‘But you’ve ruined your nice new suit!’ she wailed.
‘For Pete’s sake,’ he threw back at her, his temper obviously fraying. ‘It’s just a suit.’
Jack could see the beginning of a nice little argument there. Which was almost as satisfying as hitting the bastard.
‘Come on, Vivienne,’ he said, and took her arm. ‘Let’s go home.’
‘What did you mean by he deserved it?’ she whispered as Jack steered her swiftly back inside the house, across the living room and up the steps to the foyer. ‘What did he say to you to make you hit him?’
‘Later, Vivienne,’ he told her, not sure what reason he would give. Because what Daryl had said would hurt Vivienne and Jack didn’t want to do that. Okay, yes, she was excessively tidy, but to call her screwed up was insulting. As for her being boring in bed... What planet was Daryl from to call her that? Vivienne was anything but boring in bed. It was all decidedly odd.
Fortunately, Vivienne held her tongue till they were in the car and safely away. But he should have known that female curiosity would soon get the better of her.
‘I can’t wait any longer, Jack,’ she said when he pulled up at a set of lights. ‘I’m dying to know what happened between the two of you. And I want the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.’
Jack winced. ‘Are you sure about that, Vivienne?’
‘Positive. Look, I just want to know what he said to make you hit him. I’ve been thinking, and I presume it was something bad about me.’
‘Not that bad,’ he said.
‘But not too complimentary. Out with it, Jack. No lies now. And no watering down. Give it to me straight.’
‘Okay,’ Jack agreed, seeing that it really was the only way. On the plus side, he could then ask her some questions he’d always wanted to ask. ‘He said you were a tidy nut and boring in bed.’ He decided to leave out the ‘screwed up’ part.
He glanced across in time to see her blush fiercely.
‘I see,’ she said stiffly. ‘Well, I guess he was only telling the truth.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ Jack snapped. ‘Okay, so you are a bit uptight when it comes to clutter, but that’s hardly a crime. As for being boring in bed... Well, you and I both know that’s a bald-faced lie,’ he added, trying to bring a smile to her face.
It didn’t.
The lights went green and Jack roared off, upset that the evening looked like it was ending badly.
‘I’m not going to let you go all quiet on me, Vivienne,’ he said firmly when she just sat there in silence. ‘I want to know why Daryl said you were boring in bed. Because it doesn’t make any damned sense to me.’
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
VIVIENNE KNEW BY the look on Jack’s face that nothing less than the truth would satisfy him. Which was fair enough, she supposed. She just hoped he wouldn’t jump to conclusions over why she’d been different with him sexually. She didn’t want him to think that it was because she’d been falling in love with him, or that this process had probably started long before she was aware of it. For how could you not fall in love with a man who’d come to your rescue with flowers and a fascinating job when you needed it most? A man who’d saved your life and held you close, then made love to you endlessly with a passion which had been as healing as it had been wonderful?
But the coup de grâce was the way Jack had stood up for her tonight. Oh...the satisfaction she’d felt when she’d discovered he’d flattened Daryl, and then when he’d said ‘he deserved it’.
Jack was her hero, her knight in shining armour. The man she loved. Truly, really loved. What she’d felt for Daryl had been nothing more than a mirage.
But she could not tell Jack that. If she did, he would run a mile. And she couldn’t bear that. He might never love her back but she could not voluntarily do anything to lose him. So she would tell him other things. Not lies, exactly, but not the total truth.
‘Could this wait till I get home and out of this dress?’ she said.
He frowned. ‘This isn’t some kind of procrastinating ploy, is it, Vivienne? Because I aim to get some answers. Don’t go thinking you can avoid it by seducing me.’
Vivienne blinked. Now there was a thought! Not the right one, however.
‘Don’t be silly,’ she said. ‘I’m just uncomfortable, that’s all. This dress is dreadfully tight.’