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‘Look, I think we’d better get you inside so that you can sit down,’ Anna said gently, firmly taking hold of Maggie’s arm.
Maggie gestured vaguely towards the car and her shopping, murmuring something which Anna obviously managed to interpret, because she said soothingly, ‘No, we’ll leave it there for now. It won’t come to any harm,’ and somehow or other Maggie found herself inside the cool kitchen and being firmly pushed into one of the wooden armchairs.
‘Tell me what happened,’ she demanded huskily. ‘I had no idea.’
Anna didn’t seem to find either her urgency or her shock odd.
‘I’ll put some coffee on first, shall I? If I know Marcus, he’ll be ready for a cup.’ She made a face. ‘I must say I’m not sorry you’re here. Mrs Nesbitt was all right in her way…not my idea of a good housekeeper, but some women are inclined to take advantage of a man living on his own, aren’t they? And he never seemed to mind. But once she left… Well, I know it isn’t easy taking charge of a house like this, but Marcus pays good wages and he was prepared to get extra help in. It’s not paying for staff these days, though, is it? It’s finding them. And then there’s the extra responsibility of the girls. I’ve got one of my own and a boy as well, so I know what it’s all about…’
‘The accident,’ Maggie interrupted her, her voice raw… Her throat was dry, speaking a painful necessity. Her eyes burned and felt gritty with the weight of unshed tears. Her stomach was churning like a cement mixer, her whole body ready to shake with shock.
Anna gave her a quick, assessing look.
‘He’d gone out riding. Not with Isobel, apparently, but she must have seen him and followed him. Her father spoils her to death, and he bought her one of those toy four-wheel-drive things last year. It’s painted red and white. Horrible little thing really, and dangerous too, I’m sure. Anyway she’d got this dog in it—or puppy, really…another present from an old boyfriend, apparently.’ She raised her eyebrows. ‘Rumour had it at one time…’ And then she broke off and added hastily, ‘But you know what people are like round here…and anyway, he’s dating someone else now.’
‘The accident,’ Maggie intervened fiercely. She didn’t want to hear about Isobel’s supposed relationship with anyone else…she wasn’t the slightest bit interested in the other woman’s love-life. She wanted to know about Marcus. Marcus, who could have died and she would not have known… Or would she? Would she somehow or other have felt the lack of his human form inhabiting the same space of time as her own? Would her instincts have told her…warned her?
‘Well, she drove off after him and eventually caught up with him just inside the Howards’ four-acre field. Stupid woman that she is, she drove right across his path, and of course his horse took fright, reared up on its back legs… He might have been able to bring it back under control, but the dog leapt out of the car and ran right under the horse’s hooves, barking its head off.
‘Well, that did it. The horse panicked and reared again. It fell over sideways, taking Marcus with it. And even then that stupid girl Isobel had no more sense than to stand there screaming, but luckily Ted Howard had seen everything. He went back to the house for his gun…’
She gave a comprehensive shrug of her shoulders.
‘Marcus was very lucky that they were able to save his leg. He’s still in a lot of pain, although he won’t admit it. He collapsed shortly after Ted reached him. Concussion!
‘I must say, we were all surprised when we learned that he and Isobel were getting engaged. They’d been out together several times, but no one had any idea it was that serious. We all knew she was visiting him in hospital.’
‘How long have they been engaged?’ Maggie interrupted her.
‘Oh, not long. They announced it the day he came home from hospital.’ She glanced at her watch and said briskly, ‘Look, I’d better go and let Marcus know I’ve arrived. Will you be all right?’
‘I’m fine now,’ Maggie told her. ‘It was just the shock.’ She bit her lip and looked directly at the older woman. ‘Look…please don’t say anything to Marcus about…’
‘About what?’ a harsh male voice demanded, and Maggie swung round, appalled to discover Marcus standing in the doorway to the kitchen.
Anna said nothing, but Maggie knew she couldn’t ignore the question; for one thing, it wouldn’t be fair to the older woman.
‘I felt rather faint when I was outside,’ she said evasively. ‘I didn’t want to w
orry you.’
The dark eyebrows rose steeply, the look in his eyes betraying his disbelief.
‘It was my fault, actually,’ Anna intervened hastily, obviously aware of the tension building between them. ‘I had no idea that Maggie wasn’t aware of the seriousness of your accident.’ She gave Maggie an apologetic look as she added, ‘I’m afraid I gave her rather a shock.’
Maggie couldn’t tear her attention away from Marcus’s face. She saw disbelief give way to frowning concentration and then thoughtful scrutiny as he looked at her.
‘You know how squeamish I’ve always been,’ she told him hastily, and a little untruthfully. ‘That stupid imagination of mine…’ She plucked nervously at her shirt buttons, unaware of the haunting look of anguish darkening her eyes. ‘I couldn’t stop myself from visualising…’
She raised her head and looked at him, the words she had been going to say dying on her lips. He seemed to hold her under some kind of hypnotic spell with his gaze, forcing her to surrender to the force of it, forcing her to say huskily, ‘You could have been killed, and I wouldn’t have known…’
Tears blocked her throat. She could hear them herself in her own voice. Panic took hold of her. What on earth was she saying? What on earth was she doing?
Marcus took a step towards her and then, as the panic and desperation flashed betrayingly through her eyes, he stood still.
‘As you just said,’ he told her in a flat voice, which seemed, to her too sensitive ears, to hold just a touch of cynicism, ‘you always did have far too much imagination.’
He turned round awkwardly, heading for the door. Giving Maggie a sympathetic look, Anna followed him.
