She hadn't thought as far as that. 'My car?' she questioned witlessly, while thinking she really should stir herself, even if she was unused to opposing her father.
'I'll bring you back to collect it,' Lukas assured her, as if that was what he thought her question was all about. And when she looked at him, he smiled his devastating smile and added, 'You'd better bring your overnight bag.'
By the time Jermaine had packed her case and was ready to go back down the stairs again, some of her mighty bewilderment was starting to clear. It was then that, while knowing her father would make the rest of her holiday quite awful if she told him she wasn't going to Highfield and her sister, Jermaine also knew that, while she couldn't possibly stay on in her old home, neither could she go to Highfield with Lukas.
'Ready?' Lukas asked when he saw her, taking her case from her and, with her father, going out to the Range Rover.
Jermaine turned to her mother. 'Bye, Mum,' she said, giving her a hug and a kiss.
But her mother didn't let her go. 'Are you all right about this, love?' she asked, going on, 'I saw you and Lukas coming back from sledging—and you looked so happy to be with him. But if you're not, and you don't want to go, you must stay—and I'll deal with your bullying father.'
What could she say? To agree that she felt bullied and browbeaten by her father would only cause disharmony in the home, and who wanted that kind of atmosphere at Christmas?
'Do you mind—about my going? About me breaking my promise?' was what she did answer, and her mother smiled.
'Much as I would want to, I always knew I couldn't keep you with me for ever.'
Jermaine went out to the four-wheel drive feeling very much cheered. They weren't a family who went in for saying how much they loved each other. But, from what her mother had just said, Jermaine knew, as she supposed she'd always known, that as her father idolized his elder daughter, her mother loved her younger daughter very much.
Though that did nothing to alter the fact that Jermaine had decided she was going to spend the rest of her Christmas in her own small flat. Which was why when, having said goodbye to her parents and Lukas having driven a mile down the road, Jermaine asked if he would mind driving to a nearby taxi rank and stopping to let her out.
He did not wait until then to stop, but pulled over at once and turned to look at her. 'Aren't we having fun any more?' he asked, his grey eyes steady on her serious face.
Her heart turned over at the gentleness in his expression. But while it warmed her through and through that Lukas seemed to be saying that he'd enjoyed their time in the snow together every bit as much as she, it just wouldn't do.
'I can't come with you,' she blurted out in a rush.
'What did I do?' he teased gently.
'You—didn't do anything.'
'What did I say?' he persisted. That makes you want to deprive me of your company?'
Deprive? Her intention faltered—but pride wasn't so easily defeated. 'You didn't say anything,' she answered honestly. 'But you know as well as I that until less than an hour ago you'd no intention of taking me back to Highfield with you. I can't come with you,' she repeated, feeling quite wretched.
'Even if I want you to?' he smiled coaxingly.
Oh, don't, Lukas! Her pride seemed to be a very wishy-washy thing. Again she hauled it back to attention. 'If my father...' she began, and halted, torn by loyalty not to bring her parent into this. But, since all this was of her
father's making, she was unable to see how she could avoid doing so.
Lukas came in and helped her out. 'My dear, Jermaine,' he turned her bones to water by saying quietly, 'believe me, I want very much that you should come and stay at Highfield.'
'But...' she tried to insist, her brain a poor organ in the light of Lukas stating he wanted very much that she should stay at Highfield.
'And,' he went on, when she seemed a little stuck, 'if your father, in his concern over Edwina, hadn't suggested it, I would have.'
Jermaine stared at Lukas, wanting quite desperately to believe him. Would he have—or was he just saying that to soothe her wounded pride? 'You would have?' she asked slowly. With those steady grey eyes of his fixed on her and his 'my dear Jermaine' still dancing dreamily about in her head, she didn't seem capable of better argument than that.
'I would have,' he confirmed, and, smiling a gentle smile, he leaned to her and tenderly, without haste, he kissed her. Then, still unhurriedly, he pulled back and looked into her warm violet eyes. 'You'll come—to please me?' he asked softly.
Oh, yes, yes! urged everything in her. 'If— you're sure,' she answered huskily.
'I've never been more sure of anything,' Lukas murmured, and looked deeply into her eyes for long, long moments, Trust me?' he asked, and seemed unwilling to look away. It even seemed, Jermaine felt in a bemused kind of way, as if he had to force himself to tum the key in the ignition and to drive on.
Never had she ever felt such a fluttery mess of jumbled emotions that she didn't know where to start first in order to sort herself out. Lukas had called her 'my dear' and had sounded as if he meant it. Somehow she had an idea he was a man who was never too free with his endearments. He had said that he wanted her in his home; her—not Edwina— but her.
Jermaine was silent beside him as he steered the Range Rover in the direction of Highfield. Her every instinct seemed to be teUing her, screaming at her, that it was her that Lukas wanted, regardless of Edwina being already established in his home—her, not her sister.
Never had Jermaine felt so full of love for him, so excited and yet, at the same time, apprehensive too. She didn't know if she should believe that there was anything more to his invitation than was on the surface. Didn't know if she dared to let herself believe that there might be. But Lukas needn't have called to see her while he was in the area that morning, need he? But he had. And, he'd said he would have asked her to come back to Highfield with him—without her father's massive hint.
Jermaine felt so shaky inside it would not have surprised her at all if she were not thinking straight. But, and she had probably got it crazily wrong, but dared she imagine that Lukas had come over specially to see her?
At that point she realised that the events of that day—Lukas turning up out of the blue, their fun together in the snow—had addled her brain.
What was irrefutable, however—while she sat beside Lukas, her insides still a nonsense— was that she was going to his home with him. She, who had been down in the depths that she might never see him again was going to his home with him and would stay overnight there. Oh, weren't the fates just too, too splendid? Not only was she seeing him now, right at this very minute, but she would see him again tomorrow too. What better Christmas could anyone in love have?
She turned her head to look at him just as Lukas turned to look at her. 'Happy?' he asked.
She was too full to speak. She nodded, and then smiled. He had asked her to trust him— and trust him she did.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Both Ash and Edwina came out on to the drive when they saw Lukas's vehicle pull up. But they did not stand close together, in fact were some yards apart, and Jermaine received a very clear impression that they were no longer at all friendly.
Ash came round to the passenger door immediately he saw her. 'Jermaine! What a lovely surprise!' he exclaimed, yet didn't seem at all surprised to see Lukas take her case from the vehicle.
Jermaine had not seen Lukas greet her sister, and, as the teeth of jealousy gave her a spiteful nip, she was glad she'd missed any too friendly greeting that might cause more green-eyed darts to bombard her.
Edwina smiled a pretty smile as Jermaine approached her, but Jermaine didn't miss the hardness in her sister's eyes as, still smiling prettily, she hissed, 'What the devil's going on?'
'How's your back?' Jermaine asked sweetly, and, receiving a withering look for her trouble,
was
glad that Lukas and Ash were by then too close for any other private conversation.
The four of them ambled into the house, but Jermaine guessed she would be hearing more from her sister before too long. Only then did she realise that she should have given thought to how Edwina would react to her arriving so unexpectedly. It went without saying, of course, that she wouldn't like it. But, Jermaine realised, she had been so taken up with her happiness at just being with Lukas that she just hadn't given a solitary thought to how her sister would react that Lukas had gone out on his own and had returned with a passenger—complete with suitcase.
Tea?' Lukas suggested.
Suddenly, ridiculously, probably because the other two were there, Jermaine was swamped by an unexpected shyness. It was absurd, she freely admitted. But then, since Cupid had released that powerfully potent arrow, she had suffered various confidence-wrecking emotions which until then she had been a total stranger to.
'I think I'll take my case up and...'
'I'll take it for you,' Ash insisted.
Jermaine looked across to Lukas; he smiled, and her heart seemed to tilt. She managed to smile back, and then Edwina was intruding on the moment with a friendly offer of,
'I'll come and help you unpack, Jermaine.'
Feeling a touch startled, Jermaine switched her glance from Lukas to her pleasantly smiling sister. Edwina didn't intend to wait any longer to find out what the devil was going on, apparently.
Ash led the way to the same bedroom Jermaine had used before. It smelt clean and newly polished, and the bed, which she had stripped on leaving the last time, was made up with fresh linen. Jermaine smiled—Mrs Dobson obviously always liked to keep guest rooms aired and ready.
Ash did not stay long once he had deposited Jermaine's case, but as he departed so too did any semblance of pleasantness from Edwina. 'What's with the sweet smiles?' she demanded aggressively once the door was closed.
'Sweet smiles?' Jermaine echoed.
'You were damned near swooning at Lukas not two minutes ago!'
Swooning? Oh, heavens, surely not? What must Lukas think? 'Well, you'd know, with all the practice you've had!' Jermaine refused to let her sister squash her spirit.
Edwina, plainly observing that Jermaine had no intention of being pushed around, adopted another tack. 'How did you meet up with Lukas, anyway?' she demanded hostilely.
'He happened to call in...'
'On the parents!' That Edwina could hardly believe it was obvious.
'He was in the area and...'
'What for?'
'I don't know what for! I didn't ask!'
'You wouldn't!' Edwina scorned in disgust. But, not done yet, she carried on, 'You needn't have come back with him. I'll bet you asked. You fancy him, don't you. Well, hard luck, Jermaine. He wasn't giving you a thought last night when we...'
'You've brought this on yourself!' Jermaine cut in sharply. She just didn't want to hear what Edwina was saying. As ever, she would spoil everything for her if she could. 'And I didn't ask to come here with Lukas—Dad near enough did that.' Unfastening her case, Jermaine saw the gift she had brought her sister reposing there. She handed it to her. Edwina received the gift-wrapped bottle of her favourite perfume without thanks.
'Dad!' she exclaimed shortly. 'How? He...'
'He's Still worried about your back. Even though only the evening before I'd mentioned Mrs Dobson being here, Dad seems to think you might be feeling uncomfortable without another woman around.' Unsmiling, Jermaine looked at her sister. 'Which just shows how little he really knows you,' she added acidly.
She saw Edwina's eyes narrow, and guessed she would be paid back for that sooner or later, but as Edwina went angrily from the room Jermaine sank winded on to the bed. Edwina, with her 'he wasn't giving you a thought last night when we...' had already put the poison down.
What had Lukas and Edwina done last night? Stop it, Jermaine demanded of herself. You know Edwina. She always has been able to embroider the truth—even lie outright without so much as blinking. If whatever it was had been so wonderful, why had Lukas left Edwina on her own, or rather with Ash, today, while he conducted business out of the area?
Jermaine unpacked her case, trying to recapture the happiness of her time with Lukas in the snow—he hadn't been desperate to get back here to Edwina, Jermaine reminded herself. But that happiness eluded her. When, prior to her conversation with Edwina,
Jermaine had felt she might well go back down the stairs again once she'd got her belongings stowed, now, somehow, she had no heart to go down to the drawing room. Yet she felt a need to be doing something other than pacing her room. Restlessly Jermaine considered popping along to the kitchen to see Mrs Dobson, but decided against it. The housekeeper would be up to her ears in things domestic at this hour.
Had not darkness descended, Jermaine would have given in to the urge to go and visit that tranquil spot by the brook—perhaps some of that peace and tranquillity would rub off on to her.
But winter's darkness had descended, and, as if to wash away the feelings of disquiet Edwina had sown with her intimate reference to her and Lukas last night, Jermaine went and stood under the shower, prior to getting ready to go down to dinner.
When, an hour later, good manners, if nothing else, decreed she could not stay skulking in her room until tomorrow, she was very much wishing she had never let Lukas persuade her to come.
But as she left her room she recalled the manner of Lukas persuading her to come, and his gently teasing 'What did I do? What did I say that makes you want to deprive me of your company' and her mood began to lighten. 'My dear, Jermaine' he'd called her. Oh, Lukas.
She saw him! He was standing at the bottom of the stairs as if waiting for her. Jermaine fought hard not to break out into smiles just to see him; Edwina's poison was still at work. But Jermaine's instinct belatedly roused itself to scoff that she should never have taken any heed of Edwina's half-sentences—good heavens, she'd grown up listening to Edwina making up anything to suit her own ends.
'You didn't come down,' Lukas accused as Jermaine reached him.
Her heart fluttered, thoughts of Edwina with Lukas a million miles away—Lukas sounded as if he'd waited and waited.
'I —er—I'm here now,' Jermaine managed.
'So you are,' he smiled, and took her into his arms and kissed her. Reluctantly, it seemed, he let her go. 'Don't you just love Christmas and all the mistletoe?' he asked softly. Jermaine looked up and just had to laugh out loud, because while she could not deny it was Christmas, and the hall was decorated with plenty of holly, she could not see so much as the merest sprig of mistletoe.
She still had laughter about her mouth when, somehow holding her hand, Lukas strolled with her to the drawing room. Nor did he seem in any hurry to let go of her hand when they went in. Edwina was already downstairs, decorating one of the sofas, Jermaine saw.
She also saw Edwina's eyes immediately laser to their entwined hands, and didn't miss the tightening of Edwina's mouth the moment before she broke out into girlish smiles and teased, 'Making an entrance again, Jermaine?'
Oh, how could she? Jermaine wondered if she was the only one to notice the barb beneath the smiles. 'What would you like to drink, Edwina?' Lukas asked, letting go Jermaine's hand. Milk might suit. 'Jermaine?' Having asked the elder Hargreaves sister, he turned to the younger one.
So the evening got underway, with Ash moving to sit next to Edwina, where he chatted pleasantly to her until it was time to go into the dining room.
Thankfully, the meal progressed without Edwina making any more barbed remarks under a smiling cover. Though Jermaine didn't miss the hard look Edwina couldn't immediately hide when she was not the object of Lukas's attention but Jermaine was.
Again Jermaine's emotions went all out of gear. For it seemed to her that when she was alone with Lukas she was able to forget all else. That she was able to trust him and to ju
st enjoy being with him. She didn't even need to wonder where their friendship was going, be it nowhere at all—it was enough to be with him. But with Edwina there—though not so much Ash, funnily enough—Jermaine felt stilted, awkward, as if she had to watch every word... As if any minute now Edwina would pounce and spoil everything. Was she imagining it because she wanted it to be so, Jermaine wondered, or was it true that, while being the perfect host, Lukas looked her way more and more frequently? Almost—as if he was hard put to it to take his eyes off her.
Imagination, scoffed her love-filled heart. Though she had noticed that Edwina was watching all points and, to anyone who knew her as well as Jermaine, seemed to have her nose put out of joint.
That evening they had coffee at the dinner table, but returned to the drawing room afterwards. 'Would you like a drink of something to finish off with?' Lukas asked Edwina, who went through a pantomime of being unsure
what she would like and so went over to the drinks cabinet with Lukas in order to choose.
Ash was all at once taking the seat next to Jermaine. 'I don't seem to have had a moment to talk to you alone.'
'Have you enjoyed your Christmas?' she asked, smiling while her emotions see-sawed, because Edwina seemed captivated by something Lukas had just said to her.
'Can we be friends, Jermaine?' Ash, instead of answering her question, was asking one of his own.
Jermaine determinedly gave him her full attention. Ash seemed extremely serious suddenly. 'You sound as though it's important to you,' she commented lightly.
Ash stared solemnly at her. 'Actually, it is,' he answered. 'Though I wouldn't blame you if, after the way I treated you, you told me to get lost.'
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