Page 85 of Starry Nights over Dragonfly Lake

Beth looked at Jeremy and raised her eyebrows at him in question.

‘I just wanted to make sure that you weren’t letting down the good name of the magazine with any erroneous information,’ he said. ‘I’m sure you can understand.’

‘You never were a good liar,’ she told him.

‘Well, perhaps I was a little bit tempted to discover whether you and that person were still together?’ sneered Jeremy. ‘After all, what does he do, darling? What on earth do you see in him? He’s hardly got your intellect, wouldn’t you agree?’

‘I wouldn’t agree, no,’ Beth told him, feeling the anger flare inside of her. ‘He’s good and kind and supportive, abilities which you have no idea about. He’s also an extremely talented boat maker and carpenter actually. Which means he’s very good with his hands as well!’

She heard the double entendre just as soon as she had spoken out loud and was about to roll her eyes at herself when a hand slipped around her waist and spun her around.

She found herself face to face with Noah and before she could say anything else, he spoke instead.

‘I couldn’t have put it any better myself,’ he murmured with a gleam in his eye.

He quickly drew her up against him until their bodies were touching. As he dropped his head to kiss her she had to remind herself that it was all for show. But as his lips touched hers, she found all thought of Jeremy went out of her head and then there was nothing but Noah’s lips on hers.

All time stood still as Noah kissed her with a passion that Beth knew was pretence but wanted so much to believe that it was real.

All too soon, he lifted his head and smiled down at her. As they stared at one another, still a little breathless, Beth heardJeremy clear his throat as if to speak. But she didn’t want to let him have the last word and she spoke to Noah instead.

‘Take me home,’ she told him.

‘Yes, ma’am,’ he replied and, taking her hand, he led her across the entrance hall and out into the fresh air.

47

The rain had thankfully finally stopped but the air outside was still damp and chilly as Beth walked with Noah, still hand in hand.

‘I’m so sorry about all this again,’ she murmured, glancing over her shoulder.

As expected, Jeremy was watching them from the hotel entrance so she carried on holding Noah’s hand as they walked around the lake and towards his lodge.

‘I didn’t know what else to do,’ she said.

‘It’s fine,’ he told her. ‘Are you okay?’

She nodded. ‘I am. You know, I truly am. I wish I hadn’t been so upset over him in the first place. He’s awful. I was settling and you should never settle for love, should you?’

She realised as she said the words that it was true.

‘I should be with someone who adores me,’ she carried on. ‘Because, and I realise I’m sounding like a beauty advert here, I’m worth it.’

‘Yes, you are,’ replied Noah, giving her hand a squeeze.

‘You mean I do sound like a beauty advert?’ she asked, with a grin.

He laughed and she was reminded what a glorious sound it was. Jeremy had never made her laugh. Why had she been so upset over someone like that? He was only half the man that Noah was.

‘You know what, I’m going to be fine by myself,’ she decided, thinking out loud. ‘I’m stronger and better without him. I just wish I could have told him that to his face.’

‘You were right to lie,’ replied Noah, to her surprise. ‘He’s the type of guy that would never accept the word no, I reckon.’

‘Perhaps you’re right. Maybe I’m not as strong as I’m pretending to be,’ she said.

‘Yes, you are. In fact, you’re amazing,’ he told her, putting his arm around her as they neared the lodge. ‘You held those people in the palm of your hand tonight. It was incredible. You have a real gift. Not just with astronomy but dealing with people. Perhaps you should think about teaching astronomy rather than studying it.’

She nodded thoughtfully. ‘That does sound tempting. Hey, when did you get so insightful?’ she teased.