In Separate Bedrooms

by Carole Mortimer

  Double the idiot, she inwardly remonstrated with herself.

  Luckily, she hadn’t actually got around to telling him that before the other woman had interrupted them, but a few seconds later and she would have done!

  She curled up into a ball of misery, willing Jack to go away from her bedroom door now.

  ‘Mattie, let me in, hmm?’ he encouraged softly. ‘We really do need to talk. I know how it must have looked to you earlier, and I—I need to explain.’

  Explain what? That bringing her here had been a mistake? That the kiss they had shared had been a mistake too? That he would put the situation right by booking her on a plane back to England as soon as possible?

  Well, he needn’t bother; she was quite capable of booking her own ticket and taking herself back home!

  It took every ounce of her will-power not to call out and tell him exactly that. But Tina’s arrival had totally unnerved her, and she wasn’t emotionally strong enough yet to tell Jack exactly what she thought of him.

  Later this morning she would be, though!

  ‘Okay.’ Jack’s sigh could be heard through the thickness of the bedroom door. ‘But I do intend talking to you, Mattie. I need to explain. To—oh, to hell with this!’ he bit out impatiently. ‘I can’t talk to you through a locked door! I’ll talk to you later,’ he muttered before moving away.

  Maybe he would. And maybe he wouldn’t. It all depended on when Mattie could manage to get a flight back to England!

  Because she was going home today. Come rain, shine, Jack Beauchamp, she was going home, should never have agreed to come here in the first place.

  She rolled over in the bed, glancing across the room to where her suitcase was already packed and waiting for her departure. All she had to do was get through these early hours.

  All!

  She had no idea a few hours could seem so long, finally getting up at six o’clock, dressing in jeans, tee shirt and jacket, checking that the rest of the suite was in silence, before quietly letting herself out of the bedroom.

  Paris, at six-thirty on a Saturday morning, was as deserted as anywhere else would be at this early hour, with the odd late night reveller making their way home. But, other than that, it was just Mattie sitting on a bench, with a few pigeons at her feet.

  ‘Sorry, I don’t have any food for you,’ she told them apologetically as they pecked around hopefully on the pavement.

  She had thought she cared for Richard, but now recognized it had been her pride that had been hurt in that particular situation. How did she know? Because now she really was in love. With Jack. And it was the most painful feeling of her entire existence!

  Where was the gladness? The happiness? The wonderful euphoria she had always thought went with falling in love?

  But, she realized, it was whom she had fallen in love with, that was the problem!

  Jack Beauchamp.

  Caring son and brother? Or womaniser?

  For a while last night Mattie had thought the former, but the arrival of his married lover implied he was definitely the latter.

  But she loved him, anyway. It was ridiculous, and yet—

  ‘Hello, there; I didn’t think I would find anyone else up and about this time of the morning,’ came a British voice.

  Mattie had been so lost in thought that she hadn’t noticed there was anyone else around, forcing herself to smile as the older woman came to sit next to her on the bench-seat next to the Eiffel Tower.

  ‘Good morning,’ she greeted huskily.

  The older woman returned her smile ruefully. ‘I thought you had to be English; mad dogs and Englishwomen stay out early in the morning,’ she misquoted.

  Mattie laughed softly, instinctively liking the other woman; she was probably aged in her late sixties, with neatly permed grey hair, her blue eyes kind in her lined face, with a cuddly grandmotherly figure.

  Instinctively liked her?

  Mattie’s smile faded. Where had that instinct got her so far? In love with completely the wrong man was where! This woman beside her could be a mass murderer for all the good her instinct had done her the last few days!

  ‘Although I must say, my dear,’ the older woman continued kindly, ‘you seem a little young to be suffering from insomnia.’

  Mattie shrugged. ‘I was just taking a last look round before returning to England later today.’ At least, she hoped she would be able to return later today.

  ‘Oh, what a shame,’ the other woman sympathized. ‘And have you enjoyed your stay? But of course you have; how could you not have enjoyed Paris?’ she answered her own question.

  Which was just as well—because Mattie’s own answer would have been quite different!

  The woman smiled. ‘I first came to Paris thirty-five years ago for my honeymoon,’ she explained wistfully. ‘It seems like only yesterday to me,’ she continued. ‘Although I don’t think my five children and three grandchildren would agree, do you?’ she added laughingly.

  ‘Paris is very romantic.’ Mattie spoke slowly, choosing her words carefully.

  The woman looked at her quizzically. ‘Are you here with your young man?’

  Mattie very much doubted Jack could be called anyone’s young man; he was much too free with his charms to ever be that exclusive.

  ‘No,’ she answered flatly. ‘I—no, not really. It just hasn’t been a very—successful visit.’

  ‘What a shame.’ The woman smiled sadly. ‘I’m here for a family party. My youngest daughter’s engagement dinner,’ she confided warmly.

  Alarm bells had begun to go off inside Mattie’s head at the mention of a family party, but that it was her youngest daughter’s engagement dinner was just too much of a coincidence.

  This woman had to be Jack’s mother!

  Could things get any worse? She had thought not, but they certainly seemed to have done so in the last few minutes.

  She looked at the woman beside her with new eyes, looking for any likeness to Jack in the small stature and kindly lined face, and finding none. Jack must take after his father, then, because Mattie couldn’t believe there could possibly be two English families in Paris this weekend celebrating the engagement of the youngest daughter.

  ‘I think I had better be going,’ Mattie said awkwardly, standing up. ‘I—It’s been nice speaking to you. I hope your party is a success this evening,’ she added sincerely.

  ‘Thank you, my dear.’ The other woman smiled up at her.

  Mattie turned away, her feet feeling leaden, her heart even heavier.

  ‘I was so hoping you would be able to join us, Mattie. It is Mattie, isn’t it?’

  Mattie had spun round at the first sound of her name, staring at the older woman with horrified eyes now. It was bad enough that she had inadvertently spoken to Jack’s mother in the first place, but doubly awful that the other woman obviously knew exactly who she was, too.

  Which begged the question: how had this lady guessed who she was?

  ‘Do come and sit down again, Mattie,’ Jack’s mother invited warmly, patting the wooden seat beside her. ‘I’m Betty Beauchamp, by the way,’ she introduced herself as Mattie moved like an automaton to obey the invitation.

  She dropped down heavily onto the seat beside the older woman, still staring at her with bewildered eyes. ‘I—Mattie Crawford,’ she reciprocated haltingly.

  ‘Don’t look so worried, Mattie—I may call you Mattie, I hope? I’m not psychic or anything. I just happened to see you and Jack leaving the hotel together yesterday evening,’ she explained.

  Whereas Mattie hadn’t been aware of anyone else but Jack the previous evening…

  ‘I see,’ Mattie accepted warily, still not sure what she could say to Mrs Beauchamp. Without offending her!

  Betty looked sad. ‘I have no idea what Jack has done to upset you, my dear, but it’s obvious, this morning, that he has done something. Which is a pity, because the two of you looked so happy together last night.’ She shook her head.

  That was be
fore Tina’s arrival. Before Mattie had realized she was now completely superfluous to this weekend.

  But as Mattie had no idea just how much Betty knew about her arrangement with Jack for this weekend, she wasn’t quite sure how to answer her. And so she decided not to answer at all.

  Betty sighed. ‘Edward and I were so pleased when Jack rang us on Wednesday evening and told us he was bringing a young lady with him this weekend—’

  ‘On Wednesday?’ Mattie echoed sharply now. ‘But I—Wasn’t Jack always bringing a—a young lady with him?’

  ‘Oh, no,’ Betty dismissed indulgently. ‘This is the first time Jack has ever introduced us to any of his—friends. Which is why we were so hopeful—Jack is very protective of his private life as a rule.’

  In the circumstances, that wasn’t surprising!

  Nevertheless, Mattie was still puzzled by the other woman’s disclosure. ‘But surely Jack was bringing someone with him this weekend…?’ she persisted.

  ‘Not until Wednesday, no.’ His mother shook her head confidently. ‘As I said, Edward and I were so excited at the prospect of meeting you.’ She smiled warmly.

  Mattie’s own smile came out as more of a grimace. Because she didn’t understand this conversation at all. Jack had assured her that her deliberate mismanagement of the cards on the flowers she had delivered for him had messed up his relationships—

  But had he?

  She tried to remember back to that conversation they had had, to remember exactly who had said what, but it was difficult as Betty spoke again.

  ‘I know Jack can sometimes be a little—forceful, in his ways.’ She looked slightly embarrassed. ‘He gets that from his father, I’m afraid. I’ve learnt to deal with it, of course, but then I’ve had years of experience,’ she continued indulgently. ‘But Jack can be such a thoughtful boy, too, that the family usually overlooks any—little faults, he may have.’

  Mattie’s head was buzzing as a number of possibilities suddenly came to mind. ‘Tell me, Mrs Beauchamp—’

  ‘Betty, please,’ the other woman invited lightly.

  ‘Tell me, Betty,’ Mattie began slowly, ‘if Jack is so thoughtful, why does he never send you flowers?’ The other woman looked taken aback by the strangeness of the question. As well she might, Mattie inwardly acknowledged, but the way in which Betty answered it was very important to her.

  ‘Why, how clever of you to know that!’ she exclaimed. ‘Jack knows I have an aversion to cut flowers—I believe they should remain in the ground to be enjoyed rather than brought into the house to die. And so, whenever Jack sends flowers to the girls, he always buys me a rose-bush to plant in the garden, instead. I believe I have at least fifty by now,’ she added with satisfaction.

  ‘Girls?’ Mattie repeated, a slight edge to her voice now. Although she had a feeling she already knew the answer to this particular question. If she was right, she was going to throttle Jack when next she saw him!

  ‘My four daughters,’ Betty told her proudly. ‘I did tell you that I have five children? Jack is the eldest, of course, followed by Christina, then the twins, Sarah and Caroline, and lastly—’

  ‘Alexandra,’ Mattie finished rather more forcefully than she intended. But if what she thought were true—! ‘She would be Sandy?’ she probed evenly.

  ‘Yes,’ Betty confirmed, frowning slightly. ‘Of course, this will be Sandy’s second marriage, but the first one was such a disaster that we’re all just very pleased to be celebrating her second chance at happiness.’

  Mattie wasn’t sure she wanted to hear a potted version of the Beauchamp family history! Although this explanation did help to explain away Sandy’s surname on the flowers Jack had sent. And talking of flowers…

  ‘Your other daughters would be Tina, Sally, and Cally?’ she pressed.

  ‘Families are terrible for nicknames, aren’t they?’ Betty pondered affectionately. ‘Of course, Jack is really Jonathan, too, but we’ve always called him Jack.’

  No doubt about it, Mattie was going to kill him!

  Those four women, the ones she had assumed were the women in Jack’s life, were all his sisters!

  Incredible. Amazing. Absolutely unbelievable!

  It didn’t matter at that moment that Jack had tried to tell her he didn’t have four girlfriends, he had still talked her into—blackmailed her into!—coming away with him this weekend under false pretences. Why, she had no idea. What she did know was that he was a lying, conniving, double-talking, blackmailing—!

  At the moment Mattie was too angry to think of any more expletives she could hurl at him. But no doubt by the time she saw him again she would have thought of a few more. Because she no longer intended leaving today, after all.

  Jack had lied about needing her to replace the original woman he’d intended bringing here in an effort to avert Sharon’s attention—because he had never intended bringing a woman here with him in the first place.

  For some reason—as yet unknown!—he had brought her to Paris under false pretences, and in her eyes that made him just as guilty as she had initially been concerning those cards on the flowers. It would be interesting to see how he liked having to pretend in front of his family that everything in his world was hunky-dory—knowing as Mattie now did their hopes about this relationship!

  ‘Would you excuse me—Betty?’ Mattie added her name awkwardly, and stood up. ‘I think I would like to go back to the hotel now. I think perhaps Jack and I can sort out this little problem, after all,’ she declared decisively.

  ‘Oh, I do hope so.’ His mother beamed. ‘The family is so looking forward to meeting you.’

  Again Mattie felt that twinge of guilt. But Jack was the one who should feel guilty, not her, she instantly told herself; if his mother was anything to go by, then his family were delightful, and he had no right deceiving them in this way. For whatever reason.

  ‘But I’m afraid you won’t find Jack back at the hotel just now,’ Betty explained. ‘He’s gone to the airport to meet my eldest daughter’s husband,’ she added with a frown. ‘As you know, Tina arrived here last night declaring she had left Jim. She has always been hotheaded, I’m afraid.’ Betty shook her head. ‘But this time she’s gone too far. And Jim is such a nice young man.’

  So Jack had gone to the airport to meet his brother-in-law, had he? Which was why the suite had been so quiet when she’d left earlier. It was probably also the reason Jack had been so desperate to talk to her at two-thirty this morning; he had wanted to sort out this situation between them before Mattie could do a disappearing act while he was away at the airport, and so leave him with egg on his face where his family were concerned.

  Well, he no longer needed to worry about that happening; Mattie didn’t intend going anywhere but back to the hotel.

  What Jack did have to worry about, though, was how Mattie was going to behave for the rest of this weekend. Because if Jack had enjoyed making a fool of her the last few days, then it was time he learnt exactly what it felt like to be on the receiving end!

  ‘I’m sure they will work things out,’ Mattie assured Betty Beauchamp. ‘After all, this is Paris,’ she encouraged as the older woman still looked doubtful.

  ‘So it is.’ Betty brightened. ‘And I’m so glad you’ve changed your mind about leaving.’

  Mattie felt another prick of conscience at the other woman’s genuine pleasure in her decision to stay on, after all. But, she instantly reasoned, Jack was the one who should have the guilty conscience. The fact that she now knew the real identity of the recipients of the flowers Jack sent to those four women made no difference to the fact that he had always intended passing her off to his family as his girlfriend. And considering, as Mattie now knew, he had never brought even one of his friends to meet his family before, he should have known exactly what conclusion they would all come to.

  The only thing that had really changed was that Mattie now knew the truth about those four women in his life…

  ‘Er—perhaps it woul
d be better, Betty, if neither of us mentioned this particular conversation to Jack?’ Mattie looked at the older woman. ‘I’ll tell him the two of us have met, of course, but I don’t think he would like the idea of the two of us—discussing him in this way.’

  ‘I’m sure he wouldn’t,’ Betty agreed instantly, obviously relieved at the suggestion. ‘It was just that when I saw you leaving the hotel earlier I couldn’t resist coming and talking to you. And I’m so glad I did.’ She smiled. ‘I shall very much look forward to seeing you again this evening,’ she finished.

  ‘Thank you,’ Mattie said, before turning and walking slowly back to the hotel.

  What on earth did Jack think he was doing? Okay, so Mattie accepted he found the attentions of his future brother-in-law’s sister a pain in the—He had wanted to put this Sharon off without offending anyone. But what on earth had he imagined the rest of his family were going to think about him bringing a ‘girlfriend’ with him this weekend, especially as he had never done such a thing before?

  Exactly what Betty Beauchamp obviously thought: that Jack was actually serious about her.

  She could only conclude that Jack hadn’t thought about that side of things at all, had just seen a way to rid himself of Sharon’s unwanted attentions—while at the same time have a little fun at Mattie’s expense.

  Well, they would just see later today who was having fun and who wasn’t!

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  ‘MATTIE, I—What are you doing?’

  Mattie almost laughed out loud at the stunned look on Jack’s face as she launched herself into his arms, her face raised expectantly for his kiss.

  She looked pointedly into the sitting-room behind him, instantly stepping back. ‘I thought I had better show some affection, in case we weren’t alone,’ she said—knowing very well that they were. But Jack couldn’t possibly know that she had looked into the sitting-room a few minutes ago when she’d heard him arrive back from the airport and already knew they were by themselves!

  Jack glowered darkly. ‘Very commendable, I’m sure.’ He ran a hand tiredly through the dark thickness of his hair. ‘If a little misguided. I’m hot, sticky, and tired,’ he explained at her raised brows.