In Bed With...Collection. Emma Darcy
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good. Great!’
He really did look pleased—pleased because he didn’t want anyone to be her father’s victim, or pleased because she was completely free and clear of any continuing connection with her father? Was he checking to see if he could reasonably resume a relationship with her with no negative fallout from it? Did he want to? She was still her father’s daughter. Nothing could change that.
The elevator arrived and Jake waved an invitation to precede him into it. They were the only people occupying the small compartment on this ride. Jake stood silently beside her on the way down. Laura was too conscious of his close presence to think of anything to say. She had been intensely intimate with this man and the memories of it were flooding through her mind—the passionate kisses, the exquisite sensitivity of his touch. She had to press her thighs tightly together to contain the hot, searing need to have him again.
As they walked out to the street she was fiercely wishing he would take hold of her hand but he didn’t attempt even that simple physical link with her. The evening rush hour hadn’t quite started. The sidewalk wasn’t crowded. There was no reason for Jake to take her arm to keep them together and he didn’t. They reached the coffee shop without touching at all and Jake led her to a booth, waiting for her to slide in on one bench seat before seating himself across the table from her.
‘Like old times,’ she remarked, managing an ironic smile to cover the sick feeling that this might be the last time she shared a table with Jake.
He returned the smile. ‘A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then. Are you happy with the career you’ve chosen?’
She nodded. ‘It’s very challenging but I’m loving it. What about you, Jake? Have you moved on to renovating another house?’
‘Yes. I sold the last one.’
‘I know.’
He looked quizzically at her and she flushed, realising she had given away the fact that she had tried to visit him. Too late to take back those revealing words. She heaved a sigh to relieve the tightness in her chest and plunged into telling the truth. What point was there in holding back?
‘On the day we left Mosman—it was just before last Christmas—Mum found a bunch of other photographs of you in Dad’s safe. They made me realise he’d set you up, then spun a false story to make me believe…’ She hesitated, inwardly recoiling from repeating the horribly demeaning picture her father had drawn.
‘That I was a liar and a cheat,’ Jake finished for her with a wry grimace. ‘I didn’t blame you for believing him, Laura. It was my fault. I should never have touched you. It put you in a rotten position when I made my move against him.’
His use of the past tense hurt. If he regretted their relationship, what hope was there for a future one? But she was halfway through her explanation and she wanted to finish it.
‘Anyhow, it made me feel really bad about how I’d completely written you off, so I went to your house at Woollahra, wanting to apologise, except you were gone and other people had moved in. I had no means of contact with you unless I came to the hearing, and I’m glad I did. Listening to everything being laid out made me understand why you had to take my father down. You were right to do it. And I do wish you well, Jake.’
There!
Definitely water under the bridge now!
And she’d managed it with reasonable dignity.
A waiter arrived to take their order and Jake asked for two cappuccinos, quickly inquiring if she wanted something to eat as well—a toasted sandwich? Laura shook her head. Her stomach was in knots. After the waiter had left them, Jake regarded her seriously for several moments, making the knots even tighter.
‘It’s not over, Laura,’ he said quietly. ‘There will be ugly things said about me in the days to come.’
The dirt her father had up his sleeve.
‘Will they be true?’ she asked.
‘Not on any professional level. He can’t deny the evidence against him. It’s too iron-tight. So I’m confident that nothing will change the eventual outcome. He’s gone from the industry, regardless of what he uses in an attempt to discredit me.’
‘Do you know what he’ll try to use?’
He made a wry grimace. ‘You were my only weakness, Laura. I’m anticipating an attack on my character revolving around my involvement with you.’
She frowned. ‘But that had nothing to do with how he ran his business.’
‘I think he’ll try to link it up.’
A fierce rebellion swept through Laura. Her father had been too successful in hurting others, deliberately doing it and taking malicious pleasure in it. She wanted him to fail for once, and be shown up as the liar he was—some justice for the months of misery he’d given her.
She leaned forward, earnestly pressing for Jake to agree with her. ‘I’ve taken this week off work. I could testify on your behalf. I know you didn’t do me any wrong, Jake.’
His face tightened in instant rejection. ‘This isn’t your war, Laura. It was wrong of me to put you in the line of fire and I won’t do it again. I’ll ride it through.’
‘It is my war,’ she cried vehemently. ‘I’ve taken the bullets and I want to return them. I’m not ashamed of my involvement with you. It makes a much stronger stand if we ride this through together. Publicly together. Surely you can see that any capital my father might think he could make out of our connection becomes utter nonsense if we’re still connected.’
He didn’t offer any quick rebuttal this time. The riveting dark eyes scoured hers with blazing intensity. Laura had the sinking feeling he was unsure of her staying power. She hadn’t remained strong against her father’s manipulation in the past.
‘There’s no other man in your life, Laura?’ he asked quietly.
The question startled her—not what she had been expecting. It offered hope that Jake was considering her suggestion. ‘No. I’m free and clear,’ she stated firmly.
It suddenly occurred to her that he might not be. He hadn’t touched her. Just because the memory of him had made her disinterested in other men didn’t mean he’d felt a similar detachment. She’d certainly opened the door for him to move on when she’d shut it on her life.
‘I’m sorry. I didn’t think,’ she blurted out, flushing self-consciously over her single-mindedness, her hands fluttering an apologetic dismissal of her impulsive ideas. ‘If you’re in another relationship, of course this won’t work.’
‘I’m not,’ he said swiftly, reaching across the table to take one of her hands in his, long strong fingers stroking, soothing her agitation. ‘There’s nothing I’d like more than to be connected to you again, Laura. I just want to be sure it’s right for you.’
A wild joy burst through her heart. She stared at him, scarcely able to believe she did have another chance with him. Warmth from his touch ran up her arm and spread through her entire body, a blissful warmth, promising her the loving she craved. She wanted this man so much, yet it hadn’t really been right for her before, not with him limiting their relationship to great dinners and great sex. The temptation to take whatever she could of him played through her mind, but she knew that would never be enough.
‘Will you show me the house you’re now working on?’
It was a critical question, challenging how much he wanted to be connected to her.
His face relaxed into a smile, his eyes twinkling sexy delight. ‘Would after we drink our coffee be too soon?’
She laughed in sheer ecstatic relief. ‘No, not too soon. Where is it?’
‘Petersham. It’s about ten minutes in the train from Town Hall, then a short walk from the