‘I know that, but it’s different for Dad. He’s lost the woman he loved and expected to spend his life with.’ Lucy glanced over at Ben, who was holding baby Annabel, and shivered. ‘I can’t imagine how awful it would be if anything happened to Ben. I don’t even want to try.’
‘Nothing is going to happen to Ben,’ Jack said firmly, giving her a hug. The last thing he wanted to do was to spoil this special day for her. ‘Anyway, if you nag Ben as much as you nag me then he will make sure he takes good care of himself just to stop you giving him earache!’
‘Pig!’
She playfully punched him on the shoulder, then went to reclaim her daughter. Jack helped Freddie to some mini-sausages, relieved that Lucy’s day hadn’t been ruined by his remarks. He glanced up when someone jogged his elbow and found himself staring straight into Alison’s eyes, and all of a sudden he understood exactly how Lucy felt. He didn’t know what he would do if anything happened to Alison. He couldn’t bear to think about it either.
His heart began to race as the full impact of that thought hit him. It might not be the right time for him or for Alison but it was happening anyway. He was falling in love with her and there wasn’t a thing he could do about it.
CHAPTER TWELVE
THE party broke up just before five o’clock. Alison found Sam, who was playing in the kitchen with Freddie, and explained that it was time to go home. Both boys accompanied her as she went to say goodbye to Lucy and Ben.
‘Thank you so much for inviting us. It’s been really lovely.’
‘It’s you who deserves the thanks,’ Lucy replied, giving her a hug. ‘I’m really grateful to you for stepping in like that and taking charge of Freddie.’
‘It was nothing,’ Alison assured her. She ran a gentle hand over Freddie’s dark curls, unaware how revealing her expression was. ‘Jack needs all the help he can get at the moment, doesn’t he?’
‘He certainly does,’ Lucy replied, nudging Ben in the ribs. ‘Go and find Jack, darling. I’m sure he’d like to say goodbye to Alison.’
‘Oh, um, right you are,’ Ben agreed, giving Lucy a funny look as he hurried away.
‘There’s really no need to bother Jack,’ Alison said quickly.
‘Rubbish!’ Lucy said robustly. ‘If I know my brother, he’ll be most upset if I let you leave without saying goodbye. Aha, here he is now. See, I was right.’
‘I…um…yes.’ Alison said softly, wishing the floor would open up and swallow her. Jack could have spent any amount of time with her that afternoon if he’d wanted to. The fact that he’d made a point of avoiding her after she’d bumped into him at the buffet table merely proved he hadn’t been interested. She was mortified to think that he might believe she was responsible for Ben dragging him away from his friends.
‘Lucy insisted I should say goodbye to you,’ she said quickly.
‘And quite right, too.’ Jack treated her to one of his most dazzling smiles. It left her feeling cold, because there wasn’t a scrap of genuine emotion in it.
‘Thank you again for looking after Freddie,’ he continued, unaware that her heart was aching so hard she could hardly stand the pain. There was no sign of the warmth she’d seen in his eyes earlier in the day and she couldn’t help wondering what had changed. Was it the fact that there was someone else he wanted to charm more than her?
As though on cue, the woman Jack had been speaking to earlier suddenly appeared. She came over to them, holding out her hand as she smiled at Lucy. ‘Thank you so much for inviting me join you on such a special day.’
‘Thank you for coming,’ Lucy replied politely. She turned to Alison. ‘Did you two get a chance to meet? There were so many people here that I didn’t get round to making all the introductions. Alison, this is Alex Ross—Jack’s new boss, for her sins!’
Everyone laughed. Alison did her best to join in, even though the situation seemed to be going from bad to worse. She’d had no idea the woman was Jack’s boss, and the thought of them working together on a daily basis was very difficult to handle. Putting out her hand, she forced herself to smile at Alex Ross.
‘It’s nice to meet you. I’m Alison Myers, one of the practice nurses.’
‘Delighted to meet you, Alison.’
Alex shook her hand, then said her goodbyes and left, pausing on the way out to have a final word with Jack. Alison could feel her insides churning as she watched them. What were they discussing? she wondered. The welfare of one of their patients, or when they would meet again?
Jealousy clawed at her insides, and she caught hold of Sam’s hand and quickly led him out of the door. It was only when she realised that Freddie had followed them that she stopped. Crouching down, she gave the little boy a hug.
‘Sam and I have to go home now, sweet heart. You must stay here with your daddy.’
Freddie’s lower lip wobbled as he clutched hold of her coat sleeve, and she sighed. She didn’t want to upset him, but she desperately wanted to go home.
‘You seem to have made a big impression on him.’
She looked up when Jack came hurrying over to them, and saw the smile that still lingered around his mouth. It was a world away from the one he had treated her to, and the thought that Alex Ross had been the recipient of it stung.
‘I don’t know about that,’ she said crisply, standing up. ‘However, I’m afraid Sam and I really have to go now.’
‘I’ll give you a lift,’ Jack said immediately. He swept Freddie into his arms, not giving her time to explain that she didn’t want a lift as he turned to his sister and brother-in-law. ‘It’s been really great today. Freddie and I have both enjoyed it—haven’t we, Freddie?’
‘We’ve enjoyed having you here,’ Lucy said, kissing her nephew on the cheek.
Alison didn’t utter a word as they set off down the drive. Jack had just ridden rough shod over her wishes as though he didn’t give a damn how she felt. She could feel anger bubbling inside her by the time they reached his car. She strapped Sam in, then opened the passenger door and climbed inside, still without uttering a word. Jack got in beside her, one dark brow rising as he caught sight of her thunderous expression.
‘What’s wrong?’
‘You know what’s wrong,’ she retorted, dragging her seat belt across her. She ground her teeth when the mechanism locked before she could fasten it. No amount of pulling would release it either. When Jack leant over and took the buckle from her hands and fastened it in place, she could have screamed.
He didn’t say a word as he started the engine and his silence was the most effective cure for her fit of pique. Alison felt so ashamed of herself that she could have wept. What on earth was she thinking about by behaving that way? It was hardly a good example for the children, was it?
By the time they reached her house, she felt so wretched that all she wanted to do was run inside and hide. She climbed out of the car, shaking her head when Jack went to get out as well.
‘You stay there. I can manage.’
She lifted Sam out of the back, said goodbye to Freddie, then shut the door. Jack zoomed down the window and leant across the passenger seat.
‘If I’ve done something to upset you, Alison, I’m sorry.’
‘You haven’t.’
One last strained smile and she was free to go. She didn’t glance back as she ushered Sam up the path and into the house. She took off his coat and gave him a drink of milk, determined that she wasn’t going to fall apart in front of him. However, when he went into the sitting room to play with his toys, she couldn’t hold on any longer.
She sank down on a chair as tears filled her eyes. She wasn’t used to feeling like this. She had never been jealous when she’d been married to Gareth. Not even when she had found out that he’d been having an affair. Oh, she’d been hurt and angry, but it had been nothing compared to how she’d felt when she’d seen Jack and Alex together. Was this what true love felt like? The sort of love she’d read about in books? She had no idea, but the thought
scared her. She didn’t want to fall in love with Jack if she ended up getting hurt.
Jack couldn’t settle. He kept thinking about what had happened when he had dropped Alison off at her house. He knew that she’d been angry and upset but he had no idea why. He paced the sitting-room floor after Freddie had gone to bed, trying to work out what he had done, but it was impossible to make sense of it. All he knew was that he wouldn’t be able to rest until he had sorted everything out.
He went out to the hall and picked up the phone, then paused. Bearing in mind what had happened at the christening party, was it right to ask his father to babysit for him? However, if he didn’t ask Nick then he might never get the chance to clear up this misunderstanding. He groaned. Talk about being caught on the horns of a dilemma! Either he phoned his father and risked a rebuff, or he risked never resolving this issue with Alison. Both prospects were highly unappealing, but he knew which one was worse.
It took a half dozen rings before Nick answered the phone, and Jack had reached desperation point by then, so he didn’t waste any time on non-essentials. ‘Dad, it’s me. Look, I hate to ask you after the way we parted earlier on today, but I desperately need a favour. Will you babysit for me?’
Half an hour later he was on his way to Alison’s house. Nick had agreed immediately to look after Freddie for him and, even more surprisingly, he hadn’t asked Jack where he was going either. Jack wasn’t sure what he would have said if his father had questioned him. He couldn’t have lied to him, neither could he have told him the truth. All he could do was thank his stars that for once Nick had given him the benefit of the doubt. He grimaced as he pulled up outside Alison’s house. He had a feeling that he was going to need every scrap of luck he could get if he hoped to persuade her to open up to him.
He walked up the path, then took a deep breath before he knocked on the front door. The first few seconds were crucial if he hoped to persuade her to let him in. He needed to strike the right note—calm and friendly, not too pushy, and definitely not desperate. He hurriedly pinned a smile to his face when the door opened.
‘Hi! I thought I’d pop round and see how you were.’
‘I’m fine,’ she said shortly. ‘Why shouldn’t I be?’
‘Oh, no reason. You just appeared a bit uptight when I dropped you off before.’
Her brows rose. ‘Uptight? Whatever gave you that idea?’
‘It was just a feeling I had…’ He tailed off, very much afraid that he had blown it. He hadn’t even got inside the house and already he was floundering.
‘A feeling? I see. Well, I can assure you that you were mistaken. I was fine then and I’m fine now, thank you, Jack.’
‘That’s all right, then.’ He dredged up another smile, although the brightness had faded from this one. He’d been a fool to come, and a double fool to imagine that Alison cared a jot about him. He swung round, not wanting her to know how stupid he felt. ‘I’m sorry I bothered you.’
‘Jack, wait. Don’t go.’
He’d got to the end of the path before she spoke, and even then he wasn’t sure if he’d actually heard her. He paused, undecided whether he should turn round and check. If it was his imagination playing tricks, he’d look even more foolish…
And if it wasn’t, he would have lost his one and only chance to sort this out with her.
He swung round and felt his heart start to race when he saw the torment on her face. It took him just a couple of strides to reach the door, but it felt as though he’d travelled to the moon and back by the time he got there. Alison stared at him for a moment and he could tell that she was trying to decide what to do. He could barely contain his delight when she stepped back.
‘You’d better come in.’
Jack followed her inside and made it safely along the hall, even though his legs felt as though they were filled with jelly. She stopped in the middle of the sitting room and turned to him, and he could see the fear in her eyes. He knew that if he’d been stronger he would have turned around and left, only he wasn’t strong enough to leave her now.
One step brought him within touching distance, so he touched her—just one finger skimming across the back of her wrist. Their skin made the minimal amount of contact, yet he sucked in his breath when he felt a heat so intense he could barely stand it sear his veins.
Another step took him closer still, close enough to feel the heat that was emanating from her in waves, and he shuddered, unable to pretend that it didn’t affect him in any way. She stared back at him with bewilderment on her face.
‘I never knew it could feel like this.’
‘Neither did I,’ he ground out as he took the final step, the one that brought his body up hard against hers. Flames licked along his fingers as they closed around her arms, scorched his chest as he drew her to him and held her so that he could feel her heart beating wildly against him. When he bent his head and pressed his mouth to the hollow of her throat, he was completely consumed by the fire.
‘Jack…’
Her voice was the softest whisper as she murmured his name, but it fanned the flames of his desire. He kissed her again, then let his tongue trace the delicate hollow between her neck and her collar-bone, taste the softness of her flesh, and groaned. Kissing her aroused so many emotions inside him, ones he had never experienced in his entire life.
He raised his head and looked deep into her eyes, knowing that she would see how much he wanted her. He refused to pretend that his need was less than it was, even if it was too much for her to accept. He wanted her in every way a man could want a woman, and she needed to understand that.
Colour bloomed in her face, rushed down her throat, and she trembled, but she didn’t look away. She met his gaze proudly, almost defiantly, and Jack could have wept because he understood how much it must have cost her.
Pulling her back into his arms, he rained kisses on her hair, her forehead, the delicate slope of her nose. By the time he reached her mouth they were both trembling, both desperate to sate their hunger. When his mouth finally found hers, he heard her sigh and sighed as well, because it was such a relief to know that he was welcome, wanted; that he no longer scared her.
He kissed her long and hungrily as his passion soared until it reached previously undiscovered heights. The taste of her mouth, the whisper of her breath, the feel of her in his arms was even more potent than he had imagined. He could feel his body reacting to her closeness and shifted slightly, afraid that he was going too fast for her, but she put her arms around him and pressed herself against him, and it was like setting light to touch paper.
He tore his mouth away from hers. When he’d made love with a woman in the past he had deliberately held part of himself back, but he couldn’t do that now and didn’t want to. Not with Alison. If they made love he would give her his all, and he wanted her to welcome him without any reservations.
‘I want to make love to you, but if it isn’t what you want too, then say so.’ His voice sounded ragged with passion, but he didn’t care. He took her face between his hands, his heart overflowing with tenderness as he looked into her eyes. ‘I would never do anything to hurt you, sweet heart. I swear.’
‘I know you wouldn’t.’ Reaching up, she kissed him on the mouth, her lips parting so that her tongue could mesh with his, and Jack shuddered. He had his answer now—an answer he had hardly dared to hope he would get.
He gathered her to him and kissed her softly, but with a passion that left them both trembling when he drew back. Alison held out her hand, looking so beautiful as she stood there with her lips all rosy from his kisses that he couldn’t speak. He took her hand and let her lead him from the room and up the stairs, his mind in a daze, his body in heaven. When she opened her bedroom door and turned to him, he lifted her into his arms and carried her to the bed. They didn’t need words when they had this. Didn’t need anything except each other.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
ALISON closed her eyes as Jack laid her on the bed. She wanted to
savour this moment, store it away for ever and always. She felt the mattress lift as he stood up, then heard a click as he turned on the lamp. Only then did she open her eyes, and she felt her heart melt when she found him staring down at her with such tenderness on his face. In that second she realised that what was happening meant as much to him as it did to her. Jack couldn’t look at her that way if he didn’t care.
The thought chased away any doubts she might have had. Holding out her hand, she smiled at him, faintly shocked yet secretly de lighted by her own boldness. She had never initiated sex before, but she was going to take the lead now.
‘Why don’t you come and keep me company? It’s rather lonely in this great big bed.’
Jack chuckled as he sat down on the edge of the mattress. ‘I would hate you to be lonely.’ He kissed her on the mouth, then drew back and looked at her. ‘Feeling better now?’
‘A bit.’ Alison smiled up at him, loving the way the lamplight played across his face, highlighting his clean-cut features and the richness of his dark hair.
‘Only a bit?’ His brows arched. ‘So that means you still feel a bit lonesome, does it?’
‘Hmm. But I’m sure we can do something to remedy that.’
Alison let her hand glide up his arm, her fingers sliding beneath the sleeve of his jacket, and heard him suck in his breath. His response was so encouraging that it made her bolder still, her other hand moving to his chest and skimming over the hard pectoral muscles. He was wearing the shirt he’d worn to the christening—soft blue cotton that flowed beneath her palm. She could feel the heat of his skin seeping through the fabric, and shivered as she imagined how it would feel to touch him without anything in the way.
Jack captured her hand and raised it to his lips, pressing a lingering kiss to the centre of her palm. ‘If it’s any consolation, I don’t feel the least bit lonely. In fact, I can’t remember when I ever felt this content.’
‘Good.’ Alison smiled up at him, deeply touched by the admission. To know that she was enough for Jack was more than she could have hoped for. When he released her hand, she placed it back on his chest, memorising his body by touch as well as by sight. She wanted to soak herself in him, absorb everything that made him the man he was.
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