‘What do you mean?’
His eyes smiled at her, fatigue in their depths as well as humour. ‘Hugo and I have been fighting a losing battle-but all of a sudden we seem to have turned a corner. Since her day with you, Paige has been…well, she’s been a child again.’
‘I’m glad.’
‘I don’t know whether I am or not,’ Niall confessed. ‘It seems we were doing the wrong thing, keeping her isolated.’
‘I’d guess you weren’t,’ Jess said softly. ‘For a start, Paige’s illness must have demanded a period of quiet Now…Now Paige has you as her base and she’s finding the world again. With luck she’ll go from strength to strength.’ She hesitated. ‘Her legs…How bad are they?’
‘They’re stronger every day. With luck, and with Geraldine’s help, she’ll walk without aids. She’s been very lucky.’
‘I’m glad about that too,’ Jess said warmly. ‘I’d have hated to have interfered for nothing.’
‘You interfered to get a doctor for your precious island.’ His eyes watched hers for a reaction.
‘That’s right. I did.’
Jess agreed with him swiftly. If Niall thought he was goading her to argument he was mistaken. Punctilious courtesy and then fast flight. She took a deep breath. ‘Thank you for the coffee, Dr Mountmarche. I must go.’
‘I’d like to show you the winery.’
Jess licked suddenly dry lips. ‘Some other time…’
‘Scared?’
Her eyes flashed up to his. ‘Y-yes,’ she confessed. The word was out before she could stop it.
‘Why?’ Niall leaned back against the kitchen bench, arms folded, surveying her with interest.
‘It’s none…’
‘Of my business?’ He smiled. ‘You’re wrong there, Dr Harvey. You’ve elected me medical superintendent for the island and, as such, the welfare of every islander is, by definition, my concern. Mental as well as physical. So spill the beans, Dr Harvey.’
‘There’s nothing to spill.’ Jess walked two steps towards the door but Niall was faster than she. He cut her off at the pass-somewhere between table and door.
‘I think there is,’ he said gently. His hands fell onto her shoulders and he gripped hard. ‘You concern yourself with the well-being of my small daughter, Dr Harvey, but you cut me out like I’m a real threat. My daughter has been frightened of me-but that’s fading. She’s five years old and not used to a male figure. I can understand her fear. What’s your excuse?’
‘I don’t have one,’ Jessie whispered. ‘Please…Let me go.’
He shook his head. Releasing her shoulders he stood, his body still blocking her path and his dark eyes trying to read hers.
‘I don’t understand what’s driving you, Dr Harvey,’ he said slowly. ‘You’re not an islander. Why, then, did you decide to practise here? It’s hardly a profitable veterinary practice.’
‘It pays well enough.’
‘Does it?’ His eyebrows rose in mock surprise. ‘I heard the quote you gave Ray Benn for treating his horse. You’d be lucky to cover the cost of the drugs. There isn’t any leeway in there for profit.’
‘What I charge is my business.’
‘But it seems our life is your business,’ he said gravely. He held out his hand. ‘Come on, Jess. I want to take you round the vineyard.’
Jess looked at his hand. It was an imperative gesture, demanding her to respond. To place her hand in his.
‘I don’t want to,’ she whispered.
‘I’m not going to threaten you, Jessie,’ Niall said gently and the hand remained outstretched. ‘I’m just going to walk you along the rows of grapes and practise saying, “These are shiraz grapes and these my uncle intended last year for dry semillon only the boutris affected area was so large he ended up making noble rot instead”-and generally sounding like a wine-grower extraordinaire. Indulge me, Jess.’
The hand stayed outstretched.
‘I…’ She looked at the hand. ‘No.’
‘I insist.’ Gentle but firm.
To refuse…To refuse was almost an impossibility.
‘Five…five minutes, then.’
‘Ten.’ His eyes were teasing her and he reached forward to grasp her hand, willing or not. ‘Ten minutes of education. It should just about stretch my knowledge to the limit.’
It did no such thing.
The vines.covered thirty or so acres of north-facing hillside. Niall walked Jess from row to row, ignoring her reluctance and talking as he went. It didn’t take Jess long to realise that Niall Mountmarche knew more than he let on.
Wine-growing was in his blood, he’d told her once, and she knew that it was more than that. This knowledge came from a lifetime of reading and thinking and preparing for a future he wasn’t trained for.
‘Did you know you’d inherit this place?’ she asked curiously as they returned along the rows toward her car. Jessie’s hand was still linked in Niall’s and the feel of it was doing strange things to her-but she’d recovered her equilibrium enough to find her voice.
‘No.’ Niall’s steady flow of talk cut off. He looked down at her as if he were preparing to say something-and then thought better of it.
‘So it came as a surprise.’
‘You could say that.’
They drew to a halt by her car.
‘Come and see where we do the crushing,’ Niall suggested but Jess shook her head.
‘My animals need feeding. I’ve been away for too long already.’
‘But you haven’t come to any harm spending this time with me,’ Niall said gently and Jess flushed.
‘Of course not…’
She tried pulling her hand away but Niall would have none of it. His hold tightened.
‘Jess…’
‘Let me go, please.’
‘I don’t think I want to,’ he said softly. ‘The more I see you the more I believe letting you go would be a crazy, crazy thing to do. I’ve only just found you-and I’ve never known anything so precious.’
Jessie was silenced.
The sun was low on the horizon, casting a brilliant, fiery sheen over the sky as it set in crimson glory. The whole world, it seemed, was holding its breath.
Waiting.
‘Please…’
‘Why are you frightened, Jess?’
‘I hardly know you.’ It was a tremulous whisper.
‘And I hardly know you,’ Niall responded. His hand came up to cup her chin, forcing her eyes up to his. ‘But that’s hardly true, is it, Jess? Maybe I’ve known you in a past life but somewhere-somehow-a link’s been built that’s stronger than both of us. I felt it the first time I saw you-and your fear tells me that you feel it, too.’
‘No…’
‘Yes.’ He didn’t let her eyes leave his. ‘Jess, why the fear? What have I ever done to deserve it? I don’t know what I’m fighting here.’
‘You’re not fighting anything,’ Jess stammered. ‘Please…Let me go.’
‘Not until I know…’ His eyes devoured her face and his fingers came up to touch her forehead. Above her eye was the faint trace of an old wound, running from hair line down to brow.
The tear had been skilfully repaired. It was hardly noticeable-but Niall Mountmarche had surgeon’s eyes.
‘What caused this?’ he asked and his voice was deceptively mild-as if enquiring about the weather.
‘Nothing.’ Jess pulled angrily away but Niall gripped and held.
‘If it was nothing then you’d tell me,’ he said mildly. ‘A savage dog? Hardly. No tear marks. It looks like something’s hit you so hard the skin’s split. Am I right?’
‘It’s nothing.’ Jess put her hand up to cover the scar. She covered it carefully with make-up and normally no one noticed-except this man with the eyes of a hawk.
A hawk with his eyes on his prey.
‘Let me go.’
‘Tell me, Jess.’ The voice was insistent. ‘I’ve a feeling I need to know.’
‘You don’t.�
��
‘Someone hit you? Is that why you’re running scared? Has someone knocked you around in the past?’
The insistent voice was suddenly laced with anger-as though the thought of such a thing was abhorrent.
‘No…’
‘Then tell me.’
‘I don’t have to.’
‘No.’ He pulled her into him and bent to kiss the fine line of scarring. ‘You don’t. But I need to know, my lovely Jess, and if you don’t tell me then I’ll be forced to resort to other methods. The other doctors on this island? The ones who are doing their training on the mainland. One of them’s your cousin, I think you said. I’ll find out who he is and contact him if I must-or resort to even deeper stratagems. Would he tell me?’
‘You have no right,’ she flashed in fury.
‘To fight for what I’m starting to think matters most in the world?’ Niall shook his head, his hands resisting her furious pull away from his. ‘I might not have the right-but I fight to win, Jessica Harvey. And I want to win you.’
‘Well, want to your heart’s content,’ Jess snapped. She put her hands against his chest and shoved for all she was worth. ‘Dr Mountmarche, I don’t know you. You have a life I know nothing of. You could turn out to be a crook-a murderer for all I know…’
‘Is that what happened in the past?’
‘If you want to know, then, yes,’ Jess flung at him. She was trapped in his hold and her voice held desperation. ‘I met a lawyer. John Talbot. A nice solid, safe, dependable lawyer. The sort of man my mum would be delighted with if I brought him home for Sunday lunch. Only he turned out to be a little more than I bargained for. He killed a man…And when I tried to go to the law he very nearly killed me.’
‘He did this?’ Niall touched Jessie’s scar with infinite tenderness.
There was no imagining Niall Mountmarche’s anger now. This man was one who would protect his own, Jess thought, and for one fleeting moment she let herself imagine how it would feel to be Niall Mountmarche’s woman.
She would be no man’s woman. She had determined that. She wanted no man near her unless she had known them since birth-known their every movement through life.
She couldn’t trust again. There had been more than Jess hurt last time because of her crazy trust. She had trusted a man who was a drug dealer, a thief and a murderer and not only had he tried to kill her but he’d come close to killing her friends as well.
It was a lesson well learned.
The only problem was that Niall Mountmarche was standing before her, demanding her trust with every ounce of will in his body.
Niall Mountmarche was different, her wilful heart screamed at her.
This man wasn’t such a one as John Talbot. How could he be? He’d left his medical practice to rescue his small daughter and bring her a world away from his career in London. John Talbot would hardly have done that. John Talbot looked out for John Talbot. Only for John Talbot.
So maybe she could trust.
Maybe she could follow her heart…
‘No matter what that bastard did to you,’ Niall said strongly, his hands catching hers and holding firm, ‘it doesn’t affect us, Jess. What’s between us…it’s special. Unique. You felt it the same as I when we met for the first time. I thought you were a child trespassing on my land-and you…’ He smiled his caress of a smile that made Jessie’s heart do handstands. ‘You thought of me as the Ogre of Barega. And yet what was between us grew. It has a life of its own. Trust it, Jess. Trust me.’
‘I can’t…’ Jessie’s voice was a frightened whisper and her face drained of colour.
‘Why not?’
‘You don’t know…’
‘What he did to you?’ There was a stillness in Niall’s eyes. He met her frightened look and he swore.
‘Where is he now, Jess?’
‘In…in prison.’
‘May he rot there,’ Niall said savagely. ‘Jess, give me a chance.’
‘I can’t.’
‘You can,’ he said softly. ‘All you have to do is trust. Put your heart in my keeping, my lovely Jessie, and watch how I treasure it. I swear…’
‘Niall, don’t…’ Jess pulled away. ‘Please, it’s too soon. It’s too…I hardly know you. I…I’ve known you less than a week…’
‘So you have,’ Niall said slowly, his eyes never leaving her face. ‘Less than a week. Why do I feel as if you’ve been in my heart for all of my life?’
‘No!’ It was a cry of panic. Things were way out of control here.
She never should have let this go so far. She had to get away. ‘Please, Niall…’
‘Let you go?’ He released her then and stepped back. The smile faded from his eyes.
‘I can’t constrain you, Jessie,’ he said softly. ‘I can’t make you trust me. I can only hope…’
‘No…Please…I have to go…’
Silence.
Then, very slowly as if acknowledging some absolute truth, Niall Mountmarche nodded.
‘You do.’ Niall looked at his wrist-watch and gave a rueful smile. ‘Your responsibilities await, my lovely Jessie. But wherever you go, know that your heart rests here.’
He didn’t touch her again. Jess stood stock still, staring up at him with frightened eyes.
Did she dare trust?
Dear heaven…
‘I have to go,’ she whispered again and, with a sob of panic, she turned and fled.
CHAPTER EIGHT
IT WAS a strange and stressful week.
Jessie’s working world had changed dramatically.
The little hospital seemed to come alive. It was as if it had been hibernating-waiting. Niall Mountmarche’s presence was everywhere.
The nurses thought Dr Mountmarche wonderful-and so did the islanders. They arrived at the clinic in droves, driven more by curiosity than ill health, and Niall found himself booked solid.
‘What on earth have you got me into?’ he laughed at Jess as they passed in the corridor toward the end of the week-and Jess flinched.
‘I’m sorry…I never meant…’
‘To drag me or my daughter out of hibernation?’ He barred her passage and laughed down into her tense face. ‘Liar. You’ve lost the island its ogre.’
‘I’m…’
Her voice faded. This man made her feel totally inept.
‘How’s Matilda?’ Niall’s smile faded.
‘Not…not good.’ Jess took a deep breath. She was behaving like a nervous kid-and, for heaven’s sake, this man was a medical colleague. ‘I think we’re losing the battle.’
‘I’m sorry to hear that,’ Niall said gently and his eyes told her that his words weren’t just a platitude. He knew how much Matilda meant to the Benns.
‘She’s still standing,’ Jess told him, her voice unconsciously forlorn, ‘but…’
‘But?’
She shrugged. ‘It’s a big “but”.’ She hesitated. The thought of Matilda as she’d last seen her depressed her unutterably.
Try another topic.
‘Wasn’t Paige meant to be with me this afternoon?’ The informal arrangement was that Paige would spend most of her days with Jess but more and more the child was immersing herself in hospital life. At any given time she could be with one of the nurses or making biscuits with Cook or chatting to the hospital gardener. As long as she knew where Jess and Niall were the little girl seemed content.
‘Listen for the giggles and you’ll find her,’ Niall smiled. ‘If it wasn’t for my daughter I’d be cursing your interference but…’
‘A happier “but”?’ Jess asked and smiled.
‘A happier “but”. Jessie, I’d like you to come to the vineyard for dinner tonight.’
‘I’m busy.’
‘Doing?’
‘Doing what I need to do,’ Jess snapped. She took a deep breath. ‘Dr Mountmarche, my little animals need feeding and I have to go back out to the Benns.’
‘Ask Geraldine’s daughter to feed your babies.’
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‘I might have to, anyway,’ Jess admitted. ‘Matilda’s really getting worse. Tonight…’
‘Could be the end?’ Niall’s eyes showed concern. ‘That bad, Jess?’
‘That bad.’
‘Would you like me to come with you?’
‘No.’ Jess shook her head. ‘I can cope alone.’
‘You always do-but you don’t have to.’
‘Yes, I do,’ Jessie said blankly. ‘Now…If you’ll excuse me…’
‘Let me close, Jess,’ Niall said softly and it was as much as Jessie could do not to burst into tears.
‘N-no,’ she managed again-but only just-and turned and walked in the opposite direction.
Niall couldn’t have helped.
Jess tried to make her confused mind get things straight as she drove out to the Benns.
Niall Mountmarche was laying siege to her heart. Somehow he’d penetrated the armour she’d so carefully built in the year since she’d been betrayed and nearly killed by John Talbot. Just by looking at her, Niall Mountmarche could pierce her shell-like armour.
The shell was a fragile protection.
So…
So grow thicker armour, she snapped to herself savagely as she drove into the night. Or run…
There’s nowhere to run.
You could leave the island.
Some things were unthinkable.
‘I can’t face it.’
There was more than one thing that was unthinkable.
Jess faced Ray Benn with a heavy heart. The man had been waiting for her. He swung back the gate and, as she emerged from the car, Jess saw his broad face was streaked with tears.
‘She’s down, Jess…Her legs just folded on her a couple of hours ago. I can’t…I dunno…I just can’t bear to watch. She’s suffered enough.’
Jess put a gentle hand on his shoulder. ‘I’ll do what I must, Ray,’ she told him. ‘You wait inside.’
There was little enough to do. Jess knelt in the stall with the ailing mare and ran her hand along the trembling flank. This was a cruel way for a horse to end her days-all for want of simple vaccination.
There was nothing Jess could do to save her now. Once a horse this ill was down…
She gave the injection fast and Matilda died quietly on the straw.
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