‘Next time you’ll say yes?’
‘There’s never going to be a yes, Jack,’ she said with such emphasis his eyes narrowed.
They stared into hers for a long, tense interval, then he shrugged. ‘Never say never, Kate.’ He smiled suddenly.
‘What now?’
‘Did your aunt sleep alone in that erotic bed?’
‘As far as I know, she did.’ Kate grinned. ‘Though, somehow, I never thought of her as my maiden aunt.’
‘You think she had lovers?’
‘She was in the army in the Second World War, so she probably had more than one. And she worked in London as some tycoon’s right hand for years afterwards. She bought this house with money he left her in his will, so maybe their relationship was closer than she let on. Apparently my father was surprised that she chose to come back here to live.’
‘Obviously a family trait,’ said Jack dryly, and took Kate’s hand with the care of someone handling a stick of gelignite. ‘Are we on track again? If friendship’s the only thing on offer, I’ll settle for it. But I won’t lie to you, Kate. I want more than that.’
‘That’s all there is, Jack,’ she said flatly.
‘The chemistry’s still there,’ he pointed out, and released her hand. ‘You felt it just as much as I did before something put on the brakes. So I repeat. Never say never.’
CHAPTER SEVEN
KATE had fully intended taking Saturday off to get in the mood for Jack’s dinner party. Instead she went on with her painting with the radio turned up high, trying to drag her mind away from the few brief, heated moments that had given her such a frustrated, restless night. She was the guilty one—or the stupid one. It was herself she’d been fighting, not Jack. For one desperate moment she’d wanted to pull him down on the bed and make love with him until the world went away.
Her face set in determined lines as she put her painting paraphernalia away later. The solution was simple. If she was never alone with Jack again it couldn’t happen. But that would mean no more impromptu suppers. Her shoulders sagged. It had been so good to spend time with him again and just talk. Quite apart from the unique physical chemistry between them, Jack had once been the best friend she’d ever had. She’d been madly in love with him, but she’d also liked him better than any man she’d met before or since. The loss of friend as well as lover had made the pain and disillusion even harder to bear when it all ended in tears.
The doorbell rang just as Kate was about to go upstairs for a bath. She opened the door to find a young woman proffering a flower arrangement.
‘Kate Durant?’ she asked. ‘These are for you.’
‘Thank you,’ said Kate, surprised, and hurried inside to read the card attached to the basket.
‘For Katie,’ said the message.
Kate blinked hard as she looked at the delicate blend of freesias and miniature tulips. She set the basket of flowers on the table in the sitting room and stood back to admire, her new resolution wavering already. The subtle colours blended so perfectly with the room—Jack had obviously chosen them personally. Afraid to trust her voice she thanked him via a text me
ssage.
‘We were going to offer to come and pick you up tonight,’ Anna rang later to inform her.‘ But it occurred to me that you’d rather drive yourself. You might—’ cough ‘—want to stay on for a bit after we’ve gone home.’
‘I very much doubt that, but there’s no point in coming miles out of your way to collect me,’ said Kate tartly. ‘I’ll drive myself.’
‘You sound a bit snappy!’
‘Sorry, sorry. I’ve just finished the last wall in the dining room and I’m a bit tired.’
‘For heaven’s sake, Kate,’ said Anna in exasperation, ‘surely you could have taken the day off today of all days! No wonder you sound on edge.’
‘Why should I be on edge?’
‘I assume that it’s dinner for six tonight?’
‘I think so.’
‘Then Lucy Beresford—the biggest gossip in town—will take it for granted that you and Jack are, or are intending to be, a couple too.’
‘Oh, God! I hadn’t thought of that.’