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Lucianna saw the Toyota emerging from the drive to Jake’s house just as she signalled to turn into it, and recognised both it and its driver immediately. She saw Felicity toss her head and give her a taunting smile, as though…Her whole body stiffening, Lucianna could feel her face starting to burn with the same heat that was savaging her emotions like acid.
The drive to Jake’s house wasn’t excessively long but it was certainly long enough for Lucianna to recognise immediately and pinpoint the cause of the searing, tearing spasm of anguished fury that had seized her the moment she’d seen the other girl.
She was jealous…jealous of the fact that another girl, another woman, had been with Jake…far more jealous than she had ever been when that same girl had flirted so outrageously in front of her with John.
And she was jealous because…because she and Jake had been lovers? Because she…because she…?
Jake heard the gears on Lucianna’s car crashing as her car catapulted to an ungainly stop, its wheels spurting up gravel, its driver shooting from her seat, her eyes flashing, her small hands balled into tight fists as he ran down the steps towards her.
‘What was she doing here?’ Lucianna demanded furiously, not giving Jake time to reply before she added, ‘Not that I can’t guess.’
Lucianna could barely see Jake for the hot tears stinging her eyes—tears almost as hot as the bitter, corrosive jealousy flooding her body and fuelled by an aching sense of loss and emptiness, coupled with a sick, shocked feeling of agonising despair.
‘She came to leave a message for you. Apparently John’s coming back earlier than expected.’
‘She…? John’s coming back…?’
Lucianna’s skin turned white and then red, the hot lava flow of her jealousy chilled by the sudden recognition of the appalling way she was behaving, of the feeling she was in danger of betraying, but Jake, seeing that rapid change of colour and the consternation that darkened her eyes, immediately leapt to the conclusion that they were caused by a sense of fear and guilt.
‘Come inside,’ he instructed Lucianna tersely. ‘We need to talk and we can’t do so out here.’
‘I want—’ Lucianna began, but Jake overruled her, opening the door and telling her harshly,
‘Oh, I can well imagine what you want, Lucianna, but I’m afraid it just isn’t possible for me to give it to you, so…’
He heard her gasp quite clearly over the three yards or so that separated them but luckily, from Lucianna’s point of view, she managed to drop her eyelids in defensive protection before he could see the tortured misery in her eyes.
She wanted to tell him that he couldn’t be more wrong and that his cruelty was completely unnecessary. She had not come here intending to tell him that she loved him nor to beg him to love her in return. She had too much pride for that, even if…And if he thought for one moment that just because last night…that she might want…that she was here…
‘You were the one who wanted to see me,’ she managed to remind him as she followed him reluctantly into the house, not needing any guidance or direction to turn off the elegant rectangular hallway—with its pretty Regency decor and the marble busts of Jake’s ancestors which had been commissioned by his great-great-grandfather adorning the shell-backed niches in which they were sited—into the small library which was Jake’s favourite room.
For once Lucianna did not sniff the air of the room appreciatively, breathing in the scent of old leather and wood, neither did she pause to admire the wonderfully crafted mahogany furniture as she drew in the ambience of the room and briefly envied Jake such a wonderful home.
‘What exactly did you want to see me about?’ she demanded instead, deliberately avoiding looking at Jake as she asked the question to which she suspected she already knew the answer.
Jake, it seemed, was equally unimpressed.
‘I shouldn’t have thought you’d need to ask. Do you really need to ask?’ he challenged her tersely. ‘Last night—’
‘Last night was nothing,’ Lucianna interrupted him hurriedly, still avoiding looking at him and so missing the look of stark pain that crossed his face as he listened to her.
‘Nothing to you, perhaps,’ he agreed quickly once he had himself back under control.
‘And nothing to you either,’ Lucianna cried out, unable to hold back the words—words which Jake incorrectly interpreted as a plea from her to be reassured that it had not meant anything to him, that he was not going to embarrass her with his unwanted protestations of love.
And so, bowing his head, he continued brusquely, ‘Nothing to either of us, maybe, but to others…I think it might be a wise and sensible course of action if what happened between us last night remained exactly that—between us…’
Now Lucianna did look at him.
‘You mean you don’t want anyone to know?’ she demanded scornfully.
‘Do you?’ Jake argued back angrily, and then pushed his fingers into his hair. ‘It isn’t a matter of what I might or might not want people to know, Lucianna. It’s you I’m thinking of. Your John will soon be home and the last thing he’s going to want to hear is that you…I’m telling you this for your own sake and not…
‘After all, the whole point of everything you’ve done…we’ve done,’ Jake told her doggedly, ‘has been to help your relationship with John…’
‘Is that why you took me to bed and made love to me?’ Lucianna cried, unable to endure any more. ‘Because it would help me to make John love me?
