‘I get on with most people.’ Pausing, she added impulsively, ‘I think I could even get on with your mother, given a chance.’
His dark gaze glittered. ‘So Merrill was playing devil’s advocate. She doesn’t have a clue what she’s talking about. Oh, you’ll be given your chance,’ he acknowledged abrasively. ‘But I’ll be very surprised if you emerge from the encounter feeling as generous as you feel now.’
His cynical response made her feel foolish. Sophie must have been very unpleasant about her. No doubt his mother wanted to see her at Merrill’s solely to have an opportunity to attack, but Kitty refused to let that daunting prospect detract from her buoyant mood.
Back at Torbeck, Jake swept her into his arms, hungry dark eyes skimming possessively over her upturned face. ‘How does it feel to be Mrs Tarrant?’
‘You’re still on trial,’ she said unsteadily.
‘It’s going to be good…hell! It’s going to be perfect,’ he promised, feathering his lips fleetingly across her smooth forehead.
Her hands clutched convulsively at the lapels of his charcoal-grey jacket before diving into the depths of his black hair, seeking to bring his dark head down to hers. He resisted the pressure. ‘Patience is a virtue,’ he drawled mockingly as he carried her up the stairs.
‘I don’t seem to have it.’ Her chagrined mutter roused his amusement, but, as he lowered her with intoxicating slowness down the length of his body, he kissed her breathless and the world spun. Her feet touched the bedroom carpet and she wasn’t aware of it. An irresistible passion had taken control of her.
His hands roamed over her back, gliding down to cup her hips and ease her even closer to the stirring hardness between his thighs. His tongue delved a possession that wildly inflamed her senses. As his deft fingers released the last pearl button at the base of her spine, air cooled her hot skin. He stepped back, heedless of her instinctive cry of protest and tugged the narrow sleeves down her arms in a calm unhurried movement.
The gown pooled in a lacy tangle at her toes. In the act of bending to free her of the construction, he stilled and straightened, arrested by the scraps of silk which embellished her porcelain-pale skin. As his rich dark eyes devoured her, enchanting colour lent definition to her face.
‘A gift from your sister,’ she muttered uncertainly.
‘My compliments to Merrill, but I really didn’t need this encouragement.’ His mouth tilted appreciatively and he extended a hand. ‘Come here,’ he invited with husky impatience.
She must have made that step, but later she didn’t remember it. Her shy attempts to divest him of his shirt were brought to a halt by the explosive demand of his mouth. Lifting her, he laid her on the bed and moved back to strip off his own clothing with a marked lack of ceremony. Her silk adornments met with similar disrespect, tossed carelessly aside as he knelt over her, dark and magnificent in his virile arousal.
His head lowered to suckle at her taut nipples, his hand travelling over her quivering stomach to a more intimate destination. Discovering her readiness, he bore her back with a harsh groan of satisfaction and thrust urgently into her. She arched in joyous welcome to his driving possession, abandoning herself to the passionate joining of their bodies. He filled her with his warmth at the peak of the highest plateau and she felt more complete than she had ever felt in her life before.
Satiated, she smoothed his damp hair, pressed her mouth spontaneously to the fingertips that tenderly stroked across her cheek. As she lay there, the secrets she had zealously maintained from him niggled briefly at the outer edges of her contentment. To admit that for her there was no other man, indeed that in all this time there had never been another man… she frowned. It would be to tell him too much. Such honesty would carry with it the confession of love, and she wasn’t prepared to admit her own weakness when it wasn’t his. She crushed the little voice drily asking how long she could possibly keep such a secret. This obviously wasn’t the right moment—perhaps in another few days, she thought fleetingly, unconsciously ducking the issue yet again.
Later they tucked into a casserole which Jessie had with sound sense left in the fridge.
‘For somebody writing a book, you’re remarkably quiet about it,’ Jake breathed mockingly. ‘Aren’t you going to tell me what it’s about?’
‘It’s a murder mystery,’ Kitty conceded with reluctance.
‘A murder mystery?’ Lounging back indolently in his chair, he surveyed her with unconcealed amusement. ‘If you had allowed me one guess, I would have said historical with a dash of romance.’
‘You did have one guess,’ she reminded him stiffly, for the memory still rankled.
‘To get beyond the first chapter on that topic, you really would have had to let your imagination run riot.’ He gave her a slumbrous smile. ‘When can I read it?’
Heat suffusing her complexion, she got up to clear the table. ‘I haven’t written much of it yet.’
His dark scrutiny gleamed with humour. ‘My powers of concentration were equally shot until I decided to corner and coerce you into giving me a second chance.’
‘Is that what you did?’
He reached for her suddenly and pulled her down on to his thighs to bury his mouth in the fragrant veil of her hair. ‘I’ll never give you cause to regret it,’ he muttered with rough sincerity.
Somewhere in the night she surfaced bemusedly to discover that Jake had deliberately kissed her awake. She curved into him and clung. With a husky sound of satisfaction, he swept her into a world of passionate oblivion.
In the morning she woke alone and it panicked her. Flying downstairs she found Jessie busily vacuuming the lounge. The older woman straightened. ‘He’s out on a call to the estate. He was in no mood to go, but Drew’s off somewhere else. And Merrill phoned,’ she completed wryly.
‘Merrill?’
‘To ask if you would come over and see Tina this morning,’ Jessie filled in. ‘I don’t see why. You only saw the child yesterday.’
‘Maybe she’s upset about something,’ Kitty murmured worriedly.
After a snatched breakfast, only eaten at Jessie’s insistence, she decided to walk over to Merrill’s. It was a beautiful, fresh morning. The sunlight warmed her skin with the promise of spring in the air.
An unfamiliar red car was parked outside the bungalow and Kitty hesitated before she rang the bell, wondering if she should have phoned before setting out.
Merrill answered the door with anxious eyes and an apologetic smile. ‘I’m really sorry. I wouldn’t have rung today if she hadn’t insisted, but I wasn’t expecting her to come back this soon,’ she volunteered in a rush. ‘I didn’t know what to do and then I saw Jake driving off…’
A frown of incomprehension had marred Kitty’s brow. ‘I’m afraid I don’t know—’
‘Mother’s here,’ Merrill framed reluctantly. ‘She’s in the lounge.’
Kitty froze. ‘Your mother? But—’
‘Look, I’m going to pick up Tina from playgroup and then I’m popping into a friend’s for an hour,’ Merrill confided, hurriedly removing her coat from the cloakroom. ‘That should give you plenty of time to chat in peace.’
Merrill gave her an uneasy look and then walked out of the house and climbed int
o her car. Kitty took a deep, sustaining breath before entering the lounge with what she hoped was a composed smile. A tall, gaunt woman with champagne-tinted hair and a tight mouth turned stiffly from the window. Sophie’s thin, lined features had not worn well. The svelte, still attractive blonde whom Kitty remembered had gone. This woman looked more than her sixty years.
‘Won’t you sit down?’ Sophie made the suggestion brittly. ‘I had to persuade Merrill to go out. I couldn’t risk her overhearing what I have to say to you.’
The ominous assurance provoked a wry glance from Kitty as she took a reluctant seat. ‘Then wouldn’t it be better not to say whatever it is?’
‘Do you think I wanted this meeting? Do you think I had any choice?’ Sophie dealt her a look that was a curious mixture of dislike and desperation. ‘I knew you were at Lower Ridge before I left. That’s why I went to my sister’s. I didn’t want to be here when you told Jake, but you still hadn’t told him when he came to see me…so perhaps I’m not too late after all.’
Kitty had the uncomfortable sensation that she was dealing with someone not quite in possession of all their faculties. Her attention lingered on the nervous twitch of Sophie’s hands as she clasped them together. ‘I’m sorry. I don’t understand. What didn’t you want me to tell Jake?’
‘If you tell him that you were pregnant when he married Liz, he’ll blame me for that as well!’ Sophie condemned in a sudden rush. ‘And I won’t have that. Do you hear me? I won’t have it. You’ve caused enough trouble!’
Shock had dilated Kitty’s eyes. She turned her head away sharply to conceal her distress, a sense of bitter humiliation assailing her. ‘How did you find out?’ she asked when she had herself under control again.
‘Your grandmother told me, but it was too late. He was already married. I offered her money but she wouldn’t take it,’ Sophie volunteered defensively. ‘I didn’t tell Jake. Of course I didn’t. Good God, I never thought you’d come back here!’
Kitty bent her head, unwilling to look at her.