The Pleasures of Spring (20 page)

‘Now we are entering a new phase. Although you might not have noticed, Poppy and I are getting on a bit and we feel that it’s time for us to hand over the reins.’

He glanced across the table. ‘Andrew has never failed to surprise me and this week he has surpassed himself by bringing home a new filly. Roz is a feisty girl and she has proven that she is more than capable of handling my son. I hope that they can look forward to a long, happy run together.’

His speech was followed by applause and the clinking of glasses.

Damn it. Andy’s eyes were suspiciously wet. His father was handing over the estate to him if he wanted it and he didn’t know how he was going to tell him the truth.

He slipped his hand beneath the table seeking Roz’s hand, but had to grit his teeth when she dug her nails into his wrist. She was worse than a feral kitten. What had happened in the hall wasn’t his fault. How the hell was he to
know that Ariana would turn up? Roz might be mad at him, but there was no way that he was putting up with that.

Andy stood up and raised his glass. ‘I’d like you all to join me in a toast – to my darling Roz, who has led me on a merry dance for the past year. May she enjoy everything that Lough Darra has to offer.’

And he would ensure that she did.

He bent his head to kiss her, knowing that she couldn’t refuse without causing the mother of all scenes. Not content with a perfunctory embrace, he took full advantage, teasing her mouth open and flicking his tongue against hers. When he broke the kiss and pulled away, her eyes sparked at him.

‘You’ll pay for this,’ she murmured.

Andy smiled. ‘I fully intend to.’

After lunch, Poppy took some of her guests to see the gardens while his father headed for the stables to show off his latest acquisition. Andy watched as Roz slipped upstairs. He needed to speak to her, but he couldn’t do it now.

‘I hope I didn’t upset your fiancée,’ Ariana said.

‘Do you usually snog a guy at his own engagement party?’ he asked.

She glared at him. ‘It would have been nice to know about that before I made an ass of myself. I got back from Africa last night to a garbled invitation on my machine from Poppy. But nothing at all from you. No hint that you were settling down to play house with someone else.’

Even when they were together, their relationship hadn’t been serious. Ariana had no right to act like this. And
there was no way that he was telling her the truth about his relationship with Roz. ‘Sorry, but your little display was a bit awkward. Roz is new here, she doesn’t know anyone.’

‘Which is about as much as anyone seems to know about her! I never heard of her before today. What’s going on? And before you give me some bullshit answer, this is me, remember? Not some bimbo blonde you picked up in a bar.’

‘I do not pick up bimbos.’

‘Really? Do you give them an IQ test first?’

Her chest heaved. Andy had never seen her in such a temper. She was hurt and jealous and he couldn’t face another woman who was angry with him. ‘Maybe I should have told you first. But things with Roz happened pretty suddenly.’

Like a week ago. Andy closed his eyes when he remembered his first sighting of Roz in the moneylender’s shop. But even if it hadn’t been her, he would never have settled down with Ariana.

‘You told me that you wouldn’t get involved because of your job.’

‘Aye, I did.’ Until now, his life had revolved around blowing up the world or trying to save it. Nothing had changed.

Ariana huffed out a breath. ‘I waited for you. I thought that if I gave you your freedom, you’d eventually come home.’

Something crystallized inside his head. He didn’t want this life. There was nothing for him here. He didn’t want the life that had been mapped out for him by someone
else. He didn’t want to be part of another generation of McTavishes who sacrificed themselves for a few acres of land or a rambling house that had seen better days. Whether she realized it or not, Roz and he were alike. Two halves of the same coin.

‘I’m sorry.’ There was nothing else he could say.

Ariana blinked and nodded. ‘I’m sorry too.’

Andy was tempted to hug her, but that might make things worse. Instead, he patted her on the shoulder. ‘What will you do now?’

‘I’m involved in organizing the big fundraiser next week. I have to hang around for that but afterwards? I don’t know. Go back to Africa, maybe. We won’t meet again.’

He didn’t want their friendship to end like this. ‘You promised Poppy you’d come to dinner tomorrow night.’

Ariana shook her head. ‘That will be the last time.’

She let herself out the front door and didn’t look back.

The following morning Roz was almost grateful when Dougal insisted on taking her out to show her around the estate. Not that she wanted to give the suspicious old man any more opportunities to grill her, but at least it meant she didn’t have to think about Andy and Ariana.

Even their names were a perfect match. Andrew and Ariana. Ariana and Andy. They sounded so good together. Both tall and beautiful and assured.

Roz knew that this interlude with Andy was no more than that, an interlude. She wasn’t his fiancée, had no real claim on him. The sex was amazing, but she had a suspicion that Andy had amazing sex with everyone. He could rock her world, but she wasn’t rocking his.

She had let him spank her, and had enjoyed it. The intensity of the connection between them had been a revelation. When he came to her room, she had surrendered to his command. That had never happened with her before. Andy did something that no one else could. He had gotten under her skin, and she had to get him out.

Dougal stamped along beside her, leaning on a stick but holding his own weight. For all that he complained about being slow, he kept up a fair pace, refusing to allow his weakness to prevent him doing what he wanted. An elderly greyhound trotted along beside him, a silent shadow to her master.

Fortunately for her, Dougal wasn’t any more loquacious outside than he was at the table. He led her out through the walled yard. ‘Chicken coop,’ he said, pointing at a wooden house on stilts. There was a fence around it, but the gate was open, and a couple of dozen hens were dotted around the field, pecking at the ground and occasionally chasing each other. One pulled a worm out of the soil and ate with enthusiasm.

She had never considered where eggs really came from, beyond refusing to buy eggs from battery farms, and had never seen real hens with her own eyes. ‘Can I have a look inside?’ she asked.

‘Sure.’ Dougal held the greyhound’s collar to stop her following Roz. She climbed up the little gangway plank into the wooden coop. Inside were rows of hay-filled boxes, two of which had eggs sitting in them. She touched one. It was warm. An egg so fresh it was still warm from the hen. A hen sitting in a box in the corner clucked threateningly at Roz, so she didn’t approach any closer.

There was something soothing about the smell and dim light. This was real.

She climbed out, blinking in the sun, and allowed Dougal to show her around.

The kitchen garden was huge, full of vegetables that she had never seen growing before. Roz was wide-eyed at the sight of cauliflowers, cabbage, broccoli, beetroot and carrots. ‘What is that?’ She pointed at the green bushes that dominated one side of the garden.

Dougal gave her an odd look. ‘Potatoes.’

Damn, she was giving herself away. ‘I grew up in London, we never grew our own food.’

He led her out to the fields surrounding the house. ‘These are our dairy cows, Holsteins and Jerseys. They supply all our milk for drinking, butter, cheese and plenty left over to sell to the dairy. I’ll show you the milking parlour later.’

There were beef cattle, goats, sheep and deer.

She loved the orchard and couldn’t resist a wistful thought that Lough Darra would be a great place to live. There was something about it that appealed to her. The slow pace, the predictability of it, was completely different from her usual life.

Andy was so lucky. And he had no idea how lucky he was. He took this life for granted.

‘Did you enjoy riding Minty?’ Dougal asked, showing that in spite of his talk about retiring, he knew everything that went on.

What could she say that wouldn’t blow her cover? ‘It was good. I was out of practice, so Andy put me through the basics again.’

Dougal grunted.

There was no sign of Andy when she got back to the house. It was no business of hers where he was, she reminded herself fiercely. He was a free agent, able to spend time with anyone he liked.

She spent the afternoon posing for Poppy, who insisted on painting her until it was time to change for dinner.

The dining room was full of glitter and colour when she arrived downstairs. Damn it, her beautifully cut navy blue dress was just a shade too conservative. The men were in
black dinner jackets and the women wore slinky silk dresses and sparkling jewels.

Poppy, resplendent in black satin and pearls, came forwards to greet her. ‘My dear, you look so elegant. Come and meet your future neighbours.’

Of course Ariana was there, wearing a white dress which showed off her tan, and what looked like a fortune in diamonds. She greeted Roz warmly and introduced her to a string of local girls and their brothers.

How many of the girls had Andy slept with? Roz wondered. It was none of her business.

She sat beside Andy at dinner, with Ariana on his other side.

She was starving, but waited to see what spoon everyone else picked up before she started to eat. As usual, the soup was wonderful.

When she tuned back into the conversation, Ariana had the table rolling around in laughter.

‘Once, when I was eating in a tribal chief’s house in Namibia, I tried to stick a fork into what turned out to be a sheep’s eyeball and ended up flipping it at him.’

Andy laughed. ‘Why am I not surprised? You were always a klutz. Remember the time you tripped up when you were getting your prize from the Dean and ended up pulling his trousers down?’

A dark haired man with a Northern accent so strong Roz had difficulty understanding it, joined in. ‘You can pull mine down any day.’

Ariana narrowed her eyes at him. ‘Another comment like that, Rory Baxter, and I’m telling your mother about you and the Hayes twins.’

Rory threw up his hands in defeat. ‘Please, not that. My mother is terrifying, the worst example of an Irish mammy I’ve ever met.’

‘I’ll back my Irish mammy against yours any day,’ Ariana said. ‘Andy has no idea how lucky he is to have Poppy.’

‘You haven’t seen her when she’s annoyed,’ Andy said. ‘Were you there the time she was judging at the gymkhana and someone beat a pony? I thought blood would flow.’

The banter flowed around the table, and Roz could feel herself becoming invisible. She had nothing to contribute to the conversation. These people all knew each other, had a history together. It was Ariana who noticed her silence. ‘So tell us what you got up to when you were at college? I’m so jealous of you going to La Sorbonne. You must be fabulous at languages.’

This was worse. Every eye turned to her, waiting for stories of life at a French university. Roz shrugged. ‘It was uni, you know. Nothing special except it was in French.’

Ariana gave her a funny look. ‘Yes, I suppose most unis are much the same,’ she said with a smile. ‘What were you studying?’

Crap, crap, crap. Was Ariana suspicious? What could she say? Her mind blanked. ‘Philosophy,’ she managed.

‘Oh, I’d love to know what the French make of Bishop Berkeley,’ Ariana sighed.

Who was that? Why the hell hadn’t she said computer science? She could talk about computers without making a fool of herself.

She concentrated on her plate and listened to the conversation. Rory was a civil rights lawyer in Belfast, Ariana
headed up an agency which worked for famine relief. Roz couldn’t even hate them with a clear conscience.

It wasn’t their fault. They were perfectly nice people who had grown up together and had known each other all their lives. She was the interloper, the one who didn’t belong. And she didn’t want to be here, it was all Andy’s fault for dragging her along.

He didn’t owe her anything. She was probably getting in the way of his affair with Ariana. He was keeping her safe until Hall was arrested. He wasn’t really her fiancé. She was just being stupid.

Of course, ignoring him like this was making her conspicuous. She could feel the eyes on her, wondering what Andy McTavish could see in her. She was the stranger, the one who didn’t fit in. At least he could pretend to be in love with her.

Instead he was flirting with Ariana who would probably end up winning a Nobel peace prize, and Isobel and the other girl whose name she couldn’t remember.

Her anger grew as the meal progressed. When the coffee was being served, she fumbled the cream jug. A trail of pale liquid spattered across the front of the navy dress. It was the last straw. She excused herself, went to her room and changed into a clinging red dress that displayed all her curves in loving detail. She might not have grown up with a silver spoon in her mouth, but she had her own talents. And it was time Andy got a taste of them. She’d show him that she didn’t care. She’d have every man in the room at her feet.

By the time she was ready, coffee was finished and the
guests had moved into the large sitting room. Poppy had told her earlier that she was going to clear the space in the centre of the room to allow room for dancing.

This house was so old-fashioned that Roz wouldn’t have been surprised to find Poppy had imported a string quartet to provide the music, but she could hear ‘So What’ on the other side of the door. Unless Pink had been invited, it was courtesy of a modern sound system. Of course, it was entirely possibly that someone like Poppy was best friends with Pink.

Roz smoothed her dress over her hips, making sure that her tightened bra made the best of her boobs. She checked her reflection in the big mirror in the hall. Her eye shadow was smoky, her lashes ridiculously long and her mouth was scarlet.

Breathe, breathe, breathe. She was Roz Spring. She was a goddess.

Time for action.

Roz pushed the door open wide, waited for three heart beats and walked into the room. No, she didn’t walk, she stalked in, allowing the height of her heels to make her hips sway seductively. She moved deliberately, allowing the men to see her as she made her way to the sound system.

Andy was there, chatting to Lily and Ariana. No, not chatting, flirting. She could read body language, and she knew when women wanted a man. They were welcome to him.

‘Can you put on ‘Halo’ by Beyoncé?’ she asked the awe-struck blond guy who had a stack of CDs.

He stuttered something and dropped two discs before he fumbled one into the slot.

Yes, it was working. It was amazing. This guy had been sitting opposite her at dinner and had barely noticed her. One red dress, a slick of lipstick and a new attitude later, he was practicably slobbering.

Roz had never understood what it was that men saw when they looked at her. She had the normal bits of any other woman, breasts a bit smaller than she’d have liked, hips a bit bigger, lips an odd shape. She liked her legs which were lean, but worried that the calves were too muscular. All ordinary. When she was running a scam, she could look like Ms Average. She could blend into the background.

But when she put on her Domme attitude, she could reduce men to a quivering heap.

Andy thought she was some helpless girl who needed his protection? She’d show him how much she needed his attention.

The beat began and she sauntered out into the centre of the improvised dance floor. She spotted Rory chatting to Brenda, who was gazing up at him with rapt attention. She caught his eye and beckoned him over.

As if mesmerized, he abandoned Brenda and went straight to her side. ‘You look amazing,’ he told Roz.

‘Thank you,’ she said throatily. ‘You’re looking pretty hot yourself. Do you like to dance?’

‘Love it,’ he said, and took her into his arms. With her five-inch heels, she was almost on eye-level with him. She didn’t allow him to pull her too close, but swayed slowly to the beat. As she danced, she smiled at him. ‘You dance well.’

He was dazzled. She knew from experience that if she
had ordered him to his knees, he would obey. This wasn’t the time or place, but she had him. When the music ended, she pulled away from him slowly.

She allowed her eyes to drift around the crowd. Every man in the room was looking at her. She caught glances and subtly indicated that they could approach her. Ten seconds later, she was in the centre of a masculine crowd, all vying for her notice.

Andy kept one eye on Roz as he pretended to pay attention to his elderly aunt. He should have known he’d pay for Ariana’s little stunt at lunch the other day. Roz had frozen him out – completely.