Page 11
Story: A Country Quandary
“I had you down as more of a champagne lover than a cider drinker anyway,” he said, finally referring to their meeting the other day.
She looked up into his eyes, and heat fired in Kitty’s cheeks before he straightened up and addressed them all again.
“Well, good luck. I’ll be expecting great things from you this evening, Katherine,” Daniel said, and with a flick of his eyebrows, he left them with a dazzling smile.
Kitty let out the breath she’d been holding. “Who the hell is Daniel Cunningham?” she asked as she followed Jonty to a large wooden table at one end of the room.
“His family owns the pub, and he manages it for them. He’s a bit of a player.”
Kitty’s eyes widened. Of course, he was. Nobody that good-looking could be anything else.
They arrived at the table where Holly waited, surrounded by answer sheets and pens.She’d written their team's name at the top of every sheet and sat flipping a beer mat idly, waiting for the quiz to start. Holly and Kitty met earlier at Rose Cottage and bonded over a cup of tea, one too many cookies, and a shared love of teasing Jonty. Two more old school friends joined them shortly before the quiz began.
The first rounds passed, with each team jostling for supremacy, needling each other with friendly banter. When one of Jonty’s heckles hit a nerve with another contestant, a crumpled piece of paper sailed through the air, almost landing in Kitty’s glass. She found their intense commitment to a trivia night hilarious. However, her competitive streak emerged after a few more drinks, and she battled with the rest of them.
Neck and neck with the team at the next table, the excitement was almost enough to take her attention off Daniel Cunningham. Almost. His eyes were on her all evening. After the amount of cider she’d drunk, Kitty abandoned her blushing and found his steady gaze and lazy smirk intriguing instead of disconcerting.
Across the pub, his playful eyes taunted her, drawing her in like a black hole. She hadn’t seriously considered sex for ages, and Daniel made her think of sex. She also considered that a one-night stand wasn’t on her to-do list, and everything about Daniel Cunningham screamed one-night stand. Kitty had bigger fish to fry than the local playboy, but still, there was nothing wrong with a bit of window shopping.
When the emcee announced it was time for the final rounds, Holly held up an answer sheet covered in pictures of celebrities dead and alive.
“I hope Josh gets here in time,” she said.
Kitty had almost forgotten about him. “Why Josh?” she asked.
“He’s good at the famous face round.”
Kitty shrugged. It was a good enough reason. “I assumed he wasn’t coming. There isn’t much point now,” she said, looking at her watch.
“No, he’s on his way. Josh isalwayslate. He had a call out, but he’ll be here to save the day and take the glory, no doubt.”
Kitty grinned. From her memory, she pictured the lanky blond boy running over the fields towards the pub, a blue cape billowing in the wind, and a sausage dog cradled under one arm. Super Vet!
She didn’t recognise many of the so-called famous faces on the sheet but wrote Shirley Temple under the one picture shewassure of.The other images swum before her eyes, and Kitty pushed her glasses up to the top of her head. That’d be the heat of the room and the three pints of cider she’d drunk.
To rein in her dancing vision, she focussed on the edges of the crisp beer mats and the scratches of a hundred years etched into the heavy table. She wavered so much that her loosened fingers dropped her pen, sliding it down her lap and tumbling into the darkness of the floor. With a loud ‘tut,’ she bent down to retrieve it. No mean feat for a woman just shy of six feet tall.
As Kitty disappeared, crouched under the table, laughing voices erupted overhead, and an extra pair of feet appeared.Bent over, her hand groped to find the pen in the dark, and blood rushed to her head, causing a fresh wave of dizziness.
Labelled the world’s clumsiest woman by her mum and sister, Kitty lived up to her reputation. She came back up from under the table, smashing her forehead into the edge of its solid oak top and crushing her glasses. A loud ‘crack’ rang in her ears, and a collective gasp went up around her. Kitty’s hands flew to her face, and she closed her eyes, bowing her head at the sharpness of the pain.
“Shit! Are you okay?” a low, husky voice asked.
“Yes. No, not really. I’ll be okay in a minute. I’m just waiting for the stars to clear.” With visions of bluebirds circling around her head Looney Tunes style, Kitty smiled.
“Hold still,” the voice said. A solid hand gripped her arm, and another untangled the broken glasses from her hair.
“There you go. No blood. Sit tight, and I’ll get you some ice.”
“Good thinking, Doctor,” Holly said.
Doctor?Kitty bit down on her bottom lip. Wasn’t a vet a doctor? If that voice was Josh’s, she wanted to see the rest of him. He didn’t sound like someone who hung out in a blue cape, brandishing sausage dogs. His voice was warm honey, sugar and spice, and all things nice.
The quiz continued around her, and under an assault of excessive fussing, Kitty assured Holly she was fine and to get back to winning. Alone in her thoughts, she peeked around to find her rescuer. Only one figure stood at the bar. Although blurry, without her glasses, the man was tall, with a broad back and golden blond hair.Damn.That was Josh?
Kitty stayed still in her seat and closed her eyes again, waiting for the pain and dizziness to settle. As she did, a crisp, clean smell of shower gel reached her nostrils, followed by the heat of a body sliding into the seat beside her. She breathed him in.Holy crap, he smelled good.
“I have the ice, but it’s melting fast,” the silky voice said, sending a tingle to her knickers. That voice could melt all the ice in the Arctic, let alone in the pub.
Table of Contents
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- Page 11 (Reading here)
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- Page 25
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