Still holding her hand, Tom led the way down the flight of stone steps that led to the beach. On the bottom step Kate stepped out of her shoes and slipped them into the beaded evening bag she was carrying. The soft, light-coloured sand still felt warm to the touch from the heat of the day’s sun as they walked back to the jetty that formed one side of the harbour. The moon had risen and was casting a silvery pathway across the sea while high above them a handful of stars studded the darkening sky.
‘I nearly asked you out before,’ he said at last.
‘Did you?’ She threw him a startled glance.
‘Yes, a couple of times,’ he admitted.
‘But you didn’t?’ she prompted, curious to know why.
‘No, I didn’t.’ He paused. ‘I wasn’t sure you were ready,’ he said. ‘You seemed so vulnerable somehow, fragile even, after what had happened to you, that I held back…until…’
‘Until that day at the bowling alley?’ she said softly.
‘Yes,’ he agreed, ‘until that day. Really, you know, Kate, I couldn’t believe my luck that day. Oh, I know I could have asked you out at work but somehow it never seemed the right time. But meeting you there like that with your children, it seemed to me fate was giving me a little nudge and telling me there wouldn’t be a better time.’ As he spoke they stopped walking, and as before they turned once again to face each other, but this time Tom released her hand. Lifting his own hands, he took her face between them, tilting it upwards and gazing down into her eyes in the half-light.
Kate knew he was going to kiss her, but was she ready for this? Was it still too soon? There had been no one for her since the day she had met Liam and she still wasn’t sure, was uncertain how she would react, afraid that she would be unable to respond to another man.
But at the touch of Tom’s lips something magical began to take place, whether as the result of the moonlight, the wine or the chemistry between the two of them she had no idea, but as her lips parted beneath his and his fingers became entangled in her hair, she found herself not only responding to him but also becoming acutely aware of the awakening of some long-forgotten desire deep inside. With a little sigh she allowed her arms to go around him, drawing him closer, while he, with a small sound of surprised pleasure, released her face and put his own arms around her, gathering her against his body.
It had been a long time since Kate had known the strength of a man’s arms around her, and with a sudden blinding flash she realised just how very much she had missed it—missed the warmth, the stirring of passion and the sharing of intimacy.
Her response to his kiss must have shaken Tom as much as it did her and when at last they drew apart they gazed at each other with a kind of wonder.
‘Hey,’ he said softly at last, ‘you certainly are a lady of surprises.’
With his arm around her, they made their way slowly back along the beach to the jetty where they climbed the steps to the sea wall, and after Kate had slipped on her shoes once more they walked through the cobbled, moonlit streets to the car.
‘Your place or mine for coffee?’ asked Tom as he started the engine.
‘Unless you want to share Horlicks with Aunt Bessie, it had better be yours,’ said Kate lightly.
They both knew what the other meant, Tom in giving Kate an opportunity to refuse and she in agreeing to go back to his house with him. She couldn’t quite believe she was doing so but at the same time she refused to look any further ahead than the present. Those incredible moments of shared intimacy on the beach had awakened something in Kate, something that had lain dormant for many long months, something she had imagined gone for ever, and she felt to a certain extent it was the same for Tom. By his own admission he had been deeply hurt by his wife’s betrayal and unable to trust another woman. Could this now be a turning point for them both?
Her excitement and desire was almost at fever pitch by the time Tom drew into the drive of his home. He switched off the engine then stepped out onto the gravel drive before walking round to the passenger seat and helping her out of the car. The touch of his hand on her bare arm was like an electric shock and she felt a shiver of desire run the length of her spine.
He led the way into the house but they only got as far as the hallway before he turned to her with a groan and pulled her almost roughly into his arms again, his mouth seeking and finding hers, his tongue parting her lips. With a little sigh of satisfaction Kate gave herself up to the complete and utter thrill of being kissed by him again.
‘I want you, Kate,’ he murmured huskily between kisses. ‘I’ve wanted you for a long time.’
‘I want you, too,’ she whispered. ‘Maybe I shouldn’t, but I do. I can’t help it.’
Together they climbed the stairs and only once, after they had entered his bedroom and he had taken her in his arms again, did Tom appear to hesitate. ‘Are you sure?’ he said softly.
‘Quite sure,’ she replied.
He undressed her slowly, carefully removing each item of her clothing and draping them across a chair before leading her to the vast double bed with its cream and midnight blue covers. Swiftly he discarded his own clothing and all the while the tension and anticipation between them heightened with every glance and every touch. Just once did Kate know a moment’s apprehension before he joined her on the bed, wondering if he would find her desirable. She need have had no such worries for as he lay beside her he said, ‘You’re beautiful, Kate.’ And with a little sigh she relaxed and gave herself up to the delight of his love-making, which was exciting yet tender as, mindful of Kate’s own needs, he held back, expertly and skilfully leading her to that secret place where all desires were satisfied and fulfilment was the prize.
Kate still couldn’t quite believe that it had happened and as she lay in the large bed and stared up at the ceiling she found herself wondering what on earth she would say to her daughter. Turning her head, she looked towards Tom, only to find that he was watching her.
‘Are you happy?’ he asked with a lazy smile.
‘Oh, yes,’ she said, stretching luxuriously beneath the down-filled duvet. ‘Very, very happy.’
‘And no regrets?’
‘No,’ she sighed, ‘no regrets.’
‘I hadn’t planned this,’ he said almost apologetically. ‘I want you to know that, Kate. I really didn’t imagine this would happen when I asked you out for a meal.’
‘I didn’t expect it to happen either,’ she admitted, ‘but somehow it seemed—I don’t know—almost inevitable really.’
‘I felt that, too,’ he agreed, adding after a short pause, ‘I haven’t felt like this for a very long time, Kate.’
‘Me neither,’ she said. ‘And I wouldn’t want you to think that I make a habit of this sort of thing.’
‘What sort of thing?’ With a grin he rolled over onto his stomach and, resting his elbow on the bed, cupped his chin in his hand and looked down at her.
‘Sleeping with someone on the first date,’ she replied.
‘Oh, that,’ he said. When her eyes widened at his apparent casualness, he chuckled and said, ‘Well, if you’re worried about that we can always call it our fourth date. That is, if you count those other times, even if the children were with us.’
‘Talking of the children,’ said Kate, ‘do you know what Siobhan said to me when she knew we were going out tonight?’
‘No, go on.’
‘She asked me if we would sleep together.’ Somehow it now seemed perfectly natural for her to tell him that.
‘Well,’ he said, ‘I’m shocked.’
‘Yes, so was I.’
‘I mean,’ he went on seriously, ‘as if we would do such a thing! The very idea!’
Kate found herself laughing in spite of herself. ‘What shocked me,’ she said after a moment, ‘was that she should even be thinking along those lines.’
‘They grow up fast these days, Kate,’ he said. Reaching out his free hand, he began twisting a strand of her hair. ‘You know that by the
age of some of the pregnant girls we see.’
‘Yes, I know,’ she said. ‘I suppose it’s just their casual approach to sex that worries me—their lack of commitment, if you like.’
‘So what are you going to tell your daughter when she asks what we got up to tonight?’ His eyes crinkled at the corners.
‘Oh, Tom, I don’t know…I really don’t know.’
‘Do you want some form of commitment?’ he asked softly.
‘I don’t even know that,’ she replied, looking up into his eyes, ‘I haven’t had time to think about it.’
‘Well, I think perhaps you should,’ he said lightly. ‘And while you are thinking about it…’ he let go of her hair and moved his hand under the duvet ‘…maybe this might help.’
‘Oh, Tom…’ She sighed deeply and arched her body to meet his.
‘Mum, are you awake?’
‘Hmm?’ Kate turned over and looked at the bedside clock. It was nine o’clock.
‘Oh, good.’ Siobhan bounded into the bedroom and sat on the end of Kate’s bed, ‘You are awake. Francesca’s just phoned, and guess what? She wants me to go over there this morning.’
‘Over where?’ Kate pushed her hair out of her eyes and struggled to sit up. It had been very late when Tom had brought her home and even later when, having lain awake and gone over and over in her mind every detail of that magical evening, she had finally fallen sleep.
‘To her house,’ said Siobhan impatiently. ‘You know she has her own pony? Well, she said I can have a ride. Will you take me over there, Mum?’
‘I don’t know.’ Kate frowned, trying desperately to clear her brain, wondering what Tom would think about her taking Siobhan to his ex-wife’s home, wondering whether she even wanted to go.
‘Oh, go on, Mum,’ pleaded Siobhan, ‘I can go, can’t I? Please? I said I’d phone her back straight away. Oh, please, say I can.’
‘Well, I suppose it will be all right,’ said Kate doubtfully at last. ‘Did she say what time?’
‘Ten o’clock,’ Siobhan replied airily.
Kate groaned. ‘I guess that means I’d better get a move on,’ she muttered as Siobhan leapt off the bed and headed for the door.
‘What time did you get in last night?’ Siobhan suddenly stopped in the doorway.
‘It was pretty late,’ said Kate warily. ‘I’m not sure exactly what time it was.’
‘So did you sleep with him?’ asked Siobhan, arching one eyebrow. Before Kate could make any sort of reply, she held up her hands in a defensive gesture and said, ‘Only joking. I know you wouldn’t really do that—it’s too gross.’ With that parting shot she left the room, leaving Kate wondering whether her daughter thought it was gross that her mother should do such a thing on a first date, or whether she’d reached the conclusion that it was too gross to even think that her mother might want sex at all at her age. She had a suspicion the latter was the case.
Barely an hour later Kate drove up to the house where Francesca and Joe lived with Jennifer and Max. It was an old farmhouse, square, solid-looking and surrounded by a large paddock, fields and open farmland. Anyone could see them coming, Kate thought apprehensively as she approached the main building and brought the car to a halt alongside a white picket fence.
‘Oh, look!’ cried Siobhan, as a pony which had been grazing in the paddock lifted his head and cantered across to the fence, no doubt to investigate these newcomers and the possibility that they might have brought some interesting titbits. ‘Oh, isn’t he lovely? That must be Mr McGee—Francesca’s pony.’
‘There’s another one over there.’ Kate nodded towards a clump of trees on the far side of the paddock where a second horse grazed quietly in the shade.
‘I think they all ride,’ said Siobhan as they climbed out of the car. Even she seemed slightly overwhelmed by this evidence of their friends’ lifestyle. Before they had a chance to walk up to the front entrance two dogs suddenly rounded the side of the house, one a black Labrador and the other a huge Rottweiler, both barking fiercely. Kate and Siobhan froze, their backs to the car.
‘It’s all right, they won’t hurt you!’ A woman appeared behind the dogs, a woman whom Kate recognised from the one brief time she had seen her, a woman with platinum blonde hair stylishly cut and dressed in jodhpurs and a hacking jacket. ‘Jason! Oscar!’ she commanded, ‘Quiet!’
Immediately, to Kate’s relief, the dogs fell silent and, after sniffing around herself and Siobhan and satisfying themselves that they didn’t pose a threat, lumbered back to where they had come from.
‘Sorry about that.’ The woman tucked a strand of hair back behind one ear then held out her hand to Kate. ‘Jennifer Fielding,’ she said. Tom’s surname on her lips came as a bit of a shock to Kate and she was glad that Tom had told her that his ex-wife and Max Oliver hadn’t married. She barely touched Kate’s hand.
‘Kate Ryan,’ said Kate. Turning to Siobhan she added, ‘and this is my daughter, Siobhan.’ She was saved from any awkwardness by the sudden appearance of Francesca in the doorway of the main house. She, too, was dressed in jodhpurs and carried a riding crop.
‘Siobhan!’ she exclaimed on catching sight of her friend. ‘I guessed you had arrived when I heard the dogs! Hello, Mrs Ryan,’ she added, smiling at Kate. For a fleeting moment Kate saw Tom in her smile and her heart turned over.
‘Hello, Francesca,’ she said. ‘This is very good of you, letting Siobhan ride with you, but unfortunately she doesn’t have any riding gear.’
‘Mum!’ muttered Siobhan in embarrassment. ‘I’ve got jeans and trainers.’
‘No, Siobhan,’ said Jennifer Fielding briskly, ‘your mother is quite right to be concerned. Francesca will fix you up with a hard hat, boots and some of her riding clothes—you look about the same size.’
‘What time shall I pick her up?’ asked Kate.
‘I would have thought about four o’clock,’ Jennifer replied.
Kate felt decidedly strange when a few moments later she drove away from the farmhouse, having declined Jennifer’s offer of refreshment. Taking her daughter to ride with Francesca was one thing, but socialising with Tom’s ex-wife was something else altogether and not something she felt she could cope with, especially after the night that she and Tom had just shared. She found herself wondering just how much Francesca or even Joe had told their mother about these new friends of their father’s and themselves. No doubt she knew about the outing they had shared and the visits to each other’s homes, but from the way Jennifer had eyed her up and down at the moment of their meeting Kate suspected that as a result of Siobhan and Francesca’s constant phone calls to each other, Jennifer also knew that she and Tom had been out together the previous evening and that their relationship, which until then had simply been a family affair, had now entered a new, more intimate phase.
CHAPTER EIGHT
‘YOU look like the cat that’s got the cream,’ murmured Natalie as Kate began to scrub up alongside her.
‘I don’t know what you mean,’ protested Kate.
‘Oh, yes, you do,’ declared Natalie. ‘You’ve been like it ever since you came in and I wouldn’t think there would be any prizes for guessing why.’
‘I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ replied Kate demurely, but a smile tugged at her mouth as she spoke.
‘So it wouldn’t have anything to do with a certain consultant and that every time he comes anywhere near you positively start to purr?’
‘Natalie! Honestly!’ Kate threw a quick glance over her shoulder to make sure they weren’t being overheard but she still found herself smiling at the accuracy of her friend’s observations.
‘Well, it’s true,’ Natalie persisted. When Kate still declined to comment, she went on, ‘So, are you going to tell me what’s happened? Because it’s pretty obvious that something has.’
‘Maybe it has,’ replied Kate, ‘but here and now, when we are minutes away from an emergency Caesarean section, is neither the time nor t
he place.’
‘Well, maybe not,’ Natalie reluctantly conceded, ‘but I’ll see you later. How about a cappuccino in Angelo’s after the shift?’
‘OK,’ said Kate with a sigh, ‘you’re on.’
Minutes later she was in Theatre and the patient, Maggie Sumner, was wheeled in, accompanied by her husband Ted. This was Maggie’s first baby and at forty-two she was considered an ‘older mum’, with all the risks that went with that dubious title. Kate knew that Maggie had suffered several miscarriages in the past, then, after a long period of time during which she hadn’t conceived again, she and her husband had agreed to try IVF treatment. The second attempt had been successful but she had suffered problems throughout the pregnancy, ranging from high blood pressure and threat of miscarriage to swollen ankles, heartburn and painful bouts of sciatica. Now at thirty-eight weeks into the pregnancy, she had presented with a placenta praevia and Tom had decided to perform an emergency Caesarean section.
‘What what does that mean?’ Maggie, with tears in her eyes, had looked from Tom to Kate in anguish for her unborn child when the decision had been made.
‘It means that the placenta wants to come before the baby,’ Tom had explained.
‘But will the baby be all right?’ Maggie had implored.
‘There is a slight risk, as with any operation,’ Tom had replied, ‘but there would be more risk if we didn’t operate.’
‘Do I have to have a general anaesthetic?’
‘Not unless you want to. An epidural is perfectly adequate.’
‘I want to be awake when my baby is born,’ Maggie had said.
Now, an hour later, as Kate looked down at Maggie, who’d had her epidural, and Natalie prepared the screen, she smiled over her mask. ‘Won’t be long now, Maggie,’ she said.
‘Is Mr Fielding here?’ asked Maggie.
‘He’s on his way.’
‘It will be him, won’t it?’ asked Ted Sumner anxiously.
‘We want it to be him, don’t we, love?’ Looking down at his wife over the top of his surgical mask, he took hold of her hand.
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