Millionaire's Woman

‘Certainly. Sit down and take a look at the room while I make it.’ Kate went off to the kitchen, thankful that she hadn’t changed from the tailored black trousers and sweater of the afternoon. Strands of hair were escaping from its coil, and her face could have done with attention, but Jack looked too tired to notice. He was probably hungry too, if he’d driven from London. But he was out of luck if he expected a meal. A visitor was no part of her plan for the evening. She’d hung her new curtains, stood back to admire, and then eaten supper early so she could settle down in her finished sitting room to watch the gardening programme Jack had interrupted.

Kate returned with a tray and put it on a small Pembroke table between a pair of cane-sided Louis chairs cushioned in faded russet velvet.

‘I like the room,’ Jack told her, standing tall in the middle of it.

‘Milk?’ she asked, though she knew exactly how he liked his tea—or had done, once.

‘Thank you.’

‘Do sit down,’ she said, handing him a cup. ‘Try the modern chaise. It’s better suited to someone your size than the chairs. They belonged to Aunt Edith,’ she added, ‘which is why they look so much at home here.’

He smiled a little. ‘So do you, Kate.’

She nodded. ‘Surprising, really. Until I was handed the key I hadn’t been inside since I was a small child. My aunt leased it out to pay her way when she installed herself in a retirement home. I used to drive down from London once a month to see her. Aunt Edith was quite a character—a bit deaf, but with faculties in good shape otherwise right to the end. We got on well together, but when I was told she’d left her house to me I couldn’t believe my luck. And the moment I set foot in here again it was love at first sight.’

‘I remember it well.’

She frowned. ‘You knew my aunt?’

‘I’m referring to emotion, not property.’ Jack looked her in the eye. ‘For me it was love at first sight when I bought that poppy.’

Her stomach gave a lurch she covered with a hard little smile. ‘It was for me, too. Such a shame that kind of thing doesn’t last.’

His answering smile set her teeth on edge. ‘How long was it for you, Kate? Until you got off the train in London?’

‘No,’ she said, pretending to think it over. ‘Surely that was about the time you started sleeping with Dawn. It ended for me when I heard you’d married her.’

His face darkened. ‘I’ve explained that.’

‘So you have. You were lonely, she was willing and I’d gone. All the way to London—a mere two hour drive in that car of yours! I was devastated when you wouldn’t even meet me to say goodbye, Jack,’ she added with sudden heat.‘ I know I was the one who actually ended it, but I still couldn’t accept that it was over between us. I missed you so much I was ready to pack in my job and find work at home instead. I came back, just before Liz and Robert moved,to tell you that. And heard you’d married Dawn.’

Jack’s mouth twisted. ‘With hindsight I realise I was a quixotic fool, but at the time I felt I had no option. She swore her father would throw her out in the street when he found she was pregnant, and she had no money other than the small wage he paid her. So because the child could have been mine, I did the “decent thing”,’ he added with bitterness.

‘Past history now.’

His eyes met hers. ‘Only where Dawn’s concerned; not for you and me, Kate. Have dinner with me tomorrow.’

Kate shook her head. ‘Not a good idea, Jack.’

‘Sunday, then.’

‘I meant any night.’

He put down his cup and leaned forward, his long hands clasped loosely between his knees. ‘What harm would there be in two old friends sharing a meal?’

‘Because we were never just friends.’

‘True,’ he agreed. ‘That very first time, after lunch at the pub—’

‘The establishment run by Dawn Taylor’s father.’

‘That’s the one. You thought you’d been shameless.’

Kate fondly believed she’d kicked the habit of blushing, but with Jack’s eyes holding hers she felt the annoying warmth rising in her face. ‘I thought I’d had a terrible nerve,’ she corrected, and felt the colour deepen at his look of triumph.

‘You remember! I had to fight to keep my hands off you.’

She thawed a little. ‘Did you?’