Artistic Licence (10 page)

He handed her a glass with a frown. ‘I told you to borrow anything you needed. Didn’t you ask Susan to find you a jumper or something?’

‘No. She did take me into town, though.’

‘I’m glad about that. She can be a bit prickly, but
she’d do anything for you.’

‘I think she’d do anything for
you
, Rory.’

‘Really? What do you mean?’

‘Nothing.’ If Rory didn’t know about Susan’s crush it was hardly fair for her to tell him. ‘Now, I bought some steak in town. Would you like oven chips or baked potatoes? I told Susan … I told Susan I would do the cooking while I was staying. I think she might find it awkward, us sharing a kitchen.’

‘That’s fine by me. Did anyone ever tell you that you’re a lovely girl?’

She couldn’t help responding to the mischievous twinkle in his eyes, but she tried not to show it. ‘Does that mean oven chips?’

‘It means whatever you want it to mean. Here’s to your fine eyes.’

Thea concealed a little shiver of flattered excitement and took her drink into the kitchen. ‘I’ll get dinner started, then.’

Rory followed her lazily. ‘I’ll find a nice bottle of red wine to open, then I’ll gee up the fire a bit. Would you like some music on or shall we just talk?’

‘I’m easy. What would you prefer?’

‘I must admit that after a day with nothing but my own company it’s nice to have someone to talk to. And the advantage of having the sitting room and kitchen connected is that the cook need not miss any of the crack.’

‘Crack?’

‘Irish for chat, gossip, or even high philosophy.’

She chuckled and, having found an onion, began searching for a knife to chop it with. ‘Well, speaking as the cook, I’d hate to miss out on any discussion on
Nietzsche that might be going.’

Rory stretched and then made up the fire. Lara groaned and shuffled about, finding it difficult to get comfortable.

‘Poor old thing,’ said Thea, glancing up from her cooking. ‘Do you think it’s near her time?’

‘The trouble is we don’t have any real idea about when her time is. I was away and Lara was staying with Susan. I told Susan that Lara was “looking away”, as we say in Ireland, but Lara still managed to get out.’

‘Well, I got her a nice bone from the butcher’s. You could give it to her.’

‘Well, missus, is tonight the night we make passionate love under my goose down duvet?’

The steak was eaten, the bits of fat fed to Lara and the plates were pushed back. Rory was peeling apples and handing pieces to Thea, which she ate with the very good Irish blue cheese she had bought in town. This question came with the last section of apple.

Like Eve, she took the apple and, like Eve, she was tempted. Almost everything was perfect. She liked Rory, she adored his work and she found him extremely sexy. Perhaps it was the thought of making love with a complete stranger when she had had slightly too much to eat that was making her hesitate. If she really, really fancied him, she realised, the idea of ripping off her clothes in front of someone she didn’t know very well wouldn’t cost her a thought. Now, the idea of her nakedness next to his athletic body made her pull her tummy in and worry about the bits of flesh not seen on models. Regretfully she put her hand on Rory’s wrist. ‘Would you think I was an awful
tease and a spoilsport if I said that it’s still too soon?’

Rory smacked his forehead with his hand. ‘Damn! I knew I should have cooked for you. Women love that.’

Thea laughed. ‘They do, but I don’t think in this case it would have made any difference. I just don’t feel I know you well enough. I’m a bit of an old-fashioned girl, I suppose.’

Rory tipped the last of the bottle of wine into Thea’s glass. ‘Is that your final answer?’

Smiling gently, she nodded.

‘Well, it’s a blow. But I expect I can accept it in a manly way.’ In spite of his gentlemanly words, Rory was looking at her with a glitter in his eye, which slightly belied them. Thea started to gather the plates. ‘Perhaps I just need to get you a little bit drunker.’

‘Certainly not! We’ve had a whole bottle between us, not to mention a couple of whiskeys first. If I don’t drink at least a pint of water I’m going to feel dreadful in the morning.’ She took the dirty things into the kitchen.

‘You know what alcoholics say about people who don’t have hangovers,’ said Rory. ‘“You mean you wake up, and you don’t feel better,
all day
?”’

Thea offered the apple peel to Lara, who took it gracefully and laid it on the floor. ‘Hangovers make me want to shoot myself.’ She picked up the apple peel and said briskly, ‘Now, I should really have an early night, if I want to get all the pictures taken tomorrow. Can I make you coffee, or tea, or anything?’

Rory shook his head. ‘I’ll just take my broken heart to bed and sulk.’

‘You don’t have a broken heart and good things come to those who wait.’

‘That sounds very like a promise to me.’

Thea bit her lip guiltily. It did indeed sound like a promise. ‘You don’t actually know that going to bed with me would be good.’

‘Woman, that seems like a challenge. I’ve a good mind to carry you off and ravish you.’

Thea laughed. The joy of Rory was that he could be sexy without being threatening. ‘Oh, what care I for your goose feather bed …’ she sang merrily.

‘You’ll find out soon.’

‘I’m looking forward to it, Rory, but I have to feel ready.’

‘That’s all right. It’s just as well I’m not a raw lad who can’t control his passions.’

‘Away with you and your passions! I’ll see you in the morning.’

The photography went well. The weather obliged and Rory took time off from his horse to help her drag the work in and out of the shed. When the major paintings were done, he said, ‘I’ve got a whole lot of drawings in the loft of the cottage. Would you like to have a look at them, too?’

‘I’d love to, but I’ve run out of film.’

‘There’s no need to photograph them. If anyone’s remotely interested they can come and see them for themselves.’

Thea sensed his pessimism. Rory was by no means the first artist she had known who was arrogantly confident about his work one minute, defensive and apologetic the next. ‘I know there’s a lot riding on this for you and I can’t promise you anything, but I do think that eventually cream will rise to the top.’

‘God, I hope you’re right. Now, would you consider a little dalliance on the sofa in the studio? I’ve had the stove going all day and it’s warm as toast in there. Susan would never know a thing about it.’

Now why, wondered Thea, should Rory worry about that? She smiled and pushed him away. ‘I bought the most wonderful lamb chops yesterday. I thought I’d make you a chocolate sponge pudding for afters. Would you like that?’

‘You’re a hard woman, Thea, but I’ll wait for you a little longer if you cook for me in the meantime.’

Thea frowned with mock disapproval. ‘There are so many politically incorrect statements in there that I don’t know where to start enlightening you. I’ll just have to ignore them. Now, I’m going to go down to the cottage and have a quick shower before I start cooking. You go and finish your horse.’

The chocolate sponge was in the oven, the kitchen was filled with a warm, chocolatey smell and Thea had had her shower. For a while she wished she travelled with as many beauty products as Molly did. She could have done with some body moisturiser, perhaps a little Immac and a bigger bottle of perfume than the trial size she had taken on holiday. She had not exactly prepared her body for seduction, but she did wonder if tonight she would have the courage to let Rory whisper Irish nothings to her until she followed him to bed.

Now she was peeling potatoes, when he came in and handed her a glass of whiskey. She looked at it hesitantly. ‘I couldn’t just a have a glass of wine, could I? I missed a hangover this morning by the skin of my
teeth. I don’t want to get drunk again.’

‘You can have what you like.’ He seemed a little taken aback. ‘I’m surprised you suffered after sharing a bottle of wine, though. A whole one might give you a bit of a headache.’

‘We did have whiskey first, remember.’

‘Well, I’m going to have whiskey now, too.’ When he had found a tumbler and tipped the required amount into it, he raised his glass to her. ‘To you, Thea. Thank you for coming.’

‘Thank you for having me.’

‘I haven’t had you –’ The ‘yet’ was unspoken.

This was showdown time. She thought she might as well come clean about a few things. ‘I feel a bit uncomfortable about you being so much younger than me.’

‘I’ve always preferred older women. I love their wisdom, their humanity –’

‘Their cellulite?’

He laughed. ‘No one who’d looked in the Readers’ Wives section in the top row of magazines would ever worry about cellulite. Women’s flesh is so much more sensual than men’s.’

‘I would have thought you’d prefer men’s bodies, with their muscularity more defined.’

‘I like men to draw, but not to sleep with.’

Thea took a deep breath and made her decision. But just as she was about to announce it there was a strange, high cry from Lara. ‘What on earth’s the matter?’ asked Thea, her heart pounding with fright.

‘Oh, my God,’ said Rory. ‘I think the puppies are coming!’

They both moved quickly to Lara, who looked up at
them, confused and distressed. She seemed to be asking what was happening to her.

‘It’s all right, honey,’ said Rory gently. ‘You’re just having your pups.’

‘It’s a perfectly natural process,’ Thea agreed. ‘Dogs have them all the time.’

Lara didn’t seem convinced and, secretly, Thea wasn’t either. ‘Have you had puppies before?’ she asked Rory, ‘either personally or through another dog? She might need some help.’

A look of horror crossed his face. ‘No. Lara is my first bitch. I haven’t a clue what to do.’ He backed away like a father in a delivery room who’d rather be in the pub.

‘Well, where do you think she should have them?’ asked Thea. ‘I mean, the sofa looks awfully cosy, but there’ll be nowhere to sit for weeks and weeks, and they might get lost down behind the cushions.’

‘To be sure, everything else does. I suppose we’d better have a box. There may be one out in the shed, though for the life of me I can’t think what, short of an elephant, would come in a box big enough for Lara and her pups.’

‘And I don’t suppose you’ve had an elephant delivery for months.’ Thea couldn’t help feeling that Rory should have thought about this before.

‘The service is a bit patchy, here in Ireland.’

‘Well, let’s push the sofa back from the fire a bit and put newspapers and stuff down in front of it for now,’ Thea decided. ‘We can think where to put the pups later.’

‘Sure, she’s only a dog, we don’t need to fuss too much.’

Thea didn’t know if it was the woman or the animal lover in her which rebelled at this remark. ‘She’s entitled to a little care and attention, isn’t she?’

‘Of course. We just don’t need to go overboard. She could have the pups in the shed if necessary. Then they’d be out of the way.’

Thea barely had time to give Rory a horrified and reproachful look before there was a knock on the door.

‘Who the hell is that?’ demanded Rory.

As Thea was nearest, she opened the door. Unless it was a vet, or Susan with a giant cardboard box, whoever was there would get short shrift.

Chapter Six

Thea thought she was suffering from some strange sort of hallucination. There on the doorstep stood Molly and, just behind her, Petal. Behind them loomed a large, dark man and a small boy. It was like one of those dreams where people who couldn’t possibly know each other all come together.

‘At last we’ve found it,’ exclaimed Molly, pushing past Thea who, stunned, could only step out of the way.

‘About time too! I’m absolutely starving,’ said Petal, following Molly. ‘They wouldn’t let me play my music in the car. They are
so
not fair.’

‘Who the hell are you lot?’ demanded Rory as the man, whom Thea faintly recognised, came in with the small boy, who looked so like him that he could only be his son.

‘I’m Ben Jonson,’ said the man, holding out his hand to Rory. ‘I’m sorry to barge in on you like this. I meant to come on my own.’ He cast a despairing look at Molly and Petal. ‘I’ve been trying to track you down for years.’

Lara, who’d been silent for some moments, gave another cry and began to move around the room as fast as her bulk would allow.

Thea, stepping aside and pulling Molly out of
the way too, demanded, ‘Molly! What the hell are you doing here? And why did you bring Petal? I asked you to find a contact for me, not personally escort the Cavalry.’

‘
I
came to look after Toby,’ said Petal somewhat defiantly and Thea noticed that she wasn’t wearing make-up and didn’t look her usual confident self.

‘We were so worried about you,’ explained Molly. ‘I realise it probably does look a little extreme, but I felt I had to come and see you were all right. When Ben said he’d heard of your artist, I thought it my duty –’ Thea’s look made her add, ‘Oh, OK. I was
dying
of curiosity.’ She made it sound like it really was a fatal disease. ‘I
had
to go with him and see what had happened to you.’