Kiss and Tell (73 page)

Her heart gave a timely lurch as Beccy’s iPhone burst into life beside her with strains of ‘Two Souls’; it was the ringtone she had
designated to Rory on her old Samsung. Picking up the phone to pass to her friend, Faith was surprised to see a photograph of Lough lighting up the screen.

‘Aren’t you going to answer that, Becs?’ Lemon struck a pose and flicked his wig.

Beccy had turned pale. ‘No. It’s nobody I want to speak to.’ ‘Two Souls’ abruptly stopped.

They all jumped as somebody banged loudly on the bedroom door.

‘Come in!’ Lemon giggled nervously.

Lough walked in, his face as stormy as a thundercloud over Mount Cook.

‘Oh, shit. I can explain …’ Donatella went into sharp reverse, but there was nowhere to hide.

Barely affording his cross-dressing groom a second glance, Lough held up a hand to silence him, his phone still gripped in it. ‘What you do in your spare time’s your concern, Lemon – just don’t let the horses see you like that. Beccy, we need to talk.’

She was cowering in a corner, wearing a feather boa and a sulky expression.

‘What about?’

‘I’d rather this was in private.’

‘Well I’d rather not,’ she answered, her voice brittle.

‘Then we can talk in front of your friends if you’d prefer.’

‘No!’ she wailed, and to his alarm burst into tears.

Glaring accusingly at Lough, Faith jumped up and put her arms around Beccy. ‘Now isn’t the time for this, whatever it’s about.’

‘Tell him to leave me alone!’ Beccy pleaded, burying her face in Faith’s side.

Lough hesitated, clearly thrown by the girls’ reaction. Even the daft-looking curly-haired dog was barking at him now.

‘You’ve upset Karma!’ Beccy sobbed.

When he didn’t immediately leave, Faith passed the shaking, sobbing Beccy into the arms of Lemon and marched up to Lough, backing him out of the room and into the dark corridor.

‘This way,’ she hissed, jerking her head for him to follow her into the kitchen where the debris of an Indian takeaway littered every surface.

‘I need to speak with her,’ Lough demanded quietly.

‘She’s in a bad way,’ Faith whispered, her eyes narrowing. ‘Whatever this is about can wait.’

‘Says who?’

Faith cursed under her breath, fixing him with a determined stare that could twist lesser men’s scrotums. She pushed the kitchen door to behind her.

‘It’s taken us weeks to get her to start to open up again,’ she whispered, running a hand through her frizzy hair so that it stood up on end. ‘Tonight has been a breakthrough. Don’t fuck that up by laying into her about turning one of your horses out in the wrong rug or some other shit. She’s on a hair trigger.’

‘So, funnily enough, am I,’ he fumed. ‘Now tell her to dry her eyes and come in here, and we can sort this out quietly and calmly.’

Faith wasn’t about to be intimidated. ‘Sort what out?’

He hissed through his teeth. ‘Let’s start with deliberate deceit, misrepresentation, impersonating someone el—’

‘Fine!’ she cut in angrily. ‘Not as serious as murder, then?’

Lough’s expression darkened.

‘Or sexual assault?’ a voice spoke from the door, making them both jump. Lemon had quickly changed back into jeans and washed away Donatella, although he still had mascara stains under his eyes.

Faith shot him a warning look, but he ignored her.

Lough’s dark eyes were wide with shock. ‘Sexual assault?’

Lem nodded. ‘Beccy was assaulted at New Year.’

‘She doesn’t want anyone to know,’ Faith reminded him in a whisper. ‘Where is she?’

‘In the bathroom.’

She pushed past him to check, pausing to whisper in his ear. ‘Don’t say another word until I get back.’

As soon as she was out of the room Lemon closed the door and leant against it, his panda eyes regarding Lough intently. ‘You’ll have to excuse Faith. She gets pretty defensive around her friends, yeah, especially when they’ve been through a hard time.’

‘Christ!’ Lough felt a blast of concern and anger run through him. ‘Was Beccy hurt?’

‘Only up there.’ Lemon tapped his head. ‘But Beccy’s pretty sensitive up there.’

‘So I’m finding out.’ He blew out through his lips, trying not to
think about those amazing, electric texts. ‘Do you know who assaulted her?’

Lemon’s eyes hardened. ‘Hugo,’ he breathed. ‘It was Hugo.’

Lough started in surprise. He saw the man as an incorrigible player, but assault wasn’t his style. ‘Are you sure?’

His little groom looked belligerent. ‘Beccy might think it was all star-crossed stuff, but that’s bullshit. Yeah, and maybe she led him on, but he took advantage of her.’

Lough imagined the enticement from Beccy, and the thought saddened him. He wondered if she sent Hugo texts too. She was clearly out of control, but that was no excuse for what Hugo had done, both to her and to his family. ‘Poor bloody Tash,’ he breathed.

‘Poor Beccy,’ Lemon countered in an angry hiss. ‘Hugo thinks he can pick up anything he likes and drop it again, not caring whose lives he destroys in the process. Somebody needs to teach him a lesson.’

‘Not me.’ Lough shook his head.

‘Why not? I thought that’s why you came here.’

Lough was still shaking his head. ‘I’ve destroyed enough lives myself,’ he said with feeling. ‘I came here to save one. I thought I was invited. Turns out I was wrong.’

‘So are we going home?’ Lemon asked hopefully.

Lough gazed out of the little kitchen window, across the cobbled yards, frosted white and lamp-lit by the moon, and ran his eyes along the darkened upper windows of Haydown, wondering if one was shielding Tash from the cold.

He contemplated going back to New Zealand, even if that meant facing the demons he’d left behind. It was the obvious solution. Nothing was as it seemed here; he felt as though he had walked into a hall of mirrors. But when he had left Auckland, he’d barely been able to face his own reflection. At least here the demons had new faces, and he was too close to something he had wanted for so long to turn around and leave it behind.

He had to protect her from Hugo. The man was a monster. He had to protect them all.

‘We’re staying.’

They could hear Faith banging on the bathroom door, insisting that Beccy had been in there long enough and demanding she come out.

‘I’d better check they’re okay.’ Lemon turned away.

As soon as he’d left the room Lough reached for his phone and sent her a text, knowing for the first time that it wasn’t her at all.

Beccy, let’s forget this ever happened. I don’t know why you did it, but I’m glad you did. It saw me through. It brought me here. It brought me salvation. Now you and I must forget and keep confidence
.
L

Just two letters came back from the depths of the bathroom.
OK
.

As he walked back to the lodge cottage, Lough edited the number in his phone from ‘Tash’ to ‘Beccy’. Then, one by one, deleted the stored texts.

His mind kept returning to that night with Hugo, before he’d been misled into thinking Tash was the one replying to his messages.

‘She’s all yours,’ Hugo had told him.

She had been his guiding light in recent weeks, that drunken bet taking on life-changing proportions. Since arriving in the UK Lough had seen the way Tash struggled on a daily basis to hold her family together, to temper Hugo’s waywardness and to overcome her nerves, yet her fortitude and kindness never faltered. She remained the only truly innocent one among them all. To Lough, she seemed to grow more beautiful with each day that passed.

He wanted to win the bet more than ever.

Much later, Beccy lay in her bed clutching Karma, debating whether or not to run away. She could be packed and gone by morning. Nobody would miss her. She had screwed it up with Hugo and now she’d screwed it up with Lough.

That he was willing to forgive and forget brought no real relief to the scalding shame and loss she felt. She’d been so childish to mislead him, and yet she’d sensed a real bond. Now that had been completely destroyed, she was lonelier than ever.

She got up and paced her room, uncertain what to do. She could hear Lemon’s music two rooms away. He must still be awake.

Padding through the flat, she knocked on his door.

When he opened it, looking comfortingly cuddly in purple pyjamas, his eyelashes still smoky with mascara, she stifled a sob. ‘Can I please have a hug?’

Lemon didn’t really do hugs, but he made an exception; it would be easier to handle than yet more tears. Having been in touch with
his feminine side tonight, he was feeling conciliatory. He even dropped a comforting kiss into her hair.

Safe in his arms, Beccy decided to stay.

Chapter 48

When Tash rode into the indoor school at lunchtime the following day, Lough was already in there on his big ugly bay mare, Tinks. He barely nodded hello, warming up alongside her as though they were both going to work around one another in silence as usual. Then he came up and started to ride with her.

‘Breathe in with the stride beat, out with the beat, feel your pelvis lowering. That’s it. Track left.’

‘Lough, about Beccy—’

‘It’s sorted.’

‘But I—’

‘Forget about it. I have sorted it. Now use the leg yield to open your hips more. Follow me across the arena. Great.’

Together their horses’ hooves created parallel geometric patterns in the silica sand as they rode circles and diagonals.

‘Relax your knees and try to connect more from your seat-bones to the front of your pelvis – that’s fantastic.’

Within half an hour, Tash and River were beginning to rediscover the connection that had taken them around the biggest four-star tracks. The mare’s ears flopped obediently in front of Tash as she relaxed and listened, and the smile on her rider’s face widened with delight.

‘You’re a great teacher.’ She looked across at Lough. ‘I can line up lots more clients for you.’ It would be a lucrative source of extra income.

‘I don’t want any more clients,’ he told her tersely. ‘I hate teaching.’

‘What’s this then?’

‘Essential maintenance.’ He gave a ghost of a smile. It was the closest he had come to a joke.

Back on the yard, she leaned over his stable door. ‘I’m going to
be inviting some eventing mates to supper over the next couple of weeks to meet you.’

‘I’m not much good in company.’ He didn’t look up from removing Tinks’s boots.

‘They’re all good fun, I promise. It’s the least I can do after you’ve helped me.’

‘You wait. I’ve hardly started.’

He was waiting for her in the school at exactly the same time the next day. And the next. His poker-faced cool was a far cry from the chatty, gossipy coaches she usually favoured, but the effect he had on her riding was undeniable. By day four, she found herself watching the clock all morning to make sure she was there on time.

He worked his horses hard and he expected her to keep up, but his calm encouragement stopped her busy head panicking and started to produce results as Tash and her horses relaxed. Small talk wasn’t allowed, nor jokey self-deprecation – Tash’s standard defence mechanisms. With her entire focus on her horse, she started to ride out of her skin.

All the time, Beetroot sat loyally on the sidelines, fading old eyes seeing what her mistress couldn’t. This man meant business. In his quiet way, he was taking over the yard.

Tash did notice a change in Beccy, however. She was getting up as early as possible to do yard work, wearing her hoodie up and her iPod earphones in at all times, head down and eyes averted. She had also started going walkabout again, leaving Lemon and the part-timers to cover her absences.

‘Please tell me what’s been going on between you and Lough,’ said Tash when she managed to corner her one afternoon. ‘I want to help.’

‘It’s nothing. We’re cool.’ Beccy was giving nothing away, apart from a blush that told Tash there was more to it than anyone was letting on.

‘That’s a relief.’ She eyed her stepsister disbelievingly, knowing from experience that it would be nigh on impossible to get past her defence shield. But she had another tactic. ‘In that case, I’ve got a few drinks and suppers lined up to introduce Lough to the locals and I wondered if you could lend a hand?’

Beccy’s blush deepened. ‘I’m doing stuff with Lem. Sorry.’

‘What, every evening?’

‘Pretty much.’

‘You two are very close these days.’ Tash wondered if that had something to do with the disagreement with Lough, but at least any misunderstanding now seemed forgiven.

Beccy shifted awkwardly, now crimson in the face. ‘He’s fun.’

Tash had never quite caught onto Lemon’s brand of humour, but she was genuinely pleased that Beccy had a close friend and an active social life; she was looking forward to reactivating her own.

‘How are the horses?’ Lots of background noise. Hugo was on the Interstate, travelling to a show venue to present a demonstration.

‘Great. Took six to Kelvin’s gallops today and they all felt the benefit.’ No need to tell him she’d chickened out of riding, leaving that to Lough and Lemon.

‘Started jumping yet?’

‘Just out hacking. Logs and things.’

‘Got to move things up a gear – season’s not far off. I hear you’ve got Mary and Charles for supper tomorrow.’ He had clearly been speaking to Gus. ‘Give them my love.’

‘And the children?’

‘What?’

‘Do they get your love, too?’

‘Goes without saying.’

‘No it doesn’t,’ Tash complained, but he had already hung up.

Thrilled to have a social life again, Tash brought in the local set to introduce to Lough – the Moncrieffs, the Stantons, the hunting set like the Cubitts and Oare-Austens, farming families Bell and Carroll, local trainer Kelvin Meech, beloved clients past and present such as the Seatons, Elf Reddihough, Lord and Lady Buckland and even the dreaded Venetia, who turned up in tight leather jeans and a see-through top, much to Lord Buckland’s delight.

Lough was a reticent but polite guest and remained understated throughout. He arrived on time, left early and spoke little. That didn’t stop Tash’s guests all being quite bewitched by this taciturn talent from the other side of the world, a reclusive world champion who had won Olympic silver. They found him wildly sexy and issued invitations to parties, hunt balls and charity fund-raisers, all of which he declined. Tash found him very difficult to mix, like absinthe.