His Bid For A Bride

She grimaced. ‘Believe me, parts of me feel as if I’ve gone ten rounds with Lennox Lewis!’

Falkner laughed softly, his hand on her elbow as they walked up the stone steps to the front door.

Skye had noticed that the driveway and grounds looked cared for as they drove up, and the house no longer had that run-down look of six years ago, either; obviously stocks and shares had proved more lucrative for Falkner than showjumping!

She drew in a deep breath now as she prepared to face what lay in store for her behind the huge oak door, friend or foe, she had no idea.

‘It will be all right, Skye,’ Falkner told her firmly as he seemed to read her uncertainty. ‘I’m here, remember,’ he added determinedly.

Yes, he was. And she still had no real idea why he should be. But he had promised to be ‘here’ for as long as she needed him.

As long as it took her to get through this nightmare?

If she ever did!

‘Feel like going for a walk outside?’ Falkner prompted once they had finished with the delicious afternoon tea brought in by his bustlingly friendly Scottish housekeeper.

Within seconds of meeting the middle-aged woman Skye had known she had nothing to fear where the other woman was concerned; Annie Graham treated Falkner like a rather naughty child, and within minutes of their meeting had treated Skye in the same affectionately friendly way, urging her to eat some of the sandwiches and scones with the words ‘you need some skin on those bones’.

No doubt the older woman would have something to say when she realized that neither of them had done justice to the delicious tea, Skye acknowledged ruefully.

Maybe that was the reason for Falkner’s suggestion the two of them go for a walk? A walk that would cause him more than a little discomfort.

‘Or perhaps you would rather go upstairs and rest for a while?’ Falkner realized lightly. ‘You’ve had a busy afternoon so far.’

Skye shook her head. ‘I think I’ve rested enough this last week. But if you have something else you should be doing…?’ After all, he had already spent enough of his day with her.

He stood up. ‘Take a walk with me.’ He held out his hand to help her stand up.

Skye shied away, from that hand, and the idea of going outside. Annie Graham had proved warm and welcoming, but that didn’t mean she would get the same reception from other members of Falkner’s household staff.

Falkner frowned darkly, still holding out his hand to her. ‘Skye, no matter how much you might feel like doing so just now, you really can’t just sit in here and hide from the world,’ he rasped.

She glared up at him. ‘Who says I can’t?’ she challenged resentfully.

‘I do,’ he replied without hesitation. ‘You know as well as I do, Skye, that when you’ve been thrown from a horse, you have to get straight back up into the saddle.’

‘Is that what you did—?’ She broke off with a gasp as she realized how insensitive she was being; of course that wasn’t what he had done, his injuries had been such that he probably couldn’t ride at all any more. ‘This isn’t the same,’ she muttered awkwardly.

‘It is.’ Falkner nodded abruptly. ‘And your father would tell you exactly the same—’

‘Don’t presume to tell me what my father would or wouldn’t say!’ Her eyes glittered furiously.

He gave an impatient sigh. ‘Skye, you’re only angry because you know I’m right,’ he rasped.

Yes, she was; her father had always been a pragmatic man. His philosophy had always been, if you fell or received a knock of some kind, then you picked yourself up and carried on. It was what he had done after Skye’s mother died. During the last difficult six months, too. It was what he would want Skye to do now…

She knew that as well as Falkner obviously did.

But none of that changed the fact that just the thought of going with Falkner, of walking outside with him, where someone might recognize her, made Skye squirm with discomfort.

‘I’m feeling rather tired, Falkner—’

‘Coward,’ he murmured softly.

But not so softly that Skye couldn’t hear him. Or resent him for being right.

She was behaving like a coward, and her father would have been disappointed in her, would have launched into some lengthy Irish parable that made a mockery of her fear.

But, she realized impatiently, Falkner’s method of making her angry had exactly the same effect.

‘Okay!’ she agreed forcefully, ignoring the hand he held out to her, ignoring the pain in her ribs as she struggled to her feet without help. ‘Satisfied?’ she added challengingly, blue eyes sparkling with resentment.

‘Perfectly,’ Falkner answered lightly, opening the door for her to precede him.

Skye did so stiffly. And not just because of her painful ribs; she really didn’t want to do this.

‘Okay?’ Falkner prompted softly a few minutes later as they approached the stables. It was curiously quiet, none of the bustle of activity here today that there had been six years ago.

‘Okay,’ she echoed tensely.

‘This way.’ He turned to the left, leading her down the long row of closed individual stables, his limp more noticeable now.

‘I don’t understand, Falkner; where are we going?’ Skye frowned her puzzlement as she followed reluctantly.

Why on earth was he taking her round his deserted stables? Perhaps this was Falkner’s version of that ‘Irish parable’ her father would have subjected her to, something along the lines of ‘he had succeeded despite no longer being involved in his love of showjumping’, as she would have to survive without her beloved father. If that was what this was about, then Falkner was wasting his time, because she—

‘Almost there,’ he dismissed lightly—that lightness belied by the heavy frown between his brows.

‘I—’ Skye broke off as she heard a familiar sound, her whole body tensing as she turned in the direction of that sound, and she realized not all of the stables were empty after all, eyes widening in shocked surprise as that whinny of recognition was loudly repeated. ‘Storm…?’ she questioned dazedly, hurrying to the open stable door several stalls down, staring in total disbelief as the massive head stretched across the top of the open door to nuzzle ecstatically against her face. ‘Storm!’ she acknowledged chokingly, burying her own face into his glistening black neck, tears falling hotly down her cheeks as her arms clung to him weakly.

It had been the shock of her young life six years ago when, three months after her initial meeting with Falkner, a horsebox had arrived late one evening at her father’s stable, the door opening to reveal a very disgruntled Storm.

Skye had turned to her father dazedly as she’d easily recognized the horse.

‘Falkner changed his mind,’ her father told her with satisfaction. ‘He telephoned me one day last week and offered to let me buy Storm, after all.’ He shrugged. ‘I didn’t tell you because I wanted it to be a total surprise for you,’ he added happily.

A total surprise had to be an understatement. Falkner Harrington hadn’t looked like a man who ever changed his mind about anything, and after the blistering rebuke he had given her three months earlier, once she had walked back to his house, Skye had been sure he would never allow her so much as near one of his horses again, let alone allow her to own one.

But there Storm was, as big and beautiful as ever. And—miraculously—he was hers.

‘This is literally a case of “never look a gift horse in the mouth”, me darlin’,’ her father teased as he slipped his arm about her shoulders, giving her a hug as they both looked admiringly at the prancing stallion.

That was how Skye had come to own Storm, after all—but it certainly didn’t explain what Storm was doing back in England now.

He should still be in Ireland, at her father’s stable, had certainly been there a week ago when they’d last spoken to Uncle Seamus on the telephone.

She turned to look at Falkner, her arms still wrapped around Storm’s neck, the paleness of her face showing the tracks of her tears. ‘Why—how—when—?’ She gave a helpless shrug, totally overwhelmed by this latest development.

‘I brought him back from Ireland with me last night,’ Falkner told her evenly. ‘Although he certainly wasn’t as sweet-tempered as this on the journey,’ he added ruefully.

No, she could imagine he hadn’t been. Storm hated travel of any sort, part of that ‘temperament’ Falkner had once referred to, and crossing the Irish Sea in a horsebox must have seemed like the ultimate in discomfort to him.

Falkner’s explanation told Skye ‘how’ and ‘when’, but it still didn’t explain ‘why’…

Storm hadn’t left Ireland since the day he’d been delivered to her six years ago, had made his feelings clear from the beginning concerning even the possibility of being put into a horsebox again, let alone being taken anywhere in one.

Yet Falkner had somehow managed to bring the horse back from Ireland with him yesterday, something that must have been as uncomfortable for him, with his injured leg, as it must have been to the horse…

Skye shook her head. She didn’t understand any of this. Friday, the day of her father’s funeral, was going to be the second worst day in her life—the day her father died would always be the worst—but surely after that there would be no further need for her to remain in England.

And yet Falkner said he had brought the horse back from Ireland with him only yesterday—

‘What were you doing in Ireland?’ she questioned sharply.

Falkner grimaced admiringly. ‘That bump on the head hasn’t slowed you down any, has it?’

‘I was suffering from concussion, Falkner, not brain damage,’ she returned dismissively.

He shrugged. ‘I had no idea what had happened to—didn’t know about the accident,’ he bit out flatly, ‘until I saw that awful photograph of you in the newspaper—’

‘I’m surprised you recognized me,’ Skye derided.

Falkner gave an acknowledging inclination of his head. ‘It wasn’t easy,’ he conceded dryly. ‘You’re looking a lot better now,’ he added encouragingly.

‘Really?’ she speculated. ‘Then I must have looked pretty awful earlier in the week.’ She had looked a complete wreck when she’d glanced at herself in the mirror at the hospital earlier.

‘You did,’ Falkner confirmed bluntly. ‘You were also, according to the officious ward receptionist when I telephoned, refusing all visitors. I was given the distinct impression that wasn’t negotiable, so, rather than kick my heels waiting for you to be well enough to be discharged, I flew over to Ireland to see if there was anything I could do there instead.’ He sighed. ‘Your uncle Seamus is a self-pitying drunk,’ he stated flatly.

‘Yes,’ she confirmed heavily; there was no doubting that he had become so since his wife had left him a year ago.

Falkner shrugged. ‘The housekeeper is quite happy to stay on, and I talked to your father’s groom, and he’s quite prepared to take care of the horses, but I thought you might rather have Storm here with you.’

Which explanation still left the question mark—why bring Storm here at all when the likelihood was that she would be returning to Ireland herself in another week or so?

Wouldn’t she…?

CHAPTER THREE

‘I WOULD suggest you have an early night, Skye,’ Falkner murmured after dinner. ‘You’ve had a very busy day,’ he added gently as she looked up at him dazedly.

Yes, she accepted it had been busy after her recent days of inertia, she just wasn’t sure going to bed early was such a good idea. It would give her longer to lay awake. Thinking.

Besides, she wasn’t in the least tired, still had far too many questions left unanswered to possibly be able to sleep. But Falkner had been more than usually uncommunicative as the two of them had eaten dinner together—a dinner neither of them had done justice to—and Skye could appreciate that Falkner probably had things of his own he wanted to deal with now. Maybe friends—or a particular friend—he would like to call…?

‘I’m sure you must have lots of things to do, Falkner. Please don’t let me keep you from them,’ Skye assured him. ‘I’m just not tired yet.’ After all, it was only nine-thirty. ‘Please don’t worry about me,’ she dismissed lightly as he continued to frown.

‘But I do worry about you, Skye,’ he drawled.

She shook her head. ‘There really is no need, and it’s far too early for me to go to bed yet.’ And actually stand any chance of sleeping.

‘In that case…do you play chess?’ He raised dark brows.

Her eyes narrowed. ‘Badly.’

‘Hmm.’ He grimaced. ‘Then how about—?’

‘Falkner, I am not a child in need of entertainment,’ she assured him impatiently as she stood up, ignoring the painful twinges in her side as she did so; whatever the pain, she had really had enough of Falkner towering over her in this way.

His expression darkened. ‘Maybe all this would be easier if you were still a child!’ he snapped harshly.

Skye frowned her puzzlement at his harshness. ‘I don’t know what you mean…?’

‘No,’ he sighed, ‘I don’t suppose you do.’ He shook his head. ‘Skye, I’m doing my best, in very unusual circumstances, so maybe you could just cut me a little slack, okay?’ His eyes glittered challengingly.

Considering the man she had briefly known six years ago, Skye knew that he was more than doing his best where she was concerned. And she accepted they were unusual circumstances. It was just—Skye felt so angry. With herself. With Falkner. With Uncle Seamus. With—of all people—her father. How could she possibly feel angry with her beloved father? It wasn’t his fault that he—that he—

She pushed that thought very firmly from her mind, her face pale with the effort. ‘Falkner, why did you bother going to the trouble of bringing Storm over here?’ He had neatly avoided answering that question when they had left the stables earlier, lingering to have a lengthy conversation with one of the gardeners, and there had been little chance to introduce the subject again since that time. Well, blow politeness. She wanted an answer. And she wanted it now.

He thrust his hands into the pockets of his tailored trousers, having changed before they had dinner. ‘I thought you would like him to be here when you came out of hospital. A friendly face, so to speak,’ he added ruefully.

Skye’s mouth quirked humourlessly. ‘You didn’t think yours would be enough on its own?’

Falkner looked a little less grim as he grimaced derisively. ‘I haven’t had that impression so far in our acquaintance, no!’ he returned dryly.

Skye’s eyes widened incredulously. Did he really not know—? Could he not see—?

Obviously not, she realized with relief; everything was awful enough already, without having Falkner feeling sorry for her because she’d had the misfortune to fall in love with him six years ago—and remained that way.

She drew in a deep breath. ‘I’m sorry if I’ve given the impression I’m less than grateful for what you’re doing.’

Falkner laughed softly. ‘Skye, I can assure you I never expected you to run joyfully into my arms.’

He would never know the temptation she had had to do exactly that when he’d arrived in her hospital room earlier today. If her painful ribs hadn’t prevented it. If her own pride hadn’t forbidden it. If she hadn’t lain in that bed willing herself not to show him exactly how pleased she was to see him.

Falkner was both the first—and last—person she needed to be kind to her just now.

She shook her head. ‘I doubt I could run anywhere at this moment,’ she avoided. ‘Falkner, I—I’m very appreciative of all you’ve done for me—’

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