She lost her next thought as his hand gently squeezed hers and he stared down at her, an intensity in his beautiful dark blue eye that made her stomach flutter. He opened his mouth to speak but before he said anything, she felt a drop of rain on her nose. Thenanother immediately after. Brodie glanced up at the sky just as it began to pour.
‘So much for half an hour,’ she teased.
‘Bugger, I think we should get the dogs back to the vehicle. This looks like it’s going to be heavier than a shower.’
The wind had picked up too, she noticed. ‘Good idea,’ Lettie agreed, disappointed that their chat had been interrupted.
Back at the car, Brodie lifted the boot to shelter them as they quickly bundled the dogs inside. He grabbed two towels from the back seat and handed one to Lettie to dry her face and hair before using it to take the worst of the rain from Spud’s fur.
As she dried Spud’s head, she gave Brodie a surreptitious look and caught him watching her back. He smiled and she couldn’t help reciprocating. ‘This is more fun than I would have expected.’
He rubbed Derek’s back. ‘I was thinking the same thing.’
She finished with the towel and was holding it when he took it from her and pulled her gently into his arms. ‘Would you mind if I kissed you?’ he asked, brushing away several raindrops that had fallen onto his forehead from his wet fringe.
‘You didn’t dry your hair before doing Derek’s fur did you?’
‘I must have forgotten.’
His voice was gentle and Lettie sensed he wasn’t thinking about anything other than the two of them standing in each other’s arms.
‘You didn’t answer me.’
She tried to think what he might have asked her, then recalling his question about kissing her, she decided not to waste any more time talking and slipped her arms around his neck, pulled him gently down to her level and pressed her lips against his in a kiss. His immediate response thrilled her and Lettie had to focus on not getting too carried away. Brodie kissed so beautifully she doubted she would ever wish to kiss anyone else ever again.
An ear-splitting rumble of thunder shocked them out of theirkiss and Lettie gasped at the same time Derek growled and began trembling.
‘I think we need to get these two home, don’t you?’
‘I do.’ She watched him cuddle Derek, and as she stroked Spud’s head, looked up at the sky just when it lit up with an enormous crash of lightning. ‘The sooner the better too by the looks of the storm that’s about to hit us.’
They closed the boot and ran around to get into the vehicle.
Within minutes they arrived back at the farm. The storm was nearly overhead with thunder and lightning coming almost simultaneously. Derek cried out and began howling, then Spud joined in.
‘I think you should come into the farmhouse with me,’ Lettie suggested, deciding it was the best option. The rain hammered down onto the roof just as the sky lit up once more, followed by the loudest crack of thunder so far. ‘We need to get Derek somewhere quieter than this car.’
‘You’re right.’
They leapt out of the vehicle and ran round to the back of the car. ‘Hold on tightly to his collar,’ Lettie shouted trying to be heard over the din of the storm. ‘We don’t want him running off again.’
She rummaged in her jeans pocket for her house keys, cursing to herself when she dropped them. Bending to pick them up, she had to let go of Spud’s collar and he immediately jumped down from the vehicle and ran towards the barn.
‘Here, take these and let yourselves inside.’ She threw the keys to Brodie and ran after Spud calling out his name repeatedly.
Grateful that the barn door was ajar, she raced after Spud, relieved to reach him as he cowered in the corner. ‘Hey,’ she said crouching and cuddling the trembling dog to her. ‘Why are you so frightened?’ He was never usually bothered by storms. Maybe he had been frightened by Derek’s terror. ‘We’re perfectly safe,’ shesoothed. ‘Come along, let’s go back to the house and I’ll find you a treat.’
At the word treat, his black ears pricked up and his tail began wagging. She was relieved he had forgotten to be frightened. She didn’t need her brilliant farm dog to find a belated fear of storms. She decided it might be best not to take hold of his collar and brazen out their run back to the farmhouse, hoping he didn’t take fright again.
35
BRODIE
He was crouching down cuddling Derek and doing his best to soothe the poor dog when Spud raced into the house closely followed by Lettie. She stood in front of the sink dripping. ‘It’s still raining heavily outside, then?’
She grinned. ‘Just a bit.’
‘Spud OK?’
