Wanting His Child

‘Honor…’

As they both spoke at once, Verity and Silas looked at one another.

‘Now you’re both cross with me…’

Bright tears shimmered in Honor’s hurt eyes as her bottom lip wobbled and she turned her head away.

Verity was immediately filled with guilt and contrition. Out of her own embarrassment and reluctance to have Silas think that she was deliberately inveigling her way back into his life, she had inadvertently hurt Honor.

Silas looked less concerned but he was still frowning.

‘This dinner party,’ he began, ignoring his daughter’s tear-filled eyes. ‘It wouldn’t be the same one that Catherine’s mother informed me she would be delighted to attend, when I bumped into her in the supermarket earlier, would it, Honor?’

Honor gave him a sunny smile.

‘Oh, can they come? Good…Catherine’s mother is a brilliant cook,’ she informed Verity, ‘and—’

‘Honor!’ Silas began warningly.

Quickly Verity picked up her handbag.

‘I think I’d better go,’ she announced quietly.

‘Go? Oh, no, not yet. I wanted you to stay for supper,’ Honor pleaded.

‘I’m afraid I can’t…I…I have another appointment,’ Verity fibbed.

Honor’s eyes widened.

‘But this afternoon you said that you were staying in tonight by yourself,’ she reminded Verity in a confused little voice.

‘I’ll see you out,’ Silas told her, shooting Honor a quelling look.

‘Thank you once again for looking after Honor,’ he told Verity formally as he accompanied her politely to her car.

Verity daredn’t allow herself to look at him but suddenly he was striding past her, examining the front wheel of her car.

‘You’ve got a flat tyre,’ he told her sharply.

Disbelievingly Verity looked at her car.

‘I…I’ve got a spare,’ she told him, but he was shaking his head,

‘That won’t do much good,’ he said curtly. ‘The back one’s flat as well. They’ve both got nails in the

m,’ he informed her. ‘You must have driven over them.’

‘Yes, I must,’ Verity agreed, shaking her head. ‘But I don’t know where. If I could use your phone to ring a garage…’

‘You can, but I doubt you’ll be able to get it fixed until the morning,’ he told her dryly. ‘It’s more likely the garages round here will all be shut now.’

Helplessly Verity studied her now immobile car. How on earth had she managed to run over two nails—and where? She certainly hadn’t been aware of doing so, nor of driving anywhere where she might have expected loose nails to be lying on the ground.

‘Let’s go back inside. I know the local dealer, I’ll give him a ring,’ Silas suggested.

Silently Verity followed Silas back into the house.

Watching them from the sitting-room window, Honor surreptitiously crossed her fingers. So far, so good—the plan to get them together was working beautifully. It had been hard work driving those nails into the tyres, though—much harder than she had expected.