His Very Special Bride

The bucket fell with a clatter, but she ignored the commotion and after a moment she continued to squirm through the gap. The window opened into a kitchen, and the sink unit was handily placed for her to ease herself into the room.

Success was just a breath away. One more thrust of her hips and she would be in.

‘Can I help you in any way?’ The firm male voice cut into the silence like the smooth crack of a whip, and Sarah froze.

Where had he come from? Whoever he was, he didn’t sound as though he was at all ready to lend a helping hand. Just the opposite, in fact.

‘Uh…I don’t think so,’ she murmured, stuck in the incongruous position of being caught half in and half out of the window, with her back to the intruder.

‘Really? Only you seem to be having some difficulty getting into the property. It occurs to me that the reason for that could be that you aren’t following the normal procedure. Most people would prefer to make use of the door.’

‘Yes. That’s very true.’ She started to twist around, easing herself into a sitting position. ‘I wonder what on earth could have made me think that going through the window would be easier?’ Cautiously, she let her fingers lightly rest on the window-frame so that she could keep her balance.

Her sarcasm was clearly lost on him, because he answered smoothly, ‘Those were my thoughts exactly. I have to say it occurred to me that there’s the advantage of not being seen from the front of the house.’ He paused. ‘Of course, that’s assuming you don’t kick buckets over and make your whereabouts known.’

Her gaze flicked downwards in the direction of the voice, and she found herself looking at a pair of long legs encased in olive-green chinos. Letting her glance sweep upwards, she saw that her interrogator was flat stomached, and that his chest, covered by an expensively tasteful linen shirt, broadened out to complement a pair of wide, capable-looking shoulders. His body was fit, honed to lean perfection, and even before her eyes had reached his face and meshed with his dark, piercing gaze, the breath had snagged in her throat.

Good looking was not an apt description. She swallowed hard. He was awesome, and well worth a second glance, if only she hadn’t been diverted by the way he was standing there, calmly assessing her, his grey eyes glimmering with a brooding expression that she found hard to fathom.

She managed to find her voice once more. Breathing evenly to keep her composure, she said, ‘Actually, you don’t need to concern yourself about me being here. I know it must look odd, but there is a perfectly reasonable explanation.’

‘I’m glad to hear it,’ he said. ‘Perhaps you’d care to enlighten me?’

‘Yes, of course.’ She frowned. Surely he wasn’t the owner of the property, who had come back to take a last look around? No one with his muscular build and general look of vitality would have left the place to fall into ruin, would they? She said carefully, ‘I have the wrong key. I mean, I thought I had the right key, but something’s wrong with it.’

‘Hmm. I can see how that would be a problem.’ His gaze narrowed on her, and she had the strong impression that he believed she was making it up as she went along. ‘Perhaps you should let me help you down from there and we might be able to find a way to sort this out.’

Sarah gave him a direct look. ‘Is that possible? Do you have a key?’

His mouth made a wry slant. ‘You’re not one to give up, are you? First things first…let’s start with me helping you down from there, shall we?’

She frowned, torn between ignoring him and gaining entry in her own way, and on the other hand acquiescing to his request. But since this man obviously didn’t intend going anywhere until she complied, she really didn’t have any choice but to follow his bidding. If she went on with her attempt to gain access to the house, it was more than likely that he would simply call the police, even though anyone could see that she wasn’t a burglar, couldn’t they?

‘I think I can manage by myself, thanks all the same.’ The bucket had long since rolled away and that would make her descent a trifle more precarious, but she wasn’t going to let that hamper her. She began to ease herself down from the window-sill and prepared to jump the last bit of the way.

He forestalled her, though, before her feet had even left the bulwark of the wall, reaching out to her and splaying his hands around her waist, so that she felt herself being lifted from her vantage point. Holding her close by using his long body as support, he allowed her to slide gently down the last couple of feet to the ground, leaving her humiliatingly aware of the taut proximity of his muscled length as her feminine curves were softly held against him.

Steadying her as her feet finally touched the ground, he waited for what seemed like endless moments before he gently released her. Sarah didn’t know where to look. She was having strange difficulty with her breathing, and her face must surely be flushed from that close encounter. She wasn’t at all confident that she wanted to look him in the eye just then.

‘Are you OK?’ His voice drifted over her, a deep rumbling sound that had her skin tingling in response. He was altogether too male, and far too close for comfort for her peace of mind.

‘I’m fine,’ she murmured, trying to shake off the sensation of heat that his touch had evoked in her, and which even now was racing out of control through her bloodstream. It was a distraction that she could do without, but one that nevertheless persisted in clouding her mind.

‘If you’re sure about that,’ he said, ‘perhaps you could tell me what you’re doing here?’

She looked up at him then, a hint of annoyance flashing in her blue eyes. ‘I would have thought that was fairly obvious,’ she retorted. ‘I want to look around the house. What did you think I had in mind—an attempt to make off with the antiques?’

He inclined his head a fraction. ‘I have to admit that thought had crossed my mind. Alfred left some valuable bits and pieces in the house when he went into hospital, and I promised him that I would pack them up and send them on to his family. I’ve been too busy of late to finish the job, but I planned on crating up the last few items today.’

Sarah’s jaw dropped. ‘I didn’t realise… I mean…I had no idea that there were any such things in the house.’ She pressed her lips together momentarily and then added in a husky tone, ‘Look, do you think we could start again? This is not at all what it must appear. I really do have a key that the estate agent gave me, but I think he must have mixed it up with one for another property. Perhaps the numbers are the same, or maybe there’s a Bridge End Road somewhere.’

He studied her thoughtfully for a second or two, his grey gaze flicking over her, and she looked away, feeling awkward. Then pride came to her rescue and she braced herself to deal with the situation. Why should she feel guilty for simply trying to counter the estate agent’s mistake?

Dragging her eyes back to his tall frame a moment later, she forced herself to meet his gaze.

To her surprise, he nodded. ‘You’re probably right.’

Sarah gave a soft sigh of relief. Was he finally accepting that she wasn’t an intruder? His expression was noncommittal, though, and she studied him closely, trying to work out what might be going on in his mind. It was a doomed effort, and after a moment her thoughts wandered idly. She couldn’t help but notice how well the short-cropped cut of his midnight-black hair suited him. It seemed somehow at one with his strongly defined features, the angular jaw and the straight line of his brows.

He said crisply, ‘I dare say there must have been a mistake somewhere along the way…only the property wasn’t supposed to be going on the market for another couple of days. By then I would have finished with the clearing up.’

Sarah’s attention came back with a jerk. ‘Yes, the agent did tell me that they weren’t quite ready…but he didn’t seem to be at all concerned about me coming to look the place over.’

‘That doesn’t surprise me at all.’ His mouth made a crooked shape. ‘The cottage is in such bad condition that they’ll probably struggle to find a tenant. I wouldn’t have thought many people would want to take it on, and Alfred’s family haven’t yet managed to find a buyer.’

A small line indented her brow. ‘Has something happened to Alfred? You said that he went into hospital.’ All at once Sarah found herself concerned with the fate of the poor man who had been too ill to maintain his property and who’d had to abandon all his worldly goods to another’s care. ‘You’re a friend of his?’

‘Neighbour. I live next door. I used to call round to make sure that he was all right. Then, one day, I found him in a state of collapse after he’d had a fall. It turned out that his heart had gone into an abnormal rhythm, causing him to black out for a short time. He cracked a rib as he fell against the sideboard and he wasn’t able to get up again.’

Sarah sucked in a quick breath. ‘Had he been lying there for a long while?’

He shook his head. ‘A matter of minutes, I believe. I think he was just about to prepare for bed when he became ill. Luckily, I was on a late shift that day, and when I came home happened to check on him.’

‘So you called for an ambulance and waited with him?’

He nodded. ‘I did. It wasn’t too long before the paramedics arrived.’

She tried to imagine how she would have coped under those circumstances. ‘Even so, that must have been nerve- racking wait.’

‘From the point of view of a friend wanting to lend a helping hand, yes, it was, but I’m a doctor, so at least I knew what to do to stabilise his condition. I had my medical bag to hand, fortunately.’

‘A doctor…’ Sarah studied him all over again. Perhaps that accounted for his calm, confident manner, both in his handling of Alfred’s crisis and in his way of dealing with finding a potential trespasser on the premises. It was beginning to look as though this man was a force to be reckoned with.

‘And how is he now? Did he pull through?’ It hadn’t been all that long ago since Sarah herself had been in a desperate, helpless situation, and she could readily identify with the injured man. She had no idea who it was who had attacked her and left her fighting for her life, but someone had come along and rescued her, just as this man had done for Alfred.

‘He did.’ He made a brief smile. ‘He’s OK, but he’s not well enough to live on his own any longer. His family live some distance away, down in Somerset, and I don’t think they realised how frail he was until I called them.’

‘So, are they taking care of him now?’

‘Yes, they are.’ He glanced around. ‘As to the cottage, Alfred has a sentimental attachment to the place, but he’s leaving it up to his family to sort things out. I believe they would like to sell, but they decided to put it up for rent while they make up their minds. Not that anyone is likely to take it on, given the state it’s in.’

‘Well, you never know, do you? Perhaps I could take a look around?’ Sarah ventured. ‘I really need to find somewhere to live.’

He frowned. ‘I doubt very much that this will be what you want, but certainly I can let you into the house. I’m Ben, by the way. Ben Brinkley.’

‘Sarah…Hall.’ She hesitated over the words that still seemed strange to her. She had no idea who she really was, but the name Sarah had been on the tip of her tongue when they’d asked her at the hospital, and from the outset, as young as she was, Emily had called herself Emily Hall. So that was the name that had stuck. Despite all the attempts that had been made to track Sarah’s origins, though, none had revealed anything of who she was and where she had come from.

He reached into his pocket and took out a key, inserting it into the lock of the back door. ‘If you take my advice, you’ll look elsewhere. I’ve been opening the windows to air the place, but I suspect there’s a problem with damp, and I don’t think anyone’s going to be dealing with it any time soon. I arranged for someone to come and put in a new fire for Alfred in the living room, so that he could be warm at least, and I’ve decorated the main bedroom and replaced the rotting window-frame in there, but there’s a limit to how much I’ve been able to do, given the hours I work.’ He pushed open the door to the kitchen and waved a hand for her to go inside.