you had to follow a herd of cows down a lane as they ambled from field to farm, which he had found slightly frustrating the first week he’d been back here, then he’d realised he just had to go with the flow. In fact, he walked now whenever he could – but most farms visits meant taking the car.
‘I can’t get in my car park.’ He rounded the open door, just as a girl backed out at speed, dragging a large cardboard box with her. Without thinking he grabbed her waist with one hand, and the van door with the other to stop them toppling.
She glanced up.
Oh shit, he’d been here before. In a tight clinch. Her soft lips were slightly parted, eyes wide staring straight into his own, his hands were only inches from her breasts. And he had an almost uncontrollable urge to kiss her.
Again.
It was the girl he’d nearly flattened by the village green. The teacher.
The one who’d asked him to go into school. The one who’d irrationally sprung to mind every time he walked past the village school – wondering when she’d be back.
Last time he’d had his hands on her he could have blamed the surge of adrenaline for the way his body had reacted, but he’d have been lying to himself because it was doing exactly the same this time round.
The smell of her perfume, the brush of her soft skin against his cheek, and the gently quivering body pressed against his had turned him on something rotten. And she’d known. From what he remembered he’d solved the problem last time by practically throwing her back into the road. And now he was staring at her like a simpleton. Which he could, being logical, put down to lack of sleep, and emotional upset.
She blinked, and pulled herself together before he could. ‘Oh hi, it’s you. We must stop meeting like this.’ She looked down pointedly and he realised he still had hold of her.
‘Sorry, er I’m not in the habit of…’ He let go, waved his hands in the air, glanced down to save the embarrassment of looking her straight in the eye. ‘Good God, what are those?’
Bright pink wellingtons, which were more than just bright, they were positively glowing. They were ridiculous, but they suited her, in a cute kind of way. Oh God, what was he thinking? Cute? Where had that come from? He didn’t even call day old kittens cute.
He glanced back up and she was grinning. She lifted a foot. ‘These? Awesome aren’t they? They’re my secret weapon. If I don’t wear them I’m in trouble. Serious GBH type of trouble.’ She wrinkled her nose. How had he missed her slightly upturned nose last time they’d met?
He swallowed, trying to ignore the way the rest of her body had jiggled, and the dancing light in her eyes. It had obviously been far too long since he’d had a soft female form pressed against his (apart from hers). Maybe his self-imposed ban was a mistake, it was turning him into a horny old man.
‘They’re Annie’s actually.’ For a moment he was confused, then focussed back on the wellingtons again. That figured, yep now she mentioned it he had seen Annie parading round the village in them. But on Annie they looked quite different. Unremarkable. ‘Her goose Gertie is imprinted on them, and without these I’d be mincemeat. Imprinting, you know they were the first thing…’
‘I do know what imprinting is.’
A flush tinged her cheekbones. Now what had made him shoot her down like that? He was being a patronising git now. Why couldn’t he just be friendly? But it was just, he hadn’t felt this drawn to somebody for a long, long time, not since he’d met Josie. Not since the most precious person in his life had appeared, not since he’d fallen madly, wildly, in love in a way he hadn’t thought existed… and this was his way of making sure it didn’t happen again. He blinked, and tried to concentrate on what she was saying.
‘Ah yes, of course, you’re a vet. Well at the moment these are a lifesaver, talking of which,’ she avoided his eye, ‘thanks for er, saving me the other week, when I came for my interview.’
‘No problem. Look I don’t want to be rude, but I really do need to get in, I’ve got work to do. If you could just straighten it up, move over a bit.’
‘Oh, right, sure. Isn’t it a bit early for work?’ She looked at her watch. ‘I’d never normally get up at this time, but I knew it would take me hours to move all my stuff into Annie’s, and I didn’t think I’d be in anybody’s way. Or do you all get up at the crack of dawn round here?’ Her eyes were twinkling, and he could have sworn she was teasing now.
‘I prefer a lie in to be honest, but when there’s an emergency.’ He shrugged.
‘Oh no. Was everything okay?’ She’d stopped smiling.
‘Not really.’ He sighed. ‘Look I need a coffee,’ he’d been a git, surely he could at least have some manners and be a bit welcoming, ‘fancy one?’
‘You’ve no idea how good that sounds, I feel like I’ve done a day’s work already. I’ll pull the van up a bit so you can get in.’
‘So,’ Lucy wrapped her hands round the mug of coffee and stared at him, her head on one side. ‘You’re only here temporarily, like me?’
‘I’m hoping so.’
Her eyes widened. ‘The place is that bad?’
He grinned, he couldn’t help it. ‘No, it’s not bad, but coming back here wasn’t part of my life plan.’
She leant forward conspiratorially. ‘Don’t tell anybody, but it wasn’t on mine either. So, where are you heading next?’
‘Now that is the million dollar question.’ He’d already been doing what he wanted, and when he lost that, for a while he felt like he’d lost everything. ‘Well, when I sold my town centre veterinary practice I had a vague idea of taking a few months off, before setting up somewhere else, faraway. Like Australia.’
‘Oh.’ She looked slightly shocked. ‘Major deviation from the plan then. So, what made you come back here?’
‘Family pressure.’ He gave a wry smile. ‘I hadn’t made any firm plans, and my dad cornered me. He told me about Eric, I thought it would be pretty selfish to refuse. Dad and Eric were big buddies.’
‘Ahh.’
‘He said he was in a real mess, could be off work for months. As Dad pointed out I do know Langtry Meadows and the people, and about running a practice of my own. It was hard to say no.’ But that had just been the beginning of the charm offensive. ‘You’d just be able to walk in and get straight down to it,’ his father had said. ‘This isn’t charity, Charles. The man needs support, and he’d much rather hand the reins over to somebody he knows, than pull in some random Tom, Dick or Harriet vet from an agency. Go and see him. He’s still in hospital.’ And even as he’d tried to object, he knew he hadn’t really got any choice.
‘I bet your dad was pleased, and it sounds like you’re popular in the village.’
‘He was, and so was my mother, she didn’t like the idea of me at a loose end, or going to Australia.’ He knew they cared. But he really hadn’t planned on this, creeping back to the village with his tail between his legs, admitting he’d failed – had lost it all. ‘I wasn’t actually at a loose end,’ they swapped an understanding look, ‘I was considering my options. But you know what mothers can be like.’ He paused, took a gulp of his coffee. ‘I think this is actually more of a trip down memory lane for Dad than me, he misses the place. Started to ramble on, asked me if I remembered the time when Ed Wright had chicken pox and was convinced he had foot and mouth. He said the little idiot was sure they were going to throw him in a pit and cover him with lime, he disappeared up the fields and hid. The whole village had to go out searching for him.’
Lucy giggled, which sent a shiver down his spine. ‘And did you remember?’
‘Did I hell!’ He’d let his father reminisce, let the words flow over him, and wondered