Second Chance With Lord Branscombe

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‘I imagine your father and Jake get on pretty well,’ Nate said after a while. ‘Jake’s easy to get along with, isn’t he?’

‘I guess so. I mean, he and I get on all right. We always have done.’ She frowned. They’d always been friends, a bit like a brother and sister, really. She looked at Nate. ‘Actually, he hasn’t had all that much to do with my father, up to now. They know one another, of course, from when we were younger, but I haven’t had occasion to take him home as yet.’

‘Hmm.’ His green gaze was thoughtful.

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘I expect Jake wants to move things on... He’ll want to be more than just friends.’ He studied her intently as though memorising every one of her features. ‘Any man would.’

She moistened her lower lip with her tongue. ‘I don’t know about that. I’ve been down that road before and I’ve discovered to my cost that things don’t always work out too well.’

He raised a brow. ‘Perhaps you’ve known the wrong people.’

‘Perhaps.’ The truth was, the only man she’d ever really wanted was Nate, but there had always been so many obstacles in their way that it just felt that maybe it was never meant to be. ‘You must know from your father’s experience that it isn’t easy to find the right partner in life,’ she said. ‘My own mother and father couldn’t make a go of it.’

‘I think the truth is my father never really got over losing my mother,’ he admitted. ‘He was something of a lost soul after that. But, as to your situation, it always struck me—as a child growing up—that your father did his best. He wanted the relationship to work.’

‘I’m sure he did.’ She pulled a face. ‘But, well, you know my mother... She could be...flaky, I suppose you’d call it. She was unreliable and her behaviour was odd sometimes. It made her difficult to live with, but of course we didn’t know then that she was suffering from bipolar disorder.’

He slid his fork into his shepherd’s pie. ‘It must have been difficult for you when the marriage broke up and she took you and your brother and sister away to live in Somerset.’

‘Yes, it was. It was hard leaving my father, and everything we’d ever known back here.’ She frowned, thinking about it. ‘Though it wasn’t so bad for me because I was getting ready to go to Medical School. I was more worried about leaving Rob and Jessica behind at that time. They were still very young—nine and eleven by the time Mum remarried. It broke my heart to leave them.’ Her mouth flattened. ‘I still worry about them after all this time—eight years later.’

‘But they come to stay with you quite often, don’t they? Charlotte told me a long while ago that they’re back here whenever they have the chance.’

‘That’s true. Jessica’s married now, though, so I don’t know if she’ll be over here quite as much.’

His eyes lit up with interest. ‘I heard about that—and that she’s pregnant. Is she okay? Is it all going well?’

She paused for a moment to savour her lasagne. ‘Yes, she’s fine. Money’s a bit tight—but she and Ryan managed to buy a small terraced house in an old part of town. They’re young and they were impulsive, I suppose, in a hurry to be together. Only now Ryan’s taken a job which means he has to work away for several days at a time. I’m just hoping they won’t have too much of a struggle financially, with a baby on the way.’

He shrugged lightly. ‘Young people are resilient. If the love’s there I’m sure nothing much else matters.’

She smiled. ‘I think that’s what I’ve always liked about you—your optimism. Yes, I’m sure things will turn out fine, eventually.’

He poured tea for both of them. ‘And Rob—how’s he getting along? He must be sixteen or seventeen by now...’

‘He’s just turned seventeen. Rob’s a typical teenager—full to bursting with teenage hormones right now.’ She made a start on her dessert, enjoying the brief moment of sweetness as she tasted the creamy custard on her tongue. ‘I think he worries about Dad.’

‘I’m sure he does. The relationship between a father and his son is an important one.’ He studied her closely. ‘It applies to fathers and daughters too. Your father always looked out for you, didn’t he? I had the feeling he didn’t want you getting too close to me.’

‘He was just trying to protect me. I guess he knew you weren’t one to settle. And your family heritage is something you can’t get away from—you lead a vastly different life to most ordinary people and I suppose he felt in your eyes and your father’s eyes I would always be the Estate Manager’s daughter.’

He shook his head. ‘That’s not true. I always thought you were special. I was miserable when you left to go to Medical School—I was glad for you that you were doing something you’d always wanted to do, but sad for myself. We were bound to be separated for a great amount of time, studying in different parts of the country.’

She smiled, unconvinced. As a teenager she’d longed for Nate to look at her the way he’d looked at other women, but it was only when her family was uprooted and she was desperately vulnerable that things had changed between the two of them. He’d reached out to her and offered her comfort, a shoulder to cry on.

But it had been too late. She’d made the decision to leave home to go and study medicine. Those last few times they had been together, he had held her in his arms and there had been the occasional stolen kiss, enough to make her long for more. How could she have allowed herself to get more deeply involved with him back then? He was often away, studying to be a doctor, and when he was home she was too conscious of the great divide between them to let it happen.

Perhaps it was true he had missed her for a while. But he must have known that they were miles apart in other ways. Nate’s family, unlike hers, was completely orderly, old school, following age-old traditions, their ways of going on passed down from generation to generation. She sighed inwardly. She would never fit in.

Now, he reached for the milk jug and frowned as he caught sight of a newspaper lying abandoned and open on a nearby table. Sophie followed his gaze and scanned the headlines. There was a picture of Branscombe Manor with a larger image of Lord Branscombe in the foreground.