Her comment made Carla pause. ‘You’re right, he wasn’t and I’m not. He could have been, though.’
Dulcie snorted. ‘Yeah, if he’d had a personality change. Anyone who behaved the way he did, is a creep.’
Carla had to agree. Admittedly she had been upset at how he’d deceived her, but she was over that now. She was still upset, but not about him – she was far too worried about losing her job. Yale could go to hell, as far as she was concerned. But that didn’t mean she wanted another man in her life. It would be a very long time before she would get back on the dating horse again. She had too much going on to even consider it.
You win some, you lose some, Ashton thought as he made his way back down the hillside to his car. Two hours of sitting motionless in the bracken hadn’t revealed even a glimpse of a stoat. However, he’d shot some lovely images of skylarks, a vole, the fattest bumblebee in the world, rabbits playing, and a slinking fox in search of his supper. So it hadn’t been all bad.
Dusk was now falling and it would be dark soon, so it was time to make a move. He was absolutely starving, and thinking of food reminded him of Dulcie’s offer to dine at The Wild Side this evening. Although his emotions were telling him he had been wise not to take her up on it, his stomach was yelling at him that he should have done. Despite never wanting to set foot in the place again, from what he could remember, the food had been delicious. No wonder, considering Otto York was a Michelin-star chef. Maybe one day he would be able to face going back.
As he neared the farmhouse, Ashton’s thoughts turned to the photos Dulcie had asked him to take, and he began to scan his surroundings for suitable subjects.
The sun had almost dipped below the hills on the opposite side of the valley, and the sky was bathed in pink, peach and gold. Directly below him was the field of sunflowers. He had passed the nodding yellow blooms on the way up the hillside, but he’d been focusing on the possibility of spotting the stoat or weasel and hadn’t paid them much attention.
He noticed them now, though. With the setting sun highlighting them, the flowers positively shone. Before he knew it, he had lifted the camera. Hopefully, he would get a few good photos for Dulcie.
Then he spotted something and froze.
A stoat was weaving through the long stems, its sinuous body the most gorgeous shades of chocolate: milk chocolate on its head and back, white chocolate on its throat, chest and belly, and the unmistakable dark (almost black) chocolate tip to its tail, which indicated it was a stoat and not a weasel. He was close enough to see that all four paws were also white, and the animal looked as though it was wearing tiny socks.
Praying it wouldn’t spot him, Ashton zoomed in. He must have taken fifty photos before it disappeared, and he let out a slow satisfied breath.
This is what he lived for; this was what gave him joy and made him complete – not a job, or money, or things.This.Lacey had never understood.
As Ashton returned to his car, his soul filled with the wonders of nature, he made himself a promise that the next woman he gave his heart to, would love this as much as he did.
CHAPTER FOUR
Carla’s heart was in her mouth as she eyed the contacts list on her mobile. Would Vicky be at her desk by now? And even if she was, did Carla want to speak to her? What if Vicky told her something she didn’t like?
Aw, heck, Vicky was her friend; she absolutely should call her, even if the news from work wasn’t the best. Anyway, Carla had hiked halfway up the mountain to get a signal because the mobile reception was so bad at the farm. She’d multi-tasked though, having brought one of the goats with her. She figured she might as well make herself useful, and keeping out of Dulcie’s way this morning was also a good idea. Carla was glad she hadn’t drunk as much as her friend; the poor girl looked rather green around the gills!
‘Can you talk?’ was Carla’s opening line when Vicky answered the phone.
‘Carla?’ she whispered. ‘Hang on, I’ll go to the medical room. There’s never anyone in there, and if someone does come in I’ll hold my bump and groan a bit.’
Carla heard her friend’s muffled voice as she greeted her co-workers, then she heard the lift ping, and knew that Vicky wasin the corridor. The sound of a door opening and being firmly closed, was followed by heels clacking over a tiled floor.
‘Okay, I can talk now,’ she said. ‘How are you? What’s going on? Have you heard anything from HR?’
‘I’m fine. I’m still at Dulcie’s.’ Carla had messaged Vicky before she’d left Birmingham to tell her that she was staying at the farm for a few days.
‘I thought you might be. But how are you really?’
‘Okay, I guess. Angry, mostly. I feel so stupid.’
‘Don’t. It’s not your fault. It’s Yale’s.’
‘Is he back from his holiday?’
‘Not yet. There’s a rumour going around that he needed to take additional time off to recover from the trauma.’
‘Trauma? What bloody trauma?I’mthe one who is traumatised. The—’ Carla bit back the rude word she had been about to call him.
Vicky said, ‘Don’t worry, no one believes it. He’s not lying on a psychiatrist’s couch, he’s lying on a sun lounger on a Mexican beach. With his fiancée, obviously.’
‘Obviously.’ Carla’s reply was pure sarcasm. ‘I actually feel sorry for her. She doesn’t know what she’s letting herself in for.’ She hesitated, then asked in a small voice, ‘What’s everyone saying about me?’
‘Nothing bad. Everyone knows you wouldn’t throw yourself at a man, especially not one who’s already taken.’
