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‘Clothes,’ Heather said, pulling a face. ‘Probably maternity ones before too long, I suppose. Um...teaching materials for the children? Do they have laptops? I didn’t bring mine, and it would be good to get them to do some online tests and figure out where they’re at with their learning.’
‘Can online quizzes test cunning and guile?’ Cal asked. ‘Because they’d probably ace those.’
Heather shook her head, a small smile on her face. ‘I get the feeling that they’re so used to acting up to get attention from people they’ve forgotten how to be any other way.’
‘And you’re going to remind them?’ Cal asked.
Heather nodded. ‘Well, me and you.’
Wait. What?
Cal put down his glass and frowned at her. ‘You do remember our deal here, Miss Reid, right?’
Heather rolled her eyes. ‘You really don’t have to call me that, you know. Especially when Mrs Peterson isn’t listening.’
‘Fine. Heather, then. Our deal...?’
‘I spend the next six weeks getting the children ready for whichever awful boarding school you’re shipping them off to, and you pay me lots of money and give me whatever I need to make it happen.’
‘I think you added the last bit yourself, but fine.’ Cal shook his head as her other words caught up with him. ‘And the school isn’t awful. In fact, Derryford Academy is one of the most highly regarded boarding schools in the country. Ross and I both went there.’
Heather muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, Explains a lot... under her breath. Cal ignored her.
‘And the fact it’s such a good school is why I need you here—to make sure their academics are up to scratch. They’re coming in late as it is. Ross wanted to send them as soon as they were old enough, but Janey insisted on keeping them at home, so...’ He shrugged.
There was a peculiar look on Heather’s face. It took Cal a moment to realise what it was. Pain.
‘Were you in love with my brother?’ he asked softly.
If she had been... Well, he could only imagine how painful this whole situation was for her. She’d claimed it was only a one-night stand, but people lied—he knew that well enough. And maybe she hadn’t wanted to admit to him, Ross’s brother, about a long-term affair.
Heather shot him a surprised look. ‘No! I told you, it was just one night. I barely even knew him.’
She sounded convincing, but liars often did. ‘You looked in actual agony when I mentioned his wife,’ he pointed out.
Another flash of pain spread across her face, contradicting her words. Cal was just starting to feel smug about his ability to see through her lies when she spoke again.
‘I wasn’t in love with Ross, Cal. I barely knew him. In fact, if I had known him I never would have gone back to his hotel room with him that night. If I’d known he was married...that he had children...’
She shuddered, and Cal realised he’d read her all wrong after all. He kept doing that with this woman. Normally he prided himself on being able to see through the lies and the covers people put up to mask their real feelings and actions. What made Heather so different?
Then he realised.
She wasn’t lying to him.
‘If I feel pain, it’s for his wife. For his kids. For the mistakes I made,’ Heather went on. ‘I should have asked more questions, been more certain, before I went back with him. That’s a mistake that’s going to haunt me for a long time.’
‘Because of the baby?’ Cal guessed.
He wanted to understand her, he realised. To figure out how she could be so open and honest about her feelings and actions when it seemed like no one else he’d ever known could.
Heather shook her head and a bright smile spread across her face, transforming the atmosphere in the room. ‘This baby is the best thing to come from that night. And, however many mistakes I made to get to this point, I know that a baby is never a mistake. He or she is a new life, a new chance for happiness—for them, and maybe even for me.’
Cal sat back in his chair, amazed. ‘You’re really not like other people, are you?’
Heather pulled a face. ‘I don’t know what you mean.’
