‘I tried to,’ Piers told her simply. ‘But every time I did you seemed to want to change the subject, and I thought it was because you didn’t share my feelings.’
‘No. I thought you were going to warn me off, to tell me that it was just sex, and say that I mustn’t fall in love with you. That’s why I stopped you. I knew it was already too late for me! I wouldn’t have done the things I did...been so...so intimate with you if I hadn’t loved you,’ she told him, pink-cheeked. ‘It’s not... I’m not...’
‘No, I did wonder about that,’ Piers agreed. ‘But to my mind there’s no shame for a woman in physically wanting a man without being able to love him.’
‘So you thought I felt lust and not love?’ she asked him ruefully. ‘What would we have done if I hadn’t come round here today?’ she added shakily. ‘We could have—’
‘No.’ He stopped her. ‘No. I hadn’t given up... I’ve taught Ben to limp. It would have taken a good many visits to the surgery before you cottoned on to the fact that there was nothing wrong with his paw—or so I hoped!’
‘Oh, Piers,’ Georgia laughed. ‘You wouldn’t have...’
‘Don’t bank on it. The way I feel about you is—’
‘Mmm...?’ Georgia interrupted him, an invitingly husky note in her voice as she looped her arms around his neck and lifted her face towards him. ‘The way you feel about me is...?’
* * *
Human beings did the oddest things, Ben reflected. His two were still upstairs in bed despite the fact that he should have had his dinner two hours ago, and not even a discreet bark outside the bedroom door had alerted them to their negligence... Never mind, there were home-made sausages in the fridge...!