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He refilled his own glass and before the conversation could continue, one of the girls from behind the bar came bustling up with two steaming plates. ‘Two steak and kidney pies?’ she enquired cheerily, as though the place was full of customers who’d recently ordered. Depositing a plate in front of each of them, she added, ‘The veg and mash are on their way, all right? Is there anything else I can get you?’
Zac raised his eyebrows at Rachel and when she shook her head, he smiled at the waitress. ‘Nothing, thanks. This looks great. Smells good too.’
The girl smiled back, lowering her voice and bending towards them as she said, ‘The food’s fabulous here, that’s what makes it so popular. Ken, the chef, owns the place too and he used to be head chef at one of the big London hotels till him and Maggie…’ she gestured towards the landlady with a jerk of her head ‘…got married. They’ve built up a real good reputation,’ she added proudly. ‘Folk come from miles around to eat here.’
Rachel smiled. There was something ingenuous about the young girl’s enthusiasm. ‘You obviously like working here.’
‘Love it,’ she answered promptly. ‘Life’s too short to stay anywhere you don’t like, isn’t it? Live for today, that’s what I say. Make the most of each minute and there’s no regrets.’
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She gave them a beaming smile and then, as another girl brought the dishes of mashed potato and vegetables, took them from her, placed them in the centre of the table and walked back to the bar. Rachel gazed after her; she was young to be a sage.
‘She’s right, you know.’ Zac had just taken a bite of his pie while Rachel helped herself to the mash and veg. ‘Dead right.’
‘About the food?’ she asked, passing him a serving spoon.
‘No. Well, that too, but I meant the living-for-today bit.’ He eyed her innocently. ‘Perhaps that’s what we should do this weekend? Live for the moment with no thought to tomorrow?’
She managed a creditable laugh. ‘Why is it men always come up with that one when they’ve got an ulterior motive in mind?’ she said lightly, glad he had taken her earlier rebuff without sulking. Giles had sulked. Often.
He’d heaped up his plate and now he grinned at her. He looked big and dark and so handsome he took her breath away. She wondered what he’d say if she told him that from the first moment they’d met she’d had wildly erotic and definitely X-rated fantasies about him. Not that she ever would.
She swallowed hard, fighting to remain unmoved by the sexual magnetism he exerted as naturally as breathing. And failing miserably. She had a mental picture of the big double bed in their room and swallowed again, panic slicing in, hot and strong.
‘This is delicious—try some. The pie’s packed with meat.’
Zac was totally relaxed and eating his meal with relish, clearly untroubled by the kind of thoughts assailing her. And in spite of all he’d said, he seemed pretty unperturbed by her ultimate rejection of him too. Men really were a different species, she thought with a mixture of anger and bewilderment. And then she caught a heavenly whiff of the steak and kidney pie that made her mouth water, at the same time as her stomach reminded her she hadn’t eaten for aeons.
To hell with it. She picked up her knife and fork and tucked in. If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.
The steak and kidney pie was swiftly followed by apple crumble and custard, and by the coffee stage of the meal Rachel was sitting toasting her toes in front of the fire, listening to the merry group of walkers hollering out one Christmas carol after another. They were a lively bunch but tuneless.
The landlady had brought two brandies with the coffee, insisting they were the promised ‘warm-up’ drinks and on the house, and with her stomach full and the wine having taken the edge off her worry about the night ahead, Rachel felt almost mellow as she sipped the spirit.
‘Against all the odds, this is nice.’ Zac had taken off his jacket and loosened his tie, undoing the first couple of buttons of his shirt. It had caused her a few momentary problems at the time but her body had just about adjusted. She glanced at him as he spoke and the golden gaze was waiting for her.
Rachel smiled. ‘Yes, it is.’ They’d talked of amusing, inconsequential things during the meal, putting the previous tenseness behind them by unspoken mutual consent. If they could just stay here like this all night she’d be OK, she thought now with wry humour. But that double bed loomed large.
Zac swallowed the last of his brandy. ‘Fancy another?’ he offered, rising to his feet. ‘We haven’t got far to go to bed.’
Two glasses of wine and a brandy was really her limit, she’d never been able to drink alcohol at the same level as most of the other students at uni and her tolerance had got less since. Tonight, though, satisfyingly warm and replete, a spirit of recklessness took hold. ‘Lovely.’ She held out her glass.
‘That was said with the air of someone who’s stoking up some Dutch courage to face the trial ahead. Am I right?’
She frowned at him. ‘Don’t be silly, Zac.’
‘But you make me want to be silly, Rachel. To say silly things, to act silly, anything to shake that cool reserve of yours,’ he said mildly.
She stared at him open-mouthed, a part of her thrilled he imagined she could feel remotely cool around him. If he only knew… But she was so thankful he didn’t.
His lips twitched at her expression but he said nothing more, turning and walking to the bar with their empty brandy glasses. Rachel noticed the blonde walker immediately leave her group and make her way to his side, presumably on the pretext of ordering more drinks. She wanted to look away but something compelled her to watch. The girl said something to Zac to get his attention and, as he looked at her, did the full femme fatale thing, complete with fluttering eyelashes and pouty lips.
‘So what am I? Invisible?’ Rachel muttered to herself.
Zac’s reply was short and the next moment he’d taken their replenished glasses and was walking back to her. Rachel had a brief glimpse of a lovely but definitely disgruntled face before he handed her her drink, his body blocking her view.
It was the alcohol that must have loosened her tongue because normally she wouldn’t have dreamt of saying anything, but once he had sat down she found herself asking, ‘What did that girl at the bar say to you?’
