Vision In Love (Legends of The North Book 1) (13 page)

"Feeling a little rough?" Matt shouted with a grin.

Jess winced in response then smiled as Emma handed her the painkillers and a glass of water.
 

"Thanks." She washed two down and turned to face them. "I wanted to apologise for last night. I hadn't planned on coming home but ... well, let's just say the night didn't turn out the way I thought it would."

Emma thought Matt might have something to say about that, and she didn't want to get in the middle of it. "Forget about it, Jess. I've got to get to work, I'll see you tonight." She turned to Matt and dropped a quick kiss on his cheek before she left.

After a long afternoon at work, Matt looked out of the window for the fourth time in as many minutes.
 

Miriam let out a sigh. "Just go. I'll lock up. You're making me nervous. Go."

"Thanks, Miriam," he said as he grabbed his coat. He needed to put things right with Emma. Since her last vision, things had been weird between them. But it had certainly thrown him. She'd never even seen his brother, but had dreamt about him? Maybe he had overreacted
–
she'd seen his brother drowning, not exactly a reason to be jealous
–
but still.
 

He leaned against the railings, trying to take in the view as he waited for Emma to hopefully come back from her walk. The river was flat as a millpond in parts but running fast in others. A bit like life in general right then, he mused. The sound of Barney's excited bark had him turning to face Emma as she strode toward him. Barney jumped up at him and he gave him a stroke. As he glanced at Emma, he could feel his cheeks heating before either of them had even said anything.

"I, er, was hoping to see you. I wondered if you wanted to come to mine tonight for dinner."

"That sounds nice."

"Oh, good."

"I'll come round about seven then?" she asked with a smile as she leaned into him.

"Mmm, perfect," he said before dropping his lips to hers, then he watched her walk down the street and out of sight. He had a lot to do as he had decided to go all-out with dinner, the full three courses. Thinking back to the night before, he felt embarrassed. Emma had told him about her vision, even though she probably hadn't wanted to, thinking that he would react badly. Thinking he'd react in exactly the way he had, like an idiot. How could he be jealous of his brother? A brother who had never even met Emma. Even if she
had
dreamt of marrying James, it didn't mean it would actually come true. There was no way his parents would let that marriage go ahead at the big house, or even at all.
 

After spending the rest of the afternoon in the kitchen, he finally heard a knock on the door at ten past seven. As he opened it, he knew the wait was definitely worth it. Emma wore a sweater that clung to every curve, tight jeans and high-heeled boots that made her legs look twice as long.

Clearing his throat, he finally managed to say, "Come in." He closed the door behind her and pressed a kiss to her cheek.

"I brought a bottle of white. I wasn't sure what we would be eating."

"That's great, thanks. Come on down, dinner is ready."

She followed him down to the kitchen and gasped. He smiled at her reaction as he checked the table. It was laid with plates and napkins, and in the middle were three tapered red candles. A bottle of wine was chilling and soft music played in the background.
I did well
, he thought as he pulled out a chair for her. He put the bottle of wine Emma had brought in the wine rack. Walking over to the fridge, he came back with two cognac glasses decorated with huge prawns hanging over the side.

"Madam," he said, placing one of them in front of her, pouring a glass of wine. He took a seat opposite her, thinking she looked even more beautiful by candlelight.

"You didn't need to go to all this trouble. I mean, I love that you did, but you didn't have to."

He reached across the table and took her hand in his. "No, I did have to, Ems. Our first night together and you have a vision and instead of trying to comfort you, I act like a ... a jealous fool."

"Matt
–
“

"No, Ems, it's true and I'm sorry." He took a gulp of his wine, relieved to have said it.

"Matt, you don't have to be. It was the first time you'd been with me when I had a vision. They're not exactly something you deal with every day. No one expects to wake up next to someone screaming with their hands covered in blood."

Matt dropped his head then slowly shook it. He looked her straight in the eye. "Next time it happens, I'll do better. I promise."

With that, he stood and collected their glasses. When he came back, the smell of charred meat made her mouth water.

"Mmm, steak. It's one of my favourites," she told him.

By the time she had finished the steak then the hot chocolate brownies and ice cream, she was officially stuffed. Emma patted the cushion next to her as she lay back on the sofa. Matt sat down next to her and she curled against his side, letting out a contented sigh. They lay like that, happy to watch TV until Matt said, "Stay with me tonight?"

"I can't, I have to get back for Barney." She leaned back and looked up at him. "You could always stay at mine again."

He smiled and pressed his lips to her forehead. Standing up, he pulled her to her feet. "In that case, let me walk you home."

"There’s no rush," she said, laughing at him.

***

After their dinner together, Matt and Emma didn't see much of each other. Emma was away on a client visit for a couple of days and Matt was left to his own devices. Even Jess was busy job hunting, which left him with too much time on his hands. He found himself drawn to walking across the fields by the big house. Altenbury Hall. It was an imposing building, even from across the fields. Great, austere even, with the blue sky behind it throwing it into shadow. Two roofs sloped either side of the porch, held aloft by two stone pillars. Ancient trees obscured part of the hall, but the flag still fluttered proudly in the wind.
 

He was torturing himself, trying to imagine Emma getting married inside there. It was never going to happen, so why couldn't he get the image out of his head?
 

 
As evening began to fall, the windows glowed yellow, softening the building. With the setting sun behind it, the hall took on a more rust-like colour and it seemed to blend with its surroundings. Objectively, he knew it was a beautiful building, had read enough articles about it and its design. But his memories, his experiences there made it look imposing, harsh. At the sound of his stomach growling, he turned from the big house and made his way over the wooden bridge across the stream, heading for home.

Once he was in the field, the wind picked up, whispering through the long grass, howling between the hedgerows. With the wind the temperature dropped, so he picked up his pace. Something scurried along the hedgerow ahead, too large for a bird
–
maybe a dog? As he neared the stile in the hedgerow, the temperature dropped further, biting at his hands before he thrust them into his pockets to warm them. He turned, one foot on the stile, and froze. A shiver ran down from his shoulders, the full length of his arms, down his spine and as far as the backs of his thighs, making his hair stand up.
 

There, in the twilight, glowed two green orbs. They seemed to hover in mid-air; he wondered if they were some kind of firefly, but they weren't moving. Did they even have fireflies in England? He didn't think so. But as he stared, mesmerised by them, a shape seemed to form around the lights. Eyes, he realised. It was some kind of animal.
 

Underneath the shadows cast by the hedgerow, he couldn't make out much more than a head about a foot off the ground. He felt the air stir and caught a flash of black and silver before he landed flat on his back in the mud. He felt the weight of the animal as it stood on his chest. Bracing his hands against it, he tried to push it off him but he couldn't budge it. His hands stuck to its body as a cool moistness wrapped around his neck, squeezing tighter, making it difficult to breathe. But that was just a mild discomfort compared to the burning sensation he felt in his chest followed by a piercing. It felt like daggers entering his chest, trying to impale his heart.
 

He scratched and pushed, bucked his hips, desperate to get the thing off him. Trying to drag air in through his mouth, he was starting to feel dizzy, as he tasted rotting vegetation at the back of his throat. He could feel blackness descending upon him. The last thing he heard was his brother's voice, but it was too faint to make out the actual words.
 

Matt blinked, his eyes scratchy and dry. His throat hurt when he swallowed and his chest felt like he had rocks in his lungs. He winced when he tried to sit up as he realised he wasn't at home. His head swam with the movement; it felt like he'd been on an all-nighter.
 

***

Emma looked up as she heard Matt move, relieved to see his eyes open. "Try not to move. Can I get you anything?"

He actually took her advice and only moved his gaze to where Emma's voice had come from. "Can you get me a memory of what happened?"

"Talbot found you. Some of his first lambs were missing so he was out looking for them, found you instead. He told John in the pub, who managed to find Jess. They brought you here and the doctor left about an hour ago."

The familiar vanilla scent hit him about the same time he realised he was in Jess's bed. "What did the doc say?"

"That it's the strangest animal attack he's ever seen."

She dragged her chair closer to the bed and took his hand in hers. "The swelling and blisters on your neck are consistent with second degree frostbite. The puncture wounds, while shallow, were wide enough to need bandaging. He also thinks you may have been poisoned, as you felt feverish and have a rash."
 

Emma tried to keep it together but a sob escaped. None of it made sense. How could he get frostbite walking through a field in winter? It wasn't even cold enough to snow. She also hadn't told him that whatever had attacked him had killed Talbot's lambs. Not just killed them but sucked their bones clean, a pile of white, shiny bones the only thing left. Her eyes stung at the thought of something doing that to Matt.
 

"Jess will be back soon. I told her about my visions after the doctor left. After this, I thought she should know everything that's happened, especially with her living here."

Matt nodded in agreement, winced with the movement, then closed his eyes.

"Go back to sleep. The doctor said you needed rest. We can talk later." She stood and pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead.

A week after Matt's attack and Emma was still a little wary being out on her own. She jumped at the sound of her name being shouted as she made her way down to the river. Pulling on Barney's lead to stop him, she turned to see the one person she thought she'd never see again. He hadn't changed, the same cocky smile spread across his face. His short, black hair was spiked messily, but she knew he'd have spent hours in the bathroom tousling it. His trademark black stubble shadowed his chin and jaw. She could still imagine his broad, muscled chest, even though it was hidden beneath a sweater and coat.
 

She still found him attractive, after everything that had happened, and God, did that annoy her. Why couldn't he have put on ten stone or erupted in acne? She dragged her gaze back to his dark, almost black eyes, crinkled at the corners with his amusement at her eyeing him up.

"What are you doing here, Ben? I had hoped I'd never have to see you again."

"I came to see you, obviously."

"How did you even know I was here?" she asked, staring out over the river so she didn't have to look at him.

"Not difficult when you post it on Facebook," he replied, smug grin in place as she turned to face him.

"We're not friends on Facebook anymore." Oh, God, had he turned into some kind of a creepy stalker of an ex? Then again, that made absolutely no sense considering how things had ended. But then it made no sense for him to be there at all.

"No, but we're both friends with Joel, so it was easy enough to find out that you're living here. You look good, Em, real good." As if to prove the point, he eyed her up and down, much like she had done to him.

Her eyes widened at his words. Seriously, he was going to flirt with her? "What do you want, Ben?"

"Can we go somewhere private?"

That would definitely be a no. "I don't think so." She moved to walk past him but he grabbed hold of her arm. Tugging her to face him, his grin disappeared.

"It's about Sarah."

Her shoulders stiffened at the name, and she couldn't help the sneer on her lips. "Of course it is. But what would I possibly want to know about her?"

His hands tightened around her arms and he shook her. "Just listen to me. She's in hospital. I thought you might want to see her. She's not well–“

"I kind of gathered that, seeing as you said that she's in hospital," she spat, throwing her hands out in annoyance.

"She tried to kill herself."

Emma's shoulders slumped, her hands dropping to her sides. She swallowed a few times and tried to blink away the tears starting to form in her eyes. "I'm sorry, but I still can't go and see her, Ben."

"Even if I told you this wasn't the first time? That she feels so guilty for what she did to you? What
we
did to you?"

She shook her head but couldn't find the words to say. All she could think was how unfair this was. She'd left Cardiff so she wouldn't have to see either of them again, and yet Ben stood there trying to get her to go back to see Sarah. Frustration had her wanting to stamp her foot or, better still, take it out on Ben. Instead, embarrassingly, she found herself being pulled into Ben's arms as the tears rolled down her cheeks. She made no move to hold him, just accepted his arms around her shoulders, her forehead resting on his chest as the tears rolled down her cheeks.