Pathway to Tomorrow (16 page)

Trying hard to stop her voice from trembling, she shouted at the shadow in the trees. “Whatever you’re doing, it’s trespassing. This is private property and I’ll call the police if you don’t come out right away.”

Marcus came out smiling and holding his hands up in surrender. Jodie took one look at him and burst into tears of fright mixed with relief. “You shouldn’t have done that,” she sobbed as he gathered her into his arms.

* * *

Much later, over breakfast, they smiled at one another while Izzie scolded them for not waking her up.

“I can’t believe I slept through everything,” she moaned. “It’s like something out of a fairy story…you know, brave princess determined to save her beloved horse only to find out that the intruder is her long lost prince.”

“Except I’m not lost,” Marcus pointed out.

“You might as well have been for all we’ve seen of you recently. When can we come to London again Marcus?”

“Whenever you like.”

“What about next weekend then?”

Jodie shook her head. “Marcus is going to America on Friday, and besides your exams start on the following Monday.”

She looked glum. “Two whole weeks of slog but…hey…then it’ll all be over and we can visit Marcus and Luke for as long as we like.”

“We could if I didn’t have a riding school to run,” Jodie finished her toast and began to stack the breakfast dishes. Marcus stopped her.

“I’ll finish that while you go and do horsey things with Carol.”

Izzie stared at them. “You’re going to take the day off aren’t you? You’re going to play hooky while I sit in school being bored to tears because all we’re doing is going over everything I know already.”

“It’s a tough life,” agreed Marcus with a grin. “You’ll get over it though, and later on you can sing for me. The studio is all but ready now so we can try it out.”

Her smile was like the sun coming out. “Deal! Have a good day.”

They listened to her feet thumping on the stairs as she went to fetch her books. Then Marcus gave a mock frown. “You heard what the lady said…if we’re to have a good day then you need to talk to your assistant manager sooner rather than later.”

“I’m going…I’m going,” but although Jodie moved swiftly across to the door, she wasn’t fast enough to evade Marcus. Nor did she want to. Instead she gave herself up to his kisses, only pulling away when she heard Izzie slam her bedroom door.

* * *

When they eventually walked down the lane from the stables to where Marcus had parked his car, it felt strange. Apart from their evening at Casa Minelli and a few stolen moments when Izzie and Luke were busy, they had spent very little time alone together.

“Where shall we go?” he asked as he opened the passenger door.

“Let’s visit your house. I can’t see it from the bridleway now all the laurel bushes have been planted, so I don’t know how close it is to completion.”

He shook his head decisively. “I didn’t drive over three hundred miles to drink builder’s tea and listen to Bill’s long list of complaints. You’ll have to come up with something better than that Jodie.”

“You could make some real coffee while we’re there,” she teased, remembering the face he’d pulled when he tasted the mug of instant coffee she’d handed him earlier that morning.

He grinned at her. “Not even that can tempt me. How about the Lake District? We can be there in an hour or so but it’s still far enough away from anyone we know for me to have you all to myself.”

* * *

By mid-morning, arms entwined, they were strolling along the banks of Derwentwater.  Smooth as glass, it shimmered in the late spring sunshine. In the distance they could see people in brightly colored life jackets paddling canoes, while closer to the shore a flotilla of ducks squabbled over scraps of bread.

Later, they pulled one another up a wooded slope, leaving the lake behind them as they searched for somewhere to sit and enjoy the spectacular scenery. Long before they found it though, Marcus tumbled Jodie into a grassy hollow that was hidden from view by the green fronds of new fern and the black skeletons of dried heather.

“I thought walking by the lake would be enough, but I was wrong,” he told her, supporting his weight with his hands as he leaned over her.

She smiled up at him, her eyes dark as sloes in the shadow of the ferns. He felt his breath hitch in his throat as he claimed her mouth. This wasn’t how he’d imagined their first time but he wasn’t strong enough to fight it, not when she was so eager and willing and the sun was so warm on his back. With a muttered oath he sat up and pulled his T-shirt over his head.

The touch of Jodie’s fingers as she stroked his shoulders was the final straw. He covered her hands, stilling them. “Only if you’re sure Jodie. It doesn’t have to be like this.”

“Yes it does,” her voice was soft as she pulled her hands free, sat up, and unbuttoned her polo shirt.

He helped her take it off and then he unhooked her bra, releasing breasts that put his imagination to shame. He didn’t touch her though. Instead he removed the band at the end of her plait and gently unwound her hair until it tumbled down her back in blue-black waves.

“I’ve wanted to do that ever since I first saw you,” he whispered, tangling his fingers in the thick skeins and pulling her towards him. He took his time after that, savoring her lips and the soft curves of her body before lying down and lifting her above him so the thick curtain of her hair screened them both from view. Then he took her nipples into his mouth and kissed them from pink to a moist, beckoning red.

Lost to everything around them they didn’t hear the voices until a small black and white dog burst through the ferns and started barking. Ignoring the angry commands of its owner, it darted at them, trying to nip them with its sharp little teeth.

With a muffled exclamation Marcus struck out at it. A lucky blow sent it yelping back to its master, and moments later they heard laughter as a group of hikers speculated about what sort of animal it had disturbed in the undergrowth.

Lying in one another’s arms, Jodie and Marcus waited in vain for them to go away. When they heard them settling down to eat the sandwiches they were carrying in their rucksacks, Jodie got an attack of the giggles. Smothering the sound against Marcus’ shoulder, she began to hiccup.

With a grin he did the only thing he could think of to stop her. He wrapped his arms around her and started kissing her again, and he carried on kissing her right through the sandwiches and the apples that followed. He didn’t stop until the last sandwich bag had been collected and the dog had been called to heel. He didn’t stop until the voices faded into the distance and they were alone again, but by then it was too late. The sun had gone in, rain clouds were threatening, and Jodie was shivering.

With a wry smile he helped her into her clothes and handed back the hair band he’d stuffed into his pocket. Then he pulled on his own T-shirt while she swiftly pleated her hair into a neat plait.

As they retraced their steps back to the car park he slipped his arm around her shoulders. “Sorry Jodie. I guess making love to you amongst the ferns wasn’t one of my best ideas.”

Snuggling against him for warmth, she gave a soft laugh. “I wouldn’t say that…after all we did discover a very effective cure for hiccup
s.”

Chapter Twenty

Later, sitting opposite to one another at a table in an ancient waterside inn, they ate local venison and toffee pudding, and laughed at what had so nearly happened to them.

“The headlines wouldn’t have done your career much good,” Jodie teased as she scooped up the last of her dessert.

“Which one? The one that says ‘Composer caught in flagrante in ferns’ or the one that says ‘the musician caught making love to a beautiful woman protested that he couldn’t stop himself because she’s the love of his life.’

“The second one,” Jodie’s voice was barely a whisper as she reached for his hand.

Their fingers clasped, they waited while the waitress cleared the table and took Marcus’ order for some freshly percolated coffee. Once they were alone again he leaned forward and brushed an errant strand of hair away from Jodie’s face. “You do know I mean it, don’t you?”

She nodded, but her eyes were full of pain and she pulled her hand free as the waitress returned. “We needed today Marcus…but that’s all it is…a day. One day and then it’s work again, and Izzie and Luke, and fighting to find enough time to sleep.”

He stirred his coffee thoughtfully. “It wouldn’t be like that if you married me…well the fighting to find enough time to sleep might be if you were sleeping in my bed…but everything else would be better. Izzie and Luke would soon accept their new life, and I would be able to look after you instead of watching you work your fingers to the bone.”

When he looked at her, her eyes were brimming with unshed tears. He took her hand again. “Is that a yes?”

She shook her head. “It’s a no! I love you and I want to keep seeing you, but I can’t marry you. I can’t give up my home and my job at the riding school either. It’s just…it’s not an option.”

“Okay, I accept it’s probably too soon to think about it now, but later, when my house is finished and Luke and I are settled, will you think about it then? I’ll even have a stable built for Buckmaster…and before you shout at me, I’m not trying to buy you. I know you come as a package…you, Izzie and that damned horse!”

“It’s not that. It’s me,” she interrupted him with a shake of her head. “I can’t marry you Marcus. Not now. Not ever.”

“But why?”

“Because I’ll never be able to trust you.  My mother trusted people and they all let her down; my father, my stepfather, the man she was living with when she died, me…I let her down too.” The tears had spilled over now. She scrubbed at her face with a crumpled paper napkin and blew her nose. Then she pushed back her chair and went to the restroom.

Marcus had settled the bill by the time she returned and was waiting for her by the open door. He wasn’t looking at the picturesque scene in front of him though. Instead he was trying, unsuccessfully, to curb his anger. As soon as she joined him he pulled her outside and marched her across to the car. Opening the passenger door he waited for her to climb in and then slammed it shut.

“You can’t live your life like that,” he said as he climbed into the driver’s seat. “I’m not the men your mother knew and you’re not your mother. You’re strong Jodie, and brave, and determined. Surely you don’t think I would do anything to destroy that. I just want to love you and share my life with you. I didn’t think I’d ever feel this way again, but I do. When Lucia died I lost my faith in the whole of the human race for a while, but I got over it, so why can’t you.”

She hunched away from him, trying to escape from the hurt and anger in his voice, and when she finally answered him she was crying again. “I just can’t. I know I’m being unfair to you and I’m sorry. I do love you and I’ll do anything you want except that. I’ll readjust my work, delegate things, find more time for you…for us…but I won’t give up my job, and I won’t marry you.”

With a muttered exclamation he pulled her towards him and buried his face in her hair. He wanted to be angry with her. He wanted to shake some sense into her, but he couldn’t because he recognized her pain. He’d had enough therapy after his wife’s death to know Jodie’s fears were irrational. What he didn’t know was what he could do about them.

He tried again. “Look, I know it’s too soon to think about marriage so I promise not to mention it again if you promise to stop crying. Three times is more than enough for one day.”

She lifted her head and gave him a watery smile. “If you told Izzie how often you’ve seen me cry she wouldn’t believe you. She’s never seen me cry, not once.”

He stared at her in disbelief as he remembered the histrionics that had been part and parcel of his marriage to Lucia. “Never?”

She shook her head. “I cried a lot when my mother died but after that something seemed to dry up inside me and I never cried again until I met you.”

“You still haven’t told me exactly how she died.”

“She was driving too fast, late at night, when she plowed into the back of a parked truck. She was killed outright. Izzie should have been too, except she was lying asleep on the back seat so she missed being crushed by the wreckage.”

“But I thought you said she was in a terrible state when you eventually got to her.”

“She was, but it wasn’t physical. She walked away from the crash without a scratch. It was the shock of waking up in a tangled mass of metal and seeing her mother dying in front of her that unhinged her. It’s why she has such trouble sleeping.”

A car horn blared loudly behind them. Glancing in the mirror Marcus saw the driver of a large black car waiting for his parking space. With an apologetic wave he buckled his seat belt and drove out of the car park. He continued for several miles until he saw a wooded clearing beside a different lake. Indicating, he pulled in and cut the engine; then he turned and looked at Jodie.