‘I want you, Jess,’ he said, his voice low and husky with emotion. She was somehow pulled against him again, his lips moving in her hair. ‘I’ve never wanted anyone…’ He sighed.
‘That sounds false, doesn’t it? I’ve had women before, Jess. You know that. Paige is living proof. I thought…I thought I was in love with Paige’s mother—so much so that I asked her to marry me. Thank God Karen knew better than both of us that the love wouldn’t last. It wasn’t the real thing. What I felt for Karen is a pale shadow of what I’m feeling for one lovely vet with a heart bigger than any person I’ve ever met before.’
His hands moved to her waist, caressing her body against his.
‘I need you, Jess,’ he said humbly. ‘With a heart so big, my lovely Jess, can you find a place for me in there?’
The sureness had gone from his voice. There was a tremor of uncertainty—as if, for once in his life, Niall Mountmarche was unsure.
Desperately unsure.
It moved Jess as nothing else could have done. Not the feel of his hands on her body, the sound of his voice…the steady beating of his heart…
She looked up into his face and almost unconsciously her hands went up to touch…to hold…to draw his mouth down to her lips…
How could she resist? How could she refuse this man—this man who was becoming part of her being? It was as if she was melting into his soul.
‘Niall…’
And then there was nothing else, except the soft rustle of the breeze in the frangipani and the distant murmur of the sea.
Niall’s lips met hers and Jessie’s doubts drifted off on the night wind…
Somehow…sometime and who knew when?—certainly not the lovers—they drew apart. Wilfred had finished his munching and the joey was huddled uncertainly at Jessie’s feet
Jess gave a shaken gasp and leaned down to scoop her baby into her arms.
‘He should…He should be in his bed…’ she whispered.
‘What a good idea.’ Niall’s arms linked around her waist enfolding girl and baby wallaby to him in a protective clasp. ‘I’ll take you both to bed…’
‘Niall…’
‘Are you saying you don’t want me to take you to your bed, my Jessie?’ Niall kissed her lightly on the brow.
‘I don’t…We can’t…’ Jess fought frantically for some trace of common sense. ‘Niall, I’m not…I’m not protected…’
He smiled and his smile was tenderness itself. He kissed her softly on the nose—and then again on the lips. ‘There’s no use me acting as hospital pharmacist if I can’t find what we need in a crisis,’ he smiled. He kissed her again, more deeply, like a man becoming addicted to something exquisitely sweet. Infinitely precious. ‘And if this isn’t a crisis I don’t know what is.’
‘But…’ It was all too fast. Too sudden. And yet, to send him away was unthinkable.
‘I don’t…’ she whispered and her voice wouldn’t utter the words. Jessie was drifting in a haze of unreality. Her heart was close to bursting and she could feel the pinpricks of tears behind her eyes. The long years of loneliness were over, her heart was singing. She had found her home.
‘If you don’t want me…If you don’t want me tonight then I’ll understand,’ Niall said tenderly. ‘But know, Jess, that this is the beginning of a long, long courtship. I intend to lay siege to your heart—for however long it takes. Until death do us part, if it comes to that.’
She met his eyes. They locked onto hers and the tenderness she saw behind his gaze made her heart swell.
This man…
Her heart…
Her home…
‘My little joey needs his bed,’ she whispered tremulously. ‘Please, Niall…Will you take him to his bed?’
‘I’ll do that.’ His eyes still asked a question.
Jess took a deep breath and made her lips move. ‘And then…’ she whispered. It was right. There could be no doubts in her heart when he looked at her like this. Her home.
‘And then, Niall, will you take me to mine?’
‘Jess…’
She was lifted in his arms, cradled against him, and Niall’s lips met hers in a long, slow kiss of exultation.
‘You won’t regret this, my love,’ he murmured as he carried her back over the lawn to the big French windows—and the wide bed waiting just beyond. ‘I give you my word. I give you my heart that you won’t regret this. From this night on…’
Jess woke to happiness.
Euphoria was all around her, drifting as a cloud of warmth and light and laughter. She woke with a smile on her lips and as Niall’s strong arms tightened in loving possessiveness the smile grew.
‘Where do you think you’re going?’ Niall’s voice growled as she stirred and she twisted within his arms so that she could see those wicked eyes. They devoured her naked body with transparent hunger.
And she wanted to be devoured. And to devour in turn…
‘My babies…’ she whispered.
‘You fed those pesky orphans at four o’clock and again at six,’ Niall murmured into her hair. ‘According to my watch it is just after seven. Therefore…Therefore, my Jess…you are my own private property for fifty more precious minutes. Agreed?’
She ran her finger lightly down his face, feeling the sheer strength of him. Glorying in the fact that he needed a shave—and he would every morning. From this day forth. This was how he would feel…All the wonderful maleness of him.
‘What will you do with me if I say yes?’ she asked him wickedly.
‘Do you have any suggestions?’ Niall nibbled one ear, her nose, her lips—and then his mouth moved downward with an intent that made her gasp.
‘N-no…’
‘Then we’ll just have to think of something,’ he murmured, sinking lower and lower and Jess opened her mouth to reply.
And couldn’t.
She was all his.
He was her man.
The day intruded all too soon.
The phone rang just on eight.
It was Niall’s mobile phone, tucked beneath the pillow.
Tucked beneath two heads.
Geraldine.
Jess heard the nurse’s voice come down the line and imagined how the nurse’s eyebrows would rise if she knew where Niall was lying as he talked to her.
Heaven forbid the introduction of video phones.
Jess lay cradled in Niall’s arms as he talked She could hear both sides of the conversation with ridiculous ease.
‘Dr Mountmarche, I’m sorry to bother you but Ethel’s started vomiting,’ Geraldine was saying. ‘I was wondering whether I could give maxolon with the next pethidine injection.’
‘I’ll be right with you,’ Niall told her. ‘I’d like to examine her before the next injection.’
‘Oh…’ There was a short silence. ‘Are you out at the farm?’
‘No.’
‘But I knocked on your flat door,’ Geraldine said. ‘There wasn’t an answer. I thought…Well, Sarah’s due to take over and I wanted to give Ethel the injection before going off duty. If it’s going to take you fifteen minutes to get here…’
‘I’m closer than you think,’ Niall told her and leaned over to kiss Jessie lightly on the nose. ‘Almost…’ He kissed again, this time aiming for Jessie’s lips ‘…almost under your nose. Two minutes, Geraldine.’
‘So what’s she going to make of that?’
Jess lay and watched Niall dress, torn between anxiety and laughter.
‘If I know our Geraldine she’ll have two and two added up before I reach the ward,’ Niall smiled. He buttoned his shirt, then stood and looked down at Jessie’s nakedness. She didn’t cover herself. She should, she guessed—but not while Niall was looking at her like that. He was glorying in her body and she wanted nothing more. ‘Do you mind, my lovely Jess…?’
‘I…I guess…’
‘You’d better not,’ he warned her…’because I’m not good at being kept in a cupboard. For one thing, I’m too damned big. For ano
ther…’ He touched her face with a finger. ‘For another, every second I’m away from you is too darned long. Will you have breakfast with me, my Jess?’
‘Breakfast?’ Jessie’s eyes widened in startled enquiry. Her body was languorously sated. She felt like staying exactly where she was—for a very long time.
‘Today’s Saturday,’ Niall smiled. ‘No clinic. And I need to go home to Paige. Feed your orphans, arrange to have them cared for for the rest of the day and come to the vineyard. OK?’
Jess smiled tremulously up at him.
‘O-OK.’
‘My Jess.’ He paused. ‘You’d best stop looking at me like that because…’
‘Because?’
‘Because you have the power to distract me like no other. Come to the farm fast, my love. I’ll be waiting.’
‘There’s a few things I have to do.’ Jessie’s voice sounded strange—not her own. It was as if she’d changed in the night. ‘I…I have to see to Ethel’s dog. Maybe after breakfast…’
‘Come when you can,’ he told her. ‘I’ll be waiting.’
Jess fed her animals, showered and dressed in the same lazy euphoria. She couldn’t make her body move fast for the life of her.
Niall was waiting.
Even that incentive wasn’t enough to shift the haze of blissful languor.
She needed time to adjust. To savour. To convince herself that this was right. She’d committed herself body and soul and this time…this time Jessica Harvey was being no fool. She was entrusting herself to a man who was absolutely to be trusted. Who accepted his responsibilities with all due care…
Someone she could give her heart to and know it would be cherished…
She needed to see Ethel. Sarah was in the corridor when Jess emerged. She smiled at Jess and Jess knew by her smile that Geraldine had been talking.
By tonight the whole darned island would be talking.
‘Is Ethel fit to see me?’ she asked a trifle breathlessly.
‘She’s fit to see you, I reckon,’ Sarah told her, her smile broadening at Jessie’s obvious discomfiture. ‘No policemen, though. I’m under strict orders to say she’s sedated if Sergeant Russell wants to interview her.’
‘Is she sedated?’
‘Yes,’ Sarah admitted. ‘But she’s awake—just—and I know she’s worrying about her animals. It must only do her good to see you.’
‘Is…is Dr Mountmarche still with her?’
Sarah almost chuckled and Jess grimaced. The start of things to come…
‘He is,’ Sarah managed blandly. ‘Not for long, though. He was held up to begin with. There was a kiddy with a pea up his nose for the doctor to see as soon as he started work…’ She cast another covert grin at Jess.
‘And now Chris Hayes has rung to say his old father had a fall in the woodshed last night and reckoned he lost consciousness for a while. Old Mr Hayes is in his own bed now and swears he doesn’t need a doctor but Chris asked if Dr Mountmarche would go.’
So Dr Mountmarche would go. A man who faced his responsibilities…
‘I hope Paige isn’t fretting…’
‘I can tell you that, too,’ Sarah smiled. ‘She rang in person and asked for her daddy. Quite the young lady she’s getting. I heard the doctor explaining how long he’ll be so she can’t be worried.’
All bases covered…
OK…
So Niall was with Ethel now.
Jess smiled, not as broadly as Sarah but a smile for all that, and went to see Ethel.
Ethel was so ill…
The woman was propped up on pillows, her damaged hand swathed in white bandages and cradled on pillows in front of her. Niall was holding her good wrist, his face grim.
Ethel turned to Jess as the young vet entered and her eyes were wide with anxiety.
When she saw who it was she relaxed—but only a fraction.
‘Barry’s still in the lock-up,’ Jess told her swiftly and watched some of the tension lift from Ethel’s face. ‘And will be for at least two days, if Dr Mountmarche has anything to do with it.’
‘Two days or longer,’ Niall growled. ‘Jess, Ethel says she won’t lay charges.’ His eyes gave her an urgent message. You know this lady, his eyes were telling her. See if you can do some good.
Ethel’s face was blank and lifeless. All the fight had been knocked out of her. ‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered. ‘I don’t…I don’t…Jess, what am I going to do?’
‘Leave him,’ Jess said bluntly. ‘You know you must. The only question is how—and where will you go? Ethel, what happened last night?’
‘He hit me,’ Ethel whispered. ‘Well, that’s not so unusual. He does it all the time—when his dinner’s late or if he’s had a bad day or sometimes if I look at him wrong…I don’t know…
‘Only last night Kiro, my Rottweiler—well, he’s Barry’s dog, really; Barry bought him because he fancied a savage dog but I feed him and Kiro reckons he belongs to me now—Well, last night Kiro got frightened and tried to bite Barry. Not really. I mean he just snarled and snapped when Barry hit me. But Barry said the dog had to be killed.
‘He said…He said I had to do it and if the dog wasn’t dead when he got back from the pub he’d kill the dog and break my other arm—and kill my horse as well. He said we weren’t keeping any more animals.
‘So…so I didn’t know what to do. Kiro…Well, I couldn’t bear it. I just locked the house and…Only then Barry came home and got the chainsaw and I didn’t realise how drunk he was…I heard the noise and went over to the wall and told him not to be a fool and the next thing the saw just came through…’
Her eyes fell to her hand and she closed her eyes.
‘I wish it had killed me,’ she whispered.
Niall Mountmarche’s face was as grim as death. He opened his mouth to say something—and then closed it again in a tight, fierce line.
‘Sergeant Russell will want to lay charges against Barry,’ Jess said gently, glancing up at Niall. ‘Will you do it, Ethel?’
‘How can I? He’ll kill me.’
‘Not if you’re off the island,’ Jess said staunchly. ‘Ethel, where does your daughter live?’
‘In Sydney. Near my sister.’ Ethel’s face softened. ‘I’ve a little granddaughter now but I’ve never seen her. Barry won’t…’ Her voice faded to nothing.
‘You need to go to Sydney anyway to have your hand rebuilt.’ Niall somehow had his face under control again. ‘Could you stay with your daughter or your sister when you come home from hospital?’
Ethel’s eyes stayed closed. She was so close to exhaustion. This needed to be sorted though or she’d get no peace. There had to be some light at the end of her troubled path.
‘There’s no room,’ Ethel said bleakly. ‘Christine’s in a flat with her husband and the baby and my sister has four of her own kids. There’s Mum’s house…but Barry would just come…’
‘Mum’s house?’
‘My mother died six months ago,’ Ethel said drearily. ‘She always hated Barry—so she left the house to me. It’s just a simple two-bedroom weatherboard but it’s close to Christine and my sister. I tried to persuade Barry to move—I’d so like to be close to them—but then…He said I had to sell the house. I know what he’d do with the money. It’s on the market but it hasn’t sold…’
Jessie’s face cleared. ‘Well, then…’
‘It doesn’t solve anything,’ Ethel said drearily. ‘Barry would just come. He’d make it awful…’
‘Not after what he’s done.’ Niall’s grim voice was laced with iron determination. ‘Ethel, if you’re prepared to lay charges against him, we can organise an intervention order. Barry won’t be allowed anywhere near you. If the house is in your name…’
‘It is.’
‘Then there’s no problem…’
‘But…’ Ethel’s eyes opened. She looked dazed. This woman had been bullied for so many years that she lacked the capacity to see any hope at all. ‘My animals…’
‘She’ll have to be put down,’ Ethel said sadly. ‘I can’t keep her in Sydney.’ She looked up at Jess, a trace of strength returning to her eyes. ‘She’s in awful condition. Barry wouldn’t let me feed her. Only the knackers will want her now. It’s been cruel of me to keep her for so long, anyway. I kept hoping…I kept hoping Barry would change his mind. Will you…will you organise it for me, Jess?’
‘I’ll do that.’
‘And you…You’ll look after Kiro?’
‘Absolutely.’
‘And I don’t have to see Barry?’
‘We’ll put a police guard on the door if necessary,’ Niall said strongly. He loaded his syringe with a vial of pethidine. ‘OK, now, Ethel. Enough organisation. We’ll fix you an airlift to Sydney but meanwhile I’ll give you something to let you sleep.’
‘I’d like that,’ Ethel whispered. ‘I’d like to sleep…I feel like I could sleep for a very long time…’
‘Bastard…’
Niall had barely got out of the room before the word erupted. His hands clenched into fists. ‘Hell, Jess, how can she have put up with it for so long?’
‘Victim syndrome,’ Jess said sadly. ‘She’s so used to being abused and bullied she sees it almost as normal. To organise herself away from Barry without help would be beyond her.’ She sighed. ‘I’ll ring her daughter in Sydney and explain what’s happened. Hopefully she’ll be safe…’
‘Give me names and I’ll ring,’ Niall said roughly. ‘I’m her treating doctor.’
‘I’m treating vet.’
‘So you are—bless you,’ Niall smiled. He took her shoulders and gave her a swift kiss. ‘But I’ll do the phoning. You seem to have enough on your hands. You now have a Rottweiler among your orphans, Dr Harvey. And a derelict horse. You take on the world, my lovely Jess…’
‘I don’t…’ To have a man look at her like that…To have this man…
‘Just leave room for me in that big heart of yours,’ he told her and his smile deepened. Finally he shook his head. ‘Damn. I have to go. See you at the vineyard later—barring emergencies?’
Prescription—One Bride Page 14
