In Bed with the Enemy by Janet Woods Page B

forehead. She gave him an out. ‘I don’t feel up to going that far today myself. I’m still a bit tired from the plane trip.’
    Relief came into his eyes. ‘Perhaps you’ll take me there another day, when we’re both fresher.’
    ‘Yes ... I’d like to.’ She whistled for Georgie, who came bounding out of the undergrowth with a stick between his teeth. He dropped it at Leon’s feet and wagged his tail.
    Leon picked up the stick and threw it in the direction they’d come from. ‘He’s a good-natured dog.’
    ‘My father gave him to me for my twenty-first birthday.’
    Leon enjoyed the way her eyes softened.
    ‘He was only a pup. Dad thought he was one of those small terriers but he just kept growing. I don’t think he’s a pure bred because his ears stand up. I haven’t told him though, because he thinks he is, and I don’t want to hurt his feelings.’
    Leon had captured her hand whilst this was being said. Either she hadn’t noticed, or was pretending not to. He didn’t care which because her hand felt soft and warm, like a mouse curled into his palm.
    She asked him, ‘Did you have a dog when you were a boy?’
    He gave a little start of surprise. His childhood was something he rarely talked about. The youngest of a family of five boys, he’d been born late in life to parents who neither wanted nor cared for him. He’d been taken into care when he was three, and shunted from one foster home to the other. 
    He couldn’t remember his family, and none of them had bothered to find out what had happened to him.
    His final foster parent had been a widowed teacher, a feisty woman who’d taken his measure, recognized his potential and taken it upon herself to make sure the resentful twelve-year-old boy she’d taken under her wing grew up to be a responsible, well-educated citizen. 
    He’d become Sarah Williams’ mission in life, and she’d succeeded beyond her wildest dreams. Despite his resolve not to, he’d allowed someone to become important to him. He’d tested her in the same way he had his other foster parents, trying to push her over the edge. But she’d been clever, and too tough ... and she’d won. For that he was grateful.
    ‘Being resentful is destructive, Leon,’ she’d always said to him. ‘Use the brains the good lord gave you to better yourself. Make a plan. Always move forward, and never look back until you find your place in life.’
    When he’d graduated from university with an engineering degree she’d been the proudest person in the room. He’d had it copied, written her name next to his and presented it to her in a frame. She’d hung it in the lounge.
    ‘He’d put his plan to Sarah one day. It was simple. Escape to the sunshine, make more money than he could spend in one day, and provide himself with a happy family life. On his children he would lavish all the love he’d never received himself as a child. He’d told her he was going to Australia, and when he’d found his place he would invite her over for a holiday.
    Now he’d found his place, and his ideal of family life was just a finger’s length away - like a carrot dangling under the nose of a donkey. He just hoped he’d be fast enough to catch it. He’d even found a dog. Perhaps it was time to write to Sarah.
    ‘No. I never had a dog,’ He ran his fingers through the rough iron gray hair on Wee Georgie’s head when he came back with the stick. ‘You’re a fine looking mutt, aren’t you. I wouldn’t mind one like you around.’
    The catch in his voice made Darcie gaze sideways at him. There was something wistful about his face - an expression almost of yearning that brought a lump to her throat. She gently squeezed his hand. ‘Did you have a very rough childhood?’
    He didn’t know what surprised him most, her intuitive reaction, or the fact that he told her, ‘I was raised in foster homes.’
    ‘That must have been awful.’
    She looked so horrified he stopped and turned to face her,