you’re there, we’ll put your car in the garage.’
She smiled at him. Maybe this could be fun. Maybe she’d get to live her dream life for just a little bit longer before it all came crashing down around their ears.
CHAPTER NINE
THE roar of a distant car engine got louder. Ben knew not to hope that this would be Megan bringing Jas back. She’d rung twenty minutes ago saying she was ‘running a little late’. And usually when Megan said ‘late’, she didn’t mean ten minutes late. He’d be lucky if he saw Jas before teatime. Megan had probably only just left the country house hotel near Stow-on-the-Wold where they’d been staying-not that her breezy message had communicated anything of the sort. He just knew.
Abruptly, the engine cut out and he dashed outside to open the garage doors. This must be Louise. He checked his watch. Yup, five minutes early. From one extreme to the other.
Mind you, if Louise was an extreme, he was quite happy being stuck out there in left field. Yes, the ride was going to be a little bumpy, but he could really see things working out between them.
Louise grinned at him from her car as he guided her inside and closed the garage door behind her. He walked round to the driver’s window and waited as she pressed a button to wind it down. Acting on impulse, he leaned in through the open window and surprised her with a hot, sweet kiss.
The rush of endorphins he got every time he just laid eyes on her was amazing, but a long-lasting relationship took more than just feel-good chemicals whizzing round his system. While Louise wasn’t the high-maintenance woman he’d mistaken her for, she was still smarting from a recent divorce. Only a fool would rush in too quickly, and he had never been a fool.
A crick in his neck forced him to draw back and let her out of the car.
‘Good morning, yourself,’ she said, smiling sweetly at him. Then she looked around. ‘Where’s Jas? I would have thought you’d have wanted to talk to her first, rather than have her catching us like that.’
He grimaced. ‘Megan is running late. So I have you to myself for the next couple of hours. Come on.’ He tangled his fingers with hers and pulled her out of the side door of the garage and across the garden, where small patches of snow still lingered. Most of the village was now back to normal, a warm wind from the west having melted the snow in all but the shadiest of spots.
Once through the back door, they fell into each other’s arms again. The endorphins started partying.
Louise was different this morning, calmer, more peaceful. Since Christmas Eve she’d been like a skittish horse, jumping at every little thing, sensing danger where there was none. But something had changed. He could tell it from the way she kissed and held him, from the sound of her voice, even the way she moved.
Still kissing her, he pulled her hat and scarf off and threw them in random directions. She laughed against his lips. ‘Not fair,’ she murmured. ‘You’ve only got your indoor clothes on.’
She undid the top button of her coat, but left the others fastened as she kissed him again. Everything went blurry for a bit and all he was aware of was the sweet spiciness of her perfume, the shallowness of their breathing, the pull of her fingers as they hooked into the belt loops of his jeans and contracted into fists.
Then, after hesitating for a second, she ran her hands under his sweater. He flinched as her cold fingers met his warm flesh, but the sensation was anything but unpleasant. The contrast of temperatures only heightened the sensation. He pulled her closer and deepened the kiss. Louise responded eagerly, surprising him by sliding her hands up his back, taking the sweater with them. Cold air rushed around his torso. Hot blood pumped through his veins.
Finding it impossible to go any further without breaking lip contact, she pulled back from him and continued to tug his top upwards. Just before she pulled it over his head, she looked him in the eyes. They stayed there like that while the kitchen clock loudly announced the seconds.
Wordlessly, he lifted his arms over his head and she disappeared as his sweater blocked his vision. The jumper went the same way as her scarf and hat.
‘Not fair,’ he said, trying very hard not to let on he was shaking. And he didn’t think it was because he was cold. ‘You’ve still got your outdoor clothes on.’
He reached for her, first dealing with the remaining large buttons on the front of her coat and pushing it off her shoulders, before stroking her face with his fingertips. That perfect bone structure might have produced a proud beauty, but he knew that the woman inside was soft and tender, carrying the scars of the years. He wouldn’t add to them. He promised himself that.
The teasing humour evaporated and suddenly everything felt very serious, momentous. Should he stop her now? Was she really ready for this? What Louise
‘Louise…’
She silenced him with a kiss. ‘You have to trust me to make my own decisions, Ben. And I’ve decided…’
He kissed her fiercely, then drew back to look at her, hoping his eyes conveyed the storm surge of feeling that was crashing over him. ‘You know I love you, don’t you?’ She had to have guessed. It was stamped in every look he gave her, in every touch.
Her lips quivered and she tried to smile. A fat tear rolled down one cheek. ‘No, I didn’t.’ Her answering kiss was rich and soulful. ‘But I do now.’ Her hands traced the muscles of his chest and he felt them quiver in response. ‘Show me, Ben. Show me how much…’
That snapping sound in the back of his head must be his self-control breaking because, right now, he couldn’t think about anything but doing exactly what she said. He would. He would show her how much he loved her. He would make sure that she never doubted for a second, ever again, how rare and precious she was.
He kicked her fallen coat out of the way, picked her up and carried her straight out of the kitchen and into the hallway. His foot was on the bottom step when the doorbell rang.
‘Cooo-eee!’
Both of them froze.
He knew that irritating little sound anywhere. Megan.
The word he wanted to say, he couldn’t, just in case Jas was standing outside and she heard it through the door.
Louise jumped out of his arms and ran back into the kitchen. Megan’s blonde head was detectable as she tried to peek through the little window in the centre of the door. Thank goodness the glass was rippled and bowed. The bell sounded again and he jumped.
‘Ben? Is that you?’
Realising he couldn’t very well answer the door in his present state, he charged back into the kitchen and started to fight with his sweater. Why, in situations like this, did the neck hole and the armholes seem to switch places? When he’d finally popped his head out of the right opening, he ran back to the front door, yelling, ‘Just coming!’
Megan did not look impressed when he swung the door open. Jas jumped into his arms. ‘Daddy!’
‘About time too,’ Megan said, pushing past him into the hall. Never mind that she didn’t live here any more and, technically, she was supposed to wait to be asked. ‘Come along, Jasmine.’
Jas gave him one last kiss and turned to grab the handle on her Sleeping Beauty trolley bag and followed her mother inside. Ben, in a fit of adrenaline, managed to slam the door, charge past his ex-wife and daughter and make it to the kitchen door first.
Megan eyed him suspiciously. ‘What are you up to, Ben?’
He ran a hand through his hair and leaned against the door jamb, blocking her way. ‘Nothing.’ The problem with priding himself on being a straight-talker was that he didn’t get much practice at lying. Megan was looking at him strangely.
‘Coffee?’ he asked, although the words felt as if they came out sideways. In an effort to maintain harmony and stability, he always offered Megan a drink when she dropped Jas home. Most times his ex was far too busy being fabulous to stop and chew the fat, but today she was showing no inclination to rush off.
‘Thanks,’ she said dryly and pushed the kitchen door open.
