‘Seeing someone?’ She thought for a moment. ‘Oh, you mean Joe.’
Who else could he mean? Brodie wondered. ‘I just assumed. That is, seeing you in the pub with him last night.’
She stared at him thoughtfully and he couldn’t work out whether she was trying to decide if she was seeing Joe on a romantic level, or if she was trying to work out how to let Brodie down gently. Either would be a disappointment. Then he remembered his promise to himself not to get involved with clients. Was she a client though? He thought of her farm and supposed she was as she was now running things for her father.
‘Brodie, are you all right?’
Brodie’s stomach growled in reply, making them both laugh. ‘I think that answers your question.’
‘It does.’
‘Lettie,’ he said just as she was leaving the kitchen. She turned an expectant look on her face. ‘I just wanted to say that I know you’ve got a lot on your plate with the farm, but I hope you know I’m here if you ever need me for anything.’
‘Um, thank you, Brodie. That’s very kind of you.’
There was an awkward silence, which he felt the need to fill. ‘I was thinking about Spud.’
‘Spud?’
‘Yes. If you have a sheepdog, does that mean you used to have sheep on the farm?’ he asked feeling foolish for the random question. He could see he was making things more uncomfortable between them and wished he had the charm he had witnessed Joe exuding.
Lettie smiled. ‘We used to,’ she said clearly happy to talk about familiar things. ‘Dad bought a flock after he sold the dairy herd to my uncle, but only kept them for about six years before selling them on too and deciding to go completely into organic farming. I’ve learnt so much more in the past few weeks working here than I ever did before my interest was piqued about farming this land.’
He took a couple of plates from the cupboard and some cutlery. ‘Don’t you miss your life in London at all then?’
She looked thoughtful as she considered her answer. ‘I had expected to but I’ve been far too busy to think about anything much other than the work I need to do each day.’
‘I’m not surprised.’ He realised he should be getting on with serving their food. ‘Why don’t you go and sit in the living room and I’ll bring it through.’
‘Yes, of course. Shall I take the cutlery and the salad?’
‘Yes, please.’
Left alone for a moment in the small kitchen Brodie gathered himself. He really was useless sometimes. He grabbed a tea towel to take the hot carton from the microwave and accidentally kicked the water bowl he had put down for Thistle, causing the dog to jump out of the way and knock into him. Shocked, Brodie almost dropped the lasagne but caught it at the last minute, saving it but burning his fingers in the process.
‘Damn.’ He dropped the carton on the worktop and blew on his fingertips.
‘What’s happened?’ Lettie asked, appearing in the kitchen. She took in the scene and, seeing his raised hand, grabbed his wrist and led him to the sink, turning on the tap and holding his burnt fingers under the cold running water.
‘Are you always this clumsy in the kitchen?’ she asked after a moment.
Brodie went to try and explain what had happened when she looked up at him, an amused expression on her face. ‘They might be sore but I think you’ll live.’
Amused by her banter, he tried to look serious. ‘I’ll have you know I’m suffering, a lot.’
She took them from the water and then studied them. ‘I think they’ll be fine in a little while.’ She lifted them to her lips and kissedthem. Brodie stilled. The touch of her soft lips on the tips of his burnt fingers was a salve in more ways than one.
Lettie gasped before lowering his hand, avoiding his gaze. She cleared her throat. ‘I, er, I’m not sure why I did that. Sorry.’
Brodie had to swallow to find his voice. ‘It’s fine. Please don’t apologise.’ Why were they being so formal all of a sudden? Wanting to take away her embarrassment, he added, ‘Actually that felt nice.’
She looked up at him then and his insides felt like they were dissolving. ‘You don’t mind?’ she whispered.
He couldn’t speak but shook his head. ‘No,’ he managed to say his voice strained. ‘I didn’t mind at all.’
As she stared up at him silently, Brodie reached out to her with his good hand and, sliding his fingers down her messy hair, only vaguely aware of his other hand stinging, he gently pulled her head towards him, leant forward and kissed her.
For a second Lettie didn’t react. He wondered if he had, yet again, read the situation wrong. But just as he was about to stop, she slipped her arms around his neck and kissed him back.
