One Intimate Night

Her pleasure in walking totally spoiled, Georgia returned home, but once there she couldn’t get poor Ben or his fate out of her mind, and the more she thought about what Piers had done, the angrier she got. It was high time that someone confronted Piers and made him see just how callous and cruel his behaviour was. And who better than she! Who better indeed?

In a trice Georgia was in her car and driving out of the town in the direction of Riversreach Farm.

A ‘For Sale’ sign still marked the entrance to the farm lane, but the forlorn appearance Georgia remembered the farm as having was well on the way to being banished, she recognised as she reached the end of the lane and saw the house’s sparkling windows, their stone surrounds picked out in a buttery cream paint whilst the façade of the house itself had been painted a paler-toned warm cream. The garden at the front of the house had been tidied up as well, the borders weeded and the gravel recently raked. Quite plainly Piers intended to spare no expense in setting the farmhouse to rights, Georgia decided sourly. Pity that he hadn’t had the compassion to spend some of his money on doing something for Ben.

Stopping her car, she took a deep breath and pushed open the driver’s door.

She wasn’t going to let herself dwell on how much of her anger was fuelled by disappointment at what Piers had done, because he had fallen so far short of the ideals of the man she had allowed herself to believe he could be—a man big enough, wise enough, man enough to admit that he had made an error of judgement and that he had been wrong. A man compassionate enough to understand the effect Ben’s being found another home, being rejected a second time, might have on the animal; a man caring enough to realise what it must be like for the woman who was foolish enough to love him when he wasn’t able to love her back.

But Piers was none of those things. Piers was...

Raising her hand, she was just about to ring the doorbell, but Piers had obviously seen her arrive, because before she could do so he had opened the door and he was standing there.

‘Georgia!’

Georgia blinked a little as she heard the warmth in his voice, and then told herself that she must have been imagining it as she ignored his greeting and told him bitterly, ‘I know. I’ve just seen your godmother. I know what’s happened to Ben... How could you...? And to think I really believed all those things you said. To think I believed that you’d actually changed your mind about him.

‘Have you no feelings, no compassion? No, of course you haven’t.’ She answered her own question. ‘You just couldn’t wait to get rid of him, could you? You just couldn’t wait to persuade your godmother to find him another home.’ Tears filled her eyes. ‘And to think I thought you’d changed—’

‘Now just a minute,’ Piers interrupted her grimly. ‘You don’t—’

‘I don’t what? Understand?’ Georgia demanded furiously. ‘No, I don’t. I don’t understand how anyone...any man...could behave towards a dumb animal the way you have to Ben. And to think that I actually believed I loved you...that I’ve just spent night after night longing for you...wishing you were with me...wishing that you loved me—’ Abruptly Georgia realised what she was saying and where the hot dam-burst of her anger had taken her.

Her face burned, but she lifted her head proudly and locked her eyes on Piers’s as she told him quietly, ‘You aren’t worthy of my love, and I’m glad that I discovered the truth about you before I wasted any more tears on you. Where is Ben? I want to know because...’

Her voice trailed away as Piers stepped back into the hall and called, ‘Ben, come here. You’ve got a visitor...’

As the setter came bounding into the hall Georgia couldn’t help noticing how happy and healthy he looked. His coat gleamed, his eyes shone and he had that air about him that said that he was getting far more exercise than he had ever done with Emily Latham.

‘B-Ben’s here...?’ To her chagrin Georgia knew she was beginning to stammer. ‘B-but...’

As the setter rushed up to greet her Georgia kneeled down to pat him, burying her hot face in his coat.

‘When the time came for me to move out of my godmother’s house and into this one I decided that I really missed Ben, so I asked her if she would consider allowing him to live with me full-time. She was reluctant at first, but the colonel persuaded her; since I suspect any day now that the colonel will propose to her—it’s obvious just how the pair of them feel about one another. In the end she agreed that Ben could come to me, with the proviso that, should Ben be in the least bit distressed or unhappy, she would have him back.’