by Helen Brooks
‘Of course he is.’ Jack bent to fondle the dog’s head. ‘I give him the run of the ground floor when I’m at home, but upstairs it’s permanently off limits. To dogs, anyway,’ he added, as Bran stretched out in front of the fire.
‘Who cooked the dinner?’ asked Kate. ‘You, Jack?’
‘Molly made it this morning, and I followed her instructions and put it in a slow oven at the required time.’ He took a cup from the tray and sat down on the chair nearest to Kate’s corner of the sofa. ‘I forgot to ask if your tastes in food had changed.’
‘What would you have done if I was a vegetarian these days? Opened a tin of baked beans?’
‘We often shared one in the old days.’
Kate gave him a serene smile. ‘But these are new days, Jack.’ She turned to his father. ‘Are you playing golf tomorrow, Tom?’
For the rest of the evening Jack was the perfect host. He gave up sniping about the past, and even suggested that Kate came back to see the place in daylight one day and eat lunch on the terrace overlooking the mill pond. ‘I keep a small boat if you fancy a row some time. It’s a healthy way to keep fit.’
‘Sounds good,’ said Kate enviously. ‘My rare bouts of exercise are in a gym. Rowing on water in fresh air sounds a lot more tempting.’
‘Bring your niece in the school holidays,’ said Jack. ‘The garden in Park Crescent can’t be very big. You could give her the run of the grounds here.’
‘Poor little thing,’ said Tom with compassion. ‘It’s been a big upheaval for her. How’s she coping?’
Kate’s eyes shadowed. ‘Christmas was tricky—the first without her parents.’
‘Did she come to you in London for it?’ asked Jack.
Kate shook her head.‘ Apart from a brief stay with her grandparents, Joanna spent the entire Christmas break in the Maitland household with me. Both sets of parents were there and neighbours came in for drinks,so there was a lot goingon. One couple brought twin teenage sons along as company for Jo and she got on well with them, and spent quite a lot of time with them over the holiday. I took her shopping for furniture for her new bedroom, and we spent hour sporing over paint charts together—everything I could think of to keep her in the loop over the move to Park Crescent. But neither of us enjoyed the day she went back to school,’ she added bleakly.
‘Half term can’t be far away,’ said Jack with sympathy, but she shook her head.
‘There isn’t one this term. Her school goes for the longer Easter holiday. But I’ll drive down to take her out for lunch before then.’
Soon afterwards Tom Logan got up to go.
‘You can’t leave now, Dad,’ protested his son.
‘Early round of golf in the morning. Must get my beauty sleep.’
Kate got to her feet. ‘Then maybe you’d give me a lift, Mr Logan. You pass near my place.’
‘Don’t go yet, Kate.’ Jack put a hand on her arm.
‘No, indeed. You stay, my dear,’ said his father, kissing her cheek. ‘Otherwise I’ll feel guilty. Jack will run you home later.’
When Jack came back with the dog, Kate turned from the study of tree-fringed water in his painting. ‘Where is this?’
‘Right here in the grounds. It’s the mill pond, complete with willows and chestnut trees.’
‘You commissioned it?’
He nodded. ‘Local artist. I was impressed by an exhibition of her work. She agreed to do it once she’d approved the location.’
‘Would she have turned you down if she hadn’t?’
‘More than likely. But she took one look and named her price—which was steep. But I paid it willingly when I saw the finished work.’
Kate turned away, smiling wryly. ‘How things have changed. When we were together I was just earning peanuts and you weren’t much better off.’
‘At the time Dad and I were ploughing most of the profits back into the business.’ He bent to poke the fire. ‘If he hadn’t handed my mother’s ring over I certainly couldn’t have bought one for you right then. I had to borrow money from him for Dawn’s settlement.’
Controlling her reaction to Dawn’s name, Kate smiled brightly at Jack. ‘But nowadays Logan Development is a roaring success and you can buy what you like.’
He straightened, and gave her a look which almost had her backing away. ‘Is that your benchmark of success, Kate? To be able to buy what you like?’
Her eyes narrowed coldly. ‘If it were would I have turned my back on a highly paid job?’
‘I thought you did that to take care of your niece.’
‘If it had been absolutely vital I kept the job Joanna could have shared my flat in Notting Hill, and I would have paid someone to look after her in the school holidays. But to me it seemed far more important to make a home for her here and look after her myself.’
‘And you’re right, Kate,’ he said, with contrition. ‘You obviously care very deeply for Joanna. I don’t have a child in my life—one of the many things money can’t buy.’
She turned away, looking at her watch. ‘I should be going soon.’
‘Why? I thought the great advantage of the new job was its flexibility.’
‘I’m making a start on my bedroom. I’m sleeping in Jo’s for the time being.’
‘But there’s time for a nightcap before you go, Kate. It’s early,’ he added, ‘and you haven’t seen the rest of the house.’
‘I’ll have some fruit juice, if you like, but I’ll leave the rest of the tour, Jack.’ The last thing she wanted at this stage was a visit to his bedroom, much as she’d like to see it. He might talk about being friends,but it wasn’t easy. He’d been her lover for a brief, ecstatic time when they were young, but there had been long years after that when she’d thought of Jack Logan with no love at all.
‘Sit down again,’ said Jack. ‘I’ll bring your drink.’
Kate bent to fondle Bran instead. The dog half-closed his eyes in ecstasy as she found exactly the right spot behind his ear.
‘You’re a very handsome fellow,’ she told him. ‘I always wanted a dog like you.’
‘You weren’t allowed to have one?’ asked Jack, and handed her a glass.
Kate shook her head. ‘Elizabeth wouldn’t allow it, and her word was law. As you know, my mother died when I was born, and my father when I was ten, not long after Elizabeth got married. So Lizand Robert seemed like parents to me—and pretty strict ones at that. But it was good of them to take care of me,’ she added hastily.
‘You’re repaying them by taking care of Joanna?’
‘Absolutely not. I’m doing it because I love her.’ She shivered. ‘Let’s talk about something else.’
‘Come and sit down.’ He switched off two of the lamps, stirred the fire into life and led her to the sofa. ‘I never thought this would happen,’ he said, sitting beside her.
Kate made no pretence of misunderstanding. ‘You mean the two of us together like this in your amazing house?’
‘Exactly.’ Jack turned to smile at her, a glint in his eyes that had turned her knees to jelly when she was twenty.
But she wasn’t twenty any more. ‘I know what you mean. When I found those pictures in the magazine, I never imagined I’d see the place for myself.’
‘It must have been quite a surprise to come across my face in your Sunday paper.’
Surprise didn’t begin to cover it. ‘Yes,’ she said dryly, ‘it certainly was.’
‘Were you between fiancés at the time?’
‘You sound as though I had a string of them!’ she said tartly, and sipped some of her drink. ‘I happened to be alone that morning, but I showed the article to Rupert later and mentioned that I knew you. I searched the piece for personal details about you, but the emphasis was on your professional life.’
‘That was the deal with the journalist.’
Kate turned to look at him. ‘Jack, where did you live when you were married?’
His eyes shuttered. ‘Dad suggested we move into th
e block of flats the company was renovating on Gloucester Road at the time. I tried to make a go of the marriage, but Dawn and I had so little in common it was obvious from the start that it was never going to work.’ He drained his glass and turned to look at her. ‘It’s a part of my life I look back on with no pleasure at all—or pride.’
‘You fulfilled your obligations, Jack.’
‘But I did so for the wrong reasons,’ he said savagely. ‘I wanted to hurt you as much as I wanted to do the right thing for Dawn.’
She nodded sadly. ‘You succeeded on both counts.’
‘And soon realised my colossal mistake.’ He was silent for a long interval, his eyes sombre as he stared into the fire. ‘The surprise came when I learned that the baby wasn’t mine. I found I’d actually wanted a child. My child, anyway. Does that sound mad to you?’
She shook her head mutely.
He smoothed his thumb over the back of her hand in silence for a while. ‘So tell me,’ he said, turning to look at her. ‘Why did you send the third man packing? Was he another one wanting babies and a place in the country?’
‘No. He didn’t want children at all.’ Her eyes kindled. ‘I broke up with Rupert because he refused to take Joanna as part of the deal.’
Jack stared at her. ‘What the devil did he expect you to do with her?’
‘Hand her over to Robert’s parents, who are lovely people, but far too elderly and frail to cope with a child of her age on a permanent basis. When I explained this he gave me an ultimatum. I had to choose between the child and him, right then and there. So I made it brutally clear that there was no question of choice, and never would be.’Her mouth tightened. ‘Rupert took it badly—very badly.’
His fingers tightened on her hand. ‘What happened?’
Kate eyes glittered icily at the thought of it. ‘He flew into such a rage I thought he was going to beat me up. Dr Jekyll turned into Mr Hyde right there in front of me. But I was too furious on Jo’s behalf to feel afraid. I just stood there,eye to eye, daring him to hit me. It was touch and go for a while, but like all bullies Rupert backed down in the end. At which point I threw the ring at him and told him to get out of my life.’
‘Good God!’ Jack stared at her, appalled. ‘You took a hell of a risk, Kate.’
‘I realised that the moment he’d gone. I shook in my shoes for ages afterwards.’ She turned to look at him. ‘Now you can see why I hate talking about it. I just can’t believe I was such a bad judge of character.’
‘Not entirely,’ he reminded her. ‘Instinct warned you not to move in with him.’
‘True.’ Kate’s eyes darkened. ‘He was in such a rush about everything, I felt uneasy. He bought the ring just days after our first meeting, but no matter how much he argued I insisted we had to know each other better before I actually wore it.’
‘Did you love him?’
‘I was attracted to him, certainly. He was charming, witty and very good company. But until that horrible night I’d never come up against the real Rupert Chance.’ She shrugged. ‘It clinched my decision to give up my job. I’d worked in Personnel for years and prided myself on my judgement when it came to people. If that was no longer working for me it was time to call it a day.’
‘Did Joanna like him?’
‘She never met him. He was abroad at the time of the funeral. My relationship with Rupert—if you could call it that—lasted less than a school term. Why?’
‘Her reaction to him might have been interesting.’ Jack gave her a crooked smile. ‘I get a card from Sydney every Christmas, with the current snapshot of Dawn, husband and progeny—three sons at the last count. Her way of telling me she’s a respectable matron these days.’
‘Is she still gorgeous?’ asked Kate, hoping Dawn had lost her looks by now.
‘In a different, earth-mother kind of way I suppose she is.’ Jack shrugged. ‘She looks contented with her life, and who can ask more than that?’
‘Are you contented with yours?’
He was silent for a moment, his eyes on the fire. ‘I’m head of a very successful outfit,’ he said slowly, ‘with a beautiful house here and a flat in London, and I’m the proud owner of several classic cars and a great dog. So I must be contented.’ He turned to look at her. ‘Are you?’
‘Yes,’ said Kate firmly. ‘I’m going to make a good life here for Joanna.’
‘She’s fortunate to have you to care for her.’
She shook her head. ‘It’s my good fortune to have Jo.’
‘I’d like to meet her some time. You don’t like the idea?’ he added as she frowned.
‘It’s more a case of whether Jo likes it. I’d have to ask her first.’
Jack got up, clicking his fingers to the dog, who padded after him obediently. ‘I’ll just put him out for a moment.’
Kate sat very still when she was alone, staring, unseeing, into the fire.
‘You’re still frowning,’ said Jack, coming back into the room.
Kate managed a smile. ‘Just thinking. Where’s Bran?’
‘In bed.’
‘Sensible chap. I should be making tracks for my own bed soon.’
‘First tell me what’s making you look so blue, Katie.’
Damn. She’d always turned to marshmallow when he called her that. ‘You want the truth?’
He smiled crookedly. ‘Probably not, but I promise I’ll take it like a man.’
‘To revert to the friendship issue—’
‘You’ve changed your mind?’ Jack sat down beside her and took her hand.
‘No.’
‘But you’re thinking of Joanna. You chose her without hesitation over the objectionable Rufus—’
‘Rupert.’
‘Right. So it was obvious you’d make the same choice if she objected to me.’
‘Exactly.’ Kate smiled ruefully. ‘So if I’m too much work as a friend I’ll understand, Jack.’
‘I’ve never been afraid of work.’
‘I know that. Your father is very proud of you.’
His eyes softened. ‘The funny thing is, Kate, that if you’d stayed with me I might not have achieved the same level of success. The all out concentration would have been impossible with you around to distract me.’
‘Then maybe I did you a good turn by running off.’
‘It didn’t feel like it at the time,’ he retorted.
‘Nor to me.’ Kate shook her head in wonder. ‘I was such a girl when I met you, Jack. But I grew up pretty quickly after you dumped me.’
His eyes glittered dangerously. ‘Your memory’s at fault, Katherine Durant. It was you who dumped me.’
‘Only technically!’ She glared back. ‘I had to salvage some remnant of pride! You wouldn’t even meet me to say goodbye.’
‘I was afraid I’d go down on my knees and beg you to stay.’
They stared at each other in silence broken suddenly by a log falling in the fireplace.
‘That’s an unlikely picture,’ said Kate at last.
‘The knees maybe,’ he conceded. ‘But not the begging.’
She shook her head. ‘I can’t imagine it.’
He shrugged. ‘It belongs in the past, anyway, Kate. Far better to focus on the present.’
‘You’re right about that,’ she said with a sigh. ‘When Liz and Robert were killed, my own mortality hit me in the face. I even made a will.’
‘Good move. Thinking in worst scenario terms,’ he added, ‘what provision is made for Joanna if anything happens to you, Kate?’
‘Guardianship would go to her Sutton grandparents, with Anna and Ben named in the will as trustees.’ She yawned suddenly. ‘Sorry. It must be this fire. I really must go home now, Jack. Sorry to drag you out.’
He got up at once, and held out his hand to help her up. ‘A gentleman—even the self-made variety like me—always sees a lady home, Miss Durant.’
‘Another time I’ll bring my car,’ she told him, and flushed as she heard the promise impli
cit in her words. ‘I’ll just say goodnight to Bran before we go,’ she said hastily.
‘I hit on a good idea by asking Dad along,’ said Jack on the drive back. ‘You relaxed the moment you saw him, so you were obviously worried when I took you to my place for dinner.’ He shot her a sidelong glance. ‘Were you afraid that I’d fall on you with ravening lust before the meal or after it?’
Kate let out a snort of laughter. ‘Neither, Jack. But you’re right about your father. It was an inspired move to ask him along.’
‘The idea was to convince you that my intentions were strictly honourable!’
‘It succeeded. I enjoyed the evening very much.’
‘In that case, come again soon.’
‘The two of you must come to me next time,’ she said impulsively, then bit her lip. ‘But I’ll have to paint my dining room first. Otherwise it’s the kitchen table again.’
‘As Dad said, it’s something we’ve done often enough before.’ Jack gave her a searching look as he parked outside her house. ‘Tell me, Kate. Why are you doing all the painting yourself? Cash flow problem?’
Kate shook her head. ‘It’s just my way of putting my personal mark on the house—making it really mine.’ She hesitated. ‘Would you like some coffee?’
She unlocked her door and Jack followed her through the brightly lit house to the kitchen. He helped her off with her coat then turned her round into his arms.
‘No coffee, not even ravening lust. Just this, Katie.’ He bent his head and kissed her, and for a moment she stood ramrod stiff, fighting her own response. But as the kiss deepened, her lips parted to the irresistible familiarity and sheer rightness of it. With a sigh she surrendered to the arms which tightened round her, all her senses urging her to taste him, touch him, drink in the male, remembered scent of him as her body responded to the mounting urgency in his. No,reminded a voice in her head and she took in a sharp, shaky breath and pulled free. Jack raised his head and stepped back, eyes gleaming under narrowed lids.
‘When a gentleman sees a lady home he deserves a goodnight kiss.’
She smiled brightly. ‘What’s a kiss between friends?’
‘Do you kiss all your friends like that?’
‘Only the men!’
