‘Jed?’ The sound of his mother’s voice came from quite close by and Jed growled in frustration.
‘We’re going to talk about this later. Come with me now. Toby wants to know if he can have a riding lesson with Mum.’
She stood up and met his eyes, her expression bleak. ‘Does it really matter what I think, Jed? Won’t you just do it anyway?’
‘Is that why you’re upset? Because you think I’m bullying you?’ He stroked a strand of dark hair away from her face and his thumb grazed her cheek. ‘I don’t really have much choice. You fight me all the way on everything.’
She closed her eyes. It was just for her own protection, but he didn’t know that, of course. If she wasn’t fighting him she’d be asking him to love her, and she knew he couldn’t do that.
‘You’re right.’ She opened her eyes and gave him a tired smile. ‘I’m being totally unreasonable. Of course Toby should ride. He’ll love it.’
And he did love it.
Brooke stood on the bottom rung of the gate next to Jed, watching while Ellie led him around on a small grey Shetland pony.
‘I learned to ride on that pony,’ Jed told her, leaning his arms on the gate and watching Toby. ‘In fact, he taught us all to ride.’
‘You’re incredibly lucky,’ Brooke said gruffly, her eyes fixed on her son as he held the saddle, his face glowing with excitement and happiness.
Jed turned to face her, his eyes searching. ‘I know that, Brooke. Is that why you’re upset? Seeing my family?’
She swallowed and turned her head away so that he couldn’t see her face. ‘When I was a little girl I used to have this fantasy.’
‘Which was?’
She could tell from his voice that he was no longer looking at Toby and that his eyes were fixed on her instead.
‘We lived in a beautiful farmhouse in the country and I had lots of brothers and sisters to play with and animals all around me. There were mountains and streams and we’d go for walks and usually I’d get into trouble.’
His voice was soft. ‘What sort of trouble?’
‘Oh, it varied.’ She stared across the fields, feeling the weak March sun on her face. ‘It didn’t really matter, but I always needed to be rescued and my dad was always there for me, keeping me out of trouble because he loved me.’
Jed gave a soft curse and turned her to face him, brushing her dark hair away from her face with a gentle hand. ‘That shouldn’t have been a fantasy. That should have been a reality. Not the farmhouse and the countryside, but the love and protection of your father. That’s what family life is about.’
She shook her head. ‘Not for everyone, Jed.’
He gave a sigh and released her, leaning on the gate again and watching Toby. ‘I do understand now why you didn’t want to tell me about him. Why you don’t want us to have a relationship.’
‘Good.’ She gave him a half smile. ‘At least that should make things easier between us.’
‘Easier?’ He gave a short laugh and rubbed his forehead with long fingers. ‘It makes it harder than ever.’
She stared at him ‘Why harder?’
‘Because I do want us to have a relationship, Brooke.’ He turned to face her, the expression in his blue eyes determined as they locked with hers. ‘And, believe me, we are going to have one. But I’m prepared to be patient and wait until you also realise that it’s the right thing.’
She shook her head, her breathing unsteady. ‘Jed, I’ve told you—’
‘And I heard you.’ His eyes narrowed slightly, thick dark lashes shielding his expression from her. ‘But you can stop telling me, Brooke, because I’m not listening any more. We had a relationship before Toby came along, remember?’
Remember? She remembered every minute detail. ‘Just one night, Jed.’
‘So?’ He shrugged, totally unconcerned, and turned back to watch Toby. ‘Every relationship has to start somewhere—it’s just that our beginning was somewhat…explosive. What we need to do now is get to know each other and take it gently.’
‘Gently?’
‘Yes.’ He gave her a sexy grin. ‘By that I mean that we don’t touch each other. We both know that when we touch each other we can’t think straight. So no touching. For now at least.’