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But had Ben been dazzled by her, the way he said, the way she’d been dazzled by him? It was a strange and new thought, and she wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. But maybe Ben was right, and she didn’t need to do anything with it. She could just do what she’d told him she wanted to do, and live in this moment, wonderful as it was, where they were now both openly dazzled by each other.
“All right,” she said, and gave his hand a squeeze in return. “I think we’ve sorted all that out for the moment. Now what are we having? As I recall, the only curry dish you ever get is a very boring tikka masala, or maybe a korma.”
Ben gave her a slow, sure smile. “All right, then,” he replied. “I’ll have a vindaloo.”
Rachel raised her eyebrows in speculation. Ben had never eaten anything as spicy as a vindaloo when they were younger. “Are you serious?”
“Why not? Just to show you I’m not as boring or predictable as you seem to think I am.”
“You don’t have to prove anything to me, you know, Ben,” she replied, half-seriously. Part of his appeal, his charm, was that hewasboring and predictable. Or really, steady and trustworthy andsolid.
“Vindaloo it is,” he said firmly, and tossed down the menu.
Fifteen minutes later, when their curries had arrived, he was coughing and sputtering, his eyes streaming from the spiciness, until Rachel took pity on him and gave him her much milder dopiaza.
“You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, it seems,” she said sorrowfully, shaking her head.
And Ben, his face flushed bright red, his eyes still watering, replied affably enough, “Or a Yorkshireman new curries.”
Chapter Nineteen
Rachel had fourmore nearly perfect days before reality invaded. Four perfect Indian summer days, warm and blue-skied, moments that felt out of time as well as of season. On Saturday afternoon, she and Ben took off into the wilder sections of the North York Moors Park and went for a hike through rolling moorland and a picnic that ended with them happily tangled together on a blanket; on Sunday they had a roast dinner at a pub in Mathering and a walk along the river; on Monday and Tuesday he helped with the morning milking, and, to her surprise, five a.m. in the barn became her favourite part of the day.
“You’re so loved up,” Harriet told her without any rancour when she floated in from the barn on Tuesday morning. “It’s kind of disgusting.”
“Sorry,” Rachel replied with a smile. “I know how irritating happy people can be.”
“Only when you’re unhappy yourself,” Harriet answered seriously.
Rachel couldn’t tell if that was a heavy-handed hint or just a statement of fact. “Are you unhappy, Hats?” she asked quietly, and her sister sighed.
“No—notunhappy, although I certainly have been in the past. But not completely happy, either. And I don’t have a hot farmer boyfriend, so that might be something to do with it.”
“Is there anyone you’re interested in?”
“No,” Harriet replied with a sigh. “Not even someone whom I could dredge up the energy to have a lukewarm crush on, unfortunately. There are slim pickings in Mathering, and you’ve just picked them.”
Rachel ducked her head, repentant, except not really. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry, although I don’t actually think you are. Ben was always yours.”
Hers.It was a wonderful, wonderful thought, and one she was starting to believe in…that Ben was hers, and she was his…as long as she didn’t think about the future.
“Maybe someone will turn up,” she said optimistically. “Isn’t the old manor house on the other side of town being turned into a hotel or something?”
Harriet shrugged. “I think so, but I’m not sure what that has to do with meeting someone suitable.”
“Some new blood into the area?” Rachel suggested. “Investors? Proprietor? Waiters, even?”
“I’m not that desperate,” Harriet replied, wrinkling her nose. “I don’t need to start sniffing around a building site, thanks very much!”
“Just trying to be helpful,” Rachel replied, all solicitude, while her sister rolled her eyes.
“Thanks, but no thanks,” she said firmly.
“Who were you dancing with at the ceilidh?” Rachel asked as a memory sparked, of Harriet laughing up at her dancing partner. “You seemed pretty partnered up there, and as I recall that guy was pretty cute.”
To her surprise, her sister blushed. “I don’t actually know. He just turned up out of the blue, asked me to dance, and then left again.”
