He nodded towards the truck. “Those are for you.”
The rear doors were open and Jodie stared inside in disbelief. The interior of the truck was crammed with row after row of laurel bushes, each one at least eight feet tall.
“They’re for the bridleway, to stop people looking in,” he explained, waving in the general direction of the driveway to where trench had been dug along the full length of the wire fence separating it from the path.
She grinned at him. “He doesn’t do things by halves does he? Those bushes must have cost a fortune.”
Chapter Twelve
The rest of the day dragged. Apart from one short text telling her his plane had landed safely, Marcus hadn’t contacted her. Knowing he had meetings with his agent and with his recording studio, and accepting he had to spend time with Luke, Jodie tried hard not to mind. Besides, commonsense told her he would have far less free time now he was back into his everyday life. There would be no more late night phone calls, no more confidences shared. He would be too busy.
After twenty-four hours she started panicking. “I can’t remember what he looks like,” she whispered to Buckmaster as she tightened his girth. “I can’t even remember what he sounds like anymore.”
Buckmaster blew into her ear and then nuzzled her pocket, hoping to find a carrot. She pushed him away with a sigh. What a fool she had been. Why on earth had she spent so much time talking to Marcus when anyone with an ounce of sense would have realized he was just filling in time until he could return home and get on with his life?
“Come on Bucky,” she led the chestnut horse out of his stable. “Let’s go and see if those laurel bushes have been planted yet. At least he’s kept his promise about finding another way to protect Luke from people using the bridleway.”
* * *
The gate was open when she and Buckmaster arrived and the lane outside was full of men wearing safety boots and fluorescent jackets. Some were unloading another truck of laurel bushes and others were re-routing the footpath that led to the bridleway.
Anxious to get her horse past all the activity before he was spooked, Jodie dug her heels into his flanks and directed him through the open gateway. As she did so she wondered how much all this extra work was going to cost. Not that it would faze Marcus, not when he was already spending a fortune on his house and studio. For the first time she considered what it meant and her thoughts grew even darker.
Marcus Lewis was famous and he was rich. He probably had more money than anyone she knew. More money even than the wealthy trainers she had worked for in the past. Far more money than her stepfather had had in the days when he’d bought her whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted it; so why on earth was he bothering with her? Was it to keep her sweet so she wouldn’t tell the Press about Luke? That must be it because she had absolutely nothing else to offer him. She was nobody. She couldn’t compete with his world of glamour and celebrity, nor did she want to. She wanted to stay in the village, living with Izzie, and running the riding school. They might not have much money but at least they were safe. Izzie was safe.
Thinking of her sister reminded Jodie of Marcus again and she scowled. She might have given in over the music lessons but only because Izzie wanted them so badly, not because she wanted to please him. There was no way she was going to sign up to any plans he might have to encourage Izzie onto the stage.
Buckmaster, sensing her tension, quickened his pace. Automatically she reached down to pat him. As she did so she found herself looking into a pair of bright blue eyes. Marcus was leaning against a tree. He looked just the way he had before panic had erased his features from her memory. He was tall, tan, and far too attractive, and she wanted to get past him as quickly as possible.
“You’re late today. I was worried I’d missed you or you’d taken another route.”
She shook her head and wished her tongue hadn’t suddenly stuck itself to the roof of her mouth. She had forgotten how the silver frosting on his hair contrasted with the blue of his eyes. Forgotten how his lean, angular frame and sharp cheekbones gave him a look of moody mystery. Forgotten how much his face lit up when he smiled. He was smiling now but his smile slowly faded when she didn’t respond.
“Jodie! Is something the matter?”
She shook her head again. It wasn’t important that she’d lost the power of speech because how could she tell him she’d already given up on him. How could she say she didn’t believe all the things he’d told her, all those words about how much he wanted her, about how he was counting the days until he could see her again? All of it had been fantasy, the fantasy of someone alone and lonely, and three thousand miles away. If they’d had those long distance conversations in the clear light of day instead of in the dark intimacy of her bedroom she would never have fallen for a single word. With something close to a sob, she kicked Buckmaster’s flanks. She needed to get away.
Marcus was too quick for her. Producing an apple from his pocket he held it out. Buckmaster, torn between obedience to Jodie and his own greed, was unable to resist it. As he took the apple with a whicker of pleasure, Marcus grabbed hold of his rein.
“I’m not letting go until you get off and talk to me,” he told Jodie. “I don’t care if you drag me all the way down to the beach with you.”
At her third shake of the head Marcus put his hand on her riding boot. His voice hissed with anger and frustration.
“Get down and tell me what’s the matter Jodie! I thought we’d gotten over all this. I thought you wanted to see me as much as I wanted to see you.”
“I do. I did,” she croaked, swallowing hard against the dryness in her throat.
“So what’s changed?”
“Me. I’ve changed Marcus. I’ve had time to see how it really is between us. How all that midnight talk was because you were lonely and I was flattered. I…you don’t want me, not really. I wouldn’t fit into your life. I’d…”
His eyes blazing Marcus tugged at the stirrup. “Is this what happens when I don’t call you for one day? If it is then what you’ve just said is true. You won’t fit into my life, not if you don’t trust me. Not if you don’t believe I meant every word I said to you.”
“I’ve knocked myself out to get here this soon Jodie. I went straight from the airport to the meetings in London I told you about. Then I spent time with Luke. Not nearly enough time, but sufficient to remind him who I am. After that I grabbed a couple of hours sleep, just enough to make sure I could stay awake on the motorway; just enough so I could drive safely through the night and be here in time to surprise you on your early morning ride. But if that’s not enough for you then I guess you’re right. We’re done!”
He let go of her foot and the bridle as he finished speaking, and turned away.
Jodie stared down at him. “You did all that…for me?”
This time it was his turn to give a silent nod.
“Marcus…I’m sorry!”
He turned back to look at her. This time his eyes were a dull grey, and he looked older. He looked, she thought, as if someone had punched him. His shoulders drooped and there were dark smudges of exhaustion under his eyes.
Without another thought she kicked her feet out of the stirrups and slithered off Buckmaster’s broad back. Relieved of his load, and aware that Jodie was no longer concentrating on him, he wandered over to a patch of grass and began munching.
Standing in front of Marcus she took a deep breath. “I wish I didn’t have to keep saying I’m sorry but I’m not very good at trust because…because of things that happened in the past. If you’ll give me another chance maybe I can learn not to be so touchy. ”
“You mean that?” He kept his hands firmly in his pockets.
She gave him a tentative smile. “Yes I do.”
They stared at one another for the briefest moment and then she was in his arms and he was kissing her. It was a kiss that went on for a very long time. It dislodged her riding hat until Marcus unclipped it and tossed it to the groun
d. It drew small whimpering moans from Jodie as he slipped his hands inside her shapeless green fleece. It made Marcus forget everything except the softness of her skin, the taste of her lips and the dance of her tongue against his. It was a kiss that had been waiting for a long time, a kiss that had started three thousand miles away. Now it had reached its destination, Marcus and Jodie were oblivious to their surroundings.
* * *
Buckmaster was bored. He’d finished the patch of grass, sampled a laurel leaf and decided he didn’t like it, and rubbed his rump against the fence post to deal with an irritating itch. Now he wanted Jodie. He trotted back up the path to where she was standing with the apple man and nudged her with his nose. When it had no effect he gave a snort of indignation and blew into her ear.
“I could almost believe that horse is jealous,” Marcus kept Jodie in the circle of his arms as she turned towards Buckmaster. Happy that his beloved mistress was concentrating on him again, the horse lifted his top lip in what was a very good impersonation of a leer.
When they had stopped laughing Marcus tilted Jodie’s chin and dropped a kiss onto the tip of her nose. “I guess he’s right. This is not the time or the place. Bill will come looking for me soon to bring me up to speed about the building work. I told him I was going for a walk.”
Jodie sighed. “I’m busy all day today too, and I’ve still got to take Bucky down to the beach.”
“What about this evening.”
She shook her head. “I have to go to Izzie’s school to see her teacher.”
“Problems?”
“No, it’s just an end of term meeting. A general discussion about how well she’s expected to do in her exams, what university she might want to apply to, that sort of thing.”
He pulled her to him and rested his chin on the top of her head so she couldn’t see his face. Now wasn’t the time to tell her that he’d known Izzie wouldn’t be going to university from the moment he first heard her sing. “I guess it has to be another late night phone call then.”
She tilted her face up and gave him a rueful smile. For the first time he noticed that her eyelashes curled. He noticed, too, that she had a tiny mole just above her left eyebrow. He bent and kissed it.
“There is another way of course. Come back to London with me tomorrow and stay for the weekend…it’ll mean you can meet Luke too.”
She shook her head. “I can’t leave Izzie on her own, not over a weekend…not ever really.”
He didn’t comment other than to say that of course her sister was invited too, because he didn’t want to have any sort of conversation about Izzie’s future. Besides, if she came as well then he’d be able to listen to her in a fully equipped studio.
Chapter Thirteen
“Please pinch me!” Izzie thrust her arm under Jodie’s nose and screwed her eyes tight shut. “Unless you pinch me hard I won’t believe it!”
“What? That we’re going to stay with Marcus.” Jodie laughed at her.
“How can you be so casual? We are not going to stay with Marcus. We are going to London to stay with Marcus Lewis. Just wait ‘til I tell all my friends. They’ll be green with envy.”
“You won’t have an opportunity to tell them anything at all unless you hurry up and get ready. We need to leave in three minutes or we’ll be late for our appointment.”
“It’s such a waste of time,” Izzie grumbled as she shrugged her arms into a thick sweater and finger combed her hair in front of the mirror. “You know exactly what she’s going to say because she says it every time. Isabella is such an asset to the school and such a credit to you Ms Eriksson. I’m sure she’ll do well in her exams and be accepted by whatever university she chooses.”
Although Jodie chuckled at Izzie’s accurate impersonation of the school principal, she still shook her head. “Let’s hope she’s right then, because you need to do well. University is going to be a tough call. You’ll have to learn to live on your own, and you’ll have to take a part-time job too unless you want to end up with a massive debt hanging around your neck. I wish there was another way but there isn’t because once you’re eighteen there won’t be an educational trust to fall back on anymore. I’ll give you what I can, of course, but it won’t be enough.”
Izzie hugged her. “I don’t expect you to give me anything. You’ve already done more for me than a lot of real parents would have done. I’m used to working part-time too, in the stables…so do me a favor and stop talking about university ‘cos it’s boring. Let’s talk about Marcus Lewis. Are you and he an item?”
“Maybe,” Jodie flushed pink as they walked towards her car. It was a big and battered Jeep that came with the job and it always looked out of place amongst the sleek cars that lined the school car park on open evenings. Not that Izzie appeared to care. It was Jodie who had the problem. She wanted her sister to have all the advantages she’d had until her stepfather died, and that included not looking out of place at school.
“Brilliant! Wait until I tell all my friends…wow Jodie! I didn’t know you had it in you. My sister is going out with Marcus Lewis!” Izzie climbed into the car and settled into her seat with a satisfied sigh. Then she saw the expression on Jodie’s face.
“Not a good idea?”
“Not a good idea,” said Jodie firmly. “Tell them about our trip to London if you must, but leave me out of it…and that goes for everyone at the riding school too.
* * *
Marcus arrived early. So early Jodie was still saying goodbye to Buckmaster. Izzie was waiting though. As soon as he drove into the yard she flew out of the house, a rucksack trailing from one hand and a small canvas bag in the other. He raised his eyebrows.
“Is that it?”
She grinned at him. “We believe in travelling light.”
“Have you got your music?”
“At the bottom of my rucksack but don’t tell Jodie. She thinks this is all about her getting to know you.”
“It is,” his voice was sharp. “And it’s also about both of you getting to know Luke. Listening to you sing is third on my list Izzie.”
Looking suitably chastened she opened the rear door and slid into the car. Then she gave a puzzled frown. “Who is Luke?”
He stared at her reflection in the driving mirror. “Jodie hasn’t told you?”
“If you haven’t learned how tight-lipped she is about almost everything by now, then you haven’t learned anything about her at all. No, she hasn’t told me anything about Luke. She’s never even mentioned his name.”
Marcus sighed. Jodie had even more hang-ups than he did. “Luke is my son. He’s eleven years old and he’s autistic. His autism affects him in lots of ways; for example he hates meeting new people, so you and Jodie will be quite a challenge for him.”
She shrugged. “Lots of the kids on the disabled riding program are like that. I take lead rein for one of them, Rosie. We get on really well now but it was ages before she’d even look at me.”
“Luke has some minor physical disabilities too. He’s not very coordinated.”
“So do lots of the kids on the program. Surely Jodie’s told you about it.”
“Mmm. She wants Luke to try it out when we move up here, but I think she’ll find she’s met her match in him. Luke on a horse surrounded by strangers…no I can’t see it.”
Izzie laughed. “If that’s what you think then you still have an awful lot to learn about my sister.”
But Marcus had stopped listening. Following the direction of his gaze she saw Jodie come out of Buckmaster’s stable and secure the bolt behind her. Carol, who was taking charge of the riding school for the weekend, was hovering at her shoulder and nodding at the long list of instructions being issued.
Izzie swung her long legs out of the car again. “I’ll go and rescue Carol and speed things up a bit. If I don’t we’ll be here half the morning while Jodie checks and double checks that everyone knows what they’re doing.”
She paused and peered in through the driver
’s window. “You do know that my sister is a control freak don’t you?” she said. Then she walked away chuckling.
Chapter Fourteen
When Jodie finally climbed into the car Marcus deliberately let his eyes travel the length of her body. Then he grinned at her. “What, no riding hat?”
“Sorry to disappoint you.” Her cheeks, still pink from her early morning ride, flushed to a deep rose color, and he knew she was remembering his frustration as he’d fumbled with the straps under her chin the previous morning. He could still remember the little moans and gasps that had been triggered by his kisses once he had managed to drop her hat onto the path beside them. He could still remember, too, the way her body had felt beneath the nubby cotton of her green polo shirt.
He drove slowly out of the yard feeling his frustration building again. Remembering everything about Jodie wasn’t difficult. It was the doing something about it that was the problem. They were both too busy, had too many responsibilities. How were they going to find enough time to do all the things his libido kept talking about?
He glanced across to where she sat, her fidgeting fingers the only sign she was feeling nervous. Her hair was still in a single plait. Admittedly she’d exchanged her jodhpurs for black denims and her polo for a long sleeved T-shirt, but nothing else had changed. She was still wearing a shapeless fleece and sensible boots. Not her usual ones to be sure. The fleece was a nicer color too. It was a rich plum red that complemented her dark hair and olive skin, but it was still shapeless, and it was still a fleece. He wondered if she dressed like that to hide her very tantalizing body from the world, or whether she just wasn’t interested in fashion.
He thought of all the women who had fawned over him while he was in California: women who were tanned and toned to within an inch of their lives. Women who wouldn’t contemplate leaving the house without full make-up and co-coordinating outfits. He gave a wry smile. What a joke! All those limber beauties with an open invitation in their eyes and he’d spent every minute of his spare time thinking about Jodie.
Mending Jodie's Heart (When Paths Meet Book 1) Page 7
