They would find the right house for them, turn it into a real home, not a showplace, and there would be space for lots of children, and their pets, and it would be full of love and laughter.
‘I can’t tell you how grateful I am.’ Mrs Moody had gone even more pink. ‘But I’ll tell you what I will do. I’ll keep an eye on the folks who buy this place. You never know, it might turn out to be a happy home. It’s the people, isn’t it, who make a house happy?’
Georgia would have wholeheartedly agreed with that sentiment, but Jason walked in with two bottles of champagne and three glasses. The very best champagne, she noted. Harold had never stinted himself. Up until Vivienne’s death he had indulged in every hedonistic pleasure that presented itself, but he had never known what it was like to be truly happy.
Neither had her mother.
Georgia said a silent goodbye to both of them and raised her foaming glass to Jason, to her future. And after they’d all toasted each other, and Mrs Moody had got decidedly giggly, Jason raised an eyebrow to Georgia.
‘We could stay here tonight. What do you think?’
‘Why not?’ Why trail all the way back to Birmingham on a dark winter evening? She didn’t mind where she was as long as she was with Jason. Lytham held no bad memories now, only good ones. ‘If that’s not too inconvenient for you?’ she added to the housekeeper.
‘Not a bit of it!’ Mrs Moody sounded quite merry. ‘Your room, sir? Or Miss Georgia’s?’
‘Mine,’ Jason said decisively.
‘Don’t bother with an evening meal, Mrs Moody,’ said Georgia. ‘There’s enough left here to feed a small army. So you might as well call it a day.’
As soon as they were alone, Jason joined her on the sofa. He’d kept his distance because, close to her, he wouldn’t be able to keep his hands off her, and he hadn’t wanted to embarrass the housekeeper.
‘If we’re not driving, I can open the other bottle,’ he said, twining a long, lively strand of her hair through his fingers. ‘Mrs Moody drank the lion’s share.’
‘Like water,’ she agreed, fitting herself against his body, wrapping her arms around him. ‘I hope she’ll be all right, won’t fall over her feet.’
‘She’ll be fine,’ Jason murmured, lowering his head and finding her soft, willing mouth. ‘She’s not incapable, falling-over drunk—just happy. You made her happy. You…’ he parted her lips with the tip of his tongue ‘…make me happy.’
‘I’m glad.’ Momentarily she drew back, her hands touching his face. ‘And I’m glad you said we’d use your room. It was where it all started, remember?’
‘I’ve never forgotten.’ His throat thickened. He’d tried to forget, but it hadn’t been possible. No other woman had touched his heart as his darling did. No other woman had come near it.
‘And it wasn’t the start, not really,’ he said, his voice thickening. ‘Looking back, I think I began loving you for what you were long before that night, before I fell in love with you. And now—’ he took her hands and laid them against his heart ‘—I think the time for talking’s over, don’t you?’
‘I couldn’t agree more!’ Her smile was radiant, her eyes drowning with love as she wriggled close and slipped her hands beneath his sweater.
Four years later Georgia lay on Blue Rock’s soft white sands and watched with drowsy eyes as Jason played with the twins at the water’s edge. The little boys were three years old, with dark hair and golden eyes, sturdy bodies and decidedly independent minds.
She loved the three males in her life to pieces. Each year they came to their island in the sun and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. And every day in her busy, happy life just seemed to get better. She gave a contented little sigh and wriggled her bikini-clad body to get more comfy in the shade of the enormous umbrella. She’d put on weight, but, as Jason repeatedly assured her, in all the right places, so she didn’t mind. He called her his Earth Mother, and she didn’t mind that, either. She loved the big rambly home they’d found, loved cooking for him and the boys in the cosy farmhouse kitchen, turning the sprawling gardens into a paradise of flowers and vegetables. But, she thought, drifting into sleep on a wave of happiness, there was something missing…
She woke when Jason kissed her, and smiled for him, and she knew what it was—what was missing.
‘I think it’s time the boys had a new brother or sister. I’m feeling decidedly broody.’
‘Is that a fact?’ He eased his long, lithe body beside her. His skin was the colour of mahogany and her mouth went dry when she looked at him, the way it always did.
He reached up and tilted the umbrella, secluding them from the low cliffs, then slid his hands behind her, searching for the clasp that held the tiny bikini top in place.
Much as she wanted him to carry on, to strip her naked for his adoring eyes, she protested, ‘Not in front of the twins—’
‘Blossom whisked them away while you were sleeping, to give them a bath and their supper—I swear that woman gets bossier by the hour. So relax, honey-bunch, and I’ll see what I can do to oblige.’ He removed the scraps of fabric from her voluptuous body and grinned down at her. ‘The things a guy has to do to keep his woman happy!’
ISBN: 978-1-4592-1100-1
MISTRESS FOR A NIGHT
First North American Publication 2000.
Copyright © 1999 by Diana Hamilton.
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and TM are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
Visit us at www.romance.net
Mistress for a Night Page 14
