The Loving Gift

by Carole Mortimer

  ‘Jade, open this door,’ she was told firmly, the voice definitely female.

  Jade dazedly did as she was told, her fingers fumbling slightly with the key.

  ‘Jade, thank God!’ The woman outside threw herself gratefully into her arms.

  Jade was still so stunned that she couldn’t think straight, and then the relief at the identity of her visitor washed over her, filled with a choking exhilaration. ‘Cathy!’ She tightly returned the other woman’s hug. ‘Oh, God, Cathy!’ The tears began to fall; she was hardly able to believe that her best friend was really here. She had felt so alone until now, so devastatingly alone—

  ‘I know, love. I know.’ It wasn’t until Cathy answered her that Jade realised she had spoken out loud, Cathy still holding her as she looked down at her compassionately. ‘But you aren’t alone any more,’ she assured her with quiet confidence.

  Jade pulled her friend fully inside, closing the door to shut out the icy cold, although the act didn’t do anything to dispel the chill inside the cottage. Not that that was important at this moment; she could see by Cathy’s expression that the heating—or lack of it—was the last thing on Cathy’s mind at the moment too.

  Cathy Gilbert was the exact opposite of herself to look at: tall and blonde, with a natural grace and sophistication that even the denims and thick jumper over a blouse couldn’t disguise. She looked as if she should be an actress or a fashion model with her beauty, instead of the personal assistant—to one of the most difficult men to work for in the City—that she was in reality.

  Jade gave a heavy sigh, pushing back her own untidy locks. ‘You heard about Peter?’

  ‘On the news late last night.’ Cathy nodded acknowledgment, even her voice sexily attractive. The way that she looked often fooled people into ignoring the fact that she was also a very intelligent woman. At twenty-six she had managed to fend off even the most persistent of male advances, and Jade had a feeling that was because she had more than an inkling of affection for her infuriatingly demanding boss, Dominic Reynolds. ‘I came as soon as I heard.’

  She gave a rueful smile. ‘And Dominic meekly allowed you to do that?’

  Grey eyes flashed. ‘I didn’t ask him, I told him I was coming!’

  Jade’s brows rose; she knew Cathy wasn’t in the habit of ‘jumping’ when Dominic Reynolds said ‘jump’, but she also knew Cathy didn’t openly challenge him either. Usually. ‘I haven’t caused friction between the two of you, have I?’ she winced regretfully.

  ‘No more than there usually is,’ her friend dismissed carelessly. ‘It won’t do Dominic any harm at all to realise that helping one of my friends is more important to me than being his damned personal assistant!’

  Jade sensed a hidden story behind the remarks, but she could also tell from the reckless glint in Cathy’s eyes that she wasn’t yet ready to talk about it. ‘He would never be stupid enough to really upset you,’ she drawled. ‘You’re too good at your job.’

  ‘And always too damned available,’ Cathy snapped a little bitterly. ‘At least, he assumes that I am. Damn him.’

  There was something new, an undercurrent, in Cathy’s relationship with Dominic Reynolds that hadn’t been there before, and at any other time Jade might have tried to persuade her friend to tell her about it, but she knew by the stubborn set to Cathy’s jaw that she wouldn’t be successful today, that for the moment Cathy would only discuss Jade’s own problem.

  And, lord knew, that was bad enough!

  ‘What on earth did Peter have to escape from prison for?’ Cathy said crossly.

  Jade shrugged. ‘He still has quite a lot of his sentence to finish—’

  ‘I didn’t mean that quite as literally as it sounded,’ her friend said ruefully. ‘I just meant, why on earth did he have to do something like that?’ She scowled, her beauty in no way marred.

  Jade had never been able to understand why Dominic Reynolds didn’t see and appreciate that beauty, but he seemed to be a man who was completely engrossed in his career, a man who didn’t see women as women at all, except as an unnecessary diversion to what was really important to him: his business empire.

  ‘He probably heard that you were finally putting your life back together and wanted to ruin that for you, too!’ her friend continued scathingly.

  There had never been any love lost between Cathy and Peter, but since Peter’s behaviour eighteen months ago Cathy had been openly antagonistic. As Jade had herself!

  But she doubted Cathy realised just how much she had been ‘putting her life back together’, just how much Peter had robbed her of this time. Unless she had already been to the Kendrick house? Spoken to David himself?

  She looked at her friend warily. For all that she and Cathy had been friends for years, she had realised from talking to Penny the last few days that Cathy was more than a little fond of David, in a brotherly fashion, of course, Penny had hastily assured her. Cathy might not feel too happy about the possibility of her having hurt him, unintentional though it might be.

  But Cathy didn’t seem angry, not with her, at least.

  ‘He succeeded,’ Jade answered dully.

  Cathy looked at her sharply. ‘You aren’t thinking of doing anything silly?’

  ‘Such as?’ she prompted flatly.

  ‘Such as leaving here,’ her friend said impatiently. ‘You told me you love it here,’ she reminded Jade of what she had written in her letters to her since coming to Devon.

  ‘I do—’

  ‘Then you have no reason to leave now,’ Cathy told her firmly.

  ‘Peter is on the loose out there somewhere, and he’s already been the cause of two policemen paying me a not-too-friendly visit, and you claim I have no reason to want to leave!’ She shook her head in nervous agitation.

  ‘Penny and Simon are well aware of your involvement with Peter in the past—’

  ‘But my pupils’ parents, unfortunately, aren’t,’ Jade reminded her with self-derision.

  ‘But—’

  ‘They would probably form a lynch-mob if they did know,’ she added bitterly.

  Cathy gave an impatient sigh. ‘You were never charged with anything—’

  ‘That doesn’t alter the fact that I was involved in the thing right up to my neck!’ Tears glistened on her lashes. ‘No, I’m finished here, Cathy.’ She shook her head, knowing she was finished in more ways than one. ‘I’m very grateful to Penny and Simon for giving me this chance, but I intend leaving for London as soon as I can make my excuses to them.’ She dared not even think about saying goodbye to David. ‘I’m sure they will understand in the circumstances.’

  ‘You’re running away,’ her friend accused.

  Her eyes flashed. ‘Yes, I’m running away! As fast as the weather will allow.’ She frowned out of the window at the blanket of snow on the ground, for the first time noticing the Audi Quattro in the driveway. ‘Yours?’ She turned to Cathy.

  ‘Dominic’s,’ her friend grimaced. ‘Once he realised I was serious about coming here he was only too happy to provide my transport.’

  At the risk of losing the best personal assistant he had ever had if he didn’t, Jade wouldn’t be surprised!

  ‘It really is good to see you,’ she told Cathy emotionally.

  Her friend’s expression softened. ‘You, too. Although I had thought it would be under different circumstances.’ Cathy frowned. ‘You can’t let him chase you away from here, Jade,’ she added pleadingly. ‘They will have recaptured him within a few days, and a couple of days after that he will have been forgotten again.’ She shook her head. ‘He simply isn’t worth completely upsetting your life for a second time.’

  ‘I wish I had realised that the first time.’ Jade gave a derisive laugh that completely lacked amusement. ‘But I—oh, no,’ she gave a pained groan as an all-too-familiar, silver-coloured Range Rover pulled into the driveway behind the Audi.

  She didn’t for one moment believe Penny and Simon had broken their confidence to her by tal
king to David about Peter, and David had promised he wouldn’t come here today, so what other reason could he have for turning up now? Unless—oh, God, she couldn’t bear it if somehow the media had already picked up on her part in Peter’s past and had dragged the whole sordid business up once again!

  She gave a shudder of distaste as she remembered the horror she had known eighteen months ago when she had seen her own photograph next to Peter’s on the front page of the daily newspapers. Of course, she had looked a little different then—about forty pounds heavier in weight, for one thing!—but perhaps she was still recognisable from those photographs to someone who knew her well. And David had come to know her very well in the last few days, intimately so.

  ‘What is it?’ Cathy had come to stand at her side, looking out of the window too. ‘David!’ she cried excitedly, turning to run and open the door to him as he came down the pathway.

  ‘Cath—’ But she was too late to stop the other woman running out into the snow to launch herself into David’s arms, laughing and talking at the same time as she did so.

  David looked initially stunned at being assaulted by a blonde-haired woman he didn’t at first recognise, a heavy scowl crossing his features. But, as he realised who his assailant was, his smile was one of open pleasure, his arms closing about Cathy as he swung her around in the snow, much to her obvious delight.

  Jade watched them enviously. Oh, not because of the affection that was so apparent between them, she could see that was that of a brother and sister. No, she just wished she felt free enough to show her own pleasure so completely without restraint at seeing him. As it was, she wasn’t quite sure what sort of reception she was going to get from David, didn’t know yet what he was doing here.

  The other couple were walking towards the cottage now, their arms about each other’s waists as Cathy chattered excitedly, and David smiled down at her indulgently as he listened.

  Jade tensed as they entered the cottage, looking searchingly at David. His enigmatic expression didn’t tell her anything at all about his thoughts or feelings, although he did look slightly grim around the eyes.

  ‘David’s here,’ Cathy announced unnecessarily, unable to take her glowing eyes off him. ‘I can’t believe it!’ She shook her head, obviously overjoyed to see him once again. ‘Just as I don’t believe there isn’t a story behind that black eye,’ she added teasingly. ‘Although he insists there isn’t!’

  The fact that she was seeing David again after all this time, that he was apparently back among the family, seemed to have blinded Cathy to the most obvious fact of all: David was here, at Jade’s cottage, and definitely without the knowledge that Cathy would be here. But it was a lack of vision on Cathy’s part that Jade was grateful for at this moment. Cathy wouldn’t give her any peace at all once she realised she and David had become more than friends since his arrival here, and she hoped to have left the area herself before that happened.

  Navy blue eyes looked at Jade compellingly, and she met that gaze guardedly, still uncertain as to the reason David had altered their arrangements and come to see her this morning, after all. Although she was grateful to him for not giving Cathy the details about that black eye.

  ‘Your telephone line is down,’ he explained softly as he was easily able to guess her thoughts.

  She looked surprised, turning to frown at the offending instrument as it sat so innocently on the table; as if frowning at it was going to do any good! ‘I had no idea,’ she said weakly, wishing she had at least known that fact so that she could have been half prepared for his arrival, when he hadn’t managed to reach her by telephone as he had said he would this morning, instead of being caught completely unawares.

  ‘Unfortunately, so are a lot of others,’ he shrugged, very attractive in a dark green jumper and faded denims beneath his leather jacket, ‘so I don’t think you’ll be treated as a priority.’

  ‘It doesn’t matter,’ she dismissed abruptly. ‘Although it was very nice of you to come out and check up on me,’ she added awkwardly, more for Cathy’s benefit than anything else.

  ‘I thought you had—company—when I first drove up,’ he told her, his eyes narrowed.

  ‘And aren’t I company?’ Cathy pretended indignation, her eyes twinkling mischievously.

  ‘Not the sort I meant,’ David drawled.

  He had believed, when he saw the Audi outside, that she had had the ulterior motive of another man for not wanting to see him today. And that was the reason he had been scowling when he arrived. It was a relief to know that the past hadn’t all blown up in her face. At least, not yet.

  Cathy pouted prettily. ‘I do think Penny and Simon could have telephoned me to let me know you were here.’ She shook her head reprovingly. ‘I would have come down here all the sooner if I had known.’

  David gave Jade a piercing look before turning his attention to the other woman. ‘Maybe they didn’t think Dominic could stand the competition,’ he teased.

  It didn’t surprise Jade at all that David should speak of the other man with familiarity; the two men moved in the same business circles.

  ‘There would have been no competition,’ Cathy dismissed scathingly. ‘As soon as I had heard you were here I would have come down. It’s been too long, David,’ she added softly, her face full of emotional affection.

  ‘Yes,’ he acknowledged gruffly. ‘But don’t you think you should let Penny and Simon know you are here? Penny was so sure you weren’t going to make it again this year either.’ He shook his head ruefully. ‘The names she’s been calling Dominic…! I think I should have a word with him, you know; he’s obviously working you much too hard if he can’t even give you Christmas off!’

  ‘As bosses go, he’s pretty awful,’ Cathy conceded.

  ‘But?’ David arched dark brows.

  She looked at him slightly defensively. ‘Is there a but?’

  He returned her gaze speculatively. ‘I would say so—but that is obviously another story,’ he dismissed shruggingly at Cathy’s warning glare that he was trespassing on a very touchy subject. ‘From the look of Jade, we’ve both caught her at an inconvenient time.’ He lightly drew attention to the fact that she was still wearing her dressing-gown when they were both fully clothed. He turned back to Cathy with a puzzled frown. ‘You must have driven most of the night to get here this early; there’s nothing wrong, is there?’

  ‘Not at all,’ she dismissed breezily, her gaze unwavering in her lie. ‘The opportunity came to leave and so I took it!’

  ‘Before Dominic changed his mind,’ David drawled understandingly.

  ‘Exactly.’ Cathy gave him a companionable grin.

  He nodded before turning back to Jade. ‘How are you feeling this morning?’

  That bogus chill came back to haunt her once again! She wished she had never invented the damned thing.

  ‘I feel fine, thank you,’ she answered abruptly. ‘Although a nice long soak in a hot bath wouldn’t come amiss,’ she added pointedly. After all, these two could go off somewhere and reminisce without her. She badly needed the time to do her packing.

  ‘Have you been ill?’ Cathy instantly frowned her concern. ‘You should have told me—’

  ‘It was only a chill.’ Her dismissal was made irritably this time, annoyed that David had drawn attention to yesterday’s indisposition—or rather, the lack of it!

  ‘Nevertheless—’

  ‘I have a feeling Jade would rather we changed the subject,’ David drawled as her eyes flashed at Cathy’s continued concern.

  ‘But—oh, where did you come from?’ Cathy enthused as Wellington walked haughtily into the room to see what all the noise was about, going down on her haunches to call to him, gently stroking his silky fur as he deigned to stand in front of her. ‘What’s your name?’ she cooed at the disdainful cat.

  ‘Wellington—for obvious reasons,’ David supplied drily at Jade’s lack of response.

  She had got to the stage where she just wanted them both to l
eave, something neither of them seemed inclined to do!

  ‘You’re beautiful,’ Cathy told Wellington admiringly. ‘You never mentioned in your letters that you have a cat now,’ she lightly scolded Jade, still stroking the silky cat, who now seemed to consider that anyone entering Jade’s home had to pass his approval, too! Cathy obviously did.

  ‘He’s a stray.’ Jade shrugged frowningly, as if that explained her lack of explanation earlier.

  ‘He doesn’t look like a stray to me,’ her friend admonished teasingly. ‘You surely don’t intend to leave him behind when you go?’ She sounded scandalised at the idea.

  ‘Of course Wellington will go with me, when I go,’ she muttered the last warningly.

  ‘Well, I should think so.’ Cathy took absolutely no notice of the warning, her attention back on the cat as he twirled in and out of her hands for extra cuddles. ‘It would never do to leave this beautiful creature behind.’

  ‘No,’ Jade grated, frowning darkly, keeping her eyes averted as she sensed David’s searching gaze on her.

  ‘All this talk of your leaving,’ he spoke slowly. ‘Is that imminent?’

  Well, Cathy was certainly doing nothing to give the impression it wasn’t!

  Really, much as she loved Wellington herself, and had no intention of leaving without him, she wished her friend would pay a little less attention to him and a little more to the conversation.

  ‘Cathy was talking about when the permanent teacher returns at the end of the next term,’ she explained lightly. Although until yesterday she had half hoped the other woman would decide not to return to work, after all, so she could remain in her place. That was now an impossibility for her.

  ‘Of course,’ David nodded, but he looked far from convinced. ‘Talking about leaving—’ He looked pointedly at Cathy.

  ‘Hm, I suppose we should be on our way.’ She straightened, innocently assuming he would be leaving with her now that he had satisfied himself as to Jade’s health and safety. ‘Actually, it’s a lot worse here than it was in London, so I’ll be glad of the back-up to Penny and Simon’s.’ She grimaced. ‘Not that I’ll ever admit to Dominic how bad the weather has been; he thought I was slightly insane coming down last night in the first place!’