But she must not think about that, or about any of the other things...pleasures...hopes...she had felt in the dark intimacy of the night. No. What she must think about right now was Ben and his safety.
‘That’s very kind of you,’ she heard Piers saying warmly into the telephone receiver. ‘Yes, we’ll be leaving almost straight away, so it shouldn’t be too long before we’re with you.
‘That was Mary Bowles,’ he told Georgia when he had concluded his call. ‘She was the one who saw Ben and fed him. She’s convinced that it is Ben. She says that we’re more than welcome to drive up there and stay with them whilst we look for him.’
‘Oh, Piers.’ Sharply painful tears filled Georgia’s eyes and instinctively she started to move closer to him.
Just as instinctively Piers recognised her need, closing the gap between them and opening his arms to her, holding her tightly and rocking her gently against his body as he comforted her, gruffly telling her, ‘At least we know he’s alive...’
‘For now,’ Georgia agreed with a small shiver. ‘If another farmer—’
‘Don’t worry,’ Piers reassured her. ‘The police are arranging to put out a bulletin on the local radio network about Ben.’
As Georgia moved in his arms, lifting her face up to his so that she could listen to him, the temptation to cup it in his hands and kiss the tremble from her mouth was so strong that he had to avert his head and look away from her to stop himself from giving in to it. Ben’s plight had united them, locking them together in an enclosed and intimate circle of mutual concern for the dog, but he must not deceive himself. Once the situation had been resolved Georgia would, no doubt, return to her uncompromising stand of antipathy towards him. Just because last night she had seemed to welcome him, to want him...
‘How soon can we leave? How long will it take us to get there?’ he heard her asking him anxiously.
‘Well, it could be a three- or four-hour drive, depending on road conditions. We’ll have to take my godmother’s car and—’
‘We could take mine,’ Georgia offered.
Piers shook his head, reminding her truthfully, ‘My godmother’s Volvo has more room for Ben.’
‘If we find him...’ Georgia couldn’t prevent herself from pointing out.
‘If we find him,’ Piers agreed. ‘By the way,’ he added, ‘it might be as well to pack an overnight bag. We shan’t get to the farm until early evening, and even with the benefit of the light summer nights we could—’
‘If Ben is up there I’m not coming back without him,’ Georgia told Piers determinedly. ‘No matter how long I have to stay. Oh, Piers, what on earth will we tell your godmother?’ she asked him unhappily.
‘Let’s cross that bridge when we get to it,’ Piers told her quietly. ‘Whilst you’re getting ready I’ll go and fill the Volvo with petrol.’
As he started to release her Georgia turned away from him, but then, as all her doubts and fears swept over her, she turned back.
‘Piers...’
The husky, anxious note of her voice made Piers jerk his head round to look at her. Her mouth was within easy kissing distance of his own. Recklessly he ignored the stern voice admonishing him not to give in to his longing, sliding his hand along her jaw and then bending his head to take her mouth in a swift, hard kiss.
As he felt her lips tremble and then part beneath his, momentarily Piers forgot Ben and everything else that lay between them, keeping them apart. Very gently his tonguetip probed Georgia’s soft lips even further apart, the tremble that ran through her body echoed by the deep shudder of arousal racking his own.
Dizzily Georgia clung to Piers as his tongue explored the deep sweetness of her mouth, taking possession of it with a determined sensuality that both shocked and thrilled her.
She loved him so much. If only there weren’t all these barriers between them. If only his desire for her was motivated by love and not merely male physical hunger.
Pain tore through her, causing her to give a small, anguished sob. Immediately Piers released her, and, his voice gruff and deep, his glance fixed somewhere in the distance, told her almost curtly, ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t—’
‘I’ll go and pack my bag,’ Georgia interrupted him.
Highly emotive situations often resulted in people behaving in a way that was out of character. Piers felt guilty about Ben and that was why he was behaving as he was towards her, she told herself sternly as she made her way upstairs.
* * *
Mrs Latham’s sturdy Volvo might be nowhere as luxurious as Piers’s Jaguar, with its leather upholstery and elegant interior, but it was way superior to her own runabout, Georgia acknowledged.