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‘Five months.’ Jessica made an abrupt movement. ‘I don’t see…’
‘Living together?’ he persisted.
‘Co-habiting it’s called these days,’ she said tautly. ‘For what business it is of yours!’
For all the notice he took she may as well not have spoken. ‘You discovered he was seeing someone on the side?’
‘How like men are men!’ she mocked. ‘Yes, he was seeing someone on the side. Only he failed to keep her on the side. I came back early from a friend’s hen night to find the two of them in bed together. A momentary aberration I suppose you’d call it.’
‘Not in those circumstances. Was it necessary to ditch your job too?’
‘I needed a clean break,’ she said flatly, abandoning the satire. ‘Leonie and I kept in touch after she moved to London. It was her suggestion that I take a holiday before starting to look for a job there myself.’
‘As she thinks you’re still on the island, we could spend a little more time here.’
Jessica shook her head vehemently. ‘You do as you like, but there’s no way I’m staying another night!’
‘How would you propose leaving?’ he asked.
‘How would you like your grandfather to know the truth?’ she countered.
‘You wouldn’t.’
He was right, of course, but she wasn’t about to back down. ‘Don’t count on it!’
‘You wouldn’t,’ he repeated on a softer note. ‘You don’t have it in you.’
Jessica jerked her head away as he ran the back of a finger down her cheek. ‘Cut it out, will you!’
‘That isn’t what you want,’ he said. ‘You might think me an out-and-out louse, but it doesn’t alter the way I make you feel. It was there the moment we came into contact the other night.’
‘Lust, nothing else!’ she derided.
‘It’s a pretty good basis.’
‘For what?’
Broad shoulders lifted. ‘Remains to be seen.’
‘You’d do better to concentrate on how you’re going to handle this supposed wedding,’ Jessica returned hardily, fighting the undoubted temptation. ‘There has to be a limit to how long you can make the “arrangements” last. Unless you’re planning on a spurious ceremony too?’
‘It crossed my mind,’ he admitted.
‘Anything to keep your cousin from gaining an advantage. I gather there might not be a lot of love lost between the two of you?’
Zac’s jaw tautened a fraction. ‘Let’s just say we hold very different viewpoints.’
‘With regard to business?’
‘With regard to most things.’
The two top logs fell in, sending a burst of flame up the chimney. Jessica stirred herself as Zac rose with the obvious intention of adding another log from the pile stacked in an alcove to one side of the fireplace.
‘Don’t bother for me. I’m ready for bed. Alone,’ she added with purpose.
‘What else?’ he returned mockingly. ‘Sleep well, green eyes!’
The way she felt right now, it was unlikely, she acknowledged, making her way from the room. He’d been right earlier: she did ache. And it wasn’t going to go away.
Yet another restless night left her feeling decidedly sluggish. A shower went some way towards reviving her, but the thought of several more hours in the Prescotts’ company was no help.
The April sun was welcome after yesterday’s rain, the view from the bedroom window over rolling Dorset countryside very different from the one she’d left in Majorca, though no less captivating. She could well understand why the Prescotts had chosen to spend their retirement in this part of the country.
It was probably doubtful though that Esther would stay on alone here after her husband had gone. The house was too big for two, much less one. Taking into account the fact that women usually lived a piece longer than men to start with, and her apparent good health at present, it was possible that she was facing a good many years without him. Not a happy prospect.
She gave Zac no opportunity to reply when Henry Prescott asked at breakfast how long they would be staying.
‘I’m afraid I couldn’t get any time off,’ she said, deploring her newfound facility for spur-of-the-moment concoction. ‘I have to be at work tomorrow. Of course, Zac doesn’t have to leave too.’
‘You could ring through and ask for another couple of days,’ Zac suggested smoothly.
‘The sooner you get back, the sooner you can start on the wedding arrangements,’ said his grandfather. The gaze he rested on Jessica’s face was deliberative. ‘Will your parents want to be involved in the arrangements?’
More lies coming up, she thought unhappily, searching her mind for some adequate response.
‘In the circumstances, I think it’s going to be simpler all round if we handle it ourselves,’ Zac put in.
‘No Register Office,’ Henry asserted. ‘Brady was married in church, the right and proper way!’
Zac’s face remained impassive. ‘I understand church weddings have to be booked months in advance.’
The expression that flickered across the older eyes gave Jessica the impression that he’d actually forgotten the shortage of time for a moment or two, though he sounded quite steady when he answered.
‘It seems the Register Office it might have to be, then.’
He left it at that, to Jessica’s relief. She couldn’t have taken very much more without blurting out the truth.
‘This is going from bad to worse!’ she berated when she managed to get Zac in his own for a few minutes. ‘Your grandfather’s no fool. If he isn’t already suspicious, he’s going to be before long!’
‘He doesn’t have long,’ Zac reminded her. ‘His heart could give out any minute.’
‘And if by chance he continues to defy the odds?’
‘Then I’ll simply have to face the music. What time were you considering leaving?’ he added with irony.
Jessica made a helpless gesture. ‘I don’t know. Two? Three?’
‘Let’s make it three. We should be in London by six-thirty—seven at the latest. Plenty of time to find you a hotel.’ He reached out unexpectedly to smooth a stray curl of chestnut hair into place, his smile mocking her involuntary reaction. ‘Then it’s goodbye.’
‘Yes.’
She could think of nothing else to say. In a few hours he would be gone from her life. She could tell herself she was glad of it, but it wouldn’t be wholly true. Faultless he wasn’t, unforgettable he might very well prove to be.
Henry was quiet over lunch, his thoughts obviously turned inward. It couldn’t be easy to come to terms with the knowledge of impending death at any age, Jessica reflected. Personally, she would prefer to be left in ignorance.
Taking her leave of him later, she could hardly bring herself to look him in the eye. When he kissed her cheek, and thanked her for taking the time and trouble to make the trip, she felt like a traitor.
‘This has been the worst experience of my life!’ she said with feeling in the car.
‘I’d have thought finding Paul in bed with another woman ran it pretty close?’ Zac returned.
The anticipated stab failed to penetrate very deeply. She hadn’t thought about Paul much at all this past couple of days. There had been far too many other things on her mind.
‘That was different,’ she declared. ‘It’s also history.’
‘No chance then, of you going back to him?’
‘None,’ she said flatly. ‘Why the interest anyway?’
Zac’s shrug was brief.
His seeming indifference stung. Yet what else might she expect from him? Jessica asked herself. Despite what he’d said last night, her role had only ever been temporary.
As predicted, they were in London by six-thirty. Zac insisted on booking a room at the Savoy for two nights. They took their leave in the foyer. Jessica forced a level tone.
‘I can’t say it’s been a pleasure, because it hasn’t.’
The expression that sprang in the grey eyes was a warning in itself, but short of creating a scene, there was no escape. It took everything she had to stay unresponsive to a kiss that stirred every vital inner part of her.
Zac said nothing when he released her at last, but simply turned on his heel and headed for the main doors. She didn’t wait to see him disappear through them.
Chapter Four
THE double room was luxurious, the bathroom big enough to hold a dance in. Under other circumstances, Jessica would have thoroughly enjoyed the experience of staying in one of the city’s top hotels. As it was, it meant little.
Unpacking was no priority. Especially when she’d only be here a couple of days. Reluctant to venture downstairs to eat, she ordered a light meal from room service. Looking back while she waited for it to arrive, she regretted giving up her job in Gloucester. Seeing Paul and her replacement together had been humiliating, true, but she should have stuck it out.
The evening wore on. She ate the beautifully prepared prawn salad and watched a little television, although she couldn’t have said just what she was watching. The hunger growing in her had nothing to do with food. It was Zac she craved for.
When the knock came on the door, she assumed it must be a valet or someone calling to see if there was anything else she needed. She went reluctantly to answer it, heart leaping into her throat on seeing who was standing there.
Zac didn’t wait for an invitation, kicking the door shut behind him as he took hold of her. Jessica melted into the passionate embrace, returning fire for fire, all rational thought suspended. She leaned against him helplessly when he finally lifted his head.
‘I couldn’t do it,’ he said roughly.
‘Do what?’ she managed.
‘Let you go.’ He put his lips to her temple where the hair clung. ‘Not with so much to be resolved between us.’
Jessica made a supreme effort to bring her mind to bear on the words rather than the actions.
‘Such as what exactly?’ she whispered.
‘The future,’ he said. ‘Our future.’
‘We don’t have a future.’
‘We could.’ His tone softened. ‘Marry me, Jessica.’
The shock of it struck her dumb for several moments. She gazed at him blankly.
‘What game are you playing now?’ she got out.
‘I’m serious,’ he said. ‘I want you to marry me.’
Green eyes darkened. ‘Just to make sure of a few shares?’
Zac shook his head. ‘Not just the shares. Not just to satisfy grandfather either.’
‘Oh, then it must be love, of course!’ The sarcasm was a defence of sorts. ‘Three days to fall head over heels!’
‘The time is irrelevant,’ he said. ‘We belong together.’
‘You can’t say that!’ Her voice had a crack in it. ‘You know almost nothing about me!’
‘I know all I need to know.’ The determination was there in his eyes, in the set of his jaw. ‘I won’t give up on this, Jess. The way you responded just now, you can hardly claim to have no feelings at all for me.’
‘There are feelings and feelings,’ she said, battling her weaker instincts. ‘What we have isn’t love.’
Something flickered deep down in the greyness, but his tone didn’t alter. ‘It can be part of it. A very vital part.’
Jessica steeled herself as he put his lips to hers again, but there was no resisting the surging response, no shutting out the inner voice urging her to let matters take their own course. She found her fingers easing the suit jacket from his back, dropping it to the floor to seek the buttons of his shirt with an urgency echoed in his own dextrous movements.
Her nipples sprang to his touch as both blouse and bra joined his garments on the floor, the ache increasing to almost unbearable proportions when Zac lowered his head to run the very tip of his tongue over the tender flesh. Her skirt slid all the way down her legs, leaving her nude but for the flimsy lace panties that were no barrier against the gentle caress.
She buried her face in the broad expanse of his chest as he swung her up in his arms to carry her across to the wide, canopied bed. Laid there, she watched through slitted eyes as he stood back to remove the rest of his clothing, stirred to even greater depths by the sleek muscularity of waist and hip, the masculine strength in the taut thighs. Already fully aroused, he was magnificent—the essence of manhood in all its prime. Jessica had never wanted anything as much as she wanted what was about to happen between them right now.
She reached for him eagerly, wantonly, as he lowered himself to her side, hearing his sharp intake of breath at the exquisite sensation. With Zac she felt no restriction, just an overpowering desire to explore every inch of the superb male body—to open herself to his exploration—to have him inside her, a part of her.
Zac kissed her again before removing the scrap of material that was the only hindrance left. His touch was delicate, parting the quivering flesh to find the warm, welcoming softness within—drawing a gasp from her own lips as he delved her secret depths. Back arching, face constricted, she gave herself up to the movement, the cry torn from her as she climaxed smothered as he claimed her lips once more.
‘For you,’ he said softly. ‘Now this is for both of us.’
He played her like a violin, his lips and tongue wreaking havoc in their exploration of her whole body, making her writhe in an ecstasy of sensation. She wrapped her arms about the broad shoulders as they merged at last, lost to everything but the moment. They reached the summit in perfect unison, collapsing together to lie in suspended animation while the world steadied around them again.
It took the sudden chill when Zac lifted his weight from her to fetch Jessica back from the land of milk and honey. He didn’t go far, propping himself on an elbow the way he had done that very first night, the smile on his lips echoed in his eyes as he viewed her.
‘I owe you an apology,’ he said. ‘I’m afraid the practicalities went completely from mind. Not a habit of mine, I assure you.’
