CHAPTER THREE

      LAURA told herself it was just a job she had to take on and get through—escort Jake around the garden, bore him to death with her enthusiasm for built environments and deliver him back to her father, who had announced his intention to watch a football game on television in the home theatre.

      Eddie helped clear the table, following her to the kitchen to have a private word with her as they stacked the dishwasher. ‘You’re the main target today, Laura. No doubt about it now,’ he warned. ‘I’d say Dad wants Jake as his son-in-law.’

      ‘It’s not going to happen,’ she snapped.

      ‘He’s a clever guy. Been playing all sides today. And I’ve been watching you. You’re not immune to him.’

      ‘Which made it very stupid of you to tell him what I thought.’

      ‘Obvious anyway. Believe me, a guy like that knows women think he’s sexy. He would have had them vying for his attention from his teens onwards. Just don’t say yes to him.’

      Easy for him, sitting on the sidelines, Laura thought savagely. ‘What if I want to?’

      Eddie looked appalled.

      ‘He is sexy,’ she repeated defiantly, fed up with being put on the spot.

      He grimaced. ‘Then make damned sure you keep it at sex and don’t end up hooked on him. The way Mum is should be warning enough for you.’

      ‘I will never be like Mum.’

      He shook his head. ‘I wish she would leave him.’

      ‘She can’t see anything else. Better play a game of Scrabble with her while I’m doing my duty with Jake. She likes that.’

      ‘Will do. That’s a lot more fun than duty.’

      Laura heaved a deep sigh, trying to relax the tension tearing at her nerves. ‘I don’t want to want him, Eddie.’

      He gave her a look of serious consideration. ‘Go for it if you must. You’ll always wonder otherwise. Sooner or later he’ll turn you off and I think you’re strong enough to walk away.’

      ‘Yes, I am,’ she said with certainty.

      ‘But you’d be better off not going there.’

      ‘I know.’ She made a rueful grimace. ‘Maybe he’ll turn me off out in the garden.’

      ‘Unlikely.’

      ‘Well I won’t be falling at his feet, that’s for sure. And you let Mum win at Scrabble, but don’t be obvious about it.’

      ‘No problem.’ He grinned his devil-may-care grin. ‘Let’s go and fight the good fight.’

      She grinned back at him. ‘The gay bit was good.’

      He laughed and hugged her shoulders as they returned to the dining room, where he immediately put their plan into action. ‘Better get out the Scrabble, Mum. Since you beat me last time, I want a return match, and heaven help me if I’m swamped with all vowels again.’

      ‘I’ll leave you to your game,’ her father said good-humouredly, rising from his chair, smiling at Jake Freedman. ‘I’m sure you’ll enjoy my daughter’s company.’

      ‘I will,’ he agreed, rising to his feet, as well, ready to take on the garden seduction scenario.

      Resentment suddenly raged through Laura. Jake Freedman was playing her father’s game, but she didn’t have to. He wasn’t her guest. It was after three o’clock. Lunch had gone off reasonably well. The trickiest part of being together for Mother’s Day was over. Her father was sparing them his presence. His wrath wouldn’t fall on all of them if she didn’t remain polite to the man. She could put Jake Freedman on the spot, instead of being the target herself.

      She smiled at him. ‘Let’s go.’

      He accompanied her outside, making easy conversation to start with.

      ‘Was it your mother’s pleasure in her garden that led you to your choice of career, Laura?’

      He seemed genuinely curious and she didn’t mind answering him. ‘Partly. Nick probably had more influence, the creativity he uses to generate Mum’s pleasure.’

      ‘Who’s Nick?’

      ‘The gardener and handyman Dad employs to maintain everything, but he actually does more than maintain.’

      ‘Like what?’

      ‘He thinks about what will delight Mum and does it. Like the solar lights he’s just put around the rock-pool. I’ll show you. It’s over this way.’

      He strolled beside her, apparently content to bide his time, ensure she was relaxed with him. Which was totally impossible, but at least he didn’t know it and wouldn’t know it until he made a move on her.

      ‘A waterfall, too,’ he remarked as they came to the pool.

      ‘Yes. It makes a soothing sound. Most people enjoy sitting near falling water…fountains in a park. Also reflections in water. The lights placed around the pool shimmer in it when it’s dark.’

      ‘Does your mother come out here at night?’

      ‘Sometimes. Though she can also see this part of the garden from her bedroom window. What’s really special is how Nick lit up the figurines of the Chinese water-carriers coming down the rocks at the side of the waterfall. There’s another light at the back of the pot-plant below them. It bathes them in a ghostly glow. Quite a wonderful effect.’

      ‘Landscape architecture,’ he said, slanting her a rueful smile. ‘I’ve never thought about it but I can see why it should be appreciated.’

      ‘I guess in the career you’ve chosen, you don’t take the time to smell the roses,’ she shot at him.

      ‘True. I haven’t,’ he conceded readily enough, as though it didn’t matter to him.

      It niggled Laura into asking, ‘Is it worth it?’

      There was a subtle shift of expression on his face, a hardening of his jaw, a determined glint in his eyes. ‘Yes, it is. To me,’ he answered in a tone that didn’t allow for a different point of view.

      Laura couldn’t leave it alone. ‘You like working for my father?’

      ‘Your father is part of a system that interests me.’

      It was a clever sidestep, depersonalising her question.

      ‘The system,’ she repeated, wanting to nail down his motivation. ‘I can’t imagine any pleasure in dealing with bankruptcy.’

      ‘No, it can be very traumatic,’ he said quietly. ‘I would like to make it less so.’ The dark brown eyes drilled into hers. ‘Not even the most beautiful parks in the world resonate with people in that situation, Laura. All they see is their lives crumbling, their jobs gone, their plans for the future shattered. It can lead to divorce, suicide, violence, depression so dark there is no light.’

      She shivered at the intensity of feeling coming from him, a depth of caring she hadn’t expected in this man. It didn’t sit with coldly calculated ambition. Not only that, but he’d also somehow turned the tables on her, making his job much more seriously special than hers.

      ‘I know that people going through trauma do find some solace in a pleasant environment,’ she argued with conviction. Her mother, for one.

      ‘I didn’t mean to undervalue it.’ He gestured an appeal. ‘I’m not your