As if. Sonia didn’t know her at all if she thought she would ever put in jeopardy all that she had striven to achieve.
She looked up sharply as another knock sounded on her bedroom door, tensing instinctively; from not feeling wanted by her family, she had suddenly become very popular. Although another frosty encounter with her mother wasn’t something she particularly relished.
She smiled her relief as she opened the door and found her father standing in the hallway, a smile on his face, and a shirt and tie draped over one arm. For Jed, she guessed. Because although he might have packed an overnight bag, she very much doubted he had packed something he could change into for dinner.
‘Jed’s in the room next door, Daddy,’ she told him after a brief glance to make sure Scott was still asleep.
A miracle considering his excitement about the arrival of Father Christmas and the amount of visitors to their bedroom in the last few minutes.
She slipped out into the hallway to join her father. ‘Are you really well again, Daddy?’ She looked up at him anxiously, her hand resting lightly on his arm.
‘I really am,’ he returned reassuringly. ‘The doctors say it was only a mild attack. A warning, if you like, to change my lifestyle to something less stressful.’
Her father was eight years older than her mother, had retired some months ago; Meg wasn’t sure how much more he could change it.
‘Not in that way, pumpkin,’ he said gently. ‘There are certain things, about this family, that I’m not happy with. Those are the things that need changing,’ he added determinedly.
She hadn’t been wrong about those changes she had noticed in him, then. She knew he was physically much frailer than she remembered, but emotionally he seemed much stronger, less inclined to acquiesce to her mother for the sake of a quiet life. Could she possibly be another of those things about this family that he wanted to change?
‘Yes, Meg,’ he gently confirmed her thoughts. ‘You’re my daughter. And Scott is my grandson. I intend to see a lot more of both of you in future.’
Meg would like nothing better if it meant she only had to see her father; her mother was something else entirely.
Her father squeezed her hand sympathetically. ‘It will all work out, Meg. I love your mother very much, but I love my daughters too, and now our grandson, and Lydia will have to come to terms with that.’
She didn’t understand what he meant, had never understood her mother’s aloofness to her family, even less so now that she was a mother herself.
Her father reached up to gently touch her cheek. ‘Things aren’t always what they seem, little Meg. Your mother loves you very much, and Sonia, and with time, after getting to know him, she will learn to love Scott too. It’s totally impossible not to,’ he added fondly.
Meg thought her father was expecting rather a lot. She had felt no softening from her mother towards Scott this afternoon, although at least she seemed to have adopted the attitude ‘if you can’t say anything nice then don’t say anything at all’!
‘And now I had better deliver these.’ Her father held up the shirt and tie. ‘I like him, by the way,’ he added teasingly.
‘Jed?’ She gave him a startled look, uncomfortable with her father not knowing the truth. ‘Look, Daddy, this is another case of things not being what they seem. You see,’ She broke off frowningly as the bedroom door opened behind her, turning to find Jed standing there. In her bedroom.
‘Sorry.’ He grimaced as he saw the two of them standing in the hallway together. ‘It was getting late, and I was just coming to look for you, David. For those,’ he added ruefully as her father held up the shirt and tie. ‘Thanks.’ He took them before turning to go back the way he had come.
Probably not the best time to try and convince her father that she wasn’t involved with Jed at all, that they had only met by accident, literally, the evening before.
Although quite what Jed was doing coming out of her bedroom she had no idea.
‘You were saying?’ her father prompted.
Meg grimaced. ‘Nothing of importance.’ Or, in fact, believable, in the circumstances.
Her father nodded. ‘I’ll just go and change for dinner myself, then. And don’t worry, Meg, everything is going to work out just fine.’
She stood and watched as he strode off down the hallway, admiring his optimism, but very much afraid he was going to be proved wrong.
But once her father had disappeared she wasted no time going through her own bedroom, but went straight to the adjacent door and into the room that connected with hers.
Only to come to an abrupt halt once she was inside, the angry words dying on her lips at the sight of Jed standing beside the bed wearing nothing but a pair of faded denims. In fact, she was having trouble breathing, let alone speaking.
Jed’s chest and arms were as tanned as his face, his shoulders wide and muscled, a dark dusting of hair on his chest that went down in a vee to his stomach, not an ounce of superfluous flesh on his body.
Meg couldn’t speak, couldn’t move as she acknowledged she should have knocked first, that of course Jed would be changing into the clothes her father had brought him.
Jed raised one dark brow at her continued silence. ‘I’m pretty sure I’m not the first half-naked man you’ve ever seen,’ he drawled mockingly.
No, of course he wasn’t. It was just that his nakedness was so unexpected, so immediate. Added to which, he was gorgeous.
His dark good looks were disturbing enough when he was fully dressed, but like this…
‘I’m sorry I interrupted you and your father just now.’ He grimaced. ‘I thought you were in your room, and then when I heard voices in the hallway…’ He broke off as she only continued to stare at him, putting the shirt down on the bed to walk slowly towards her, coming to a halt standing only inches away from her. ‘You’re very quiet, Meg. Don’t you have anything to say now that you’re here?’ he queried huskily.
Something like kiss me? Take me to bed. Make love to me!
Because at that moment they were the only things she could think to say, when she could have reached out and touched the hardness of his flesh.
But she wasn’t going to say any of them.
Instead she shifted her gaze away from him. Probably not a good idea either, as her gaze became riveted on the bed. A double one. Easily big enough for both of them.
‘Meg?’
She swallowed hard, drawing in a deep breath as she lifted her gaze to meet his, on the assumption that looking into his eyes was better than looking at the rest of him.
But she was wrong.
Jed’s eyes had darkened almost to navy as he looked down at her, that gaze shifting now to the fullness of her lips.
Meg groaned low in her throat as she felt the caress of that gaze, something melting deep inside her even as she raised her face to meet the assent of Jed’s mouth on hers, moving into his arms as he pulled her against his naked warmth.
They kissed passionately, ravenously, devouring, tasting, sipping as hunger took control once again.
Jed’s skin felt firm and smooth to the touch, so hot, burning, a fire matched by one deep inside Meg, her whole body seeming to have turned to liquid flames as she clung to him, his lips moving down the sensitive column of her throat now.
‘How the hell—’ Jed raised his head to look at her, his hands cradling each side of her face as he gazed down at her hungrily, his fingers tangled in the dark thickness of her hair ‘—am I supposed to go downstairs and eat dinner with your family when it’s you I want to eat?’ he groaned. ‘Every—’ he kissed her lips ‘—delectable—’ he kissed her again ‘—inch—’ and again ‘—of you.’ This time he kissed her and didn’t stop.
She wanted this. As much as she might try to fight it, she wanted this, wanted Jed.
The throb of his body told her he wanted her too. Now. Urgently.
He finally dragged his mouth away from hers, breathing raggedly, his cheeks slightly flushed. ‘What am I going to do with you, Meg Hamilton?’ he rasped harshly.
She couldn’t move, enjoying the hard curves of his body against hers, the clean male smell of him, the warmth of his skin beneath her touch. ‘Do with me?’ she repeated dreamily.
Jed reached up to grasp her arms and put her slightly away from him. ‘I’m not sure whether you’ve noticed or not, but I can’t keep my hands off you.’ He groaned self-disgustedly.
She frowned at his tone. ‘I didn’t ask you to.’
‘No, but—’ he gave an impatient shake of his head, his hands tightening on her arms ‘—I’m something of a nomad, Meg. Never quite know where I’m going to be from one week to the next; have homes in New York, Vancouver and Paris. Your life is fixed here, in England, with Scott and your work. Haven’t you already been hurt enough, Meg?’ he added gratingly.
By Scott’s father, he meant. At the same time warning her that he was no more interested in permanence than Scott’s father had been. His warning would be laughable, if it didn’t hurt so much.
What did Jed think she was? A single mother possibly looking for a husband for herself and a father for Scott? His talk of his nomadic lifestyle certainly seemed to indicate as much.