AllFreeNovel
Share Us
'Yes… yes, I would.'
His face darkened suddenly. He got up and stared down at her. 'It's no good, I promised myself I wouldn't interfere, but I can't stand by and see you ruin your life. Think of all that you're giving up by holding on to your love for David Galvin. He doesn't love you to the same extent. Surely you must see that. He'll never give you children, Christy. He already has a wife and family.'
She looked at him, curiously warmed by the fire and the coffee, wondering at the intensity in his voice.
'Have you ever been in love, Dominic?'
He frowned and turned away from her so that his face was in the shadows. 'Yes…' He sounded terse.
'And… and did she love you too?' Why on earth was she tormenting herself like this?
'Once I thought she did.' The words seemed to be dragged out of his throat under fierce pressure. 'But… but I was wrong.'
Some girl in the States, perhaps. Maybe that was even the reason why
he had come home, but she couldn't probe any further; she didn't have the right, and neither did she have the strength to sit there and listen to Dominic telling her about the woman he loved.
'I've got some reports to write up; do you mind if I do some work?'
Christy shook her head, watching as he walked over to his desk and sat down. Within seconds he seemed totally absorbed in what he was doing, leaving her free to look her fill at him.
He worked for about an hour, but she wasn't bored; The crackle of the logs and the faint sounds from his desk as he wrote, the fact that she was here with him—all these things filled her with a pleasure that was tinged with melancholy. She fell asleep while he was still working, unaware of the fact that he had put down his pen to come and look broodingly down at her. Her towel had slipped, revealing the gleaming curve of her shoulder. As he bent to tuck the towel round her she woke up.
It was a shock to find him so close. 'Are you still working?'
'No, I've finished now.' A faint smile tugged at his mouth. 'You're not my patient—remember? Do you feel hungry? Shall I make us something to eat?'
She pulled a face and said drowsily, 'I seem to have lost my appetite recently.' For a moment he stared at her, and then he tensed.
'My God, Christy, you're not…'
As his hands gripped her shoulders she stared back at him and then suddenly realised what he thought.
'No… No, I'm not pregnant…'
It was ridiculous to think she had seen disappointment momentarily darken his eyes, and she told herself that seeing things that weren't there was a very dangerous symptom.
'When I said that about you being provocative, I didn't mean what you thought, you know,' Dominic said abruptly.
'You mean you weren't trying to remind me that there was a time when I had been guilty of being extremely provocative? No, I know you weren't, Dominic. I don't know why I ran off like that… it all got too much for me, I suppose.' She shivered intensely at the memory of her own folly.
'Cold?' Dominic's hands rubbed her arms through the towel. 'I'd better go upstairs and light a fire in one of the bedrooms for you, otherwise you'll freeze tonight.'
'Only one? What about you?' She felt hot at the stupidity of her unwary tongue.
To her relief Dominic seemed unaware of the ambiguity of her question. She had half expected him to make some taunting remark asking her if she was inviting him to share a room with her, but instead all he said was, 'Oh, I won't need one. I don't often feel the cold. I seem to be equipped with my own very efficient central heating. Your bag's in the hall. Do you want me to bring it in?'
She nodded her head. While he was lighting the fire she could put on some clothes. Although she hadn't said anything to Dominic, even her bra was soaked through after her tumble in the snow, and she was anxious to remove its cold clamminess from her skin.
She waited until she heard his feet on the stairs before slipping out of the towel and stripping off her damp bra, shivering a little, her skin still chilled.
She had only brought one change of underwear, so after a moment's hesitation, she pulled on a thick sweater, hoping that its bulkiness would disguise the fact that she wasn't wearing a bra underneath it.
The damp one she rolled up with her other discarded clothes and stuffed in one half of the rollbag before putting on a pleated woollen skirt of soft olive and yellow checks. The skirt buttoned up the back, and the thick sweater she was wearing was in the same olive as the check. It was an outfit she had had for quite a long time and she was surprised to see Dominic stand just inside the doorway for what seemed like a long time, simply looking at her.
'It's snowing again,' he told her.
'Will Lorna and the baby be all right?' She shivered as she remembered the cold drive to the remote farm.
