Elijah sensed her hesitation. ‘That way,’ he suggested, pointing to the right. ‘I go –used to go –running around here. The track drops down into the trees and circles around. It’ll take about—’ He hesitated, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. ‘—an hour.’
She bristled, hoping he wasn’t insinuating that she mightn’t be able to walk that far, but all she said was, ‘Perfect.’
They set off in silence again, Nora once more determined to ignore him, but she found her resolution flagging as Biscuit kept stopping to sniff, or bounced around on the end of his lead. He was clearly enjoying being out and about, with different sights and new smells, and when he paused to sniff enthusiastically at a clump of ferns and then started to dig through them as he made little grunting noises of excitement, she couldn’t help giggling.
‘I wonder if he’s trying to dig out a rabbit?’ she said, watching his antics in amusement, momentarily forgetting that the man standing next to her was her rival.
‘I bet he won’t catch it if he does,’ Elijah said. ‘It’ll be far too quick for him.’ He froze and lowered his voice, pointing. ‘Look, there’s a squirrel.’
Nora looked, but couldn’t see anything. ‘Where?’
Elijah moved nearer until his shoulder was touching her, and he leant in, his head close to hers. ‘Follow my finger,’ he said. ‘Just there, between those two trees. Do you see it?’
The bushy grey tail curved over its back as the squirrel sat on the ground, holding something in its tiny paws. Motionless, it watched them with black beady eyes.
Nora sucked in a slow, awed breath – and her nose was immediately filled with the scent of cinnamon and sugar, with an undercurrent of sandalwood and bergamot. She was sure she could smell coconut and vanilla, too. The man smelt good enough to eat, and she closed her eyes briefly, letting the aroma seep into her, reminding her of cookies and biscuits, cakes and pastries, and she had to fight the temptation to turn her head and find out whether he tasted as delicious as he smelt.
Abruptly coming to her senses, she leapt away in alarm. What the hell was shedoing?
‘You okay?’ he asked, concern in his eyes.
‘Wasp,’ she blurted, saying the first thing to come into her head. At least it was plausible.
‘Where?’ His eyes darted about.
‘It’s gone now.’
‘Good. I hate wasps.’
‘Me, too.’ She tugged at Biscuit’s lead and he ceased scrabbling in the undergrowth, to look at her with an inquisitive expression. ‘Come on,’ she said. ‘This is supposed to be a walk, not a dig.’
Feeling rather shaken, she carried on, wondering what had just happened. For crying out loud, she’d wanted tokisshim! And all because he’d reminded her of the smell of cake.
She really had to stop thinking about all the food she could no longer eat, and she put her bizarre reaction down to the fact that he baked sweet treats for a living, so the aroma of sugar was probably ingrained in his pores. It had been nothing more than a desire to eat cake, and not a desire to eathim.
He was very attractive though, she acknowledged, but that aside, she wasn’t interested. It had been a very long time since she’d had a man in her life, and she didn’t need one now. She certainly didn’t feel the lack and was perfectly content being on her own. Anyway, she wouldn’t be on her own for much longer: Biscuit would soon be moving in, and she couldn’t wait.
Feeling magnanimous because Elijah was going to be one disappointed chappie when he discovered that Nora would be Biscuit’s new human, she thrust the lead at him. ‘Your turn.’
‘Are you sure?’ He looked startled; as well he might, considering the way he’d behaved yesterday. He clearly hadn’t been expecting any favours. Ha! That showed him! She was the bigger person, even though she was still smarting from the way he’d sent Andrea to play on her sympathies. But it had been the sign of a desperate man, and she took comfort from it.
Nora shrugged and thrust the lead at him again. This time he took it with a grateful smile, and she felt bad that he wouldn’tget to take Biscuit home; but nottoobad. After all, her need was greater than his. Okay, so he’d had to give up running, but he’d find something else to occupy his time, whereas Nora’s health depended on her losing weight and keeping it off, and along with her strict diet, exercise would play a key role in ensuring that happened. She wasn’t getting a dog for fun (although she was sure Biscuit would bring joy and companionship into her life), and neither was she doing it on a whim. This was survival – emotional as well as physical, because in the short time she’d known Biscuit, she’d fallen head over heels in love with the daft pooch. He’d filled a dog-shaped hole in her heart that she hadn’t even known was there.
But now that she did, no other dog would do.
Biscuit was her soul dog, and she had an awful suspicion that if she wasn’t allowed to adopt him, it would break her heart in two.
Elijah was nonplussed! Nora was being nice to him. Also, for a second, when he’d been pointing out the squirrel to her, he’d had the weirdest feeling she’d been about tokisshim.
And what was even more worrying was that he’d wanted her to.
The woman was getting under his skin, and it made him uncomfortable. Fancying Nora wasn’t a good idea, and not just because they were in the middle of battling for the affection of the same dog. It was the main reason, of course, but therewere others. They were complete opposites, for a start. He loved the outdoors and, from what he’d gathered, she wasn’t as keen, despite her newfound intentions. He was a bit of a loner, and she was the life and soul of the party. He didn’t want another relationship and she— Actually, he didn’t knowwhatshe wanted.
Anyway, it made no difference to him, because whatever it was, he didn’t care enough to find out. He simply wasn’t interested.
‘Have you always been a hairdresser?’ he asked, blurting out the question before he realised he was going to ask it. Huh! So much for him not being interested!
Surprise flickered across her face. ‘Yes. Have you always been a baker?’
