Jack held out his hand. ‘I’m the son in Logan and Son,’ he said, smiling, and Kate put her hand in his.
‘I’m Kate,’ she said breathlessly. ‘I sold you a poppy the other day.’
‘I remember.’ Conscious that Robert Sutton was watching them like a hawk, Jack returned to facts and figures and Kate left them to it. To his intense disappointment she was nowhere to be seen when he left the house, but as he drove out into the road his heart leapt at the sight of Kate walking a little way ahead. He halted alongside and rolled the car window down. ‘Can I give you a lift?’
She smiled demurely. ‘How kind of you.’
On the way into town Jack learned that Kate had just celebrated her twentieth birthday. After a business course at the local college, she was currently temping with loc
al firms while making applications for something permanent in London.
‘Now you,’ she ordered.
Jack told her he was four years her senior, with a degree in civil engineering, and had worked for a big name construction company during university vacations to gain experience. ‘But my aim was always to join my father’s firm once I had the education part out of the way,’ he told her. ‘Dad and I make a good team. Business is booming. Where shall I drop you?’ he added, and from the corner of his eye saw familiar colour rise in her face.
‘Confession time,’ she admitted reluctantly. ‘I wasn’t going anywhere. I lurked in the road to—well, to ambush you. Just drop me anywhere convenient and I’ll walk back.’
Bewitched by her honesty, Jack turned into the car park of the Rose and Crown. ‘Have lunch with me first.’
She smiled at him radiantly. ‘I’d love to!’
Their first meal together was a sandwich and a glass of lager, but to both of them it was nectar and ambrosia as they sat in a corner of the crowded bar, so absorbed in each other they could have been on a desert island. It was over an hour before Jack remembered to look at his watch.
‘Hell, I must get back to work. But I’ll drive you home first.’
‘Absolutely not. I’ll walk back.’ Kate looked up at him anxiously as they reached the car. ‘You probably think I had the most awful nerve, lying in wait for you like that.’
He’d smiled down into the dark eyes fastened on his as though his answer was a matter of life and death. ‘I couldn’t believe my luck,’ he assured her huskily, and clenched his hands to stop them reaching for her. ‘Are you free this evening?’
Later that night, after a session in the cinema more like hours of foreplay to Jack, he parked in a lane on the way back to Kate’s home, ready to explode if he didn’t kiss her, and almost before he could switch off the engine she was in his arms and his mouth was on hers. They devoured each other greedily, kissing and caressing until neither could breathe and the inside of the car was like a sauna.
‘You’re killing me,’ groaned Jack. ‘But I’ll die a happy man—almost.’
Kate rubbed her cheek against his, threading her fingers through his thick black hair. ‘What would it take to make you really happy?’
‘Honestly?’
‘Honestly!’
He cupped her face in fierce hands. ‘To get you naked, kiss every inch of you and make love until we’re both brainless.’
Shivering in delight at the thought, Kate licked the tip of her tongue round her parted lips and Jack growled and began kissing her again. At last he thrust her away with unsteady hands and fastened her seat belt.
‘Does your sister know you’re out with me?’ he demanded.
‘Of course,’ she said breathlessly, and slanted a sparkling look at him. ‘Elizabeth is looking forward to meeting you.’
Jack swallowed. ‘Really?’
‘Don’t panic.’ She gave a wicked chuckle. ‘She only wants you to finish her extension quickly!’
From the first they saw as much of each other as Jack’s workload allowed, and he made a point of visiting the Sutton house regularly once work was underway to make sure the extension was completed in good time. His aim was to impress Kate’s family with his firm’s work, and at the same time convince them that Jack Logan was a suitable husband for her. To his relief Elizabeth and Robert approved of both, and gave their blessing when he eventually asked permission to marry Kate.
Looking on her consent as a mere formality, Jack had proposed, supremely confident that Kate was so much in love with him she would forget her ambitions about a job in London.
What a fool! He flung out of bed to stand at his window, staring savagely at the night sky. Kate had been thrilled to wear his mother’s engagement ring, and deliriously happy to make plans for a wedding.
‘In the meantime,’ she told him eagerly, ‘you can apply for jobs in London. You could start with the construction company you worked for before—’