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But Christine’s words brought all her insecurities flaring into life. I’d hate to see you hurt, the housekeeper had said. Did that mean that she had witnessed this kind of scenario before, watching as a stream of secretaries were seduced by Jack and then cast aside when he’d tired of them?
No. Ashley’s lips tightened. She didn’t believe that—not for a minute. He wasn’t the kind of man to do something like that—some bone-deep instinct told her that, though she couldn’t have said why. People talked because they loved to create a scandal. And if they wanted to gossip because they suspected that a lowly secretary was having an affair with the rich and aristocratic Jack Marchant—then let them. Perhaps it might even do them both a favour. Mightn’t it be better if it all came out into the open—so that they wouldn’t have to keep behaving in this furtive way?
When he came back from London, she would talk to him about it. Tell him that she loved him but was uneasy about all this secrecy—and hope that he agreed with her.
He was due in at six and she prepared for his return in a high state of excitement. She spent ages drying her hair and she left it loose—so that it fell in a shining caramel curtain over her shoulders. Then she put on a simple cream woollen dress, which hugged at hip and breast. Her only adornment was her diamond ring—and its icy brilliance sparkled on her finger.
She heard his key in the door and rushed to meet him. Flakes of snow clung to his raven hair and his rugged face looked taut and strained, she thought. ‘Jack,’ she said softly.
‘Did you miss me?’ he growled.
‘Desperately.’
He gave a low and unsteady laugh. When he’d been away he had half wondered if he had been imagining the solace and the passion he had found in her arms. But one moment in her company made him realise that it was all true. ‘Then come here and kiss me.’
‘I thought you’d never ask.’
The kiss became protracted.
‘I’ve missed you, too,’ he groaned.
‘Show me how much,’ she whispered.
He took her upstairs and made love to her on the bed where she’d slept alone during his absence. But he seemed pent-up, she thought as he pulled the clothes from her body with fingers which were unsteady. And Ashley clung to him with a fierce fervour as he lowered his head and began to kiss her.
‘Was it a good trip?’ she questioned much later, when they had dressed again and were sitting on the rug in front of the library fire, drinking red wine and feeding each other peanuts.
For a moment Jack said nothing as he looked down into her wide-spaced green eyes. Was now the moment to tell her about the long and uncomfortable meeting he’d had with his lawyer—and all the obstacles which lay ahead of them? But at least he had discovered that there was a way out. A way forward. He pulled her into his arms. ‘It was a useful trip.’
‘Oh?’
He was going to have to tell her, Jack realised as he recognised that she had already proved her worth. Hadn’t her reluctance to pry into his life shown him that he could trust her—and that maybe now was the time to show her just how much? He smoothed the soft and newly washed hair away from her face as he came up against a cold wall of reluctance. Couldn’t it wait until morning—when he had spent one last and carefree night in her arms? Or was that just putting off the inevitable?
‘There’s something I need to talk to you about, Ashley—’
The heaviness of his tone made her feel a sudden quickening beat of misgiving but just as Ashley began to frame her question the doorbell rang and so she replaced it with another one.
‘Who on earth’s that at this time of night?’ she whispered.
‘I don’t know,’ he growled. ‘Let’s just ignore it.’
They sat in silence for a moment while they waited for the caller to go away, but after a short pause the ringing began again.
Uncomfortably, Ashley shifted on the mat. ‘It might be important.’
‘In that case, then why didn’t they telephone first?’
With echoing persistence, the doorbell sounded through the house and Ashley bit her lip. ‘We’ll have to answer it, Jack. They can see the lights on and must know we’re in. Look, I’ll go and take a message and get rid of them.’
He let her go and afterwards he thought that was the stupidest thing he had ever done. In bare feet, her journey through the house was quiet but he heard the heavy door creaking open and then the sound of low voices.
Now he heard footsteps—heavy and deliberate. And then the sight of Ashley, white-faced with confusion as she led in a man with tanned skin, a too-light suit and an expression of simmering fury.
Jack rose to his feet and his body tensed. ‘What the hell are you doing here?’
‘So here you are, Marchant—long time no see,’ interrupted the man, in a low American accent. ‘Seems like I’m interrupting something. Seems like the rumours I heard were all true. You should be careful if you start leading a double life, Jack—because word gets around. The internet’s made that kind of easy. Surely you know that?’ His mouth curved into an odd smile as he looked around. ‘Cosy little love nest you’ve got,’ he observed. ‘I knew you were rich, of course, but it’s always interesting to get confirmation.’
By the shafts of his thighs, Jack’s hands curled into tight fists. ‘What do you want?’
