скачать книгу бесплатно
What else? Jed had been laughing at her most of her life, it seemed to her. But it was time it stopped!
She gave him a brightly false smile. ‘You know, Mr Lord, I love smoked salmon.’ She picked up her knife and fork and began to eat.
‘Please, do call me Jed,’ he invited dryly, grey gaze assessing.
‘Such an unusual name,’ Annabelle remarked lightly.
‘Isn’t it?’ Georgie agreed, turning back to Jed, the light of challenge in her own gaze now. ‘Surely it must be the diminutive of something else…?’ She looked at Jed expectantly.
His gaze hardened and his mouth twisted into a grimace. ‘Jeremiah,’ he supplied tersely.
‘Goodness me!’ Georgie laughed softly, easily holding his warning grey stare with her own clear green eyes. ‘No wonder you prefer Jed.’
‘That’s a little unkind to our guest, Georgie.’ Annabelle Lawson shot her a reproving glance.
‘As it happens, Annabelle,’ Jed turned to his hostess, smiling wryly, ‘I wholeheartedly agree with Georgie!’
That must be a first, Georgie acknowledged ruefully. Still, at least she had proved—to herself, if no one else!—that this evening didn’t have to go all Jed’s way!
‘I wasn’t meaning to be rude, Mr Lord,’ she assured him, although she was sure Jed, at least, didn’t miss the edge of derision in her tone. ‘It was just a comment on the names some parents expect their children to live with!’
‘Your own, for example,’ Jed came back softly.
‘Touché.’ She gave an acknowledging inclination of her head; she should have known she wouldn’t have the last word! She never had where Jed was concerned. ‘I was named for my grandfather,’ she said determinedly.
Jed raised dark brows. ‘You have a grandfather called Georgina?’
‘I—’ Georgie broke off her sharp response as Sukie, seated beside Jed, gave a shout of laughter.
Really—Jed’s joke hadn’t been that funny, Georgie decided irritably as Sukie continued to chuckle.
‘I think you rather asked for that one, darling.’ Andrew, seated on Georgie’s left, lightly covered Georgie’s hand with his own as he smiled at her indulgently.
Possibly, she inwardly conceded. But it really hadn’t been that funny. She could—
Jed was looking at Andrew’s hand, which still rested on Georgie’s, his forehead furrowed over hard eyes.
What on earth—?
‘The emerald of your engagement ring is the same colour as your eyes,’ Jed bit out unexpectedly.
That was exactly what Andrew had said to her the day they had visited a jewellers to choose it!
But she didn’t for a moment think that Jed meant it in the romantic way that Andrew had that day. She could clearly hear the accusation in Jed’s tone, even if no one else could.
‘When is the wedding?’ Jed’s icy gaze moved from the ring to Georgie’s face, although his closed expression gave away none of his thoughts.
Had it ever? Georgie acknowledged disgustedly before answering him tersely, ‘Next Easter.’
His mouth quirked wryly. ‘Such a long time away…’ he remarked enigmatically.
Georgie gave him a sharp glance. Exactly what did he mean by that? Impossible to tell; his expression exactly matched his tone of voice. But he had meant something. She had known Jed long enough to know he was a man of few words, and the ones he did choose to say always had meaning.
‘We have our hearts set on an Easter wedding.’ Andrew was the one to answer Jed, squeezing Georgie’s hand reassuringly as he did so. ‘Are you a married man yourself, Jed?’ he asked interestedly.
Georgie suddenly found she was holding her breath as she waited for Jed’s reply.
His mouth tightened. ‘Not any more,’ he finally answered slowly. ‘I recently entered the statistics of divorced men,’ he added with humour.
‘How sad,’ Annabelle put in sympathetically.
Jed turned to smile at the older woman. ‘Thank you, Annabelle, but I doubt my ex-wife thinks so! She was the one to divorce me,’ he enlarged bitterly.
‘What a very silly woman,’ Sukie put in throatily, her blue eyes full of invitation as she looked flirtatiously at Jed from beneath lowered lashes.
‘Not at all,’ Jed dismissed, picking up his glass to sip the white wine that had been poured to accompany their salmon. ‘The grounds for divorce were typical—my wife understood me!’ he drawled sardonically.
‘Shouldn’t that be, ‘My wife didn’t understand me’?’ prompted a perplexed Annabelle, obviously not at all happy with the slant the conversation had suddenly taken at her dinner table.
Which wasn’t surprising, Georgie acknowledged impatiently. Jed Lord’s divorce—for whatever reason!—was hardly appropriate dinner conversation anywhere!
‘No, Annabelle, I do believe I had it right the first time,’ Jed replied meaningfully.
‘How absolutely priceless!’ Sukie was the one to answer now as she chuckled throatily. ‘Were you a very naughty boy, Jed?’ she prompted with amusement.
He shrugged broad shoulders. ‘My wife obviously thought so, otherwise she wouldn’t have divorced me.’
‘Do eat some more of your salmon, Jed,’ Annabelle encouraged nervously. ‘I believe you’ve recently spent some time in America, do tell us about it?’
Which was Annabelle’s way of firmly saying that was the end of that particular subject.
Which was probably as well, Georgie thought as she determinedly focused her attention again on her plate of smoked salmon. The murmur of voices around the table were now passing her by completely. If Jed had said one more word about the wife who had divorced him because she understood him, she might not have been able to stop herself from standing up and hitting him!
Because, until six months ago, she had been his wife!
CHAPTER TWO
‘YOU were very quiet during dinner, darling; are you feeling all right?’ Andrew asked concernedly once the party had moved back into the drawing room after their meal, to enjoy coffee and liqueurs.
Georgie moved closer to him as he sat down beside her on the sofa, studiously avoiding looking across the room to where Jed and Sukie stood talking together softly. ‘I’m feeling fine,’ she assured Andrew. ‘A slight headache, that’s all. I’ll be fine after a good night’s sleep.’
Although she wasn’t sure, with Jed in the same house, that she would be able to get the latter at all! But just to be away from his oppressive company would be something!
‘What do you think of Jed Lord?’ Andrew prompted, seeming to pick up on at least the subject of her thoughts, and glancing consideringly across the room at the other man.
If she were to tell Andrew, here and now, exactly what she thought of Jed Lord then he would probably be extremely shocked. But she accepted that after tonight she would have to talk to Andrew about Jed at some time in the near future.
So far in their five-month relationship she had put off telling Andrew that, at only twenty-three, she had already been married and divorced. At first it hadn’t seemed the sort of thing you just confided to a relative stranger, and then as they’d got to know each other, to love each other, it still hadn’t been something she felt she could just baldly state as a fact.
But with Jed’s appearance in the Lawson home she realised she wouldn’t be able to put it off for much longer. In fact, she was surprised that the troublemaking Jed Lord she had known of old hadn’t already just blurted out that she was the ex-wife about whom he had been talking over dinner. If only to watch her squirm!
But he hadn’t. Which meant he must have his own reasons for not doing so…
No wonder she had a headache!
‘Think of him?’ she answered Andrew brightly. ‘In what way?’
‘In any way,’ Andrew replied. ‘Sukie certainly seems to find him fascinating—and my big sister isn’t easily impressed!’
No, she wasn’t. But then Sukie didn’t know Jed in the way that Georgie knew him, and obviously found his dark, brooding good-looks and arrogant self-assurance extremely attractive. So had Georgie once…
‘I doubt she would have brought him here with her if she wasn’t.’ Georgie evaded answering Andrew’s question directly.
‘Oh, Jed Lord didn’t come down with Sukie. My father told me over dinner that he’s a business acquaintance of his,’ Andrew confided.
Georgie looked frowningly at Jed. Gerald Lawson, since his retirement from politics, had returned to his earlier business interests. But as far as she was aware they didn’t include hotels, which she knew was where Jed’s family business concerns lay.
‘Really?’ she murmured contemplatively. ‘In that case, Sukie is certainly a fast worker,’ she added dryly as Andrew’s sister all but draped herself across Jed as they talked.
Andrew gave a disgusted snort. ‘She’s wasting her time with a man like Jed Lord.’
Georgie gave him a quizzical frown. ‘What do you mean…?’
‘From what’s been said, the man has only just escaped from one disastrous relationship—I seriously doubt he intends embarking on another. And he’s experienced enough to realise my big sister is trouble with a capital T!’ Andrew dismissed scornfully.
Georgie gave a wry shake of her head. ‘He doesn’t give the impression that he’s a man who runs away from trouble.’ In fact, she knew he wasn’t! ‘Besides, Andrew—’ she turned to him teasingly, deciding they had talked about Jed Lord quite enough for one evening ‘—when did you become so knowledgeable about experienced men?’ She gave him a mischievous smile.
Andrew smiled. ‘I’m twenty-seven, Georgie, not seven!’ he returned.
This was what she liked about being with Andrew: the complete freedom to do and say whatever she liked without fear of offending or angering him. Andrew was so easy-going she was totally relaxed in his company.
Something she had never been in Jed’s!
She frowned as she remembered her response earlier to the brief brush of Jed’s hand against hers when they were introduced. She had thought she was completely over him, that the finality of their divorce six months previously had severed all emotional ties to him. But, to her chagrin, she had felt more than just loathing earlier at his touch…
‘Hey, I was only joking, Georgie,’ Andrew chided softly, misunderstanding the reason for her frown. ‘I’ve never pretended to be an innocent, but neither am I a man of experience myself.’ He gave a rueful shake of his head. ‘I’ve been too busy making a successful career for myself to have too much time for that sort of thing.’
‘You don’t mind that the wedding isn’t until next Easter?’ she said concernedly, knowing that it had been her decision that they wait; she hadn’t told Andrew so, but she wanted time to make sure she didn’t make yet another mistake in her life. Although she was already pretty sure that Andrew would never let her down. Unlike— ‘I just thought an Easter wedding would be nice,’ she added warmly. Especially as her wedding to Jed had taken place at Christmas!
She still cringed at how young and naıve she had been then. How trusting. How utterly, utterly stupid!
‘And it will be.’ Andrew hugged her reassuringly. ‘We—’
‘I hope you don’t mind if we interrupt you two love-birds?’ interrupted a sarcastic, familiar voice.
Georgie stiffened at the sound of Jed’s voice, glancing up reluctantly to see that he and Sukie were beside the sofa. Sukie looked no more pleased than Georgie. Obviously it had been Jed’s decision to come over…
Georgie looked up at him challengingly, his sarcasm not lost on her even if it was on Andrew and Sukie. Hard grey eyes returned her interest, that sculptured face set into uncompromising lines. It wasn’t hard to guess, after his reference to ‘love-birds’, just why he was looking so grim.
But it was no longer any of Jed’s business who she showed her affection to. If it ever had been! Besides, Andrew was her fiancé, the man she was going to marry.
‘Please do,’ she answered smoothly, at the same time deciding to stand up; she did not intend giving Jed any sort of advantage over her!
Petty, perhaps, but that was the level to which their relationship had deteriorated before that final big blowup.
Andrew stood at her side, his arm moving lightly about the slenderness of her waist. ‘My father tells me that your family are in hotels, Jed,’ he prompted with polite interest.
‘Yes,’ Jed answered the other man abruptly while his eyes continued to rest on Georgie.
Georgie, who was becoming more and more uncomfortable by the second, was aware that Jed, a man who had never particularly cared for the social niceties before, was now behaving very rudely by continuing to stare at her. In the same way that their brief conversation at dinner hadn’t been socially polite either. If he didn’t start behaving in a more circumspect way someone in the Lawson family—probably the more astute Sukie—was going to guess that they weren’t complete strangers after all.
‘That must be very interesting,’ she put in lightly, her expression warning as Jed looked at her.
‘It can be.’ His answer was maddeningly unforthcoming.
Like getting blood out of a stone!
Like trying to find a heart somewhere in that stone…
‘You’re an author, I believe, Georgie.’ He spoke mildly.
‘Yes,’ she confirmed warily.
‘Will I have seen one of your books in the shops?’ He continued his line of questioning.
Her mouth tightened. ‘Not unless your taste runs to children’s books, no,’ she bit out tautly, wondering exactly where this conversation was going. Or if, indeed, it was going anywhere!
One thing she did know just from looking at Jed’s face: he had already known what her answer was going to be—if not quite prepared for the way in which she gave it!
So he already knew that she had written and had published a book for children…
How had he known that? There had been no personal contact of any kind between the two of them for over a year now, all correspondence concerning their divorce having passed between their two lawyers. And Georgie had deliberately avoided seeing anyone who might have contact with Jed.
But, nevertheless, she had no doubt that Jed already knew everything there was to know about the book she had written…
Jed’s mouth quirked. ‘I’m afraid not. Still, it’s an—unusual career,’ he added softly.
‘What’s unusual about it?’ Georgie prompted sharply, on the defensive as she glared at him.
He shrugged broad shoulders. ‘Perhaps it’s only that I’ve never met an author before.’
That wasn’t what he’d meant at all—and they both knew it. Even if no one else in the room did…
‘Yes, I’m very proud of Georgie.’ Andrew spoke warmly, giving her waist a reassuring squeeze as he smiled down at her.
‘And what about you, Georgie?’ Jed spoke hardly. ‘Are you proud of your achievement?’
‘Of course,’ she answered him stiffly.
