"Er," I
began, but Isabelle cut me short by wrapping her arms
around me and giving me a huge hug.
"Well, Alys, it's been lovely seeing you after all this time .
Thank you for coming all this way."
Leo seemed to be waiting for me. Cautiously I followed
him to the door. "Goodbye," I said, somewhat quietly, in case
I wasn't going. "Thank you for dinner."
Leo was standing outside the door with a torch in his hand.
I picked up my rucksack and Isabelle closed the door behind
us with a resounding and somewhat thankful thud. So. Let me
recap. I was standing in the dark, with a man I desired
marginally less than I liked breathing, and that man showed
every sign of wanting to be there. I let out a silent murmur of
thanks that I'd been keeping my karma shiny and bright. I
must have been very, very good, probably in quite a lot of
former lives, to have deserved this.
"So," I said, as we began to pick our way by the narrow
torch beam up a dusty track.
"I hope you don't think I normally do this." He spoke
without looking at me. "Taking women home when I've just
met them. But, I don't know, there seemed to be some sort
64
Slightly Foxed
by Jane Lovering
of connection between us, when I saw you standing there in
front of the photos of Thistle...and...you seemed...it was
almost as though you knew me when you looked at me. Like
a flicker of recognition. I'm sorry. That sounds really pathetic,
doesn't it? But I knew that I didn't want you to disappear off
to wherever it is that you come from. Not without my at least
having the chance to talk to you."
My foot chose that particular moment to shoot into a rut.
My leg gave way. I stumbled and lurched forward a couple of
strides before I pitched to my knees in the dust. Great. I
wanted to come over suave and sophisticated and here I was
impersonating Frankenstein's monster's trial run. But there
was an advantage. Leo lifted me to my feet by my upper
arms. He was much more muscular than he looked, that black
T-shirt must contain a decent body. As he placed me back
upright, his hands lingered for a moment, and I felt the hairs
along my forearms react. He was so close I could smell the
scent of hay and horses from him, also something spicy and
definitely sexy. I was feeling quite ridiculously hot and
wondered how I was going to talk myself out of this.
"Oh, look." His voice had the breathless, dreamy quality
that I normally associated with men when they were about to
suggest that I might like to dress up in a rubber catsuit.
"That's Sophia."
"Who?" We'd emerged from the lane and now the trackway
was crossing an open field, well moonlit, but I couldn't see
any sign of anyone else. "Where?"
"There. Isn't she beautiful?"
I looked where he pointed. "What? Behind the horse?"
65
Slightly Foxed
by Jane Lovering
"Pony. Sophia is my champion Section A mare. In foal to
Cleavers, if everything works out right." We continued
walking, uphill now, past the grazing pony, towards a
stupendously lovely house which was gleaming yellow in the
moonlight. "I'm sorry. I get a little bit carried away about my
animals, sometimes. They've been everything to me since—
well, for a long while now." We walked on, around to the front
of the house, which made me stop for a second and catch my
breath. It was a large Elizabethan building with high
mullioned windows and arched doorways. A proper gravelled
driveway led off between neatly clipped lawns into the
distance.
"Gosh. The last time I saw anything like this, it was a re-
creation on Time Team ."
"It is rather lovely." Leo pushed open a door which bore
more metal decoration than your average body-piercing
enthusiast and led me into an enormous hallway. I followed
him through into a kitchen. A large range took up most of one
wall and a huge butler's sink occupied a greater portion of the
other. A scrubbed table stood in the middle and the corners
were occupied by dogs' beds, horse rugs, saddlery
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