In Separate Bedrooms

by Carole Mortimer

  Whereas Jack looked exactly what he was: a wealthy sophisticate who had obviously done this dozens of times before.

  Not with Mattie, he hadn’t!

  Her pulse had started beating a little faster just at the sight of him, the butterflies in her stomach telling of her inner excitement—or was it nervousness…? Whatever, it was the strangest sensation, shyness, and anticipation, mixed up with something that felt like fear, and yet wasn’t. Very strange!

  ‘Shall we take Harry round to his room and get him settled in?’ Her mother briskly took charge of the situation. ‘After all, you two will have to be on your way shortly,’ she added practically.

  Considering this was the first time Mattie had ever gone anywhere with a man, Mattie considered her mother was taking all of this very calmly. What exactly had Jack said when he’d come to see Diana the other morning? She certainly hadn’t got a straight answer from him on Tuesday evening!

  ‘Of course.’ Jack’s humour faded as he bent down to stroke his dog. ‘Come on, boy, let’s go and see what you make of this,’ he said with a certain grimness.

  He really wasn’t happy about this, Mattie realized sympathetically. Although he really had nothing to worry about; her mother loved dogs, and they seemed to love her too.

  ‘Why don’t you wait here, Mattie?’ her mother suggested now, a pointedly warning look in her eyes as she looked at Mattie over Jack’s bent back.

  ‘Of course,’ Mattie instantly accepted; it was always difficult parting the owners from their pets, without having an audience.

  Not that it did her too much good to have time to kick her heels while she waited for Jack; the more opportunity she had for thought, the more she thought this was a bad idea! In fact, she had picked up the phone several times over the last few days with the intention of telling Jack that. But each time she had remembered that she was the one who had created this difficulty for him, so it was up to her to help him out of it. If only she didn’t feel quite so nervous!

  Although she forgot all about that as Jack returned a few minutes later, his face pale, a nerve pulsing in his tightly clenched jaw.

  Mattie stepped forward to touch his arm reassuringly. ‘Harry really will be fine, you know,’ she soothed gently.

  Jack shook himself slightly, forcing a smile, although he was still very pale. ‘Now I know how my parents felt every time they took me back to boarding-school!’

  Mattie was sure it wasn’t quite the same thing, but… ‘And how did you feel once your parents had left to go home?’

  His smile became happier. ‘Oh, I laid it on thick before they left—tears, you name it—but within two minutes of them going out the door I was back amongst my friends, all of us talking at once as we discussed what pranks we could get up to the following term!’

  ‘Well, I don’t think Harry’s quite doing that.’ Mattie laughed at the thought. ‘But I have no doubts that he’s going to be just fine.’ Her mother would make sure of it.

  ‘He wasn’t doing so badly when I left him,’ Jack admitted as he opened the car door for her to get inside. ‘He and Sophie were getting acquainted,’ he explained at Mattie’s questioning look.

  ‘Don’t worry.’ Mattie shot him a mischievous look as he got in beside her. ‘Sophie won’t produce a brood of Yellow Labrador-Bearded Collie mix; she’s had her tubes tied!’

  ‘Well, really, Miss Crawford.’ Jack pretended to look shocked. ‘Isn’t this a little early in our acquaintance to be discussing birth control!’

  She could feel the heat that entered her cheeks. ‘If we were really going away to Paris for a romantic weekend then I think this would be a little late to be discussing it!’ she came back primly.

  Jack burst out laughing, shaking his head as he sobered slightly. ‘Do you have an answer for everything, Mattie Crawford?’

  Not everything, no—unfortunately she had no answer at all to the way her heart leapt in her chest whenever he looked at her, let alone when he laughed in that completely uninhibited way!

  But at least she had taken his mind off leaving Harry, which had been the intention, after all…

  ‘Shouldn’t we be on our way?’ she prompted rather more sharply than she had intended, smiling slightly in an effort to take the sting out of her tone.

  ‘Sure you’ve got everything?’ he checked as he turned on the ignition.

  Mattie gave the question exaggerated thought. ‘I’ve only packed six pairs of shoes—do you think that will be enough—?’ She broke off as he put the car in gear and accelerated down the driveway with such speed she felt as if she were pinned back against the seat. ‘Oh, you do,’ she went on sagely, settling herself more comfortably in the seat beside him.

  Jack gave a snort. ‘I thought sisters were bad enough, but girlfriends are—’

  ‘I’m not your girlfriend,’ Mattie reminded him frostily, perhaps a little more frostily than she intended, but she wanted to make sure the guidelines were clear before they left the country!

  ‘For the next four days you are,’ Jack returned unconcernedly. ‘Jack and Mattie. Mattie and Jack. How do you think it sounds?’ He quirked dark brows at her.

  ‘Ridiculous,’ she dismissed scathingly—while inside she could feel the warm glow evoked by hearing their names coupled together in that way. Which, in the circumstances, really was ridiculous!

  ‘Please yourself.’ He shrugged.

  That was something she didn’t think she would be doing too much of in the next few days; her movements would be dictated by what Jack and his family were doing, not by what she personally might like to do. Which was a shame, because she really would have liked to see—

  ‘I’ve booked a table for us for dinner this evening,’ Jack interrupted her thoughts. ‘But is there anywhere you would particularly like to go while we’re in Paris?’

  Her eyes widened. ‘Me?’

  ‘You,’ he confirmed teasingly. ‘I may be mistaken, but I have the feeling you’ve never been to Paris before.’

  ‘Your feeling is correct,’ Mattie admitted. ‘But I thought this weekend was a family occasion?’

  ‘I own up to being very close to my family, Mattie,’ Jack answered evenly, ‘but even I draw the line at spending the whole four days in their company when I could be alone with a beautiful woman, instead. Especially in Paris,’ he added before Mattie could speak. ‘We’re meeting up with all of them tomorrow evening, but, other than that, our time’s our own.’

  Mattie had been struck dumb by his reference to ‘a beautiful woman’—because he obviously meant her! But his next statement totally threw her.

  ‘I quite fancy a day in Euro Disney myself,’ Jack announced with a touch of self-derision. ‘How about you?’

  ‘Fine,’ she replied vaguely, still reeling from learning they were to spend most of this weekend on their own together.

  What on earth were they going to talk about for four days? And three evenings? And what about the nights…!

  She swallowed hard. ‘Jack—’

  ‘Just relax, Mattie.’ He reached over and squeezed her hand with one of his, while keeping his other on the steering wheel and his eyes on the road. ‘When did you last have a holiday?’

  ‘A year ago,’ she responded flatly.

  ‘Then just think of this as a holiday. We’re going to have fun, okay?’

  ‘Okay,’ she agreed.

  He chuckled at her less-than-convinced tone. ‘I was only joking when I made that reference to birth control, you know,’ he teased. ‘We have separate bedrooms at the hotel, honest!’

  Well, that was something, at least. Although Mattie had a feeling, after she had spent all that time in Jack’s undoubtedly seductive company, that she might be the one wishing that weren’t the case…!

  * * *

  ‘So what do you think?’ Jack prompted huskily as he came to stand behind her as she stood at the window of her hotel bedroom, his hands warm on her shoulders.

  Mattie continued to gaze out at the Eiffel Tow
er, totally mesmerized. The sheer enormity of it, as it stretched skywards, was breathtakingly beautiful.

  Jack hadn’t been exaggerating when he’d said their hotel overlooked the Eiffel Tower; Mattie felt as if she could almost reach out and touch it!

  ‘Mattie…?’ Jack squeezed her shoulders.

  ‘It’s—I—’ She shook her head. ‘Thank you,’ she finally managed through her emotion.

  Jack slowly turned her to face him, looking down at her concernedly as he saw the unmistakable tears glistening in her eyes. ‘For what?’

  ‘For—for this.’ The wave of her arms encompassed her hotel room as well as the magnificent view outside.

  It was a beautifully large bedroom, its floral décor warmly welcoming. Mattie had kicked off her shoes once she was alone, her bare feet sinking into the thickness of the deep-rose-coloured carpet. There was a huge double bed dominating the room, and the en suite bathroom was the last thing in luxury, with its Jacuzzi bath and gold fittings. In fact, it was more luxurious than her own bedroom at home!

  ‘You haven’t seen all of it yet.’ Jack grinned, taking her hand and leading her through the communicating door into the next room.

  Mattie had assumed the room next to hers was Jack’s bedroom—in fact, she had been slightly concerned by that open communicating door between the two rooms!—but that didn’t prove to be the case.

  If she had thought her bedroom luxurious, then the sitting-room she stood in was even more so: deep, luxurious armchairs, gleaming glass coffee-tables, bowls of fruit and flowers adorning their tops, a drinks cabinet discreetly in one corner of the room, a television in the other.

  Although how anyone could possibly want to watch television when they could look out at the Eiffel Tower and its surrounding beauty, Mattie had no idea.

  But if this was a sitting-room…?

  ‘My bedroom is through here.’ Jack seemed to read her confusion, moving forward to open the door beside the drinks cabinet, showing a bedroom identical in décor to Mattie’s.

  Although this one, she noticed, had twin beds rather than a king-size bed as in her own room…

  Well, Jack had assured her they had separate bedrooms. He had just forgotten to mention that those bedrooms were joined by a communal sitting-room!

  ‘Come on, get some shoes on—one of the six pairs you mentioned earlier,’ Jack urged dryly. ‘And let’s go out and explore!’

  Mattie couldn’t help but appreciate his enthusiasm, especially as she was sure that he must have been to Paris dozens of times before. But if he was willing to play the tourist for her sake, then she wasn’t about to complain.

  ‘Seeing all this through your eyes makes it all new to me too.’ Once again Jack seemed able to read her thoughts, his arm moving lightly about her shoulders as he gave her a brief hug. ‘Unless you would rather have something to eat first?’ He frowned. ‘Airplane food isn’t very good, is it?’ He grimaced.

  Considering they had travelled first class, had been given drinks and nibbles in the lounge at the airport before the flight and served a meal on board that could rival most restaurants, Mattie wasn’t in the least hungry. And she told him so.

  ‘I was hoping you would say that.’ He grinned. ‘Let’s go out, hmm?’

  His enthusiasm was infectious. Mattie was happy to put her shoes back on, deciding to leave her jacket in her room; the Paris weather—she was pleased to see!—was much like a warm, English summer day.

  She hesitated once they were downstairs in the busy reception area of the hotel. ‘Shouldn’t you at least let your family know you’ve arrived?’

  ‘I already have,’ Jack responded. ‘I called your mother too, by the way,’ he added.

  Her eyes widened at this. She had wanted to call her mother earlier from her hotel room, just to let her know they had arrived safely, but, not speaking French, and having no idea how to dial out direct from her bedroom, she had deferred the call with the intention of asking for Jack’s help later.

  ‘That was very kind of you,’ she said slowly.

  ‘I needed to check on Harry, anyway.’

  Of course he had. How silly of her to imagine it was anything else. ‘How is he?’ she asked politely.

  ‘Fine,’ he confirmed a little sheepishly. ‘My family are all looking forward to meeting you tomorrow, by the way.’

  Mattie swallowed hard, unable to reciprocate in the sentiment. It had all seemed much simpler when she’d been in England. Go to Paris with Jack, play the part expected of her, and then, at the end of the four days, return to her normal life.

  Reality was something else entirely!

  For one thing, travelling with Jack, and being accepted as his companion, had been an experience in itself. The hotel they were staying at was out of this world—well, out of Mattie’s world. Also, the more time she spent in Jack’s company, the more she liked being with him—perhaps too much?

  In fact, her life in England, sharing a home with her mother, going off to work each day, fulfilling her office contracts in the evenings, was already starting to seem very far away. How was she going to feel after four days of this?

  It was so easy to get caught up in the festive atmosphere around the Eiffel Tower, where there were street vendors, hundreds of other tourists strolling around or actually going up in the lifts to the top of the tower and lots more people just sitting down on the grassed area across the road relaxing in the sunshine.

  ‘Time for a drink, I think,’ Jack decided as he took in her slightly dazed expression, taking hold of her hand as they crossed the road and walked down the steps to one of the riverside cafés.

  Still with Mattie’s hand firmly held in his!

  To anyone else, Mattie was sure, they just looked like another pair of lovers strolling in the sunshine, but the rapid beat of her heart, and the warmth in her cheeks, told her that she wasn’t taking all of this in her stride.

  The problem was, she realised as she watched Jack as he confidently ordered coffee for two in French, it would be all too easy to forget the real reason she was here. To just give herself up to the moment. To allow herself to be seduced by the romantic atmosphere. By Jack…!

  But where would that leave her on Monday evening when they returned to England?

  Heartbroken, came the instant response.

  Jack was so much more than this charmingly indulgent companion. He was Jonathan Beauchamp, owner of JB Industries. He was the son of obviously wealthy parents—they had to be, if their daughter’s engagement dinner was being held in Paris, of all places. Jack was also the man who, until four days ago, had not one, but four girlfriends.

  And even if she managed to get past all those previous obstacles to there ever being a relationship between herself and Jack, Mattie had better not forget that last fact!

  ‘Would you mind if we went back to the hotel?’ she said abruptly. ‘I’m feeling a little—travel-worn,’ she added at his obviously disappointed expression. ‘I would like to take a refreshing bath, maybe wash my hair, before we go out this evening.’

  No doubt a bath would be refreshing, but what Mattie really wanted—desperately needed!—was time to herself so that she could build back her defences against falling for this man!

  ‘Of course,’ Jack accepted, drinking down his coffee. ‘I should have thought of that earlier.’ He threw some money down on the table to pay for their drinks. ‘We don’t have to do everything in one day, have a whole four days for you to fall in love with Paris,’ he added with satisfaction.

  She was already in love with Paris.

  Just as she was very much afraid she was already in love with Jack Beauchamp!

  CHAPTER SIX

  DINNER on a river boat, cruising up the Seine, wasn’t designed to bring Mattie to her senses when it came to her feelings for Jack!

  When he’d told her earlier that he had booked a table for the two of them for dinner this evening, Mattie had assumed he’d meant at the hotel. But to her surprise, instead of going to the dinin
g-room, Jack had walked them straight out of the foyer and into a taxi.

  Ten minutes later they had arrived at the riverside, had been served a glass of champagne, before being shown to their table on board a luxurious river cruiser—and served another glass of champagne!

  Mattie shook her head slightly dazedly. ‘Jack, I don’t think—’

  ‘Paris is not the place for thinking, Mattie,’ he laughed as he sat beside her, devastatingly attractive in a black dinner suit, snowy white shirt and black bow-tie, dark hair curling damply against his collar from the shower he had taken before coming out. ‘It’s the place to allow all your other senses full rein; to feel, taste, smell. But never allow yourself to get bogged down by thinking when in Paris, Mattie; it ruins the enjoyment of everything else!’

  That was what was worrying her!

  She had put on one of two new evening dresses this evening, a deep blue silk that exactly matched the colour of her eyes, its mandarin-style extremely flattering, the lower expanse of her tanned legs visible beneath its knee length, the three-inch heels of her new blue sandals giving her added height and elegance.

  But, despite what Jack had said about not seeing any of his family until tomorrow evening, she had worn this dress with the assumption that they might perhaps see some of that family in the hotel dining-room this evening, having no idea that it would just be the two of them disappearing off somewhere on their own for dinner.

  She wasn’t sure it was a good idea for her to be quite this dressed up when she was having dinner alone with Jack.

  Or for him to look so devastatingly attractive, either.

  One of them seemed to have lost the plot here—and she was pretty sure it wasn’t her!

  ‘Maybe it does,’ she conceded abruptly. ‘But have you forgotten the reason I’m here?’ She frowned.

  ‘Hmm?’ Jack turned from looking out the window beside them, lights from the boat playing along the riverside, illuminating all the wonders of Paris as they cruised slowly along.