by Carole Mortimer - Bachelor Cousins 03 - To Marry McAllister
When in reality he should be the one who couldn’t relax—because when he sat back and glanced across at Sabina it was to see only her head and shoulders, alluringly bare shoulders that conjured up visions in his head of her completely naked.
‘I didn’t think you were,’ she answered him dryly now. ‘It’s just—I’m a little cold,’ she dismissed awkwardly.
A little cold! Brice would have described it as more than that. Since she’d rejoined the three men before going in to dinner the previous evening, Sabina’s whole attitude had bordered on the icy, and it had remained that way. Towards him, at least…
He shouldn’t have lingered last night having taken her to her bedroom, he acknowledged that; he just hadn’t been able to drag himself away. She had just looked so right in that setting, so absolutely perfect; and the realisation had very little to do with painting her in these surroundings!
One positive thing to have come out of her obvious coolness towards him: Richard Latham, basking in the warmth of Sabina’s attentions, had become quite convivial company as dinner had progressed, showing a relaxed, charming side of him that Brice, for one, would rather not have seen—it was probably the side of him that Sabina loved!
It certainly hadn’t succeeded in encouraging Brice to like Richard Latham any better, and he had seen his grandfather shooting the other man a couple of narrow-eyed glances of speculation during the evening too.
The fact that his grandfather didn’t seem to like the other man either had cheered him a little—perhaps his own dislike wasn’t so misplaced, after all? But only a little, Brice having wished the evening and night over so that he could once again be alone with Sabina.
But with Sabina still in this coolly remote mood, it wasn’t turning out to be much fun!
He stood up abruptly. ‘Your heart really isn’t in this, is it?’ he rasped impatiently. ‘Even for Latham’s sake,’ he added scornfully.
Sabina looked away. ‘If I could just have the window closed…?’
‘Why not?’ He strode across the room and slammed the window shut with barely repressed violence, drawing in a deeply controlling breath before turning back to her, realising that his tension was becoming as acute as her own. ‘What is it, Sabina?’ he prompted gently.
She took a step back. ‘I—you didn’t—explain, that the room you wanted to paint me in was your bedroom!’ she burst out accusingly, her cheeks bright red, whether with temper or embarrassment Brice wasn’t sure.
So that was it! This morning, at least…
Brice shrugged. ‘This isn’t just my bedroom when I’m here; it’s also my studio.’ Obviously, with all his canvases and paints about the room.
Although, he supposed—and he had never really thought about it before!—it must seem a little strange with his double bed in the room too… He had never thought of it—because he had never had a woman in his ‘studio’ here before. For any reason.
His mouth twisted derisively. ‘Latham wouldn’t like it, hmm?’ he scorned.
Sabina’s eyes flashed deeply blue. ‘I don’t like it,’ she corrected firmly.
‘Why don’t you?’ he taunted.
She moved sharply across the room to stare out the window that looked towards the lake. ‘It’s so peaceful here…’ she murmured almost to herself.
Brice looked across at her with narrowed eyes. ‘You haven’t answered my question,’ he rasped determinedly.
Sabina glanced back at him, the frown having eased from between her brows as she’d gazed outside. ‘Because I don’t believe it needs answering,’ she told him softly.
He drew in a sharp breath. ‘Sabina—’
‘Where has your grandfather taken Richard this morning?’ she prompted lightly.
To the top of a mountain and pushed him off, for all Brice cared! Although he didn’t for a moment think it was something his grandfather would do. Or that it was a reply Sabina would care for.
‘I believe they went for a drive round the estate,’ he dismissed uninterestedly. ‘Don’t worry, Sabina, I’m sure you’ll see your fiancé again soon,’ he added tauntingly.
She shook her head. ‘I’m not worried,’ she assured him dryly.
Not about that, anyway, Brice acknowledged frowningly. But she was troubled about something…
‘Sabina, if you don’t tell me what’s wrong, how can I help you?’ he said gently.
She gave him an incredulous glance. ‘I don’t remember saying there was anything wrong! Neither do I remember asking for your help!’ she added dismissively.
‘But you obviously need someone’s help,’ he bit out impatiently. ‘So why not mine?’
Sabina shook her head. ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about, Brice. And if I should have any worries,’ she continued firmly as he would have spoken, ‘I have a fiancé, and a mother, I can discuss them with, as necessary.’
And not with the relative stranger who happened to have taken the liberty of kissing her a couple of times, her words clearly implied!
He shrugged. ‘I had the distinct impression you don’t have that sort of relationship with your mother. Did you call her, by the way, to tell her you’re in Scotland for the weekend?’
Sabina’s mouth tightened impatiently at this sudden veer in the conversation. ‘You’re very persistent, Brice,’ she snapped.
‘Well?’ He raised dark, uncompromising brows.
‘No, I didn’t,’ she answered irritably.
‘Why the hell not?’ he rasped.
She shrugged. ‘Scotland is a big place—’
‘Where does your mother live?’ Brice snapped, his mouth twisting angrily as she named a village only five miles away. ‘Sabina—’
‘Will you just leave it, Brice?’ She moved impatiently, returning to her position across the room. ‘I thought we came here so you could paint,’ she added pointedly.
‘I could always try telephoning her myself; there can’t be too many Smiths in this area,’ Brice said dryly.
Sabina glared angrily. ‘You could always try minding your own business!’
He held up his hands defensively. ‘I’m only trying to help, Sabina.’
‘And I’ve just told you I don’t need your help,’ she returned with displeasure. ‘My relationship with my mother is my business, Brice, not yours,’ she rasped.
‘Or not. As the case may be…’ he said softly.
‘Oh, this is hopeless!’ Sabina threw up her hands in disgust before marching over to the door. ‘I need some fresh air,’ she bit out tersely. ‘We can resume this later,’ she added in a tone of voice that brooked no argument.
It was a tone that even Brice knew he would be wise to take note of!
What was the saying, it was always the quiet ones to watch out for…? Sabina, for the most part, was coolly self-possessed, seemingly completely unruffled, but the last few minutes had shown him there was also another side to her; Sabina, if pushed too far, came out fighting!
On balance, Brice decided it was a trait he rather liked…
What a disaster! What an absolute mess, Sabina muttered to herself as she changed out of the gold gown into a pink tee shirt and denims, fully intending to go ahead with her avowal of needing some air.
She straightened from putting on her sandals, breathing deeply. What was she going to do? What could she do?
She was engaged to Richard, a man who had never shown her anything but kindness and concern, and she was in love with Brice, a man who— Who what? A man who had also shown her kindness and concern. In his own way.
But Brice had shown her something else, given her a realisation of her own capacity for passion that, until meeting him, she hadn’t known existed.
How could this have happened to her?
Last November she had been deeply upset, her self-confidence in shreds because of what had happened. Richard had already been a friend, she’d occasionally had dinner with, and having seen her obvious distress he had made his suggestion that, for their mutual benefit—Sabina
for Richard’s protection, Richard because he liked the idea of being seen with the most photographed model in the world—the two of them become engaged, it hadn’t taken Sabina too long to decide that she liked the idea, too.
But she hadn’t realised when she’d come to that understanding with Richard that she was capable of loving someone in the way she now loved Brice. If she had thought for a moment she could ever feel this way about another man she would never have accepted Richard’s kind offer.
Sabina had gone round and round in her head with these same thoughts as she’d lain in bed the previous evening unable to sleep, wondering what to do next.
One thing she did realise…she had to tell Richard how she felt, knew she could no longer go on being engaged to him, taking advantage of his kindness, sharing his home with him, when she had these feelings, longings, for another man.
And she had no idea how to go about telling Richard that!
If she had known, even partially guessed, how this weekend was going to change her life, then she would have run as fast and as far as she could in the other direction.
And being alone with Brice in his bedroom-studio, with her newly discovered feelings towards him, had been absolute torture.
She stood up, tired of her own company too now; it was too easy to just sit and think when she was alone.
The gardens, the ones she could see from her bedroom window. She would go there. Anywhere, to get away from Brice!
And maybe, by the time she had taken a leisurely stroll through the gardens, Hugh and Richard would have returned from their drive. Although the thought of seeing Richard, with her emotions in such confusion, wasn’t particularly appealing, either. Because she knew, instinctively, that he was not going to be pleased with what she had to say to him…
Oh, damn Brice McAllister. She wished she had never met him.
‘Going for a walk?’
Sabina turned sharply as, having reached the bottom of the stairs in preparation of escaping, she found herself confronted with Hugh McDonald as he came out of a room at the end of the hallway.
‘Richard has borrowed the car to drive to the village and pick up a newspaper,’ Hugh supplied the answer to the question Sabina had just been about to ask.
She smiled indulgently. ‘He hates it if he misses the business section even for one day.’
Hugh nodded. ‘So he said. If you’re going for a walk, would you like some company?’ he prompted gently.
She would love some company, anything to escape her own tumultuous thoughts. But… ‘I’m sure we’ve already disturbed your routine enough for one day,’ she excused.
‘Not in the least,’ the elderly man dismissed with a smile. ‘A man of my age never minds being disturbed by a beautiful woman!’
Sabina laughed, not because she knew she was meant to, but because she genuinely found Hugh’s teasing refreshing after the intensity of emotion of the last twelve hours. ‘In that case—’ she linked her arm in the crook of his ‘—I would love it if you would accompany me on my walk.’
‘Where would you like to go?’ Hugh prompted once they were outside in the late May sunshine, blossom on the trees, birds singing amongst their branches.
‘I’ve had a thing about walled gardens ever since I read about one being brought back to life in one of the books I read as a child,’ she admitted guilelessly.
Hugh grinned down at her, looking much younger than his eighty-odd years. ‘I think I must have read the same book,’ he acknowledged conspiratorially. ‘Although we don’t do as much with those gardens any more,’ he added sadly. ‘It was my wife who liked to cultivate them, you see.’
Sabina had already realised that he was a widower of some years’ standing. ‘That’s a pity,’ she murmured softly.
‘Yes,’ he acknowledged thoughtfully. ‘Actually, Sabina, I’m quite pleased to have this time alone with you.’ Hugh looked down at her with quizzical eyes. ‘Tell me—from a young female point of view—do you think my family is likely to want to have me committed if I tell them I’ve fallen in love again, at my age?’
Her eyes widened in alarm at the sudden intimacy of the unexpected question. ‘I’m not sure—I don’t—erm—’
‘Sorry.’ Hugh chuckled at her obvious surprise, shaking his head self-derisively, ‘I didn’t mean to shock you.’
‘You didn’t,’ Sabina assured him, feeling embarrassed now at the stupidity of her own reaction.
‘I just wanted someone else’s opinion before broaching the subject with any of the family.’ Hugh frowned. ‘Although I think Brice already has an idea…’ He grimaced.
Brice would, Sabina thought irritably, preceding Hugh into the first walled garden as he held the door open for her, instantly enchanted by the profusion of wild flowers whose sight and perfume assailed her senses.
‘So what do you think?’ Hugh prompted softly.
Her eyes shone with pleasure as she looked around her. ‘It’s beautiful! Exactly as I would have imagined it—’
‘I was actually referring to our earlier conversation,’ Hugh corrected dryly.
Which she had no idea how to answer! Hugh, despite being in his eighties, was still an attractive man; so why shouldn’t he fall in love, at this age or any other? But, on the other hand, in view of her own reaction to her mother being involved with someone, she could see how Hugh’s family might be more than a little surprised by his news…
‘I can clearly see men in white coats and bars at the windows in your eyes!’ Hugh murmured self-derisively.
‘Not at all.’ Sabina laughed throatily. ‘You’ve just put me in something of a dilemma, that’s all,’ she admitted ruefully. ‘You see, I’ve just encountered something—similar, in my own life, where my widowed mother is concerned,’ she confided softly.
Hugh looked at her with narrowed eyes. ‘And?’
She grimaced. ‘I didn’t react too well, I’m afraid,’ she admitted regretfully.
‘Ah.” Hugh nodded.
‘Indeed,’ Sabina sighed. ‘My only advice to you would be not to take too much notice of initial reactions.’
He raised silver brows. ‘Meaning yours wasn’t too good where your mother was concerned?’ he guessed shrewdly.
She gave a self-conscious laugh. ‘Meaning my reaction was pretty awful,’ she admitted with regret.
After all, was her mother finding someone else to share the otherwise loneliness of life such a terrible thing? In view of the mess Sabina’s own life had become in the last twelve hours, the realisation that she was engaged to one man while finding herself deeply attracted to another one, to the point of knowing herself in love with him, she was inclined to think not.
‘Tell me, Sabina,’ Hugh began slowly, watching her with thoughtful curiosity. ‘What do you think of my grandson?’
Her eyes widened at this next sharp turn in their conversation. ‘Which one?’ she delayed awkwardly.
Hugh smiled. ‘You’ve met Logan and Fergus, too?’
‘Only Fergus. We—’ She broke off abruptly; how would it sound to this elderly man if she told him she and Brice had had dinner with the McClouds? ‘But I’ve seen Logan,’ she continued slightly breathlessly. ‘They look very alike, don’t they?’ she dismissed lightly.
‘They are alike.’ Hugh nodded. ‘McDonalds, every one. I made sure of that,’ he added firmly.
And he was obviously proud of each and every one of them. With good reason; each of the men, besides being extremely attractive, was very successful in his chosen field.
‘But you didn’t answer my question about Brice, Sabina?’ Hugh persisted, his gaze narrowed assessingly.
‘I think,’ she avoided teasingly, ‘that Brice gets his bluntness from his grandfather!’
The elderly man chuckled with pleasure. ‘I brought them up to believe that honesty is always the best policy—even if you end up making a few enemies along the way. And talking of honesty,’ he began slowly. ‘Sabina—’
‘Hello, there.’ Richar
d calling to them from the open doorway of the garden interrupted what Hugh had been about to say.
For which Sabina was more than grateful; she hadn’t known what she would have said if Hugh had persisted along this line of questions concerning her feelings towards Brice! The realisation of her love for Brice was still too new, the whole situation too raw to emotional turmoil, that she didn’t want to even think about it just now, let alone talk about Brice!
Although she wasn’t sure she felt ready to face Richard at the moment, either…
‘Look who I just met outside,’ Richard told them lightly as he stepped to one side to reveal someone standing behind him in the garden doorway.
Sabina found herself looking at her own mother!
What—?
Sabina looked at her mother frowningly, totally bewildered at the suddenness of her appearance here, of all places. If Brice had dared to carry out that threat to telephone her mother—
‘Joan…’ Hugh croaked gruffly.
Sabina turned to look at him, only to find that Hugh looked more than a little uncomfortable himself at this sudden turn of events, embarrassed even, a flush of those ruddy cheeks, anxiety in the deep blue of his eyes.
And then the truth hit Sabina with the force of a blow between the eyes.
Hugh had talked to her of having recently fallen in love.
Her mother had done something similar when they’d met in London for lunch last week.
Hugh McDonald, Brice’s grandfather, was the man in her mother’s life!
CHAPTER TWELVE
‘SABINA, I think you’re totally overreacting—’
‘I didn’t ask for your opinion!’ She turned harshly on Brice as he sat on the side of her bed watching as she threw clothes haphazardly into the suitcase beside him. ‘In fact, in the circumstances, I think the best thing you can do is not to say a single word on the subject!’ She glared at him angrily, eyes glittering deeply blue, her whole body tense with repressed fury.