The Runaway Bride

by Lucy Gillen

  CHAPTER SIX

  SAMANTHA was rather surprised when she slept well that.night, for she had quarrelled again with Barney at dinner, and gone off on her own afterwards for a solitary walk through the trees. She had lost her temper and Barney, as usual, had treated it as if it was no more than a joke, refusing to become angry himself and thus making her own temper even worse. She had gone to bed early and expected to lie awake all night, instead she had slept as deeply as ever, only disturbed by odd dreams of being pursued by Bill Smith and Peter Roberts down a long corridor, and every door she opened to escape from them had Barney behind it waiting for her. It was, she thought on waking, almost as if her subconscious was telling her that there was no way of avoiding him, and she awoke next morning feeling vaguely resentful. As Barney had decreed, they left the hotel the following day, immediately after breakfast, and she was rather surprised to be consulted about their next destination. 'I'm surprised you've bothered to ask me,' she told him huffily as they drove down the drive towards the road. "I don't see why,' Barney said, with a brief grin at her over his shoulder. 'It's your trip and you say 101 where we go next.' 'Unless of course I choose to stay on here,' she retorted. 'Then it's a different story altogether, isn't it?' 'Of course,' he agreed cheerfully. 'But that's just being reasonable. If we'd stayed on there, you'd have been visiting your bearded friend again at the first opportunity, and I just might not have been around the next time he stepped out of line.' 'He didn't step out of line,' Samantha argued, and he laughed shortly. 'Oh no? You were fighting him tooth and nail when I came along, although you insist that nothing happened except one kiss.' She could hardly deny, that she had been fighting against Peter Roberts' kiss, and he could not be expected to understand the sudden panic that had made her do it, but she looked down at her hands, unwilling to admit how she had felt and how glad she had been to see him. 'That was that was just an instinctive reaction,' she said, and he looked at her again, briefly and knowingly. 'Was it?' he asked softly. 'Well, I noticed you didn't fight me tooth and nail, when I kissed you.' 'Oh yes, I did!' 'Oh no, you didn't,' he insisted with a chuckle. 'You did your best to escape before I kissed you, but you responded as if you thoroughly enjoyed it, once I'd got you used to the idea.' 'I ' She flicked him a hasty glance from under her lashes and met with a look of gentle amusement 102 that was oddly disturbing. Then he laughed softly, as if he knew exactly how she felt, and she subsided, refusing to be drawn any further on that particular subject. She was much too uncertain of her own feelings for that. It was becoming increasingly difficult to imagine how this trip was going to end, and she wished she could find some solution that would enable her to return home without giving the impression that she was admitting defeat. If Barney had been willing to leave her to her own devices she could, she felt sure, have made up her mind one way or the other by now; as it was she was increasingly aware that she was all too dependent on him when things went wrong, and she resented it. Going on as they were she would never be sure whether she could cope without him or not. 'Where are we going?' he asked suddenly, and she shook her head. 'I don't know. Anywhere, I don't mind.' He glanced at her hastily. 'Home?' he ventured. 'Are you finally giving up, Sam?' She shook her head firmly. 'No,' she said. 'Just keep driving and we'll find somewhere as we go along.' Barney shrugged. 'Suits me,' he said, but she thought he sounded disappointed. They kept to the smaller roads, as usual, and at times jolted and bumped over such stony surfaces that it was difficult to believe that traffic ever used them at all. The sun was warm and the scenery beautiful, so that after a while Samantha found her103 sell rd Kiaig asd. growing almost sleepy, letting her head lean back against the seat, her eyes half closed. There was no reason at all, she decided, why she should not sit back and enjoy the ride. She bad never learned to drive herself, so it was not even expected that she would take a turn at the wheel. Lei Barney do the work while she sat back and enjoyed herself. The very idea brought a small, satisfied smile to her face, and she sensed Barney looking at her. 'Penny for them,' he offered suddenly, and she shook her head. 'No, thank you, my thoughts are my own,' she told him. 'I'm not sharing them with anybody.' He laughed. 'O.K., Miss Mystery, but you looked like a pussy that's been at the cream. I hope you're not planning something.' 'No.' She shook her head again lazily, and smiled. Tou just concentrate on your driving, while I take life easy.' Someone on the road up ahead caught her sleepy eye suddenly, and she lifted her head. 'Someone hitch-hiking,' she said, narrowing her eyes against the sun. Barney nodded. 'Two of them,' he agreed. 'I thought I spotted someone when we were back there.' He turned and grinned at her. 'I thought you were asleep.' 'Nothing of the sort,' she denied, sitting upright. 'I was just enjoying the scenery.' 'Like a lady of leisure,' he jeered, and she shrugged. Why not?' 104 The two lonely figures up ahead were clearer now and it was evident that one was much taller than the other. Both were walking with the slow dragging feet of tiredness, and Barney hitched a curious brow at Samantha. 'How about it?' he asked. 'Are we taking passengers?' It was unlike him to suggest such a thing and she wondered at his doing so now until she noticed that long blonde hair showed from under the cap of the smaller of the two walkers. She shrugged, not really averse to other company at the moment, and the walkers did look tired, plodding along in the hot sun. 'Why not?' she said. 'They look as if they could do with a lift.' She cast him a sly, meaningful look from the corners of her eyes. 'And I expect the female half will be grateful anyway,' she added maliciously, and Barney laughed. 'Miaouwl' he jeered, as he pulled up alongside the pair, who turned and eyed them, one hopefully, the other less welcoming. The girl showed wide blue eyes in a small doll-like face, which lit into a smile at the sight of him. 'Going our way?' Barney asked, and the girl nodded eagerly. 'We're going any way you're going,' she told him, and had a hand on the door handle before anyone could change their mind. Barney smiled at her as she settled herself into the back seat, and Samantha was reminded of the blonde at the next table at the Brighton hotel. 105 , Really, these doll-like blondes seemed to find Barney irresistible! The man with her looked far less enthusiastic, but he climbed in beside her, catching Samantha's eye as he did so. He was good-looking, she noticed, if a little sulky at the moment, and she read her own interpretation into the reason for that. It was pretty obvious that they had quarrelled, and for a while they both sat stiffly silent beside each other in the back seat. 'How far are you going?' Barney asked them, and it was the man who answered. 'We're just walking,' he explained, and glanced at his companion. 'At least, we were.' 'It's pretty tiring in this heat, I imagine,' Barney suggested. 'It's ridiculous,' the girl declared without hesitation, her nose in the air. 'I didn't want to come in the first place, and I wish I hadn't let myself be talked into it.' Barney smiled understanding, catching the gaze of the girl's baby blue eyes in the rear view mirror. 'It must be exhausting if you're not used to it,' he sympathised. The young man glowered at him. 'We could have managed,' he said. The girl tossed her long hair. 'You speak for yourself,' she retorted, and immediately recovered herself and smiled apologetically at the back ut Barney's head. 'I'm sorry,' she said. 'We've been arguing, as you might have guessed, but we've no right to bring our differences into your car.' 106 'That's O.K.' He grinned at her via the mirror and she pulled a rueful face. 'It's just that I'm so fed up with all this walking,' she went on. 'I hate being tired and dusty and uncomfortable.' 'I know just how you feel,' Samantha told her, and the blue eyes switched their gaze. She might almost have noticed her for the first time, Samantha thought wryly. 'We'd better introduce ourselves.' It was the man who spoke and he leaned forward and offered a hand over the back of the seat. 'My name's Edward Warren, and this is Patsy Gordon, my fiancee.' 'Barney Foster,' the owner of the name supplied before Samantha could speak. 'And this is my fiancee, Samantha Dawlish.' Samantha opened her mouth to deny the relationship, but she thought it would do little good. Probably the other couple would think they had simply quarrelled in the same way they had themselves and think she was merely being awkw
ard. She shook hands with them both, and was aware of Patsy Gordon studying her closely in the brief exchange. She had probably noticed the absence of a ring on her left hand and read her own story into it. 'It's awfully good of you to stop for us,' she told Barney with a wide, guileless smile, via the mirror. 'I was just about to drop dead.' Barney laughed, nothing loath to play up to her flirting. 'Not quite as bad as that, I hope,' he told her, his dark eyes flicking upwards to the mirror again. 107 'Almost,' she insisted, looking woefully ill-used. 'Eddie's a real slavedriver, and he doesn't realise I'm not made for tramping miles over rough country. I've told him what he needs is a strong, strapping country girl, not a town pussy like me.' Barney smiled sympathetically. 'I wouldn't have said you were the long-distance walker type myself,' he said. 'I'm not.' She gave her companion a meaningful glance from the baby blue eyes. 'For one thing I hate sandwiches and coffee out of a vacuum flask.' Barney laughed, but it was evident where his sympathies lay, and Samantha wondered how far his compassion would take him, especially since she could almost feel Edward Warren's resentment. 'There's an inn of some sort up ahead,' Barney said. 'If they cater for travellers why don't we all have lunch there?' 'Ooh, lovely!' Patsy Gordon exclaimed, before anyone else could express an opinion. 'I'm starving!' 'We've got a packed lunch with us,' her companion reminded her gruffly. 'We needn't get anything else.' Patsy gave an almighty sigh that told of a camel's back about to break under the last straw. 'I've told you I'm sick of sandwiches,' she told him. 'I prefer a proper meal and -I intend to have one. You can go and nibble sandwiches in the heather if you like I'm going to have a proper meal and enjoy myself for a change!' Samantha was beginning to feel sorry for Edward 108 Warren and she thought Barney and the doll-faced blonde girl were having it all far too much their own way so far. Besides which, their reluctant passenger was good-looking, even wearing that rather bossy frown. She turned her head and smiled at him over the back of the seat. 'I wish you'd join us, Mr. Warren,' she told him persuasively, with no qualms at all about doing a little flirting on her own account. She saw the way he glanced at the girl before he ventured a smile at her, and thought he was possibly having thoughts along the same lines too. 'I'd be delighted to join you,' he said. 'If you'd like me to.' Patsy Gordon flicked him a look that was at once surprised and suspicious, but she was apparently too pleased to be eating at a table again to be too put out about it. 'I've got a dress in my pack,' she said brightly. 'I can change into it and feel really civilised again.' The inn's landlord and his wife willingly provided a lunch that was excellent and well served and there was no hesitation about second helpings either, so Patsy Gordon made the most of her opportunity, as if she was afraid she might have a long wait for the next meal. She had changed into a form-fitting yellow dress, and even put on some ear-rings, and she seemed set to enjoy herself, no matter how her fiance felt about it. She chattered to Barney all through lunch and left Samantha to the company of Edward, who had been very obviously annoyed at first and glared at 109 her whenever she smiled at Barney. Then it seemed to occur to him that his opportunities were as many as hers and he gave his whole attention to Samantha. 'Do you like walking?' he asked her, as they sat with coffee in the sunny, low-ceilinged room, and Samantha nodded. 'Oh yes,' she said, not quite truthfully, but she was quite enjoying herself and she saw no harm in telling such a white lie if it made him happy. He leaned over and touched her hand tentatively. 'I should have brought you on a walking tour instead of Patsy,' he told her sotto voce, 'she hates it.' 'Oh, but it's such lovely scenery,' Samantha said. 'It's really beautiful around here, isn't it?' 'Marvellous,' he enthused, his eyes gleaming. 'I keep telling Patsy that if she concentrated on the beauty of the scenery she wouldn't notice how tired she was getting.' 'It is easier in a car, of course,' she said cautiously. 'I can see Miss Gordon's point of view to a certain extent, especially if she isn't used to walking.' He glanced across at Patsy before he answered, but he need not have worried about being overheard, for she was far too engrossed in her companion to care what anyone else was talking about. 'I suppose it wasn't very fair to Patsy,' he admitted. 'She isn't a country-lover at all, and I am. That's the problem.' 'I can see it must make things a bit difficult,' Samantha agreed, wondering how such an oddly assorted pair had come to the point of becoming engaged. no 'Oh, it's only when it comes to holidays and that sort of thing,' he told her hastily. 'Otherwise we get along fine.' He looked at his Patsy chattering and flirting with Barney, and a small frown showed his dislike of the situation. 'She seems to have taken a liking to your feller,' he said. 'I hope you won't get the wrong idea about her. Miss Dawlish.' 'Oh no, of course I won't,' Samantha assured him. 'I know Barney.' He looked at her sharply, a glimmer of understanding in his eyes. 'Oh, I see he likes the ladies, does he? I thought he looked as if he might.' Not prepared to be a complete Judas, Samantha chose to qualify the statement a bit, while still agreeing with him in principle. 'Barney will always respond when he's encouraged,' she said. 'He likes female company and he doesn't mind letting them know it.' 'And you don't mind?' She lowered her gaze, it was easier than trying to tell a half truth while she was looking at him. 'Oh, I'm used to him,' she said. 'I know it means absolutely nothing, so why should I mind?' 'You're a very remarkable girl,' he said earnestly, and slid his hand over hers where it lay on the table. 'It's a pity he doesn't realise how well off he is.' As discreetly as she could, Samantha withdrew her hand, and smiled. 'Oh, Barney knows exactly what he's up to,' she told him, and knew it was the truth. The biggest surprise to her was the realisation that if Barney was trying to make her jealous, he was succeeding all too well. It was quite a shock ill to find herself bitterly hating the blonde and adoring Patsy Gordon for no other reason than that she was getting all Barney's attention. It was a new and disturbing discovery to find that she could be jealous of his other conquests and she determined to rid herself of it before it got out of hand. Where are you going from here?' she asked, and Edward shrugged, again glancing at the girl. 'I don't know. Patsy wants to go home, but I'd like to give it a bit longer yet.' 'Have you been walking long?' 'Four days now,' he said. 'Not long really.' The idea appalled Samantha, although she tried not to look too aghast. 'That's plenty long enough for someone who isn't used to it,' she said. 'Why don't you rest up for a while and then go on?' He frowned. "I suppose we could,' he allowed. 'It would give Patsy time to get her breath back.' 'I think this place must take in visitors,' she told him, warming to the idea and with a few more personal ones formulating too. 'I've seen one or two people coming down those stairs behind you, as if they might be staying here.' He half turned and glanced at the stairs in question. 'It might be an idea,' he said. 'I'm sure Patsy would like it.' 'I'm sure she would.' He looked at her curiously for a moment. "Will you and and Mr. Foster be staying?' She smiled. 'We might.' She looked across at Barney and, to his surprise, smiled a dazzling smile that immediately made him 112 I-suspicious, although he appeared to be still completely engrossed in his companion. I do hope so,' Edward told her earnestly. 'I'd like He stopped hastily, and shook his head i m sorry,' he said. 'I shouldn't say that' Say what?' She was intrigued, and smiled encouragingly at him. 'That I hope you'll stay too,' he confessed -I'd like you to.' ;We will, I think,' she told him, making up her mind. It's my choice where we stay and I like it here, so we can stay for a day or two at least. If they have room, of course.' ' He leaned back in his chair, looking quite pleased ith himself. 'I think I'll see about some rooms for is, he said, 'and surprise her.' Good idea. I'll book some for Barney and me, if gr mere are any.'J He looked rather surprised, as if he expected j Barney would take the initiative, and it gave her a certain _ malicious pleasure to think of booking Barney into a hotel without his knowing about it or I having a hand in it. I 'You will ?' he asked, and she nodded. I lke to surprise Barney too,' she told him. Shall we go? You will excuse us, won't you?' she I added for the benefit of the other two, who both looked rather startled at their departure 'We shan't be very long.' Patsy Gordon might have been very int
erested in 'Barney, but she still retained her proprietorial interest in Edward and she frowned at him when he 113 got up from the table with Samantha, a glint in her blue eyes. 'Where are you going, Eddie?' she asked, and he glanced hastily at Samantha before he answered, encouraged by her smile. 'Oh, just out for a few minutes,' he told her, 'I shan't be a minute.' But ' She would have protested, but Barney reached across and took her hand in his, smiling at her persuasively. 'Why don't you stay and keep me company?' he coaxed. 'A change of partners will make a change for a while, hmm?' He glanced at Samantha briefly when Patsy ; nodded in agreement, and Samantha thought rue- ' fully that she was easily enough persuaded and was apparently unaware that she was being used by Barney for his own purposes. She went with Edward Warren to the tiny reception hall and consulted the elderly woman behind the desk who looked at them curiously over the top of her spectacles when they approached. She would have known that they had came in in the same party for her curiosity had been aroused then. The contrast between the dust-stained practical clothes of the two walkers and the more elegant appearance of the riders had caught her eye. 'After you,' Edward said politely when they gained the desk, but Samantha shook her head. 'Oh no, please, you ask first. If there are only rooms for two we're better able to go on to the next . place than you are.' i "4 I 'Are you sure?' 'Quite sure, thank you.' He smiled his thanks, and the elderly woman behind the desk politely dealt with his requirements, then looked at Samantha. 'I'm afraid we've only one room left,' she told her. 'It's a double, if that's what ye're wantin'.' 'I'm afraid I wanted two singles,' Samantha told her. 'Haven't you anything else at all?' The woman considered for a moment, then she nodded her head and disappeared behind a wooden screen that stood at the back of her and shielded the nether regions of the premises from the curiosity of the guests. After a few minutes she reappeared and her smile spoke of a successful argument. 'There's a wee place across the yard,' she told Samantha. 'It's no got the electric, but it's quite comfortable and the bed's aired. If mebbe the gentleman would care ta have that.' Samantha smiled her thanks, accepting the accommodation for Barney without a qualm of conscience. 'Yes, thank you, we'll take it,' she said. 'I'm not sure how long we'll be staying because we're touring. Is that all right?' 'Quite all right,' the woman agreed, accustomed to such transient guests. 'Now,' Samantha said to Edward as they made their way back to the dining-room, 'all I have to do is break it to Barney, gently.' The opportunity to do so came less easily than she had expected and it was not until they were getting up from the table that she found the oppor"5 tunity, and then he made the circumstances himself. "Can we give you a lift anywhere?' he offered, and Samantha and Edward hastily exchanged glances. ' 'Thanks, but we're not going anywhere,' Edward said, looking down at Patsy to see how she would take the surprise he had for her, and she eyed him suspiciously. 'What does that mean?' she demanded. He tried not to look too pleased with himself. 'I thought you might like a change from walking,' he told her. 'I've booked us rooms here for a day or two.' i The big, soulful blue eyes gazed at him for a . moment in wonder, then she smiled and hugged his ; arm against her side- 'Oh, but that's marvellous,' j she told him. 'Bless you, Eddie!' He looked suitably depreciative, and smiled at her. 'Actually,' he told her, with a regrettable lack of tact, Samantha felt, 'it was Miss Dawlish's idea in the first place.' 'Oh, I see.' A full lower lip curled in derision, as if she understood only too well the reason for the suggestion. 'Oh well, that's understandable, I suppose.' She cast a heavy-lidded, flirtatious glance at Barney over her shoulder and smiled slyly. 'Maybe I we'll meet again some time,' she told him. 'Maybe.' He answered her rather absently, and Samantha knew he was Wondering just how accurate her guess had been. Whether she had suggested them staying on at the hotel because of the attention he had been paying the other girl. If so he was 116 about to be disappointed. 'Oh, we're staying on too,' she informed him airily, and saw the swift, dark frown he directed at her. 'Oh, are we?' 'Mm. I'm afraid there wasn't room for all of us in the inn proper,' she added, not without an inner qualm, she had to confess. 'So I booked you in at the wee place across the yard.' 'Oh, did you?' His frown deepened. 'And what might that be?' She shrugged. 'I don't exactly know,' she confessed. 'But the lady said it was quite comfortable and the bed was aired, even if it hasn't got electricity.' 'I see. So you've had me stabled in the yard with the horses.' Edward and Patsy evidently thought they foresaw a quarrel, and showed no desire to become involved in it. They took their leave rather hastily, promising to see them at dinner, if not before, and when they'd gone Barney took Samantha's arm firmly in his grip and steered her out into the yard in front of the hotel. 'Barney ' 'Keep walking,' he ordered, and led her round on to the wide heather-clad expanse of moorland that spread out for miles around them. He brought them to a halt at last, with Samantha breathless and growing more and more angry, shaking her arm free as they stopped. 'Will you stop behaving like like ' 117 "' " 'I'm only getting you well away from the hotel so that nobody will hear you yell when I thump you,' Barney told her coarsely. 'Now then what have you done, Sam, and why?' 'I told you,' she said, rubbing her arm. 'I've booked us in at the hotel for a few days.' 'With me out in the the barn somewhere and without saying a word to me about it.' 'Why should I?' she asked, reasonably enough, she thought. 'You never consult me about anything, you just march me off just whenever it suits you, and expect me to comply with your fads and fancies. This time I've taken the initiative.' "So I gather.' His dark eyes studied her speculalively for a moment. 'The good-looking Eddie wouldn't have anything to do with your sudden decision, I suppose?' She shrugged, not giving him the satisfaction of an outright denial. 'Think what you like,' she told him. He took her arm again and turned her to face him. 'Have you taken a fancy to him?' he asked. "Is he to be the next member of your harem?' 'You're being thoroughly objectionable,' Samantha told him. 'And you certainly haven't much room to criticise me with Patsy Roll-her-eyes Gordon monopolising your time.' He grinned. 'I wondered when we'd get to that,' he said. 'All the more reason, I'd have thought, for you wanting to move on.' 'Why?' Samantha retorted. 'I don't care what you do, I told you that before.' 118 'And I don't believe you.' She looked at him for a moment, unable to find words stinging enough to express what she felt. Then she turned away from him and walked off back, towards the hotel, leaving him there, still and thoughtful, and somehow disturbing in his stillness. 'Sam!' She pretended not to hear him as he came up behind her, and went on walking, veering away from the hotel and towards a small, shining stretch of water with shading trees along its edge. She would not turn round, would not admit she had been jealous. Indeed she firmly refused to recognise the fact. A hand suddenly slid along her side and fingers curled about her arm, and he fell into step beside her, saying nothing for the moment but walking silently, his head bowed slightly to watch their matched footsteps. It was a lovely golden day and the sun was hot enough to make the light breeze that rippled across the shining water, doubly welcome as they gained the shade of the trees. His hand slid down to clasp hers firmly in strong fingers and she made no attempt to avoid the contact, but still walked in silence. There were white stones at the edge of the water and she kicked at them with her toes, as they walked, wishing there was some way of solving her problem. If only there was some way of getting back to normal, for it was so quiet and peaceful here and with just the two of them walking hand in hand it would once have been perfect. Only now nothing 119 was right. She and Barney were constantly quarrelling and everything was different, not least Barney himself, and that was what disturbed her most. 'It's beautiful.' His voice was quiet now, and free of its former impatience, and the fingers holding hers squeezed them gently. 'It is lovely,' she agreed, equally quietly. 'I wish ' 'You wish?' he prompted gently. Samantha shrugged. 'Nothing.' 'Sam.' He stopped walking, and turned her to face him, his hands on her shoulders, pressing her against him, his eyes dark and fathomless as he looked down at her. 'Why, Sam? Why does it have to be like this with us?' 'Like this?' She smiled wryly, and looked at the
shining water and the rustling, shady trees that surrounded them. 'I like it like this, quiet and peaceful. I wish it could last for ever.' 'But it can't, darling, and you know it can't. You can't live in a dream world all the time, it wouldn't work. We have to go back some time, no matter how much you fight against it. We have to go through with the plans that have been made. It's the way things are and there's nothing we can do about it. 'I can try,' Samantha argued, refusing to admit defeat. 'I don't have to go back, I can stay as long as I like. I'm not tied down to a job or a a ' 'Husband?' he suggested softly, and pulled her closer. 'Would you still want to go off into,your 120 dream world, Sam? Try to see it my way. I want to marry you, you must know that, and you were quite prepared to go through with it until recently. What made you change?' 'I :I don't know that I did change exactly,' she said. 'But I saw myself in the mirror at the dressmaker's and I suddenly knew. I was just a puppet, nothing more. I'd always lived the same kind of life, done the same things. Always been going to marry you, ever since I can remember, and I'd never even given it a thought before, not even the marriage part. I was just drifting into it without even knowing if I wanted to marry you or if I preferred somebody else.' 'Oh, I see. Is that what you're trying to prove? Whether you prefer somebody else?' 'In a way,' she confessed, and he lifted her chin with one hand, and planted a kiss on her mouth. 'Well, I wish you'd hurry up and finish the experiment,' he told her softly. 'It's rather like living on the edge of a volcano.' She glanced up at him, and surprised a gentle but amused smile on his dark face. 'You seem to be surviving very well so far,' she said. 'With a supply of willing blondes laid on for you everywhere we go.' . He tapped the end of her nose with one finger, and grinned. 'And you're green-eyed about it,' he told her. 'You can't deny it, darling, it shows.' 'I do deny it,' Samantha said determinedly. 'I just don't like you making an exhibition of yourself, that's all. It reflects on me, being with you.' 'I'll try and remember that,' he promised 121. solemnly, and she glanced at him suspiciously. 'I feel sorry for Edward Warren,' she said. 'He's rather nice, and that Patsy of his is a real ' 'Ahahl' He held up a warning hand, grinning broadly at her. 'Don't show your claws, darling, and don't get too carried away consoling Eddie Warren either, or I may have to step in.' 'Don't you dare!' she said hastily. 'It's none of your business, Barney.' 'It certainly is if I have a weeping blonde on my hands,' he told her. 'Or if he flees to the hills with you. That's unlikely.''Is it?' He looked at her solemnly. 'I wouldn't put it past him.''I'm not likely to flee to the hills with anybody,' she retorted. 'That's the one thing I have in common with Patsy Gordon like my creature comforts too much to go traipsing off into the hills.' 'Then why not go home?' he suggested. 'There's all the creature comforts you could ask for there, and Nicholas would be wildly delighted to have you back, although you don't deserve it.' No,' Samantha said firmly, sticking out her chin. 'I'm not ready to go back into the rut yet, and I may never be again.' Barney sighed, kissing her forehead rather absently. 'I hope you make up your mind soon,' he told her. 'Or we'll be running out of places to go.' 122