Page 80 of A Colourful Country Escape
‘Anyway, gotta dash.’ Sky let go of their hands and barrelled into Billy-Bob, who gave Lexie a narrow-eyed look before he was woman-handled away.
‘I do not like … ’ Lexie began, through gritted teeth.
‘His dirty-looking beard, bogus accent and the way your sister morphs into a completely different person every time he appears?’
‘Yes! I mean, call me fussy, but bloody hell. What do those two even have in common? They might have handed over their worldly belongings to allow them to be equal, but that doesn’t make them the same.’ Lexie took another swig of the gin and then reminded herself she was not meant to be getting drunk. She couldn’t stop fantasising about touching Ben again, since their unexpected finger-entwining moment earlier. But if anything was going to happen between them, she wanted to at least be sober. And preferably not hiding behind a shed.
‘Should two people be the same for love to work?’ Ben asked.
He turned to face her, his atlas eyes wide with question. He was suddenly so close. Why did it feel so teasingly good?
‘I … ’ Did he just say the L word? Lexie felt almost dizzy, like she wasn’t really sure of anything. ‘No, I guess not. More … ’
‘Complementing?’
He knew all the answers today. They were almost in sync.
‘Comfortable?’ He tried out another word when he didn’t get a response.
And suddenly Lexie knew that was exactly how she felt. Even though they’d spent weeks rubbing each other up the wrong way, it was as though all the rubbing had turned them smooth. Like two glassy pebbles on the beach. Her fingers unfurled from the bottle almost involuntarily. It dropped to the muddy floor.
‘Can I kiss you?’ he asked.
‘For someone who I initially wrote off as rude, you can be frustratingly polite,’ she murmured as she felt herself drawing nearer to him.
She lifted her hands to his solid jaw and pulled it down towards her until their mouths met in a gloriously warm, soft kiss. Their lips moved together in perfect time and she pushed her body close to him, keen to feel his heat. His hands slipped around her waist, his fingers resting excitingly close to her bum. But it was nothing like London. If that had been fiery and charged and full of frustration, this was like a gentle voyage. A meaningful embrace between two lost hearts that were ready to be found. As Lexie looped her arms around Ben’s neck and let her head fall back, his mouth tickled deliciously across her throat. And she tried not to think of what would happen when it was time to leave this wonderful parallel universe. She tried to simply be.
Chapter 39
Cynthia Fortescue had extremely large feet.
That was the one thing Lexie couldn’t help noticing as she sat with Cynthia and Ben in the back of the Fortescues’ Bentley on the way to the airport. Not that Lexie wanted to be mean about anyone’s feet, but she had to take her mind off the awkward atmosphere by thinking about something.
It had been a week since Sky’s commitment ceremony, when she and Ben had kissed behind her parents’ shaky old shed. The drive back from Lancaster had been so full of electrical charge she’d felt like they’d been in a bumper car. There had been an abundance of leg grabbing and longing looks. Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, Cynthia was now wedged between them, looking like she’d just stepped out of a Moroccan fashion feature inVogue. She was draped in orange-and-gold sari material, her long, slender feet encased in pointy leather slippers covered in what were quite possibly real diamonds. They’d probably get mugged.
‘M&M?’ Lexie asked the other two, through a mouthful.
Ben took the opportunity to reach across and take the packet, accidently-on-purpose brushing Lexie’s hand as he did so. A tingle ran up her arm, and she tried not to giggle like a stupid teenager. It had been like that since they’d got back from Lancaster. Snatching secret moments together, behind closed doors, to lock their bodies into each other and recreate that moment of lust. Each meeting was getting just a little hotter. It hadn’t felt right yet to fling their clothes off and get down to more meaningful business – but they both kept hinting about Morocco. And Lexie had absolutely packed her slinkiest undies.
They hadn’t talked about what this heat between them actually meant. It was the elephant in the room. Perhaps like their third Bentley bedfellow, although she was more of an elegant white tigress. Anyway, Lexie was trying not to think about the logistics. She didn’t want Ben to sacrifice everything for her, and she wasn’t even sure if she wanted to shack up properly with her boss. But she was happy to enjoy this while it lasted.
Lexie heard Ben mildly groaning at the other side of the car as he filled his mouth with chocolate. Cynthia sniffed and looked at them both like they were pigs. Her hair was black and poker straight, tied back in a tight bun that made her cheekbones look severe. But she could rock it, Lexie thought, with something approaching envy. Cynthia did look catwalk-chic and rich, even if she did know it.
Lexie should have cancelled this charade, of course. Or at least confessed to Ben what it was originally about. She knew Mrs Carrington-Noble had high hopes of Lexie trying to shove Ben and Cynthia together on this trip, and she hadn’t done enough to put her straight. Maybe Lexie would never have lowered herself to meddle anyway, but there was zero chance of it now she was getting hot and oh-so bothered with Ben herself. Lexie tried not to think about the tricky secrets from her past that Mrs Carrington-Noble could delight in revealing now Lexie wasn’t quite playing ball.
Ben would hit the roof if he found out Lexie had been entertaining his mum’s wild matchmaking ideas. And now Cynthia would probably go mad if she worked out there was something going on with Lexie and Ben. Cynthia’s mother and Mrs Carrington-Noble had obviously been egging Cynthia on, and she’d made clear to Lexie before getting in the car that she was looking forward to the challenge of snaring herself a husband. And for someone with a good upbringing, Cynthia had made some particularly explicit hand gestures to signify exactly what she was hoping to achieve with Ben that weekend. Urgh.
Cynthia pulled a packet of Harvey Nichols Honeycomb Dips from her bag. Trust her to have styled the packaging of her snacks to match her radiant outfit. Matching is not better, Lexie reminded herself, thinking of her mother’s weird Stilton and Stilton theory. Anyway, those sweets were just fancified bits of Crunchie bar in an overpriced bag. Lexie tried not to get territorial as Cynthia offered one to Ben. And not her! The cheek.
‘No, thanks,’ she heard Ben reply. Was it childish to feel a small buzz of satisfaction? ‘I prefer peanut.’
‘Oh, don’t worry, darling. So do I.’ Cynthia turned to Lexie and gave her a sly wink. Lexie wanted to poke her eye clean out of its socket. Only she did the peanut jokes around here, and then it was only as a blunder, not some sleazy come-on. This was going to be one long weekend.
Lexie flip-flopped through the cool marble foyer of the hotel in a favourite pair of purple sequined harem pants from her travel days. Her vest top and arms were covered with a bright floaty shawl. It had been so long since she’d even dared to travel. She felt a fizz of excitement at the way Ben was inspiring her. And as for the thought of the unknown territory they’d discover together …
Ben was at her side, his chest puffed out more proudly than usual. She would not be moaning that he looked too beige in his chinos, with his white shirt pulled taut across his torso. That personal gym of his was a thing to be celebrated.
‘Shall we go and explore?’ he asked, giving her hand a quick squeeze.
