‘Have you taken a good look at yourself lately?’ His gaze ran slowly over the gauntness of her body. ‘I bet in denims and a shirt it’s hard to tell what bloody sex you are!’
Kelly put up a selfconscious hand to her hair. ‘I know I’ve lost weight—’
‘Lost weight!’ he scorned. ‘You’re skeletal! Look at you, girl, you’re all eyes.’
She blinked back the tears. ‘I haven’t felt like eating the last few days.’
His hand left her chin to rest lightly on the side of her father’s bed, drawing attention to the lean strength of his fingers, the fine mat of hair on the back of his hand and wrist. ‘This has been going on a damned sight longer than the four days your father has been ill. And you never used to be tearful like this either. That’s the third time in a matter of minutes that you’ve started to cry.’
‘I’m sorry,’ she sniffed inelegantly.
‘Don’t be—it’s a damn sight healthier than the ice you were encased in the last time I saw you.’
Kelly’s hold on her father’s hand tightened. She was so defenceless without her father’s support, making her realise how much she had come to depend on him since leaving Jordan. She would, in all probability, never have left Jordan if it hadn’t been for her father’s strength, would have stayed with Jordan knowing of his other women. Her father hadn’t liked the fact that she had wanted to leave Jordan, had begged her to reconsider, but in the end had accepted her decision. He had never asked for her reasons, and she had never volunteered them.
‘I wasn’t encased in ice, I’d just come to my senses, emerged from the stupid dream I’d had of us living happily ever after. How childish you must have found me, Jordan,’ she added lightly.
His expression was bleak. ‘I found you—enchanting. You were like a breath of fresh spring air after having been in a smoke-filled room.’
‘You mean I was naïve,’ she scorned dryly.
His grey-eyed gaze ripped into her. ‘I mean you were enchanting,’ he repeated tautly.
She drew a ragged breath. ‘Well, I’m sure you’ve met plenty of other women you’ve found just as—enchanting. Janet, for instance.’
‘Janet is my secretary, nothing more.’
‘Maybe you just don’t think of it that way, maybe you just consider sleeping with your secretary as part of her usual duties,’ she said with remembered bitterness. ‘I suppose it’s easier if it’s all treated in a businesslike manner.’
‘You suppose what’s easier?’ Jordan bit out.
‘You know very well what I mean. How many—secretaries have you had since we parted?’
He was frowning darkly. ‘What are you implying?’
‘How many, Jordan?’
‘I’ve had three secretaries—’
‘Only three?’ she taunted. ‘You do surprise me.’
‘Kelly!’ he warned angrily.
‘Were they all blondes?’
Jordan frowned. ‘Blondes?’
‘Well, you’re one of those men who prefer blondes.’
‘Then why did I marry you?’ He looked pointedly at her black hair.
‘I’ve thought of that myself, and I think you must have just had a temporary lapse. Anyway, that’s all past history,’ she dismissed curtly. ‘Do you want to stay here now or do you want me to?’
‘We were in the middle of a conversation,’ he told her grimly. ‘Neither of us is going anywhere until it’s finished.’
‘As far as I’m concerned we were finished years ago. Now are you going or staying?’
‘I’m staying.’