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Her fingers tentatively stroked down the sensitive skin of her throat. She’d have to seriously think about taking better care of her voice, for one thing. That aside, her most pressing thought right now was Jake. Where on earth had he got to? Was he still mad at her for deserting him so abruptly this morning?
It stunned her to realise that she was in love with him. She hadn’t been in the market for a relationship and hadn’t intended to be for a very long time. But then she’d never dreamed fate would bring a man like Jake into her life. A man who one minute wanted her as much as he wanted to take his next breath and the next…
Her insides knotted anxiously, and because the feeling so unsettled her she jumped up and went in search of some window cleaner and a cloth and started to clean the windows.
‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’
Caitlin nearly fell off the chair she was precariously balanced on. Even with its aid, the glass corners of the window frame were particularly tricky to get to. But it was hard to believe she’d been so absorbed that she’d somehow blotted out the sound of Jake’s key in the door and had therefore been unprepared for his appearance.
She turned to observe him. ‘What does it look like I’m doing?’
‘You’d better get down from there before you break your neck!’
Before she could react Jake had moved across to her and caught her by the waist. Then he unceremoniously hoisted her off the chair. Caitlin felt her face flame red.
‘Stop treating me like a child, will you? I’m perfectly capable of cleaning a few windows without supervision.’
‘That might be the case, but who in hell asked you to clean the windows in the first place? I hire someone from a cleaning firm to do that. I hired you to sing in a band, not become my domestic.’
Jake glanced impatiently around him and Caitlin saw him register the spotless parquet floor, the plumped-up cushions on his easy chairs and futon, the shining glass on his framed prints. Aware that his hands still lingered at the sides of her waist, she wished her heart wouldn’t beat quite so fast—because his touch was already making her feel weak.
‘I can’t help it’ She shrugged, ‘I always clean when I get tense. I can’t stand inactivity…not having something to do.’ Her teeth clamped down on her lip.
‘I see.’
Beneath his impenetrable glare, she felt like a small child being told off by her parent.
Because she was nervous, she remarked thoughtlessly, ‘By the way, I notice that you don’t have many personal photos around?’
As soon as the words were out Caitlin wanted the floor to open up and swallow her.
Jake’s expression was immediately dismayed. ‘If by “personal photos” you mean of family, then you know very well that I don’t have any.’
Her insides turned over. ‘I…I’m so sorry I said that. I was just nervous. But personal photos could equally mean friends. Didn’t you have any close pals when you were young?’
When he didn’t immediately comment, she felt as if the hole she’d just dug herself had got even deeper.
‘You mean at the children’s home? Not really.’
His tone was chillingly matter-of-fact. Caitlin knew she should steer the conversation away from his heartbreaking childhood as quickly as possible, but care and concern for him made her not want to shy away from it.
‘Do you mind if I ask how you came to grow up in a children’s home, Jake?’
‘My mother gave me up because she was just sixteen when she fell pregnant with me and in her wisdom decided to have me adopted. Only I wasn’t adopted. I was hard to place because I was born with a heart murmur. The people at the children’s home told me that most interested adoptive parents were wary of taking on a sick baby.’ Shrugging, he shaped his lips into a sardonic smile. ‘Not that I minded…it was their loss. As I grew older I realised what an asset it was to be left alone by people. I learned to enjoy my own company, to pursue my own interests without interference.’
Caitlin stared, trying hard to assimilate everything she’d heard. ‘And what about the heart murmur? Do you still see a doctor or specialist?’
