‘I’ll leave you in peace with Joanna tonight,’ he said, holding her tightly.
‘Come to supper tomorrow, then,’ said Kate.
‘I’ve got a board meeting that day,’ he said wryly. ‘It’s going to be hard to keep my mind on the job, when all I can think of is meeting my daughter for the first time.’
CHAPTER TWELVE
‘ITWAS lovely to see Grandma and Grandpa,’ said Joanna, on the journey from Worcester, ‘but I’m glad to be going home. I missed you, Kate.’
‘I missed you, too.’
‘What did you do while I was away?’
‘I worked, as usual, and I had dinner with Jack Logan—’
‘The old friend with the great dog,’ said Jo promptly, and slanted a cheeky grin at her. ‘Did you have a nice time?’
‘Very nice, thank you,’ said Kate primly. ‘I thought you might like to meet him too, so I asked him to supper tomorrow. We’ll stop in town on the way home and buy some food.’
‘Is he bringing Bran with him?’
‘No. But if you play your cards right Jack might ask you round to his place to play with Bran in the garden there. It’s huge, with a millpond.’
‘Is he rich then?’
‘He’s well off, certainly, but only because he’s worked very hard to achieve it.’
‘Will I like him?’
‘I don’t know. I hope so, Jo, because I like him a lot.’
‘Then I expect I will, too.’
‘I’m glad we’ve got a guest for supper,’ said Jo the next day, as she took a tray of cupcakes out of the oven. ‘It takes my mind off the party.’ She smiled sheepishly. ‘I keep thinking about it all the time.’
Praying that the party would live up to her expectations, Kate handed her the icing sugar. ‘How are you going to decorate the cakes?’
Jo eyed them with satisfaction. ‘I thought white icing with a chocolate mini Easter egg to finish them off. They came out well, didn’t they? I hope Mr Logan likes cake.’
‘He’ll love those,’ said Kate with absolute certainty. ‘But I think you’d better call him Jack, to avoid confusion with his father.’
As seven-thirty approached Kate wondered if Jack was in an equal state of tension. To avoid formality they were eating in the kitchen and the dress code was jeans and sweaters. Blissfully unaware of the emotion almost choking Kate, Jo laid the small kitchen table with a checked cloth, put red candles on white saucers, and then went into the sitting room to set out nuts and savoury biscuits. Kate did some deep breathing exercises, checked on her tomato sauce, fiddled with her hair, put some lipstick on, then tensed at the sound of a car and went into the hall.
‘That sounds like Jack’s beloved Jensen,’ she said, amazed that her voice sounded so normal.
‘Shall I go?’ asked Jo when the bell rang, and Kate nodded, rigid with stage fright as she watched Jo open the door to her tall father, who stood equally still as he set eyes on his daughter for the first time.
‘Hello,’ he said at last, and smiled down into the dark eyes surveying him with frank interest. ‘I’m Jack Logan.’
‘Hi, I’m Joanna.’ She smiled warmly. ‘You look like your father—I met him on Sunday with your gorgeous dog.’
‘Thank you, I’ll take that as a big compliment. I hope you like these.’ Jack handed her a brightly wrapped package, then held out an armful of pink and white lilies to Kate and kissed her very deliberately on the mouth. ‘You look very beautiful tonight.’
‘Thank you, these are lovely,’ Kate said breathlessly, her colour high. ‘Go into the sitting room with Jo while I put these in water. What did you get, love?’
‘Chocolates!’ said Jo with relish and turned to Jack. ‘Thank you—’ She hesitated. ‘Kate said I should call you Jack. Is that OK?’
‘Absolutely,’ he assured her and exchanged a look with Kate that spoke volumes.