From Mistresses To Wives?: Mistress to a Bachelor / His Mistress by Marriage / Accidental Mistress. Susan Napier
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he said softly.
Grateful for the dim light, Jessica made a supreme effort to bring her emotions under control. Her voice sounded steadier at least. ‘Obviously not, but this is as far as it goes. I’m here for the one purpose, and one purpose only! After tomorrow, that’s it!’
‘It doesn’t have to be,’ he said. ‘We could see how things go.’
‘I know exactly how things would go,’ she declared. ‘The same way I imagine all your affairs go! Thank you, ma’am, and goodbye!’
‘Succinct—’ he grinned ‘—but not true. I’ve never had any interest in one-night stands.’
‘Which category does Leonie come under?’
‘Leonie comes under her own category. She certainly has no proprietorial instincts, if that’s what’s worrying you.’
‘In two years, you must have slept together on a fair number of occasions.’
‘With long gaps in between.’
‘And you think I’d be prepared to help fill in the gaps?’
‘That isn’t what I have in mind.’ His gaze roved her face, lingering on the provocative fullness of her mouth. Voice roughened, he said, ‘I want you, Jess!’
The abbreviation of her name failed to irk her; she was too intent on trying to keep her feet on the ground. ‘Why?’ she asked huskily.
‘Why?’ His regard was quizzical. ‘Because you’ve been driving me wild since we met. Because you’re an outstandingly attractive young woman with far more than just your looks about you. Whoever Paul is, he isn’t worth putting your life on hold over. You need to move on.’
‘I already did.’
‘Not far enough. I could make you forget him.’
Her lips twitched involuntarily. ‘You’re certainly not lacking in confidence!’
‘Would you like me better if I was backward in coming forward?’
‘I’m unlikely to find out.’
‘The love of a good woman could make a new man of me,’ he said with mock gravity.
‘Leopards don’t change their spots,’ she rejoined.
‘Black ones don’t have any to start with.’ Zac was silent for a moment. When he spoke again the banter had gone from his voice. ‘Were you in love with him?’
Coming out of the blue, the question took her by surprise. She found herself answering before she thought about it. ‘I believed I was.’
‘How long were you together?’
‘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?’
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