“And if you press this, it does this!”

Sorrell laughed as her niece demonstrated absolutely everything that her new doll did, not as impressed with the doll as she was with her niece. Facetime was a brilliant invention.

“So what else did Father Christmas get you?” Sorrell said, looking at the little face with lopsided pigtails.

The camera moved, Amelia’s smile disappearing and instead the older, redder haired version of herself came into view.

“Thank you for the presents but you have some questions to answer,” Rosemary Slater said, her eyes looking scarily inquisitive. “And start by telling me about that suspicious looking red mark on your neck, because it’s either a vampire or you got lucky.”

Sorrell dislodged the duvet wrapped around her to rub at the mark. Yep, Zack had left his brand on her neck and the bastard hadn’t thought to give her the head’s up, even though he knew she was planning on speaking to her sister.

“I got lucky.”

“Christmas fling?” Rosemary said. “Please don’t tell me Mark is back on the scene… actually, I know it’s not Mark, he’d never do that. I even thought you had the wrong reproductive organs for him, to be honest.”

“Seriously?” Sorrell said. “It isn’t Mark and it’s been a bit longer than a Christmas fling.” The easier answer to her sister would’ve been to dismiss it as being a temporary dalliance with some hot tourist, but one, that wasn’t Sorrell’s modus operandi and two, it wasn’t fair on Zack. He didn’t want to be a fling. He was frequently telling her about the area at different times of year and the things he wanted to show her, and this included August. He was trying to tell her that he was in it for the long term.

“And you haven’t told me? Come on, Ells! I have two small children—I’m having a sex life vicariously through you!” Rosemary shook her hair out of its messy bun state.

Sorrell curled up under the duvet some more. Zack had left before the sun rose to help Jake out with the farms and then he was spending the day in work. That meant she had the freedom of time, with no hotel to run and no arrangements before the evening when there was wassailing and the Mummers’ Plays.

“Amelia isn’t listening, is she?” Sorrell said, not able to see her niece, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t lurking.

“Millie is obsessed with that doll. She’s busy talking to it. Tell me, if this isn’t a nice little fling to get you over the twattery that was Mark, then what is it and when do I need to visit?” She looked a little too enthusiastic for the details.

“He’s called Zack. He runs the care home that used to be in the hotel and his family own the local farm,” Sorrell said.

“Minor details. What does he look like and how big’s his dick?” Rosemary’s words were whispered and rushed, as if she was asking for the winning lottery numbers and had a limited amount of time to buy the ticket.

“You really are living through me,” Sorrell murmured, trying to hide the love bite on her neck. She was going to have to kill him later for leaving that.

“Who cares, just tell me the details,” Rosemary said. “But quickly. Ronan will be awake and needing feeding soon.”

Sorrell thought about the little nephew she had only met a handful of times. He was nine months old and she was desperate to see him again soon. “How about you come up for a night or two so I can see the kids and you can meet Zack?”

“So it is serious!” Rosemary said. “And I can look at that. Euan’s sister isn’t staying for as long as we thought. In fact, I think she’s leaving tomorrow, so we could come up and stay for a couple of nights, head home on New Year’s Eve?”

“Text me later with what Euan says,” Sorrell said. It would be good to have her sister there and to be able to spend some time with Ronan and his baby smell.

She noticed Rosemary shaking her head. “Not getting out of giving me the details. Spill.”

Sorrell laughed. “He’s tall, with light brown hair and he always has a bit of stubble. He’s really broad and has big biceps because of the work he still does on the farm and he’s really good.”

“Good in bed? Tell me, how many orgasms can he wring out of you? Before kids, Euan would usually get at least two, usually more,” Rosemary sighed. “Nowadays a good night is talked of in terms of how much sleep we get.”

“He’s…” Sorrell began, not sure of how much to share. She’d sent a few texts to Gwensi about how things were, but it felt different to say the words aloud. “He knows what he’s doing. He’s quite bossy; even when I’m in control, it’s because he’s letting me.”

“Dominant,” Rosemary practically sighed. “That’s what you needed. A man who would treat you well and fuck you blind.” A loud cry burst the relative peace, followed by Amelia yelling for her mother. “I’ll be in touch to confirm about coming to see you. In the meantime, practice safe sex, else you’ll be getting no sex. Millie…” The call was ended.

Sorrell laughed and pushed the cover back, deciding that she wouldn’t waste the day in bed while she was by herself. She had planned to curl up with a book, but that could wait until later when she’d done a couple of things at the hotel and walked through the large cottage on the other side of the grounds.

The little room Lena had adopted was the same as it had been last night; door open, clothes out. There had been no reply to the message Sorrell had sent and while she was aware that Lena was an adult, she had a niggling doubt about the lack of response. The lack of anything.

Instinct overcame ethics and she went into Lena’s room, straightening the clothes that were left untidily on her bed and on the floor.

It was then she saw it, Lena’s phone. The screen lit up when Sorrell pressed the home button, showing three unread messages, one from herself. There was a choice; did she unlock the phone and read the messages or not? She knew Lena’s passcode, having unlocked her phone for her before to pull out a message from Cam, one of the kitchen porters who was keen to be involved in the restaurant when she opened it.

Projects. Lots of projects. A restaurant. The bigger cottage. Zack.

Did she check the phone?

Lena was her employee. A friend. A young adult. A sheltered young adult who was hiding from something.

Sorrell looked at the phone. She hadn’t seen Lena for days. She hadn’t heard from her. She could well be with her parents who possibly didn’t approve of modern technology. She could be somewhere she wasn’t safe.

Sorrell unlocked the phone.

“Shelley might not want the New Year’s Eve shift or the New Year’s Day shift, but it’s one or the other. Do you want to tell her that or shall I?” Zack looked at the new shift manager he’d appointed a couple of weeks previously, hoping she’d choose to do it and thereby instil confidence in him that he’d made the right appointment.

“I can tell her. I just wanted to double check. I think she was planning on a heavy night.”

Zack breathed a sigh of relief and shook his head. “I get it’s New Year’s and she probably wants to get rabid drunk but if that’s the case she needed to apply for leave three weeks ago, not try to sort something out three days before.” He shook his head. He didn’t get some people, especially today.

He was missing Sorrell, which was ridiculous. He’d called her just after lunch to tell her about the latest alpaca incident when they’d found one in the dancing hall. The animal hadn’t been alone. Two of the residents were there with it, trying to dress it up with a top hat while coaxing it with May’s Christmas flowers from her nephew. She hadn’t answered, the only thing he’d had from her all day had been a text to say she was going for a walk.

There was a brief knock at his door before it opened and Alex entered with both dogs. He’d put in a couple of fairly solid shifts and looked tired, something that occasionally worried him about his younger brother.

“I’ll leave you to it,” his shift manager said, giving Alex an appreciative eye fuck before she left the room.

“Don’t consider ever going there,” he said, a low growl. “She’ll be the type to stick pins in your condoms.”

“You don’t half employ them,” Alex said, sitting down. The dogs automatically sat down next to him, long tongues lolling. “What are you doing for dinner? Mum’s headed back early—someone’s ill or something so they needed her back for the matinee tomorrow—so I was thinking about grabbing something in town before the hilarity starts with the Mummers.”

The Mummers’ Plays were an old tradition, where groups of locals would band together to act out a traditional story that always involved a fight, a near death and a doctor bringing someone back to life. The ending would change with each performance, the play never having a script. At the end, the actors would pass round a hat or another object for donations that would be given to the charity chosen for the year. There were three groups of Mummers scheduled for tonight, made up of the Morris dancers and members of the ever-present choir. Thankfully, no one had ever suggested any of the Maynards participate, although Jake had nearly volunteered one year.

“I’ll ask Sorrell,” was Zack’s automatic response.

Alex cocked his head to one side and eyed Zack. “You can do stuff without her. You know, she might feel a bit suffocated if you don’t have your own space.”

“What would you know about having a girlfriend?” He wasn’t feeling the love for his brother now, no matter how exhausted he looked.

Alex shrugged. “Plenty. Look, I thought it’d be good tonight if me, you, Scott and Jake ate together, without the girls. We can meet them after an early dinner, then you still get your Sorrell fix.”

Zack sat back. There was some logic to what he said. He wasn’t enough of a dick to not see that he’d spent very little time with his brothers this holiday. “Sure. I didn’t have plans to eat with Ells tonight, so I’ll just give her the heads up. Are Scott and Jake on board with this?”

“I haven’t asked them yet. It would’ve been weird to organise something only for you to say you couldn’t make it because Sorrell was…” Alex shook his head. “I really like her, Zack. She’s exactly the sort of woman I always wanted you to end up with.”

Zack grinned. “I really like her. I just hope she feels the same way.”

“Just use the Maynard talents and you’ll be fine.”

Zack laughed. It was the only thing he could do.

Sorrell didn’t like to pry but she also understood that sometimes people wanted to be pried. The clothes scattered around the room were out of character. The lack of communication was odd.

She unlocked her phone and went straight to Lena’s messages. There were several from Cam, friendly texts asking how she was, did she want to meet up; very interested texts that suggested he was interested in being more than friends but Sorrell would bet her month’s ration of chocolate that Lena hadn’t figured that out. There were the texts from her and then her aunt, one from each unread. And then there were texts from a number with no name.

There were no more messages, but there were three calls between Lena and the unknown number. And a voicemail.

Sorrell’s hands shook as she pressed play. I’ll meet you at the caves where the kids presents were on Saturday. At four. Don’t tell anyone and the only thing you need to bring are your excuses. Then I’ll leave you the fuck alone if you give me what I want.