‘Hi, Jake!’ Ellie beamed up at him engagingly. ‘You’re looking pretty good yourself.’ She glanced about the room and added, ‘Wow, this sure is some mansion.’ She turned back to look at him. ‘I didn’t know you had a thing for antiques.’
‘I don’t,’ Jake answered. ‘Ashleigh is helping me sort through everything.’
Ashleigh wanted the floor to open up and leave her to the spiders under the house’s foundations. Surely it would be better than facing the knowing wink of her cheeky younger sister, who was quite obviously speculating on the interesting little tableau she’d just burst in on.
Ashleigh knew for a fact that Jake certainly wasn’t suffering any embarrassment over it. She caught the tail-end of his glinting look, his dark eyes holding an unmistakable promise to finish what he’d started as soon as they were alone, rules or no rules.
‘Ashleigh will do a fine job, I’m sure, won’t you, Ash?’ Ellie grinned. ‘She’ll have all your most valuable assets in her hot little hands in no time.’
Ashleigh threw her a fulminating look but just then Lachlan’s footsteps could be heard coming along the hall.
‘Auntie Ellie!’ Lachlan came bounding in, instantly throwing his arms around Ellie’s middle and squeezing tightly.
‘Hi there, champ.’ Ellie hugged him back and then bent down to kiss the tip of his nose, ‘How did you get out of going to crèche, you monstrous little rascal?’
‘I wanted to be with Mummy,’ Lachlan answered, his cheeks tinged with pink as he lowered his eyes.
Ellie straightened and, giving his hair a quick ruffle, kept her hand on his little head as she turned to face her sister. ‘I saw your note so I thought I would come instead. I took the bus so it will be a bit of a trek back, but Mum met up with an old school friend. I thought it best if I left her to catch up over a long lunch. Besides…’ She tucked her spare hand into her torn jeans pocket and tilted her platinum blonde head at Jake. ‘I wanted to check out what Jake thought of his son now that he’s finally met him.’
Ashleigh felt every drop of blood in her veins come to a screeching, screaming halt. She even wondered if she was going to faint. She actually considered feigning it to get out of the way of the shockwaves of the bomb Ellie had unthinkingly just delivered.
Six sickening heartbeats of silence thrummed in her ears as she forced herself to look at Jake standing stiffly beside her.
‘My son?’ Jake stared at Ellie in stupefaction.
Ashleigh saw the up and down movement of her sister’s throat as she gradually realised the mistake she’d just made.
‘I—I thought you knew…’Ellie turned to Ashleigh for help but her older sister’s expression was ashen, the line of her mouth tight with tension. She swivelled back to Jake’s burning gaze. ‘I kind of figured that since Lachlan was here at your house…’ Her words trailed off, her eyes flickering nervously between the two adults. ‘I sort of thought…she must have told you by now…’
‘Mummy?’ Lachlan piped up, his childish innocence a blessed relief in the tense atmosphere. ‘Can I show Auntie Ellie the garage for my cars I made under the tree?’
Ashleigh gave herself a mental shake. ‘Sure, baby, take her outside and show her what you’ve been up to.’
‘Come on, Auntie Ellie.’ Lachlan took Ellie’s hand and tugged it towards the door. ‘I made a garage out of sticks and a driveway and a real race track. Do you want to see?’
‘I can hardly wait,’ Ellie said, meaning it, and giving her sister one last please-forgive-me glance, closed the door firmly behind them.
As silences between them went, this one had to be the worst one she’d ever experienced, Ashleigh thought as she dragged her gaze back to the minefield of Jake’s.
‘My son?’ He almost barked the words at her.
She closed her eyes on the hatred she could see in his eyes.
‘My son?’ he asked again, his tone making her eyes spring open in alarm. ‘You calculating, lying, deceitful little bitch! How could you do this to me?’
Ashleigh had no defence. She felt crushed by his anger, totally disarmed by his pain, not one word of excuse making it past the scrambled disorder of her brain.
He swung away from her, his movements agitated and jerky as if he didn’t trust himself not to shake her senseless.
She watched in silent anguish as his hand scored his hair, the long fingers separating the silky strands like vicious knives.
‘I can’t believe you did this to me,’ he said. ‘I told you from day one this must never happen.’ He swung back to glare at her. ‘Did you do it deliberately? To force me into something I’ve been avoiding for all of my god-damned life?’