He breathed in the fresh air and gazed, as he always did, across the river, feeling a peculiar sense of wellbeing and contentment. Then he remembered he was in a hurry, and leaving Carne sniffing around the lawn, he rushed to release and feed the ducks and hens and check on the ponies and the Highlands.
Returning to the house, he met Mrs Beddows stalking home after a night on the tiles.
‘I won’t ask,’ he told her. ‘A lady’s entitled to her secrets.’ Though how much of a lady she was was anyone’s guess.
He filled the water bowls and gave both the cat and the dog their breakfast, then hesitated. Should he make breakfast in bed for Alison? Or should he let her sleep? Should he try to sneak in beside her and pretend he was still asleep himself, or should he admit he’d already been downstairs to see to the animals?
After changing his mind several times, he finally made two mugs of tea and carried them carefully upstairs, placing them quietly on the bedside table. She was still sound asleep, and he slowly removed his jeans, hardly daring to breathe, then climbed into bed beside her.
Slowly, slowly, he slid down the bed, pulling the duvet over himself and let out a small sigh of relief.
‘You took your time.’
He turned to face her, and she opened one eye and smiled at him.
He grinned back. ‘Sorry. Did I wake you?’
‘Yes, but I’m glad you did. You gave me the chance to clean my teeth. Morning breath.’
He laughed. ‘I went downstairs to see to the animals.’
‘What a responsible person you are,’ she told him. She opened her other eye and smiled even wider. ‘Ooh, have you made tea?’
‘I have. Do you want it now?’
‘In a minute. Thank you.’ She sighed and rolled over on to her back. ‘That was the best night’s sleep I’ve had in ages.’
‘I expect this bed is a lot more comfortable than a caravan bed,’ he said.
‘It wasn’t that.’ She turned to look at him, stroking his face. ‘It was because you were there beside me, and you made me feel safe.’
He was so touched he could barely speak.
‘Well,’ he managed at last, ‘I’m very glad about that.’
‘So am I.’
‘Alison, I’m sorry. About last night, I mean. I know it didn’t go as expected.’
‘No, it didn’t, but that doesn’t matter, does it?’
He eyed her worriedly. ‘It doesn’t?’
‘Not at all.’
She shuffled closer to him – so close their noses were almost touching. Her eyes were so wide and blue and innocent, and she had such soft, velvety skin. His fingers stroked her cheek, and she closed her eyes briefly, a smile playing on her lips.
He moved very slightly closer and kissed those lips, unable to resist a moment longer. Her eyes opened, and he saw a look in them that he recognised, because it reflected an emotion that he was experiencing himself. His hand cradled her face, and he kissed her again, his other arm slipping around her shoulders, pulling her half on to him. She moaned, her leg rising over his, while his tongue probed her mouth and he heard her breathing quicken as his own heart thudded with excitement.
She pulled back and shrugged off the pyjama top. Her expressions and little gasps encouraged him as he explored her with his hands, tentatively at first, but with increasing confidence as desire overrode everything else.
His fear ebbed away. His doubts might never have existed, as they put the past behind them and moved forward together into something that felt so right, so perfect, he could only wonder what the rest of his life had been for.
Because this – this was all that mattered, and all he cared about. This woman, lying beneath him, gazing at him as if he was the most wonderful man who’d ever lived, showing him with every sound, every slight movement, every touch, that she wanted him, needed him – she waseverything.
It was a long time before they remembered the tea. And by then it was stone cold.
30
