The Bride, the Baby & the Best Man

by Liz Fielding

‘Well, I hope her ankles were swollen.’

  ‘What?’ Then he realised what she had said and quite suddenly he laughed. ‘I doubt it. Clemmie would never have been seen in public with swollen ankles.’

  Faith thought that Miss Clementine Norwood sounded a complete bitch and he’d had a lucky escape, but their food arrived and Harry deliberately changed the topic of conversation.

  ‘Tell me your plans for this consultancy of yours, Faith.’

  She looked at him uncertainly, but it was a neutral subject and time passed swiftly as, under his careful questioning, she began to enthusiastically expound her ideas. ‘The returns are not always quite as high, but as more and more people are becoming interested in the idea, voting with their money, more companies are making an effort to meet the criteria.’

  ‘I admire your commitment.’

  ‘That’s what Julian said.’

  ‘Did he? I must be losing my touch. I used to be considered quite original.’ He tucked his hand beneath her elbow as they left the restaurant.

  ‘He meant it, Harry.’

  ‘So did I, but then I suppose his role as a caring environmentalist puts his sincerity on an altogether higher plane than mine.’ He looked up at the sky, the grey silk bubbles of cloud still faintly charged with pink from the dying sun. ‘It’s a lovely evening, shall we walk back? It’s only half a mile.’

  ‘Very ecologically friendly,’ she said, unable to resist teasing him just a little.

  ‘I’m getting the idea. You’ll be converting me to low-energy light bulbs next.’

  ‘You should seriously consider it. Save money and the earth at the same time. Will your car be safe in the car park?’

  ‘The car will be fine. I often walk back after a meal. Mac has a key and he’ll lock it in his garage when he closes up.’

  They walked in silence for a while, enjoying the secretive sounds of small animals in the undergrowth, startling a late rabbit, breathing in the night scent of honeysuckle and wild roses.

  ‘I can understand why you wanted to keep the manor,’ Faith said, finally, ‘If this was my home I wouldn’t give it up without a fight either.’

  Harry paused, turned to her. His arm was along her shoulder, she didn’t remember him putting it there, but it had seemed quite natural, quite right to rest her head against the warmth of his shoulder. ‘Then stay, Faith. For as long as you like.’

  ‘Stay?’ But he had a nanny for Ben and Alice. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘This.’ He drew her against him, tilting her head back over his arm and kissed her. Her lips parted without coaxing and he took possession of her mouth, plundering it as a man wandering lost in a desert will fall upon water. It was thrilling, glorious to be kissed with such determination under the summer stars and for a moment she surrendered herself, willingly, joyfully. It was part of the magic of the night, the moment. Tomorrow it would be over. She would be gone. Life would be back to normal. But for now—

  For now her breasts were peaking with the frantic desire that surged through her like an express train and her arms slid around Harry’s neck as she swayed against him, her legs buckling beneath her. He caught her round the waist and held her close so that she could feel the urgency of his own need, breathe in the musky male scent of him until it filled her head, her throat, her entire being.

  ‘I want you, Faith,’ he murmured.

  She wanted him too. She would marry Julian because she had given her word, because it was the sane, the sensible thing to do, but Harry March would always be the dream lover who came to her in the darkness of the night to fire her dreams—

  A stab of headlights in the dark lit up the lane and the moment and the thought were drowned out by the throaty roar of a powerful engine.

  ‘Harry?’ It was Mac. He climbed from the Porsche, leaving the engine running. ‘Alice isn’t well. Your nanny just called. She’s already sent for the doctor, but I thought you’d want your car.’

  ‘Get in.’ Harry barked the words at Faith and before she had even fastened her seatbelt the car was rocketing up the road, leaving Mac standing where, a moment before, they had been locked in a passionate embrace. A long shudder swept through her at the thought of what she had so nearly done. Another moment and they would have been lying on the grass tearing at one another’s clothes. Harry, however, had other things on his mind. He slewed the car to a halt in front of the house and ran up the steps, leaving her to follow.

  ‘Sarah!’ He didn’t wait for an answer but bounded up the stairs two at a time. Just as he reached the top step Alice’s kitten stepped off the edge of the carpet and skittered with a startled mew across the polished wood of the floor. Faith’s shout of warning came too late as Harry, twisting awkwardly to avoid putting his foot on the little scrap of fur, fell, his leg giving way beneath him and sending him sprawling on the floor.

  ‘Damn! Damn! Damn!’ Harry swore with quiet vehemence as his face contorted with pain. ‘I thought I said that animal wasn’t allowed upstairs!’

  ‘Can I help?’

  Faith’s tentative offer was brushed aside as he dragged himself to his feet and limped heavily towards the nursery.

  ‘What’s the matter with her?’ he asked, urgently, the greyness of his face having more to do with concern for Alice than his own pain.

  The little girl was lying on her bed, limp and damp with sweat, looking half her normal size. Sarah, applying a cold cloth to her forehead and cheeks, turned away long enough to say, ‘She’s got a temperature and her glands are swollen. It came on so suddenly. It might just be a cold, but it’s so hard to tell with children, especially when you don’t know them. I’ve sent for the doctor.’

  A distant peel on the bell announced his arrival. ‘I’ll let him in,’ Faith said, feeling utterly helpless and glad of something useful to do. She ran back down the stairs, explaining the situation to the doctor as she took him up to the nursery. He didn’t stay long.

  ‘Just treat the fever as you have been doing. I don’t think it’s more than a cold. Elizabeth used to get just the same way. I’ll drop in again before surgery in the morning and I’m sure I’ll see an improvement, but if there’s any change for the worse take her straight to A&E in Melchester.’

  Harry’s limp, more noticeable since his tumble, caught the doctor’s eye. ‘What have you been doing to yourself?’ he asked, as they went down the stairs. Faith didn’t hear his reply.

  ‘Faith?’ Sarah touched her arm to attract her attention and she tore her eyes away from Harry.

  ‘Sorry, what did you say?’

  ‘Alice is asking for her mother. Could you stay with her while I move Ben into my room? It’s probably too late to stop him catching whatever ails Alice, but it’s worth a try.’

  She pulled herself together. ‘Yes, of course.’

  ‘She’ll probably respond better to you. If you can persuade her to take a drink?’

  ‘I’ll do my best,’ Faith said, sitting on the edge of the child’s bed and began to bathe her face with the cool flannel.

  ‘Faith?’

  ‘Yes, darling?’

  ‘You won’t leave me, will you? You won’t go away,’ she begged, pitifully. Her eyes suddenly filled with tears. ‘Please.’

  Faith’s heart went out to the child and she leaned over and kissed her forehead. ‘I won’t go anywhere, sweetheart. I’ll be here as long as you need me.’

  ‘You promise?’

  She didn’t hesitate. ‘I promise,’ she said. ‘But you’ll have to do something for me.’

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘I want you to try and have a drink.’ She lifted a glass of barley water to the little girl’s lips. ‘It will help to cool you down.’

  Faith waited patiently while Alice took a few sips, then she settled her down against the pillow. After that she seemed to drift off into a restless sleep and Faith pulled a chair nearer to the bed and sat down, holding Alice’s hand lightly in her own, her mind drifting back to her own childhood illnesses and the
way her mother had always been there when she woke. She knew how much Alice was missing her mother. No one better.

  ‘How is she?’ Harry came alongside her and stood there, staring down at his niece.

  ‘She’ll be fine.’ Faith kept her eyes on Alice. She had managed to block out the scene that Mac had interrupted. She wanted to keep it that way. ‘How are you?’

  ‘Me?’

  ‘Did the doctor look at your leg?’

  ‘There isn’t any point. I don’t fall over quite as much as I used to, but sometimes I forget that I can’t run the way I used to.’

  ‘You tripped over a cat. It could have happened to anyone.’

  ‘Could it?’ he said, just a touch too sharply, looking around. ‘Where did the little wretch go?’

  ‘He ran for his life. He’ll come back when he thinks the coast is clear. Look, why don’t you go to bed? You can’t do anything here.’

  He shook his head. ‘I can’t leave her.’

  She could understand his feelings, but he couldn’t just stand there all night. ‘Well if you insist on staying, lie down over there.’ She indicated a bed that was the twin of Alice’s. ‘You’ll be no use to man nor beast if your leg is too painful to walk on tomorrow.’

  For the first time since their mad dash back to the manor, Harry’s face relaxed into a something that might just be interpreted as a smile. ‘Did anyone ever tell you that you’ve got a distinctly bossy streak? Just like your aunt.’

  ‘In that case you’ll know there’s absolutely no point in arguing with me.’

  ‘No, ma’am.’

  ‘And don’t make fun of me, either,’ she said, turning to look up at him.

  ‘I wouldn’t dream of it.’ He bent and dropped a kiss on her upturned face. ‘I’m glad you’re staying.’

  ‘Staying?’

  ‘I heard you promise Alice that you would.’

  ‘That’s right. I promised Alice.’ She might have lost her head temporarily, but she wasn’t crazy. He had obviously never got over Clemmie Norwood’s betrayal and she was marrying Julian in three weeks time. Less. The days were ticking by with remorseless determination. ‘It has nothing to do with you.’

  He straightened abruptly. ‘Did I suggest it was?’ He didn’t wait for an answer, but limped heavily across the room to the spare bed and after removing his shoes, he lowered himself onto it and lay there, stiff and still.

  ‘Harry?’

  ‘What is it?’ His voice was discouraging.

  ‘I wondered...’ He turned fierce blue eyes on her and she almost lost her nerve. ‘Would it help if I—’ she swallowed ‘—if I were to massage your leg?’

  ‘Is there no end to your talents, Faith? Or are you determined to extract every ounce of retribution for your enforced stay?’

  ‘Retribution?’

  ‘Do you want me to spell it out for you?’

  Faith swallowed, too mortified by what he was thinking to blush. ‘I wasn’t... I didn’t...’

  He must have seen her flinch because his voice softened a little. ‘Didn’t you?’

  ‘The physio at the swimming club showed me. When Dad had problems with his calves. All that standing about in cold churches.’ Under his fierce gaze the words came out in jerky, disjointed little rushes, like a clockwork doll winding down.

  ‘Well, thanks for the offer, Faith,’ he said, when he was sure she had stopped. ‘But if you don’t mind I’ll take a rain check.’

  Alice stirred restlessly and Faith turned thankfully to the child. By the time she had sponged her face and persuaded her to have another drink, Sarah was at her side with a cup of tea. ‘Can I do anything?’ she whispered.

  ‘No. I’ll stay here. I’d be happier if you were the one keeping an eye on Ben. Is he all right?’

  ‘Fine so far. Give me shout if you want a break.’ Sarah nodded towards Harry. ‘He obviously doesn’t want this cup of tea. I might as well have it.’ She tiptoed from the room, taking it with her.

  Harry had apparently dropped off to sleep and Faith found herself stupidly near the brink of tears as she saw that Alice’s kitten had crept up onto the bed and was fast asleep at his feet.

  It was still and silent in the room and Faith sat back in the chair and tried to sort out her thoughts.

  About Harry

  About Julian.

  Julian who would be home in a couple of weeks for their wedding. Would it be right to marry him when there was no use in denying that she was so physically attracted to another man?

  Or was it just that being thrown into such close contact with Harry had stirred up an emotional stew that had been simmering quietly for years beneath the controlled surface she put on for the rest of the world?

  Her eyes were drawn to his sleeping figure, to the dark head on the pillow, the thick mop of hair that tangled with the crumpled collar of his chambray shirt. He might have lost his head-turning looks. He was irritable, tormenting, more nightmare than dream. Yet he inflamed her, excited her, made her feel utterly foolish. She should have hated it, but she didn’t. And that made her wonder about Harry’s much-vaunted white heat of passion. For the first time since Michael had broken her young heart, she wondered if it was, after all, worth the risk.

  Faith’s head fell forward jerking her awake with a sickening wrench. She looked around, gathering her woolly thoughts as she glanced at her watch. It was nearly four o’clock.

  She stood up, laid her hand lightly on Alice’s forehead. She was cooler, sleeping more easily now and Faith stretched, trying to get some life back into her stiff limbs. Harry, his back turned towards her, the kitten nestled behind his knees, was lying still except for the slow rise and fall of his chest and she envied him the comfort of the bed. But tempting as it was to go and lie down she was afraid that Alice might wake up and miss her.

  She glanced again at Harry, wishing she hadn’t been so quick to suggest he lie down and rest his leg. She tried to get comfortable but the chair felt like concrete and as she stood up again, pacing the floor in an effort to ease her aching limbs the bed seemed to beckon invitingly. It was a single bed, but a large one and with Harry lying on his side there was plenty of room for two and he was fast asleep. He’d never know that she had rested there just for a moment.

  Faith lowered herself beside him, easing her feet off the floor and very gently lay back against the pillow. It was bliss. The kitten yawned, stretched, his claws extended and Faith scooped him up and put him on her stomach before he sank them into Harry’s ankle. She’d go downstairs in a moment, make a cup of tea, take him with her. The kitten purred like a tiny dynamo as he trod against her for a moment before curling up contentedly. She closed her eyes. Just for a moment. Just to shut out the nightlight. When she opened them again she blinked and groaned. ‘Turn off the light,’ she mumbled into the pillow.

  ‘It’s not the light. It’s the sun,’ Alice whispered.

  She opened her eyes again and screwed them up against the fierce light. The sun had crept above the sill of the tall sash window and was shining directly into her eyes. Alice smiled sleepily at her from the other bed, all the dangerous night flush gone.

  ‘Hello, Alice,’ she said, making a determined effort to rouse herself, but not succeeding.

  ‘You stayed,’ Alice whispered. ‘All night.’

  ‘I promised. How are you feeling?’

  ‘Like a frog. All croaky.’

  ‘I think the less said about frogs the better, don’t you?’ Faith replied, a little croaky herself with sheer relief. ‘Would you like some juice?’ She made a move to swing off the bed but found that she couldn’t.

  ‘I’m dry too. Will you get some for me?’ Harry’s voice in her ear jerked her into full consciousness, even as his arm about her waist tightened to hold her captive. She half turned, a protest on her lips, but the words caught in her throat. He looked so thoroughly endearing, his hair tousled, his chin shadowed with morning bristles. Then he grinned and she blushed scarlet as the full impact of the si
tuation was born in upon her.

  CHAPTER NINE

  FAITH swallowed. It was important, desperately important to appear unconcerned in the face of mind-numbing embarrassment. A slight smile should do it. Very slight and very cool. The kind she employed to put amorous investment analysts in their place.

  It had never failed in her in the past but Harry’s arm was tight around her waist and she could feel the heat of his body, the power-packed curve of his chest, abdomen, thighs from her shoulder to her foot. A foot which was nestling cosily against his ankle as if that was precisely where it was meant to be. At which point, cool flew out of the window.

  ‘I only meant to c-close my eyes for a m-moment,’ she stammered.

  ‘You have an open invitation to close your eyes in my bed anytime, Miss Bridges. You don’t snore. You don’t kick. In fact I only have one complaint.’

  ‘Complaint?’ What on earth had he to complain about?

  ‘I don’t like your nightwear. Next time wear the red silk.’

  Fury finally loosened her tongue. ‘Next time! There isn’t going to be any—’

  ‘Well, don’t you two look cosy?’ Sarah said, appearing in the doorway and diffusing the imminent explosion. ‘Like a pair of teaspoons in a drawer. How’s the invalid?’

  ‘Decidedly brighter,’ Harry said, ignoring Faith’s furious attempts to disentangle herself from his grasp beneath the bedcover. Cover? He had woken up and covered them both and then — and then he’d got back in beside her? She groaned, a small desperate sound, imperceptible to anyone who wasn’t pressed up close. ‘But she’s thirsty,’ Harry continued, with the faintest suggestion of a chuckle in his voice.

  ‘I’ll get her some juice,’ Faith said, making a determined bid for freedom.

  ‘I’ve brought some,’ Sarah said, no help at all.

  ‘Well I’ll take Tiddles downstairs. He shouldn’t be in the bedroom. I was going to do it last night. I didn’t mean to go to sleep. I can’t think—’ She wished that weren’t true. She was thinking far too clearly. So was Sarah. And it was quite clear what Sarah was thinking.

  ‘Hush, Faith,’ Harry murmured, close to her ear as if he had a direct line to her thoughts and was enjoying them enormously. ‘You’re only making things worse.’