Page 45 of Promise Me Love
CHAPTER NINE
IT WAS further to the village than Beth had expected so that by the time she rounded the last bend she was trembling from exertion. She paused for a moment to catch her breath, then forced herself to go on, feigning an interest in the few shops which lined the narrow street.
She stopped at the baker’s and bought a fresh roll still warm from the oven then sat down on a bench overlooking the village green and ate it, but it was too cold to linger there for long. The wind had risen since she’d left the house, sending needle-sharp blasts of cold air into her face, and with a weary sigh she started back up the road again. When it suddenly started to rain she could have wept.
Head bowed against the icy drops, she struggled on, forcing herself to concentrate on getting back rather than on the lump of misery lodged deep in her chest. Now all her anger had faded all she felt was a numbing kind of pain that it should have to end like this. When a car skidded to a halt alongside her, she barely spared it a glance, then felt her heart stop when she recognised the man who jumped out and came round to confront her.
‘What the hell are you playing at, woman? Look at you! You’re soaked through. Come on.’ David caught her arm to propel her towards the car, but she resisted with a strength that surprised them both.
‘No! Go away. I can manage by myself. I don’t need your help, David Kane…not now…not ever!’
She pushed past him, her breath coming in laboured spurts as she hurried along the road. She hated him! Hated him for being so domineering, hated him for imagining that she would accept his help again after what he’d said before, hated him for giving her hope only to snatch it away again.
‘And what do you hope to achieve by this display of independence? All you’ll do is tire yourself out and get a good soaking into the bargain.’
She hadn’t realised he had followed her and now she rounded on him, brushing the rain from her face. ‘Go away! I don’t need your company, thank you.’
He pushed his hands into his pockets, hunching his shoulders against the driving force of the rain. ‘I’m sure you don’t, but you’re getting it anyway.’ He looked grimly at the leaden sky, narrowing his eyes against the downpour. ‘Looks as if we’re both going to get soaked.’
‘You don’t need to! You can get in your car and drive back to the house. I can manage by myself.’
He shook his head, scattering raindrops as he did so. ‘No way. If you’re going to walk then so am I.’
His face was set with determination as he walked along beside her and Beth felt herself waver. She was wet through and freezing cold so how must David feel without a coat on? She skimmed a look over the sweat-shirt he was wearing, seeing the way the soft fabric was starting to cling to his chest, outlining the hard, lean muscles. Just for a moment time rolled back to the morning, when she had stroked those muscles, smoothed her hands over his skin, and she swallowed hard.
He must have caught her look because he raised a quizzical eyebrow, shivering slightly as the wind sent an icy blast straight at them, and Beth sighed.
‘This is ridiculous. You’re going to catch pneumonia without a coat on.’
He slowed and unconsciously Beth did so too. ‘So I catch pneumonia. Why should that matter to you, Beth?’ His voice was deep and seductive—deliberately so, she knew—but she couldn’t prevent the tremor which ran through her like fire through tinder. She licked her parched lips, feeling the tremor deepen when she saw the way his eyes followed the movement of her tongue.
He moved closer, his eyes strangely intent as he repeated the question. ‘Why should it matter to you what happens to me, Beth? You told me before that you wanted nothing more to do with me. Have you changed your mind?’
The wind carried the scent of his damp skin into her nostrils, a scent that she had come to know over the past few weeks. That was the trouble: she knew David so intimately in some respects yet knew him not at all in anything that mattered. How could they have hoped to maintain any sort of relationship when half of the picture was blank?
She shook her head, staring up at him with sad eyes. ‘I haven’t changed my mind. Once we get back tomorrow I’m leaving.’