Chapter 4
Chapter Four
T eddy followed me into the livery yard where I kept Pluto. It was a busy Saturday morning and the hive of female horse owners turned in unison to watch him wheel his broken bike along beside us, staring open-mouthed like I’d just brought some international rock star back with me. I didn’t need to look at him to know that he was flashing knicker-dropping smiles left, right, and centre, as the appreciative expressions from all around told me everything I needed to know. Why did he still have to be such a flirt?
“You never told me that the stables would be such a hot bed of women, Hannah,” he said over the stable door, as I put Pluto away and began taking off his saddle and bridle, checking him over again for any injuries or anomalies, other than the lost shoe.
Not dignifying that comment with an answer, I busied myself with making my horse comfortable, flicking a brush over his body and ensuring he had enough hay and water. With my back turned, Teddy had left his bike outside and come into the stable, and was now cautiously stroking Pluto on the neck.
“Right, Teddy, you can see I’m fine so you don’t need to hang around here any longer. Don’t you have a home to go to?”
Irritation bristled with every word. I couldn’t put a finger on the exact reason this unexpected encounter had rattled me so much, but I was more on edge than I had been in a very long time, and desperate to be alone so I could work my way out of the whole-body funk he was subjecting me to.
“He feels so soft. I’ve never touched a horse before,” Teddy whispered distractedly. Pluto turned his head, blowing warm, sweet breath over Teddy’s face. It made him laugh and he stepped back slightly. “Is that him telling me he likes me? Or that he wants to eat me?”
“Pluto likes everyone – he’s not discerning,” I muttered, teeth gritted.
“Pluto? You’re pretty nice, huh?” Teddy said quietly, gazing at my horse with a sort of reverential expression.
“So … home? You do have one, right?” I ground out, ushering him from the stable and back into the bright sunshine.
“I do, yes, but I’m quite a long way from my house. I don’t suppose you could give me a lift, could you? Since you’re the one responsible for my broken bike?”
“Me?!” I retorted with an incredulous snorting, equine-like noise.
“I’d say so, yes. A lift is the least you can do.” He had crossed his arms over his chest, which was fairly expansive in the Lycra T-shirt he was wearing. Was he intentionally flexing his biceps?
I mirrored his stance, narrowing my eyes at him. “I’d say you were one hundred per cent the cause of the accident, actually.”
Teddy bit his lip, clearly trying not to laugh at my haughty tone.
“I’d say it was more like sixty–forty, in favour of me,” he countered smoothly.
“Maths was never your strong point.”
He just grinned in response.
“You’re not going to make me walk all the way home, are you? I’m bleeding, and town is miles and miles away. Especially since I’ve been such a gentleman and escorted you and Pluto back safely.” Then he pouted. A full-on Victoria Beckham pout. It should have been ridiculous, but it just made him more gorgeous.
How is that even possible? Infuriating man!
“Fine,” I replied, purposefully turning my back on him and marching around to where I’d parked my car.
What else could I do? Because, even though every cell in my body was screaming that I should be getting away from him as quickly as possible, and that being around him was dangerous and foolish, he did have a point. I couldn’t leave him stranded, could I? I’d just have to reawaken my inner ice queen, which shouldn’t be too hard if I let myself think about my school days and how miserable I’d been the last time I’d seen him. I could do this; I could be around Teddy Fraser again and not succumb to his overt charm and epic levels of sexual potency, right? I bloody hoped so.
“Hannah, what is all this stuff in your boot? Do you live in your car?” Teddy was scratching his head as he stared into the cavernous, yet overflowing recesses of the back of my car. “Where will I put my bike?”
“I’m a veterinary surgeon, Teddy. This is all the equipment that I have to cart around with me in order to treat sick or injured animals,” I replied, accompanied by an exaggerated and decisively condescending eyeroll.
Oh yes, the ice queen has cometh.
He looked over at me. Was that admiration on his face?
“You’re a vet?”
“Yes.”
“Wow. Ok, well, I guess I can take my bike to bits and put it on your back seat?”
“Fine.”
Taking a small multi tool out of the zipped pocket of his shorts, he began to quickly dismantle the bike. His deft fingers made light work of the nuts and bolts, muscular forearms flexing as he stacked the bike’s component parts into a more compact heap. He dusted himself off then neatly loaded everything on top of a plastic horse feed sack inside my car, looking altogether very pleased with himself.
Sliding into the driver’s side, I glanced at Teddy as he made himself comfortable, shooting the passenger seat backwards to make room for his long legs. I couldn’t help but stare until he caught me, his face breaking into a mischievous grin. The car suddenly seemed very small and stifling.
“Since you’re a medical professional, have you got anything in your supplies to treat my injuries?” he asked, now twisting his upper body to look at me as I put the key in the ignition.
“I’m a vet. I don’t treat humans.”
“Oh, ok. But you could just patch me up a bit though, right?”
“No.”
“Please, I think I may need stitches.”
“You don’t need stitches.”
“See, you know what you’re talking about, Hannah. Please? I’d be really grateful? And imagine how bad you’d feel if I died of leg gangrene.”
“Leg gangrene?”
“Yes, or whole-body sepsis.”
“You’re so dramatic.” I paused and observed the pleading look he was giving me, complete with puppy dog eyes and a lopsided, impish smile. His whole demeanour was completely disarming. And something else too, something I didn’t want to admit to, if I was being totally honest.
“Please?”
“Fine. There’s a human first aid kit in the glove compartment,” I said eventually, wrinkling my nose.
Why am I letting him coerce me into this?
I got out of the car and went round to the passenger side. Meanwhile, Teddy had rifled around until he found the little green case and handed it to me. I cleaned up all the scrapes with antiseptic wipes, using tweezers to pull out some embedded thorns and gravel. It was difficult not to react to the warmth of his skin under my hands, particularly as I worked my way up his thigh, trying to ignore his penetrating focus, which was seemingly directed solely on what I was doing. But I refused to acknowledge it, forcing my mind into professional mode and disengaging all thoughts of anything remotely personal. Especially kissing.
Shit, now I’m thinking about kissing.
Mind on the job, Havens. Come on!
Eventually, after applying a couple of plasters and ignoring the little “ouchy” noises he made occasionally, I chanced a look at his face.
“You’re done.”
“Thanks.”
I finally allowed myself a good look at his face and realised a small trickle of blood had dribbled down and dried on his chin.
“Oh, wait, you’ve bashed your mouth as well.”
“Have I?” His voice was unusually quiet as I leant in closer to examine his split lip.
Against my better judgement, I started to clean up his face, my fingers grazing the stubble of his jaw to steady him. His breath was a soft caress against my skin, taking me back to a certain rugby club field on a balmy summer night, and the taste and feel of his mouth on mine, his hands in my hair, a quiet, seductive moan against my neck. The memories rumbled through my mind, like it had happened fifteen minutes ago instead of fifteen years. I wondered, as I had so many times, why he had kissed me that night, and why I’d never experienced anything even remotely like it since.
And now kissing him is all I can think about. Dammit!
Distracted, I not-so-gently dabbed at the cut on his lip with hand sanitiser rather than the antiseptic cream I had meant to pick up.
“Owww!” Teddy winced, his long fingers encircling my wrist and jerking my hand away. “I think that one’s ok now, Hannah.”
“You’re being an almighty wuss about a few scratches, you know.”
Standing up, I pointedly avoided the bright, clear gaze of his eyes. Categorically not noticing how his irises sparkled as if they were made of summer skies, surrounded by a darker ring of midnight blue. I was totally not having to calm my thumping heart rate as I got back into the driver’s seat. Nor did I have to wipe my clammy palms on my jodhpurs so I wouldn’t leave sweaty marks on my steering wheel.
This is ridiculous.
I was a grown woman who would not be derailed by flowery, romantic notions. I had succeeded in life because I had always made sensible, logical decisions every single time. And I would do so again, even when the face of a Greek god was mischievously grinning at me across the interior of my car.
“I was pretty sympathetic when I thought you’d broken your back in that ditch,” he said, arching a brow.
“Overreact much, Teddy?” Pushing my driving glasses upwards on my nose, I started the car and we drove in silence for a few moments.
“I like the glasses, Hannah. They make you look like a hot librarian,” Teddy said, nonchalantly taking a bite of a protein bar that he’d pulled out of his pocket.
I hit the brakes hard, sending us both lurching towards the dashboard. All my medicine bottles rattled in the back, my fingers gripping the steering wheel so tightly that my knuckles were white, the skin almost translucent. Luckily, we were still in the country lanes and my impromptu emergency stop hadn’t caused anyone to crash into the back of my car.
“What?!” I looked at him in open-mouthed horror and disbelief.
“What?!” Teddy replied at the same time, a shocked expression on his face, his mouth slightly twisted in mid-chew.
“A hot librarian ?” I muttered under my breath, starting the car again.
“It was meant as a compliment, Hannah,” Teddy said, wiping crumbs off his crotch where the protein bar had ended up.
“I suppose it’s better than being likened to a porn star.”
“Ah, now, I was young and foolish in those days. My comments weren’t always well thought out.”
“But you really thought long and hard about hot librarian ?” I asked incredulously.
Teddy leant back in his seat and sighed. “Forget I said anything to you, ever.”
“Good idea.”
My brain was fried. I needed to not hold on to this comment. I needed to not allow myself to breathe it in and process it, because it was nothing. It meant nothing. He was a terminal flirt – I knew this from school days – and becoming a fully fledged adult didn’t seem to have improved this aspect of his personality. He must just use throwaway comments about being “hot” as another way to dazzle and befuddle poor, unsuspecting women. He didn’t mean it, not about me. The mean gremlin in my head, the one who crept in whenever I felt a shred of confidence, poked and prodded her way to the front of my mind, reminding me that looks were not something I should concern myself with; that men like him were not attracted to women like me. Men like him, like Jonathan, cheated on me with young, beautiful women. More than once.
Briefly leaning back against the head rest I caught sight of my face in the rear-view mirror. My own startled green eyes gazed back at me, large and round and full of anguish, the freckles that bridged my nose and mottled my whole face as overly prominent as ever. I looked back at the road, disgust brewing like a bitter potion in the cauldron of my stomach, before putting the car back into gear and setting off again
“Where’s your house?” I asked Teddy as we entered the small town of Chipping-on-the-Water, the town where we’d both grown up and gone to school.
“Abbots Lane.”
“Abbots Lane?” I repeated in surprise. This was where the veterinary practice was, along with my little flat above the surgery. It was a sleepy, out-of-the-way place on the edge of the countryside.
“Yes.”
“Which house?”
Please don’t say The Old Rectory.
He couldn’t live in the beautiful crumbling rundown house that I could see from my window, the one I fantasised about living in on a regular basis.
“The Old Rectory.”
Damn.
Of course it would be him who’d just bought it. The law of sod was working in full force for me today.
Excellent.
“What are you planning to do with it?” I asked, trying to sound casual, but he turned from gazing out of the window, his attention focussed on me again.
“Why do you want to know?” he replied, suspicious.
“I work at the surgery next door.”
“Oh, do you?”
“Yes, and I’m currently living in the flat above it.”
Why did I tell him that?
“We’re neighbours?” He grinned widely, making my breath hitch a little.
Havens, get a grip. It’s just a face .
Only a unique composition of muscles and skin and teeth. Nothing extraordinary to see here.
Except, who am I kidding. His is anything but ordinary.
And that was entirely the problem.
“I guess. So what are you going to do with it?”
“I’m not sure. I’ve just taken a partner role in my dad’s architectural practice in town, so I might use it as my first big project to showcase my ideas.”
“You’re an architect?” I tried to hide how impressed I was, but his telling look convinced me he’d heard it.
“Yeah. See, I’m not just a pretty face,” he teased. And winked.
“Oh.” My mind had suddenly emptied.
Shit. Think of something else to say, Hannah. Stop him grinning at you in such a villainous way.
“What’s Henry up to these days?” I blurted out.
Teddy’s face fell.
“He’s some bigshot engineer with a PhD and his own biotech company,” he muttered darkly.
Wow, cool.
I was genuinely pleased for him, having always thought deep down that he would do well and fully deserved to.
“That’s great! It’d be lovely to see him. Where’s he living now?”
Teddy let out a long breath and glowered at me from under lowered brows.
“He’s living in Oxford with his impossibly beautiful and intelligent fiancée, and shaming us all in how he’s winning at life. He’s even got a fucking cat.”
We turned into Abbots Lane and Teddy huffed another exasperated breath. Clearly there were some issues between him and Henry, which was sad, but I’d barely brought the car to a stop when he jumped out and grabbed the pieces of his bike from the back seat.
“Thanks for the lift. Maybe see you around some time.”
And with that he slammed the door and stalked off through the rickety iron gates of The Old Rectory, quickly disappearing from sight amongst the overgrown foliage.