Anything but Vanilla(57)

Sorrel stopped breathing.

For a moment there she had remembered the mission. Security. Safety. To be in control of her destiny. To be the partner of a man who would be there always. Not like her grandfather who’d spent most of his life working abroad to avoid the woman he’d married. Not like her father, just passing through. Not like the man who’d reduced them to penury. But Alexander’s hand was at her waist, his voice soft as lamb’s fleece, wrapping her in a kind of warmth that she had never known.

His fingers were barely touching her cheek yet, from those tiny points of contact, energy flowed into her, firing a need, sensitising her skin so that she wanted to stretch like a cat, purr, rub against him, wrap herself around him.

They were standing so close that all she could see were his eyes. Everything else had faded away: the mad twittering of the sparrows in the hedge, the mingled scents of lilac and crushed grass, the agitated muttering of the hens. Her world had retracted to the ocean deep blue. She was sinking, going under... Sinking into a kiss that stole her breath, stole her mind, stole her body as his long fingers brushed against her shoulder and the pressure of his thumb against her nape sent ripples of pleasure down her spine.

He drew her closer so that she was pressed against him, breast to hip, sensuously plundering her mouth until her whole body was melting with a rush of intimacy, a need that stormed through her body, turning her legs to jelly. And then, when he was the only thing stopping her from melting into a little heap on the grass, he eased back to look down at her.

‘Do you have a problem with that?’

Sorrel felt the world tilt. All the certainties she’d lived by fall away. She knew it was crazy, that next week, next month, he would be on the other side of the world, but some moments were to be seized.

Her mother had known that. Ria and Nancy knew it.

‘No...’ The word was thick on her tongue and even as she said it a dozen problems tumbled out of the woodwork, a hundred reasons why this had to be the worst idea in the world. Because he was asking for much more than her approval of his pub choice. ‘Yes...’

Alexander had turned her world upside down, changing her from a woman in control of her life, her emotions, into someone who could forget everything when he touched her. He wouldn’t take money, but he would steal her peace of mind, undermine the foundation on which she had built her future. Steal her heart. And then he’d leave...

With a supreme effort of will, she pulled away from him, putting air between them so that she could breathe, think. Sinking down onto the battered old bench by the back door before her legs gave way.

She took in big gulps of air, practically flinching as the noise rushed back in. Who knew that sparrows could be loud?

‘I don’t do this,’ she said, her voice catching in her throat, and every cell in her body was screaming out to touch him. For him to touch her. ‘I’m not like my mother,’ she said, and it sounded like a betrayal.

‘Aren’t you? She knew what she wanted and went for it. Isn’t that what you do?’





TWELVE



All I really need is love, but a little ice cream would do to be going on with.

—Rosie’s ‘Little Book of Ice Cream’

Sorrel looked up at Alexander, her eyes huge. ‘You don’t understand.’

Actually, he did. She didn’t do this, and neither did he. This was his cue to get up and walk away. He’d planned to drive to Wales this afternoon and find Ria, but he didn’t even have to do that. She’d be back in her own good time and what happened next was Sorrel’s decision, not his. Graeme Laing would be there to stop her doing anything foolish.

He could be on a flight back to Pantabalik tonight. It should be easy.

It had always been easy in the past. Even when he’d been engaged to Julia he couldn’t wait to get back.

But he’d tried walking away from Sorrel and, as if he’d been held on a piece of bungee, he’d bounced straight back.

He didn’t do this, but he took her hand and said, ‘Ria had a baby.’

Her eyes widened. ‘But she hasn’t...’ Then, ‘She wouldn’t...’

‘No. My father gave her the money to dispose of his indiscretion but you’re right, she didn’t.’

‘But...’

‘She was very young and she was sure that once he saw the baby he’d want it. Ria is borderline bi-polar, high highs, low lows. She took her newborn son and presented him to his father on a dizzy high. You can imagine his reaction.’