‘I’ll just take a look at her hind hoof while you’ve got her. She had a cut and I haven’t been able to get near since I treated it.’
Unfortunately, Posy had no desire to spend the remainder of her evening being administered to any more by Gil, even if he did apparently have her best interests at heart. She stood quietly as he ran a hand down her leg, ready to lift up her hoof, and then lashed out with a speed Pippa wouldn’t have believed she possessed if she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes.
‘Owwwww,’ he howled, hopping on his other foot and flashing Pippa a glare. ‘I thought you had hold of her!’
‘I did,’ she gasped, barely able to get the words out for fear she’d explode with laughter. ‘Looks like she’s in charge of her own feet after all. Not such a tough Yorkshire vet now, huh?’
‘What did you say?’ Gil was rapidly undoing his belt and Pippa’s eyes were wide as he yanked his jeans down.
‘What are you doing!’
‘What does it look like,’ he retorted, and she didn’t have a reply to that; she was too transfixed by the close up of muscular thigh. ‘Checking for injuries.’
‘Injuries? She’s knee high to a grasshopper.’ This time she couldn’t contain her laughter and the outrage on his face just made it even funnier. ‘You’ll probably end up with a bruise the size of a spoon. What would you do if a proper horse kicked you?’
‘Yeah, well, if you’d kept hold…’
Pippa didn’t have time to think it through, the bucket of filthy water was right there. She launched it at him, enjoying the twin satisfaction of silencing him and covering him in green sludge in one go. Her triumph lasted only until his shock receded and it was clear he was bent on immediate retaliation. There was only one thing to do. She let go of Posy and the pair of them took off in opposite directions.
Seeing as his jeans were still around his knees, Pippa was hoping to outrun him and hide in the garden. Maud was yapping wildly, and Pippa threw a glance over her shoulder to see Gil in pursuit with the bucket and his jeans back on, catching her up with every stride. She gasped when the water hit her back, stumbling from the blast of cold and trying to avoid Maud, who darted away with Lola. He grabbed her around the waist and, unbalanced and helpless with laughter, Pippa tumbled to the grass, one welly flying through the air.
He landed almost on top of her, and it was only one arm shooting out to prop him up that prevented his weight crushing hers. She saw the exact moment his eyes darkened, and her breath caught as they fell to her mouth. Her pulse was racing from the sprint and spiked again at the way he was looking at her. She was barely aware of tangling her hands in his hair, lips parted, wanting only to cling to this moment and hold it still, keep him here.
He smoothed the wild hair from her face, running a thumb down her cheek and letting it rest against her lips. She caught it between her teeth, tugging gently and he groaned, touching his forehead to hers. His chest was hard against hers and she curved her back, hooking a leg around his to hold him close.
‘Your T-shirt’s wet again.’
‘Your fault,’ she whispered. ‘You shouldn’t have come after me.’
‘What did you expect,’ Gil muttered against her ear, lips brushing her skin and making her gasp when he placed a tantalising kiss on her neck. ‘That I’d let you get away with it?’
‘I hoped you might. At least it’s only my back that’s wet.’
‘Is that right?’ He slipped an arm around her waist, pulling her into him, transferring the dampness of his T-shirt to hers. ‘I can rectify that.’
Her hands were on his wet top, ready to tug it over his head, when the phone in his pocket rang. His head snapped up and he fumbled to answer it. The apology was in his gaze as he pulled away, and Pippa heard the panicked tones of a voice on the other end of the call as he got up, running an agitated hand through his hair. His eyes hadn’t left hers and he offered a hand. She accepted it, brushing the grass from her top once she was back on her feet, and retrieved her welly. He ended the call, and the moment was lost. She wondered if they would ever find another.
‘I’m sorry, I’ve got to go.’ He turned a shoulder to the house. ‘An emergency, with a dog. Could be a stroke.’
‘It’s fine.’ She was trying to bring order back to her body and banish the burning desire and how he’d made her feel in those few, all-too-brief seconds. It was a shock to remember how uninhibited she’d felt in his arms, wanting more, wanting him. He was staring at her, twisting the phone in his hand before he nodded once, turning to sprint away as Lola raced after him.
Maud tried her best to keep up and flopped onto the grass, exhausted by her efforts. Pippa scooped her up and cuddled her close as they set off to find Posy. She heard the roar of his Land Rover speeding out of the yard as she reached the garden and spotted Posy near the terrace. She let Pippa catch her and lead her back to the stable. This time she made sure to check all the locks on the door were in place.
Chapter Nineteen
Pippa didn’t mind in the least that her birthday fell during Harriet’s week away. Harriet had given her a lovely card and the gift of a spa day before they’d set off for Warwick. A few months ago, Tilly had tried to persuade Pippa to arrange a party, but she’d put her sister off, finding some excuse to dodge it. She was perfectly happy to wake up on the day, make a cup of coffee and escape into the garden for an early wander with Maud. It was a beautiful morning, the sun already warm and climbing in the sky to glint between the trees.
Without Harriet here, looking after Posy had fallen to Pippa. After her coffee, she fed the pony and turned her out, her mind still caught on those few moments with Gil two days ago, and what they’d been about to do after he’d chased her into the garden. She was mucking out the stable when she heard the Land Rover leave, relieved not to have to face him now. Yesterday at the surgery had been tricky as they’d politely navigated around one another, and he seemed as keen as she was to pretend that nothing had happened. Because it hadn’t, not really.
She let herself into the surgery with Maud and logged into the Wi-Fi so she could catch up with messages, of which there were dozens. It took her a good hour to reply to everything, including Harriet’s video one apologising for being away and missing her birthday. Pippa was happy to offer reassurance and decided forty didn’t sound too bad if she said it quickly enough.
Her dad had also sent a video and Pippa was ecstatic when she opened it to find a message from Dave Grohl wishing her a happy birthday and saying he hoped he’d see her at a gig sometime soon. She was swooning and promptly decided it was worth every minute of being forty for a greeting like that. She forwarded it to Cassie with a row of hearts and received a wide-eyed and laughing reply as she googled Foo Fighters tour dates.
Presents in the family had fallen by the wayside over the years and she usually told them not to bother as there was nothing she needed. Raf wouldn’t remember a birthday unless it smacked him in the face and Tilly did her best from far away. Phoebe and Freddie always sent cards and a gift, no doubt prompted by Vanessa, who never forgot, and her dad was another story. He either forgot or sent some outlandish gift that Pippa would never have chosen for herself. He’d made her day this time with Dave Grohl and that, as far as she was concerned, was enough.
She strolled down to the village shop with Maud and had a lovely chat with Violet and Daphne, who were delighted to meet Maud and give her a biscuit. Pippa couldn’t resist a homemade chocolate fudge cake – it was her birthday after all, and she deserved a treat she could eat, seeing as Dave Grohl hadn’t been able to deliver his message in person. She thought that was probably a good thing, she might never have recovered.
She found it both strange and very soothing to have Maud at her side as they walked, waving at Edmund potting plants outside his cottage. Maud was too little to understand the lead yet, and wanted to prance and pull. Proper training would be in order, once they were back in London; there seemed little point in beginning now.
