the window and smiled at the blackbird that was going into full song right outside her window. The sea glistened like gold as the little white boats in the harbour bobbed about in the gentle spring tide.

She stood up and stretched, guessing from the complete silence in the house that Zach had already gone but she couldn’t help smiling when she thought of him.

Something had passed between them the night before and she somehow knew she would be seeing him again.

She padded downstairs into the lounge and sure enough there was no sign of him. The blankets were neatly folded on the sofa but the smell of him lingered in the air and it made her stomach clench with need.

On the coffee table there was a pink peony on top of a piece of paper. She scooped up the flower and sniffed it, relishing in the wonderful smell, then picked up the note and read it.

She smiled even though the message left her thoroughly confused. She focussed on the bit she did understand. He had wanted to kiss her. She wanted to leap up and let out a little whoop of joy at that fact. But what was the reason that held him back?

She looked at the big kiss and little kiss at the end of the note and thought that perhaps it was symbolic of Zach and her together. She shook her head at her silly romantic whimsical nature.

Bella read the note again. He had never mentioned that he knew Isaac Scott the night before when they had talked about him; why would Zach think that she would hate him? Had something happened between them in the past? Was Isaac Scott responsible for Zach being on the streets? She doubted Isaac would even be there at the interview so why would she even see him, let alone hate him?

She sighed as she fingered the soft petals of the flower for a moment, before walking into the kitchen and putting it in a bowl of water.

She guessed she would find out what the note meant soon enough, but for now she had lunch with Rome to deal with and she knew her brother wouldn’t make it easy for her.

* * *

Bella let herself in through the back door of Rome’s thatched cottage and called out to him. He called to her from the dining room. There was a wonderful smell of lasagne and garlic bread in the air. Her favourite. She smiled that Rome had been thoughtful enough to make that for her but the smile faded from her face when she walked into the dining room and saw her aunt, uncle and her sister Eden sitting at the table too. She glared at Rome as she moved to greet her aunt and uncle though her brother remained unmoved by her stares.

‘Hi Lucy, Finn. What a lovely surprise,’ Bella said. ‘I didn’t know you’d both be here.’

Eden smirked at her and Bella returned her smile. Whereas Rome had always taken his job of protective older brother very seriously, she and Eden had become best friends very quickly. They had slept in the same room, shared their toys and clothes growing up. Bella adored her. And while she adored Rome too, it was a different kind of love.

Bella sat down at the table. In the middle, propped up against the hugging salt and pepper pots, was an envelope with her name on it. She didn’t need to be psychic to know there was money inside it, quite a lot judging by the thickness of it. Rome took her hand, distracting her from deciding how best she could turn it down.

‘I’ve filled these guys in,’ Rome said.

‘I thought you might have,’ Bella said. ‘Finn, I’m sorry about the rent.’

Her uncle’s eyes widened and a flash of hurt crossed his face.

‘We don’t care about the rent. Why didn’t you come to us?’ Her aunt Lucy immediately went in for the kill.

‘I was doing OK, I had savings to fall back on. It was only in the last week or so that things started getting a bit tight.’

‘And that’s when you should have come to us,’ Finn said. ‘We’re your parents. We would have helped you.’

‘This is a tiny little blip. I have a job interview on Monday and I’m going to get it. This is my problem to sort out not yours. I didn’t want to burden you with it.’

‘You’re our daughter, and we love you so much. You are not a burden. You never have been,’ Lucy said.

Bella smiled. The love she felt from her adoptive parents was unconditional, unwavering and more than she ever deserved. She often thought that she was showered with more affection than her older siblings and she knew it wasn’t just because she was the youngest. Her real parents had never loved her and her aunt and uncle had spent the last twenty-one years trying to make up for that, as if they somehow felt guilty for the behaviour of Lucy’s younger sister.

‘If we were in the same situation and were struggling to pay our bills and pay for food, would you help us?’

‘Of course I would,’ Bella said. ‘But it’s different.’

‘Why is it different?’ Rome argued.

‘Because… Because you’ve all supported me my whole life. I’m like the cuckoo chick, unwanted by my own parents and dumped in someone else’s nest to be looked after. You took me on when I was six years old, gave me food and clothes and a roof over my head. Rome, you paid off all my student loans and debts after I came back from university and I know that wasn’t cheap; Eden, you shared all your clothes and toys and never once raised any objection and – more important than that – you all gave me this endless love which my own parents never did. It was more than I ever deserved. You’ve all done enough.’

‘You know all that money came from the accident,’ Rome objected. ‘What else was I going to do with it? Build a gold palace and live in luxury while the rest of my family struggled? I wanted to help you, you worked so hard at university and it didn’t seem fair to start your working life with so much debt hanging over you. I was more than happy to give you the money. Paige would have been happy too.’

Bella cringed, knowing that the compensation money Rome had received after his fiancée’s tragic death was always a sore point for him. He had never wanted that money and felt it was wrong to benefit from Paige’s death, especially with such a huge sum. In the end he had given most of it away, paid off his parents’ mortgage, paid for Eden’s shop and paid off Bella’s student debts, given some to his best friend, Dougie, and given over half of it away to charity. Rome had always been ridiculously generous and that’s why she felt so reluctant to come to him for help again. He had done enough.

Eden leaned forward. ‘You are my sister and my best friend and I love you with everything I have. Love is not given because you deserve it, it’s given unconditionally. That love is not going to go away because we give you money or food. And that love means we care about you and will do whatever we can to help you. So you’re going to accept the food we’ve bought for you and you’re going to accept the money that’s in that envelope and we’re going to say no more about it.’

Bella looked around at the angry, defiant and upset faces around the table. She had hurt them by not asking for their help when she needed it the most and that was the very last thing she wanted to do. Her family were pushy, overprotective and interfering but she loved them with all her heart. This was important to them, she knew that. And so what if her pride was taking a battering? Even if she did get the job on Monday, she still needed money and food for the next month until she got her first pay cheque. She knew she had to take this.

She reached across the table and picked up the envelope. It was really thick and she winced inwardly.

‘This is a loan and I’ll pay every single penny back,’ Bella said. No one moved or nodded their agreement. ‘But thank you.’

She tucked the envelope into her jeans pocket and there was a small collective sigh of relief.

‘Right, lunch time,’ Eden declared, getting up from the table and heading to the kitchen.

‘We can’t stop,’ Lucy said. ‘We promised your aunt Cassie we would help out at the cake sale on the pier.’

Lucy got up from the table and Bella stood up too. Before Bella could say a word, Lucy had yanked her into a big bear hug. Bella felt tears smart her eyes at the love her family had for her.

‘We’ll see you for dinner, Friday night. No lame excuses this time. And give us a call tomorrow night and let us know how the interview goes.’

Lucy moved to give Rome a hug.

Finn gave Bella a hug goodbye. ‘We love you. Before you came to live with us, we loved you. Our nest was half empty until you came along to fill it up and while I don’t have many good things to say about your mum, there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t mentally thank her for giving us such a brilliant, warm and beautiful daughter. You have never been a burden, you never will be.’

Finn kissed her on the head and she felt the hot tears fall down her cheeks.

They both left and she could hear them saying goodbye to Eden in the kitchen.

Rome stared at her, clearly wondering if she was still angry at him for telling Lucy and Finn. ‘Am I forgiven?’

She wiped the tears away. ‘That depends. Is the garlic bread I can smell the stuff you make or is it shop-bought?’

‘I’m offended, Bella, it’s homemade of course.’

‘Then you’re forgiven.’

He stepped forward and hugged her, kissing her head. ‘I love you, don’t ever forget that.’

She hugged him back, smiling to herself.

Eden came back from the kitchen and plonked a large lasagne in the middle of the table and then rushed off back to the kitchen to grab the garlic bread. ‘Get the plates, knives and forks, Bella. Rome, you can grab the water.’

There was a flurry of activity for a moment before they all finally sat down to eat.

Bella took a big bite of the lasagne then moaned her appreciation. It tasted so good and it wasn’t just because she had lived on porridge for the last few weeks. Rome was a ridiculously good cook and she knew if he wasn’t busy decorating the world with his wonderful stained glass pieces he would be a brilliant chef at some high-paid restaurant in London, he was that good.

She watched Eden and Rome tuck into their food and when she took a big bite of the wonderful fresh garlic bread Eden chose that moment to speak.

‘So tell me about this gorgeous hot naked man that was at your house last night?’

Bella choked and Rome passed her a glass of water. ‘I’d just like to say that I never said he was gorgeous or hot. He’s not really my type.’

‘Admittedly, he never said that, but he did say he was naked,’ Eden said, giggling. ‘And I presumed that he was gorgeous and hot because you have good taste when it comes to men.’

‘Well I wouldn’t agree with that, the last guy you dated was an ass,’ Rome said.

Eden nodded to concede this. ‘He was, sadly, though he was a hot piece of ass.’

‘Hang on, is nothing private? Who I date is my business,’ Bella protested. ‘And I’m not dating Zach, he’s just a friend.’

‘A friend that was naked and wet in your house,’ Eden said, waggling her eyebrows at her from across the table.

‘He was just getting changed out of his dirty clothes,’ Bella said.

‘Where do you know this friend from?’ Rome asked.

There was no way in the world she was telling him the truth about that. He would go mad that she had invited a stranger into her home. ‘I don’t know, just around,’ Bella said, vaguely, and Rome narrowed his eyes.

‘I’m sure I recognised him. What did you say his name was, Zach what?’

Bella grabbed the first name that came to mind.

‘Umbrella.’

There was silence. She would make a terrible spy. Her cover story would be so flimsy everyone would guess straight away.

‘Umbrella?’ Eden laughed.

‘No, Unbella,’ Bella corrected, realising she was making the situation worse. ‘OK I don’t know his surname. I haven’t known him long. And his surname never came up in conversation. He just got into a spot of bother yesterday and I was helping him out by letting him get washed and changed in my house. It’s no big deal.’

‘I’ve definitely met him before,’ Rome said, chewing on a piece of garlic bread. ‘Though it was a really long time ago. Is he from the island?’

‘He was born here and lived here until he was eight. He lived in St Mary’s and then London for a while after that but moved back this way recently,’ Bella said, trying to skate over the fact that he wasn’t living anywhere at the moment. She didn’t care that Zach was homeless and she knew that Rome and Eden wouldn’t care either, but it was the inviting a complete stranger to stay in her house that Rome would have issue with. And although she knew she wouldn’t change what she’d done the night before, helping someone out when they were in trouble, she knew she had been silly to put herself at risk like that.

Rome was still watching her suspiciously so she decided to change the subject away from Zach.

‘How’s Freya doing with her apprenticeship?’ Bella asked Rome.

His face lit up into a smile.

‘Good, really good,’ Rome said, proudly. ‘Although to be honest she stopped being my apprentice a long time ago. She’s such a fast learner, works hard and she’s brilliant at making her own stained glass pieces. She’s away for a few days at the moment and I really miss her at work. We make a really good team. I’m going to offer her a full partnership in my firm when she comes back.’

‘I bet Freya will be over the moon with that offer,’ Bella said, exchanging a quick smile with Eden. They both thought that Freya had a bit of a soft spot for Rome. Though Rome had no idea and was far too busy sleeping his way around the female population of Hope Island and the rest of the Isles of Scilly to notice his wonderful apprentice.

‘Oh I spoke to Dougie last night; he said he’s coming over for a week or so,’ Rome said to Eden and Bella watched her as she studied her lasagne carefully and she nodded vaguely. ‘I think he arrives Thursday.’

‘I haven’t seen Dougie for ages,’ Bella said, still watching for any kind of reaction from Eden. There was none. ‘I can’t wait to see him again.’

Dougie Harrison had made up their foursome growing up. As Dougie was a red-head too, people often though that he and Bella were related. Dougie, Rome, Bella and Eden had been inseparable when they were kids, going everywhere together. That was until Dougie had emigrated to New York with his family at the age of eighteen and Bella suspected he’d broken Eden’s heart at the same time. He’d come over at least twice a year and they all kept in touch with him. She knew that Rome especially had a lot of contact with him. Bella talked to him quite a lot on Facebook and she saw Eden comment too, but she wasn’t sure if they stayed in contact more than that.

‘How is he?’ Bella asked when Eden continued to focus an extraordinary amount of attention on a piece of pasta on the edge of her plate.

‘Fine, really good,’ Rome said. ‘Though he just split up with his girlfriend.’

Eden’s head snapped up. ‘With Kirsten?’

‘Yep. He said he liked her a lot but it wasn’t love and he didn’t see the point in continuing with it.’

Eden returned her attention to her lunch. ‘Poor Kirsten.’

Rome shrugged. ‘He probably did the girl a favour. There was no point in stringing her along if it was never going to lead anywhere. That connection is important. Some people only find that once in a lifetime. Most people will never have that twice.’

‘And even when you do find it, it’s not reciprocated,’ Eden said, quietly, grabbing another chunk of garlic bread

Bella looked at her brother and sister. They were both victims of a broken heart though for completely different reasons. Eden had fallen in love with her best friend, only to have him leave before she could tell him how she felt, and Rome had never got over the death of his fiancée six years before. She didn’t know what she could do to help them. Bella had never had that, though she knew it was because she never let anyone get that close to her to be able to have her heart broken.

Eden got up to refill the jug of water and Bella turned her attention to Rome. He was the least likely person to look for that connection with someone. He seemed to be with a different girl each week but the way he spoke about Dougie looking for love made her think that Rome was ready to make that change.

‘Are you looking for love again?’ Bella said, gently.

He stared at her for a moment and then resumed eating. She didn’t think he was going to answer her.

‘I’m not sure what I’m looking for if I’m honest, Bella. We are so alike in many ways; you protect your heart, never taking a risk with it. I’ve seen that and I know I’m doing the same. It’s easier not making attachments; just having fun with someone who means nothing to you. Then we can never get hurt. But I miss that companionship that comes from being in a real relationship. Those long, stay-up-late-into-the-night conversations, laughing so hard with someone, the intimacy of making love to someone who means the world to you, of being with someone you know inside and out.’

Eden sat down and refilled all their glasses. ‘Don’t you have that with Freya? I mean not the making love part but you get on so well; I’ve seen you together and how hard you two make each other laugh.’

Rome smiled as he thought of her. ‘Freya is brilliant fun, but she’s a friend, nothing more.’

‘It could be something more,’ Bella said.

Rome shook his head. ‘We work together; it would get awkward and messy if we broke up. And let’s face it, my attention span when it comes to women isn’t a good one.’

‘That’s because you don’t go for the right women. I don’t think the type of women that you date are ever going to be your forever,’ Eden said.

‘Dating someone from work is tricky though,’ Bella agreed. ‘I would never date someone from work again.’

‘God yes, Andrew was a tit,’ Eden said, vehemently.

Bella flushed as she nodded her agreement. It had been several years since she had given Andrew any thought but it had made her wary of making that same mistake again.

Working in an open-plan office of fifty people, everyone wanted to know the details when word had got out about her and Andrew’s romance. Andrew loved being the centre of attention and he was quite happy to share all the details of their sex life to anyone who asked, including how noisy she was in the bedroom. Utterly mortified, she had left her job vowing that she would never date someone from the workplace again.

‘Though you and Freya wouldn’t have the same problem I had. There’s only you two so no one to interfere and ask you inappropriate questions about how it’s going. That’s mine and Eden’s job.’

Rome smiled. ‘But if it did end between us, we would lose that camaraderie that we have now. Going to work every day is fun because I get to spend it with her. I wouldn’t want to lose that.’

Eden rolled her eyes and Rome saw.

‘Will you be seeing Dougie while he’s here?’ he asked pointedly and the smile fell off Eden’s face.

She shrugged and returned her attention to her plate.

Rome opened his mouth to push it but Bella shook her head at him.

God they were a messed-up bunch.

She picked up her water glass and held it aloft. ‘A toast.’

Rome quirked an eyebrow at her and Eden looked up, clearly hopeful for the distraction.

‘Spring is here, the flowers are growing, baby animals are being born, it’s a season of new beginnings here on Hope Island and yet between the three of us we have no hope for a happy romantic future. So here is a toast to our own new beginnings. A pact. This year we are going to take risks, we are not going to dwell on our pasts or fear getting hurt. We shall say what we mean, tell those who we love how we feel, we’re going to believe in wishes and magic and dreams coming true again,’ she said, staring pointedly at Eden. ‘And we are going to grab any chance of love and happiness with both hands.’

Her brother and sister stared at her for a moment, neither of them raising their own glass to join her.

Rome finally shrugged and picked up his glass, holding it in the air. ‘What the hell.’

They both looked across at Eden and she picked up her glass. ‘Here’s to happiness in whatever form that might come in.’

It wasn’t quite the promise from Rome and Eden that Bella was hoping for but as she didn’t exactly hold out much hope for herself, she couldn’t really complain.

They chinked the water glasses together, sealing the very tentative pact, and as Bella took a big swig of her water, for the first time in a long time she was looking forward to the possibilities of what spring and the rest of the year would bring.

The interview would be a new beginning for her and she couldn’t wait to see how that would change her life for the better.