Free Who Needs Mr Willoughby? by Katie Oliver Page B

We should stop. It’s no use me wanting what I can’t have, what I have no right to even wish for.”
    “Bollocks,” she murmured, her eyes luminous with desire for him. “Kiss me again. Please.”
    After a moment’s hesitation he complied, and tightened his arms around her as he pressed her hard against him and covered her mouth with his.
    Marianne was soon lost once more in the warm enticement of Willoughby’s lips when she heard the sound of a branch cracking below.
    She stiffened and drew back. “Did you hear that?” she whispered, stricken. “Someone’s down there.” She met his eyes, her heart knocking against her chest. “Someone’s spying on us.”

Chapter 12
    “Marianne?” Elinor called out. “Marianne, are you up there?”
    Sagging back against Kit in relief, Marianne kissed him once more. “Back to reality, I suppose,” she whispered against his lips, and sighed.
    “No. Not yet.” He caught her face in his hands once more and kissed her lingeringly.
    “Marianne? I know you’re up there.”
    She let out a breath of irritation and scrambled to her feet. “Yes, Ellie,” she called back. “We’re here.” There was no point in trying to hide the fact that Willoughby was in the tree house with her; Elinor had seen them earlier, after all, and she’d never believe he’d left.
    Willoughby sighed and stood up as well.
    “You’ve had a telephone call from Dr Brandon’s office. Mrs Fenwick just sent me a text. They want to know if you can start work tomorrow.”
    Marianne stepped outside onto the deck that surrounded the tree house and looked down at her sister in dismay. “Tomorrow? But I wasn’t supposed to start until next week.”
    “Evidently the receptionist’s sister is having her baby a bit early. They need you to come in for training straight away.”
    “Oh. All right.” Her heartbeat quickened. “Then I suppose that’s what I’ll have to do.”
    ***
    At dinner that evening, Marianne was quiet. Her thoughts were preoccupied with Kit Willoughby, and with her new job at the veterinary clinic. She hoped that she and Matthew Brandon would find a way to rub along. He was such a prickly, hard-to-read sort of man –
    “You’ve barely touched your lamb,” Mrs Holland observed. “What’s wrong? Your thoughts are obviously elsewhere tonight.”
    “Sorry.” Marianne laid her fork aside. “Just thinking about starting my new job tomorrow. I’m feeling a bit nervous,” she confessed. “I hate starting new things.”
    “Not
all
new things, apparently,” Elinor remarked, and tucked in to her lamb.
    “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    “Nothing. Only, you’ve had no trouble making a new friend of Kit Willoughby.”
    “And why shouldn’t I? After all, if not for him, I’d still be lying on the ground under that tree, waiting for help.”
    “That’s true,” their mother interjected. “You have a very good point, darling. It’s lucky he found you.”
    “Lucky for him,
and
for me.” Somewhat mollified, Marianne picked up her knife and fork. “He’s the most amazing man I’ve ever met – kind, and thoughtful…”
    “And handsome,” Mrs Holland added with a smile. “Don’t forget that.”
    “What does he do, your Mr Willoughby?” Elinor asked.
    “Do?” Marianne echoed. “I don’t know. He’s never said, and I’ve never asked. And he’s not ‘my’ Mr Willoughby.”
Although she wished he was
…
    “If I remember rightly,” their mother offered as she took a roll from the basket and buttered it, “Lady Violet said he expects to inherit his aunt’s estate.” She frowned. “Oh, now – what was the name of the place –?”
    “Allenham Court,” Marianne supplied.
    “Then we’ve established he’s not only handsome, but rich, too – or will be, one day,” Elinor said.
    “So does that satisfy your curiosity and lessen your doubts?” Marianne asked tartly.
    “It’s not that I have doubts, exactly,” her sister replied. “I’m just saying