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‘Obviously,’ her mother agreed; no doubt thinking, for us as well as Jack Beauchamp.
He nodded. ‘I was explaining to your daughter earlier that Harry has never been away to kennels before—even one as luxurious as this,’ he allowed. ‘It’s just that I really have to be in Paris next weekend, and as the whole family is going, there just isn’t anyone left here who I can leave him with, as I usually do when I have to go away. I have to admit—’ he grimaced ‘—that I’ve left it this late in booking because I’ve been putting off the evil day for as long as possible.’
Family? What family? Surely this man wasn’t married, too?
‘Every owner feels as you do the first time, Jack,’ her mother told him kindly. ‘But I do assure you, we will take very good care of Harry. If—’
‘I hope you’ll both excuse me,’ Mattie cut in abruptly, suddenly really anxious to get away from the company of this particular man. ‘I—I really must go and—and—er—I have some things to do,’ she finished lamely.
But Jack Beauchamp had paused in the doorway on his way in, and was still effectively blocking Mattie’s exit as she turned to leave. ‘I must thank you for showing me round,’ he told her quietly. ‘It was very nice meeting you, Miss Crawford.’
She looked up at him unblinkingly. ‘And you, Mr Beauchamp,’ she returned politely—if insincerely. Obviously she didn’t merit the privilege of being asked to call him by his first name! Which was okay with her—she would probably have choked on it, anyway.
He smiled, laughter still lurking in the depths of those dark brown eyes—as if he were well aware of her chagrin at the omission. ‘I do hope we’ll meet again,’ he finally said softly.
Contrarily, Mattie hoped for no such thing. Although, in the circumstances, she knew it was a pretty useless hope.
‘Probably next weekend—if you do decide to bring Harry to us,’ she dismissed briskly. ‘Now, if you will excuse me …?’ She looked at him pointedly as he still blocked her exit.
‘Certainly.’ He stepped neatly aside.
Mattie couldn’t get out of the room fast enough. Her chest felt as if it were going to explode from lack of air.
So that was Jack Beauchamp.
Well, he was good-looking enough, she would give him that. Charming too, if you ignored all that staring he did. Her mother appeared to like him too. But then, her mother liked and trusted nearly everyone, even the young kennel-maid who had stolen money from her the previous year, so that was no recommendation, either.
But how could Mattie possibly have even guessed that her leaving those cards for The Woofdorf all over the offices of JB Industries would result in the man himself turning up here to board his dog over the Easter weekend? She couldn’t, came the obvious answer.
But she was certainly going to have some explaining to do to her mother once Jack Beauchamp had left!
Because the man she had described to her mother earlier as a womaniser and a greedy pig—and even he had suggested, albeit mockingly—that such a man should be taken out into the streets and publicly whipped, was none other than Jack Beauchamp himself!
CHAPTER TWO
‘WHAT an absolutely charming man,’ Mattie’s mother turned from waving to Jack as he drove away in the red sports car a little time later.
Mattie had very good reason for thinking otherwise. And, in all fairness to her mother, Mattie thought, perhaps she ought to tell her what those reasons were.
‘So natural and friendly, despite his obvious wealth. No side to him, as your grandfather would have said,’ Diana added affectionately. ‘Anyway, he’s booked Harry in for four days over the Easter holiday, so we’re almost fully booked up now for that period. I have to admit—Mattie, what is it?’ She suddenly seemed to become aware of her daughter’s less-than-enthusiastic expression.
Confirming that Mattie looked as sick as she felt! Because only an hour ago she had been describing that charming man in a totally different way to her mother. Not that Mattie went back on one single thing she had previously said about Jack Beauchamp, she just knew she wouldn’t be able to leave her mother in ignorance as to his identity.
She drew in a deep breath. ‘I had no idea you pronounced the name Beauchamp as Beecham,’ she began slowly. ‘If I had I—well, I—’ She would have what? No matter how you pronounced the man’s name, he was still everything she had said he was; not only did he have four girlfriends that she already knew about, but it turned out he had a family of his own too!
‘Mattie …?’ Her mother frowned at her suspiciously. ‘Mattie, what have you done?’ she prompted warily.
‘Done?’ Mattie repeated, her voice slightly higher than usual, then clearing her throat to bring it down in tone. ‘What makes you think I’ve done something?’ she said over-brightly, deciding that coming clean to her mother wasn’t going to be easy to do, after all.
‘Because I know you too well, Mattie,’ her mother admitted worriedly. ‘I also know that you’ve been getting into one scrape or another all your life … What does it matter how you pronounce Jack Beauchamp’s name?’ she asked slowly.
It mattered a lot when you glanced in your mother’s appointment book for today and saw no connection between the name Jack Beecham—her mother had obviously spelt the name as it had been spoken to her over the telephone—and Jonathan Beauchamp, of JB Industries!
‘It doesn’t,’ she sighed. ‘Not really. But— Oh, Mum, you’re right; I’ve done something awful!’ She gave a pained grimace.
And when Jack Beauchamp found out exactly what it was she had done he was unlikely to bring his dog anywhere near her mother’s boarding-kennels!
‘Do you want to talk about it?’ her mother pressed gently, accustomed over the years to her daughter’s acts of impetuosity—followed by Mattie’s inevitable feelings of regret.
Talking about it was the very last thing Mattie wanted to do! But she really didn’t have a choice in this case. ‘I suppose I’ll have to.’ She sighed heavily.
‘Does it merit coffee or hot chocolate?’ her mother probed; in the past, coffee had always been chosen for a minor indiscretion, hot chocolate for a really major one!
Mattie looked forlorn. ‘In all honesty, I think this one may call for a glass of whisky!’
Her mother’s blonde brows rose almost to her hairline; none of Mattie’s confessions had ever merited whisky before! But over the years there had certainly been a lot of them; more often than not the impulsive Mattie acted first and thought later. This definitely sounded like one of those occasions.
‘Back to the house, I think,’ her mother decided ruefully.
Mattie followed reluctantly, knowing the next few minutes were going to be far from pleasant. Not least because she now suspected her mother might have been right in her initial summing up of the situation. Mattie probably had overreacted to Jonathan Beauchamp—because of the two-timing Richard!
Not that she had changed her mind about Jonathan Beauchamp’s behaviour—not in the least!—but maybe she wouldn’t have done quite what she had done if it weren’t for her own humiliating experience where Richard had been concerned.
Her mother made them both tea rather than the suggested whisky, the two of them sitting down at the table in their cluttered but comfortable kitchen, four dogs milling affectionately around their feet.
‘Well, Matilda-May?’ her mother prompted after several minutes of Mattie sitting staring broodingly into her teacup.
Mattie winced at the use of her full name. ‘I wish you wouldn’t call me that,’ she protested. ‘In fact, I think it was very unkind of you to name me that at all. Just because your mother was named Matilda, and Dad’s was called May, was really no reason—’
‘Mattie, you can delay this as long as you like,’ her mother cut in crisply, ‘but in the end you’re still going to have to tell me what it is you’ve done,’ she reasoned.
Mattie swallowed hard, sighing deeply before speaking. ‘You remember the womaniser?’
‘The woma—? Oh, you mean the man you were telling me about earlier, the one who has four girlfriends?’ her mother recalled.
‘That’s the one,’ Mattie confirmed awkwardly. ‘Well, Jack Beauchamp is Jonathan Beauchamp!’ she burst out. ‘Him. It. He’s the womaniser!’ she revealed reluctantly. ‘What I mean is—’
‘I think I get your drift, Mattie,’ her mother acknowledged dryly. ‘He’s the man you were so angry about earlier today? The man whose secretary placed his order with you yesterday to send out four bouquets to his numerous girlfriends?’
Mattie took a quick swallow of her tea, burning her mouth in the process. But, in the circumstances, she decided, she probably deserved the discomfort!
How could she have been so stupid? So unprofessional? At the time she had thought she was being so clever; having now met Jack Beauchamp she had no idea how he was going to react to what she had done. But she could probably take a pretty good guess …!
So much for her own job of running a successful florists, for some lucrative contracts she also had to service the plants and greenery at half a dozen office complexes—JB Industries being one of them. And Jack Beauchamp was JB Industries!
If he decided to turn nasty over what she had done, she might just find herself losing all of those contracts, and the florist’s shop too! As for her mother being allowed to look after the man’s dog—!
‘Yes,’ Mattie confirmed flatly.
‘But you dealt with his order, didn’t you?’ Her mother looked puzzled.
‘Oh, I dealt with it, all right,’ Mattie agreed, giving another wince at what else she had done. ‘You see, I had delivered four bouquets for him to those four women at Christmas—’
‘I suppose that shows he’s been involved with the same four women for the last four months at least,’ her mother reasoned.
‘The thing is,’ Mattie began reluctantly, ‘his secretary gave me the order, and he—he had already written out four cards to go with each bouquet. And I—Mum—I changed the cards around!’ she admitted guiltily, utterly dismayed herself now to realize exactly what she had done.
She was twenty-three years old; it was high time she stopped doing things like this!
‘And he wasn’t even original,’ she continued in her own defence as her mother looked stunned by the admission. ‘He had written “Sandy, much love, J”, “Tina, much love, J”, “Sally, much love, J”, and “Cally, much love, J”, and so I—well, I thought perhaps they ought to be made aware of each other’s existence. So I put Tina’s card in with Cally’s bouquet, Sandy’s card in with Tina’s, Sally’s card in with Sandy’s, and Cally’s in with Sally’s. I know it was a stupid thing to do, but I— Mum, you aren’t crying, are you?’ She looked worriedly across the table at her mother as she suddenly buried her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking emotionally. ‘I’ll go to him, I’ll explain what I did, tell him—’ Mattie broke off as her mother dropped her hands to look across at her, her own eyes widening incredulously as she saw her mother was laughing, not crying!
‘Oh, Mattie, Mattie.’ Her mother shook her head, still choked with laughter. ‘You most certainly will have to go and explain things to him. Quite how you’re going to do that, I have no idea.’ She sobered slightly. ‘I thought the Richard incident was disastrous, expected his fiancée to turn up on our doorstep demanding an explanation right up to the morning of the wedding!’ She shook her head wearily. ‘But this …!’
‘Be fair, Mum,’ Mattie protested. ‘The Richard thing wasn’t exactly my fault. There was no way I could have guessed he was already engaged.’
‘No,’ her mother acceded with affection. ‘But, you have to admit, this latest escapade is certainly the biggest Mattie mess-up so far.’ She gave another shake of her head as she obviously tried to contain the laughter.
So far? After this Mattie never intended interfering again! Ever!
‘It isn’t funny, Mum,’ she responded reprovingly at her mother as Diana lost the battle with her laughter and began to chuckle once again.
‘No, it isn’t,’ her mother agreed, tears of laughter falling softly down her cheeks now.
‘Then I wish you would stop laughing!’ Mattie sighed, then even her own mouth began to twitch with the same laughter. ‘He’s going to kill me,’ she realized. ‘String me up by my thumbs. Hang me from the nearest tree—’
‘Darling, if he does the first one he really won’t need to bother with the second and third,’ her mother reasoned, wiping the dampness from her cheeks with a tissue before offering the box to Mattie.
‘He looks the type who would do them just for the fun of it!’ Mattie muttered, blowing her nose noisily with one of the tissues, not sure now whether she wanted to laugh or cry herself; Jack Beauchamp, if he chose, had the power to ruin her!
Her mother gave a rueful shake of her head. ‘I suppose you did definitely deliver those bouquets yesterday?’
But they both knew her question was rhetorical. Mattie made a point of always delivering bouquets and floral arrangements at the time requested. It was one of the reasons that she had so many regular customers. Although she doubted she would be able to continue to list Jack Beauchamp amongst their number after this weekend’s deliberate mix-up!
‘If it’s any consolation, Mattie, Jack Beauchamp wasn’t sporting any visible wounds this afternoon that could have been given to him by an outraged girlfriend!’ Her mother grinned.
‘It isn’t,’ Mattie returned heavily; she might feel a little less devastated if she knew something positive had resulted from her—she admitted it now!—latest reckless action. A black eye, at least from one of the women might have made her feel her actions had been justified! ‘I absolutely hate the thought of having to go to the man and telling him what I’ve done,’ she admitted.
Her mother nodded. ‘Having met Jack Beauchamp, I can understand that. But I also have a feeling that if you don’t go and see him then he’ll be coming in to the florist’s to see you tomorrow, anyway!’
Mattie had the same feeling. And it was probably better to be at least half in charge of the situation rather than completely on the defensive. Besides, this didn’t just affect her; possibly she had also jeopardized her mother’s booking to board Jack Beauchamp’s dog over the Easter weekend.
The weekend. When he was going away to Paris with his family.
His family …
Maybe she wouldn’t have to go quite so apologetically on bended knee, after all; if Jack Beauchamp already had a wife and family, then he shouldn’t be sending flowers to other women in the first place!
She began to hope that, perhaps, she might be able to salvage her own professional reputation from this mess, after all. Jack Beauchamp could hardly make too much of a fuss over those wrongly addressed cards on the flowers without causing some domestic discomfort to himself.
Better to think positively, she told herself firmly. After all, what could the man really do to her …?
She felt rather less sure of herself the following day when she faced Jack Beauchamp across the width of the imposing desk in his equally impressive office!
She had intended going to his home the previous evening, but the address and telephone number he had given her mother were those of his offices in the City, leaving Mattie with no choice but to wait until Monday to speak to him.
She had worried all evening, and hardly slept through the night, as she imagined at least one of his girlfriends having contacted him concerning the wrongly named card attached to her bouquet.
Her mother had looked at her across the breakfast table this morning, had taken in at a glance the heaviness of Mattie’s eyes, and the strained look on her face, handed her a cup of coffee, and, without speaking a word, gone outside to feed her canine guests.
Which was just as well, because Mattie hadn’t felt like talking. Not that she felt like talking now, either, but she knew she didn’t have any choice in the matter this time!
It didn’t help that Jack Beauchamp looked much less approachable today in a dark business suit, cream shirt, and neatly knotted tie, than he had when he’d visited the boarding-kennels yesterday.
But he looked calm enough—he didn’t have the look of a man whose personal life was imploding!
Oh, well, she chivvied herself along even as she drew in a deep breath, she might as well get this over with; delaying any further wasn’t going to make it any easier.
‘Mr Beauchamp—’
‘Jack,’ he invited lightly, sitting back in his high-backed leather chair to look across at her assessingly.
Now why couldn’t he have been more friendly yesterday, Mattie thought to herself. Not that it would have made her confession today any easier, but it would certainly have been more pleasant—
‘My secretary explained that when you phoned first thing this morning you said it was urgent you see me today.’ Jack Beauchamp sat forward to rest his arms on the desk.
Of course Mattie had said it was urgent that she needed to see him—once she had told Claire Thomas who she was, because that was the only way the other woman would agree to fit her into Mr Beauchamp’s busy schedule for a few minutes before lunch. Although, Mattie had been warned, Jack Beauchamp did have an appointment at one o’clock.
As it was ten minutes to that hour now, she had better get this over with!
‘Is there a problem with Harry’s booking for the weekend?’ Jack Beauchamp frowned.
‘Not that I know of,’ Mattie dismissed hastily. ‘I—I’m not here in my capacity as my mother’s assistant.’
Dark brows rose over chocolate-brown eyes as Jack Beauchamp’s expression became speculative now. ‘No?’ he drawled, some of yesterday’s warmth returning to those come-to-bed eyes. ‘Then why is it so urgent that you see me?’
Certainly not for the reason he seemed to be imagining, Mattie thought impatiently. Really, the man was back in seduction mode again!
She had deliberately dressed in a businesslike way herself today, in a navy blue suit and pale blue blouse, in the hope that it might give her the necessary boost of confidence she needed to tell him about the mix-up with the cards. As she felt the dampness of her palms, the inner panic that made her want to turn tail and run, she knew that ploy had failed utterly!
She grimaced. ‘I don’t actually work at the boarding-kennels, Mr—er, Jack,’ she corrected herself. Try and keep this pleasant, she instructed herself firmly.
Who knew? There was always the possibility that he would see the funny side of this.
Oh, yes? she instantly taunted herself. In the same circsumstances, would she?
No, of course not—but then she would never have got herself into such a romantic tangle in the first place. But hadn’t she done exactly that—albeit unwillingly—with Richard …?
‘You don’t?’ Jonathan Beauchamp mused softly now. ‘Then exactly what is it that you do, Mattie?’
