He acknowledged her flare of anger with a dip of his head, his narrowed eyes not leaving her face, as if he was looking for the truth and couldn’t find it. ‘Then I’m to take it that his appearance at Netherhaye was a wondrous coincidence, an unlooked-for opportunity on his part to ask you for money,’ he said, with a dryness that set her teeth on edge.
By the way her skin was burning she knew her face had turned brick-red. Fury, frustration and resentment coiled her insides into a tight knot. Just when she and Jed might have had a chance to work through their problems and find each other again, when he might have learned to love and trust her once more, Liam had swaggered along and driven an even bigger wedge between them.
‘Can’t we forget the creep?’ she asked impulsively. ‘I had nothing at all to do with him being here. He followed us down, apparently. He’d read about the award ceremony and thought I’d be a soft touch. He phoned earlier and suggested we meet. Believe me, I didn’t want to, but I agreed because I didn’t want him hanging around, making a nuisance of himself.’
She couldn’t tell him any more. She hoped to heaven what she had told him would be enough, that he’d put the whole nasty episode out of his mind. And it seemed her prayers had been answered, because he opened the car on the passenger side and held the door for her. ‘Get in. You might as well ride up to the house with me.’
And when he joined her and turned on the ignition his tone was the same, cool and distant. ‘I take it Catherine’s having her afternoon nap? Ask Edith to bring a tray of tea out onto the terrace, would you? I could do with a reviver before I shower.’
That careful politeness set the tone for the remainder of the afternoon and evening. It was as if, she thought as she tried to do justice to Edith’s delicious marinated salmon steaks, served with baby new potatoes fresh from the garden and spicy ratatouille, his mind was functioning smoothly on the surface while sorting through the ramifications of the scene he’d come upon with her and Liam.
She risked a look at him as she sipped her iced spring water. He looked so darned controlled. Too controlled? Would his emotions burst through, blowing them both away?
‘Now, neither of you must worry about me,’ Catherine said when Edith had cleared the used plates and dishes. Jed had already told her they’d be leaving early next morning to catch the flight to Jerez—told her in that same calm, dispassionate voice. ‘I expect Susan to arrive any day. Apparently she’s a knock-out on the sewing machine—so we’ll measure up for curtains, take a trip into town and choose the fabric. We’re going to be so busy! So make the most of the rest of your honeymoon and don’t give me a second thought.’
‘Talking of which, I’ll go and sort out the documents dealin
g with the lease on the property in Seville.’ Jed turned his soulless smile on Catherine. ‘And, no, I won’t spend most of the time working.’ He declined the fresh strawberries and helped himself to coffee, taking it with him, and Elena knew it was an excuse to leave them, to do his thinking without having to make polite conversation.
‘I haven’t had a chance to say anything to him about the baby,’ Catherine confessed mournfully, helping herself to the berries. ‘I did try to start a conversation before you came down for dinner, lead up to it gently, but he put on that remote face and froze me off.’ She put down her spoon. ‘I’m worried about him, Elena.’
‘Don’t be.’ Said with more confidence than she felt. ‘I get the feeling Jed can cope with anything life throws at him.’ Her certainty of that went bone-deep. But after the scene with Liam would his form of coping revert to what it had been? The total blanking off, cutting her out of his heart with surgical precision?
She didn’t think she could bear that, not after being so sure he was on the point of breaking through to an understanding of the events that had led to her pregnancy, and through that understanding learning to forgive her—and Sam.
Liam had done more harm than he would ever know.
‘I can’t help worrying, it being Sam’s baby—’
‘Try not to,’ Elena soothed. Suddenly the stresses of the day caught up with her, draining her energy. She wanted to crawl into a hole and hide, and only come out when all the bad things had gone away. ‘You’ ll have your chance to talk to him—about the baby, and his and his brother’s childhood—soon enough. Right now he’s working things out for himself. He needs space.’ She finished her coffee and pushed herself tiredly to her feet. ‘If you don’t mind, I think I’ll go and pack. I might see you later, if I don’t fall asleep first! And if you see Edith before I do, tell her from me the meal was perfect’
Packing for them both took next to no time. Elena looked at the big double bed and wondered if Jed would join her. Pointless wondering when in her heart she knew he wouldn’t.
If Liam hadn’t done so much damage he might have done. Maybe they would have talked far into the night. Or maybe he would have simply held her. Or maybe simply slept at her side, not touching, not talking. That would have been enough.
She put a couple of soft down pillows and a light blanket on the chaise longue and got ready to occupy the bed in solitary state.
It was more of the same the next day. Not until they were in the hire car leaving Jerez airport did a hint of a thaw creep in.
They had the windows down, and she was sure she could smell the sherry on the hot air, the scent so evocative of this wealthy, productive corner of Andalucia. She watched Jed fill his lungs, certain he was beginning to look more approachable, and asked, ‘Do you mind if we detour through Cadiz?’
‘Sure.’ He eased the car into the traffic and headed south. ‘We’re going to need provisions, I guess. I don’t suppose you got around to getting in touch with Pilar to let her know we were coming?’
She hadn’t even thought of it. All her mental energies had been focused on him. But his mention of the provisions she had overlooked handed her the excuse she’d been racking her tired brain to find.
‘I’ll need to go to the bank for cash, and then I thought we could stop by the market.’ She clutched at the excuse he had given her gratefully. ‘We could either eat out—early-supper-cum-late-lunch—or head straight back to Las Rocas.’
‘Head back,’ he said. ‘I fancy a quiet night in the mountains.’ He stamped on the brakes as a yellow Seat, covered in the white dust of the local Albariza soil, cut across them with long, strident blasts of its horn. Jed grinned, his teeth very white against his sundarkened skin. ‘Spanish maniac! Still, I could get used to it!’
She left him parking the car while she went into the Banco de Andalucia. She couldn’t have felt more guilty if she’d been wearing a stocking on her head and carrying a sawn-off shotgun. She felt sneaky and devious, doing this behind Jed’s back.
But he would have refused to allow her to give in to blackmail demands, and then he would have had to suffer the hateful consequences, she knew that, so even though she felt awful about it she was doing this for his sake, because she loved him. For herself, Liam could have gone ahead and done his worst.
Thankfully, because she was a valued customer and well known at this branch, the transaction was completed swiftly. And she walked out onto the hot pave- . ment with the pay-off for Liam stuffed at the bottom of her handbag and the bunch of pesetas for household expenses innocently folded in her purse.
Jed was strolling towards her, the breeze from the ocean ruffling his soft dark hair. Her heart flipped. He was so special, so very much loved.
She waited for him, watching the way he moved. She loved his grace, his elegant strength. It made her heart hurt; it always had and always would. And the way his eyes lit with warmth when he saw her made her give him a lilting smile. Perhaps she could let herself believe that he’d done his thinking and their time here together would be special and important, a time of coming to terms with what had happened, accepting it and going on together.