Trust in Summer Madness
Carole Mortimer

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

‘HEY, Sian, have you heard the news—Jarrett King is coming back!’ Ginny cried excitedly as she bounded back into the office, her short dark hair framing her gaminely attractive face, her eyes a deep smoky blue, her lashes long and dark.

Jarrett King is coming back… Sian had waited three years to hear those words, and now it was too late!

Her hands shook as she continued to file the cards away under the name of the animal’s owner, morning surgery in this busy veterinary surgery over half an hour ago; the daily ritual of putting the cards back in the files was part of her job as receptionist and secretary.

‘Sian, did you hear what I said?’ Ginny had just come back from an early lunch, an afternoon of operations as her brother, Chris Newman’s, assistant ahead of her. ‘I said—’

‘I heard you.’ Sian stood up to put the drawer back in its slot before going on to take out the next drawer. ‘Someone has been in these files again,’ she muttered, taking a P card out of the R section and refiling it.

‘Probably Chris,’ his sister dismissed, sitting on the edge of Sian’s desk in the reception area. ‘He’s hopelessly untidy. Mum’s in despair of him at home.’

Sian knew all about Chris’s untidiness, and of Sara’s constant complaining about it, and she preferred to think of it as forgetfulness. Chris was a dedicated vet, often preoccupied, and hopeless when it came to the paperwork involved. Luckily Sian had been able to take away most of the pressure of that since coming to work for him two years ago.

Ginny looked put out. ‘Aren’t you in the least interested in the fact that Jarrett King is coming to Swannell?’

Again that slight trembling of her hand at the mention of his name, even after all this time. ‘Should I be?’ Sian asked coolly, marvelling at the way she could remain so composed.

But with her flaming red hair and fiery hazel eyes she was the level-headed one of her family, the one who thought with logic and not emotions, and she knew that just because Jarrett was coming back here it didn’t follow that she would see him. The opposite, she would, have thought!

Sian moved about the office with all the grace of a young gazelle, her legs long and shapely, her body curved in all the right places for her gender, but slenderly so, the brown tailored skirt and fitted cream blouse giving her a look of cool efficiency.

‘I would have thought so,’ Ginny continued stubbornly.

Sian’s dark brown brows rose, her lashes the same naturally dark colour. ‘I don’t understand your interest in the man, Ginny,’ she mocked gently. ‘He’d moved from Swannell before you even came to live here.’

‘Everyone knows of Jarrett King,’ the other girl scorned; she was a girl of Sian’s own age, twenty-two, and had been happily married to the other vet in the practice, Martin Scott, for the last eighteen months.

And Ginny was right, everyone did know of Jarrett King. At least, in Swannell they did. He was the local man made good, the one who had left this small town to control a multi-million-pound building empire in America, taking over from his uncle. For years Jarrett had run the English side of the business, but he had soon put his own personalised stamp on the whole of the King building empire. Yes, everyone knew Jarrett King in Swannell, despite the fact that he had only lived here for five years before leaving, and none better than her.

‘And I heard that you more than knew him once,’ Ginny added slyly.

Sian’s breathing seemed to stop—and then start again. ‘Really?’ she enquired coolly. ‘I won’t ask which gossip told you that.’

‘And I won’t tell you! Oh, Sian, I didn’t mean to be bitchy,’ Ginny was genuinely contrite, the two of them had a good friendship, ‘but I thought you would show more interest than this.’

Sian smiled. ‘I’m sorry to disappoint you, love, but Jarrett King’s comings and goings to Swannell don’t interest me in the least.’

‘He hasn’t been here for three years—you make it sound as if he flits back and forth from America all the time!’

Sian shrugged. ‘I doubt he’ll stay long this time.’

‘I heard—’

‘Ginny, for God’s sake get in here!’ Chris stood agitatedly in the doorway to the surgery. ‘I’ve been waiting for you for over ten minutes. I’d like to get started—if you wouldn’t mind?’ he finished with biting sarcasm.

‘I don’t mind at all, brother dear,’ Ginny smiled sweetly.

‘Well?’ he prompted impatiently as she made no effort to join him.

Ginny looked unimpressed with his anger. ‘I’ll be with you in a moment.’

He closed the door, muttering something about the unreliability of working with one’s family.

Ginny grinned. ‘He knows I’m a damned good assistant.’

‘Modest too,’ teased Sian, relieved to have the pressure off her.

Ginny slid off the desk-top. ‘I suppose I’d better go and help him, he might do the unexpected and get nasty if he’s kept waiting any longer.’

‘That didn’t seem to bother you a few seconds ago,’ Sian laughed, feeling on safer ground now that they were no longer talking about Jarrett.

Ginny grimaced. ‘I lived with him for twenty years, and he doesn’t frighten me. He could have paid you a bit more attention, though. You are engaged.’

‘We’re also at work,’ Sian reminded her dryly.

‘So what, Martin often sneaks me a kiss.’ Ginny walked to the door. ‘But not Chris. I don’t know what you see in him.’ She frowned.

Sian laughed. ‘That’s because you’re his sister.’

‘Maybe,’ Ginny smiled, going through to the surgery.

As soon as she could Sian tidied up her desk and left for the afternoon, locking the door behind her. The afternoon was hers until four, when she came back for the evening surgery.

At least, it should have been. But she had the shopping for lunch to do, had to get home in time to cook the meal for her father and sister. They always had a hot meal at lunchtime; her own job at the surgery and her sister’s job as a hairdresser meant it wasn’t practical to cook in the evenings, and they just grabbed a snack when they got in.

But today she didn’t shop with her usual speed, finding herself thinking of Jarrett in spite of herself. Could he really be coming back to Swannell? Could he already be back? After three years it didn’t seem very likely, but even so she was wary as she walked around the shops, thinking she was going to walk into him around every street corner.

Swannell was a small rural town, and Sian’s family were known to most people; she acknowledged several people as she bought the meat for lunch. She received curious looks in return to her open smile, and it began to dawn on her that Ginny could actually be right about Jarrett’s return. Most people in this town knew of her association with Jarrett in the past, and they would be curious as to her reaction to his return now. Thank goodness she had been pre-warned by Ginny!

Her smile was bright and assured as she made her way to the Victorian-style house that was the home of her father, her sister and herself, her mother having died several years ago. The yellow Mini in the driveway told her that Bethany was already at home.

There was no sign of her sister in the kitchen, but the radio could be heard playing upstairs. Sian began to unpack her shopping, putting on the grill to cook the steak. Bethany would soon come down when she smelt the food cooking.

Sian’s movements were automatic, her thoughts disturbed. If Jarrett really were coming back, and it looked as if he was, then it was inevitable that they should meet at some time; the town was hardly big enough for them to ignore each other. How was she going to stand that? She was the calm, practical one, and yet about Jarrett she had certainly never been either of those things.

But she was an engaged lady now, with a solitaire diamond ring on her left hand that said her heart and loyalty belonged to Chris. The mad, impetuous feelings she had once felt for Jarrett were a thing of the past, belonged to her childhood. As he would find out if he ever tried to remind her of them.

But she had no reason to suppose Jarrett would even remember her; she was probably one of the women he would rather forget, her stubbornness where he was concerned meaning that for once Jarrett hadn’t had things completely his own way. And three years was a long time, a very long time.

‘Hi,’ her sister came into the kitchen, throwing her apple-core into the bin. ‘I couldn’t wait,’ she grimaced at Sian’s disapproving look, and sat down at the kitchen table, wearing denims and a loose blouse, her usual attire for working in the hairdressing salon. With her baby-blonde curls and placid blue eyes Bethany was the fiery one of the family; their father often teased them about their mixed-up natures.

‘Lay the table,’ Sian instructed her sister, wondering how Bethany ever managed to keep her slender figure with the amount of food she ate.

With a shrug Bethany did as requested. ‘Hey, guess what I heard today?’ Her expression suddenly brightened. ‘Guess who’s coming back to town?’

‘Jarrett King,’ Sian answered easily, more than ever glad Ginny had pre-warned her. Bethany had known all about Jarrett and herself in the past, and she felt relieved to be able to remain unruffled in front of her sister.

Bethany frowned her disappointment. ‘How did you know?’

‘News travels fast in a place this size,’ Sian shrugged.

‘And I thought I had a hot piece of gossip!’

‘Don’t worry,’ she smiled. ‘You probably have. Ginny just got in first.’

‘She always does,’ Bethany said without rancour. ‘Still,’ her expression brightened again, ‘isn’t it exciting about Jarrett coming back?’

Exciting? That was the last thing Sian would have called it! Three years, three years he had been away, and he had to come back now. Not next year or the year after that, when it wouldn’t have mattered, but now.

‘As I remember it, you never liked him,’ she reminded her young sister.

Bethany flushed. ‘I was a child three years ago, only sixteen—’

‘You thought you were very grown up!’

‘Well, I wasn’t,’ she snapped. ‘Otherwise I would have known what a good-looking man Jarrett is.’

‘You’ve seen him!’ Sian’s voice was sharp, although as she was turned towards the cooker Bethany couldn’t possibly have seen the way her face had paled.

‘Not yet. But I’m going to. I’ll make sure of it,’ her sister said determinedly.

‘Bethany!’ Sian turned now, her eyes wide with disapproval.

‘Would you mind?’ Bethany arched blonde brows questioningly.

‘How do you know he’s good-looking?’ Sian didn’t answer the question, trying to assimilate in her mind the picture of Bethany and Jarrett together. She couldn’t see it at all!

‘Easy,’ her sister smiled. ‘I vaguely remember him. And I read this magazine article about him a few months ago.’

Sian frowned. ‘You never mentioned it.’

‘No, well … To tell you the truth, Sian, I wasn’t sure you would want to know. It was only a small article, and mainly about the company. But there was a lovely photograph of Jarrett along with it.’

Sian moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue. ‘How—how did he look?’

‘Gorgeous!’ Bethany grinned dreamily. ‘Really – gorgeous,’ she repeated enthusiastically. ‘His hair has been bleached blonder by the sun, and he has a deep, deep tan. It looks marvellous against his luminous green eyes. As for his body … !’

‘Bethany!’ Sian was deeply shocked by the desire in her sister’s face, especially for a man she knew only too intimately herself.

‘Well, he was wearing this pair of dark green swimming trunks—just,’ Bethany added pointedly. ‘And as it was a full-length photograph it didn’t leave much to the imagination.’

Sian remembered that body only too well, knew what magic it could induce when you least expected it. She had known that seduction herself, and she feared for her impressionably young sister. At nineteen Bethany was still very immature in some ways. Sian knew that that was partly her fault, that she had been over-protective of her sister since their mother died, but she knew that Bethany was much too naïve to cope with the complexities of a man like Jarrett. No one woman was experienced or sophisticated enough to cope with that.

‘He’s too old for you, Bethany,’ she said abruptly.

‘Only thirty-six.’ She gave Sian a sideways glance. ‘You’re only three years older than me, and you didn’t think he was too old for you.’

To explain to Bethany that Jarrett had been the reason for her own growing-up would be to reveal too much. ‘Well, I can tell you now that Daddy won’t approve. Especially if he hears the way you’ve been talking about him!’

‘You aren’t going to tell him?’ her sister groaned. ‘I haven’t even met Jarrett yet. At least give me a chance.’

Sian very much doubted that Jarrett would be interested in Bethany; youth and naïveté were something he had sworn to stay away from when he had walked out on nineteen-year-old Sian. In many ways Bethany was even more immature than she had been three years ago, and surely wouldn’t appeal to a man as jaded as Jarrett.

He sounded as if he had changed little, as if he had remained as lithe and attractive as ever. The local girls of Swannell wouldn’t know what had hit them when he came back to town!

Bethany’s thoughts seemed to be running along the same lines. ‘Of course I’ll have to get in first,’ she frowned. ‘I wonder where he’ll stay?’

Sian served the salad and steak for lunch, putting the hot potatoes in a vegetable bowl in the centre of the table, expecting her father at any moment. He always arrived home from his accountancy office at exactly one-thirty, and she always had his lunch waiting for him.

She shrugged. ‘The Swan,’ she named the local hotel and public house. ‘It’s the only place he can stay.’ Swannell didn’t boast more than the one hotel, although the one they had was of a good quality. The way Jarrett had been living the last three years it would need to be to get his patronage!

‘Mm, I suppose so.’ Bethany chewed thoughtfully on her bottom lip.

Sian sighed. ‘Did it ever occur to you that he might be bringing his wife with him?’

‘Wife?’ Her sister blinked her surprise. ‘But he isn’t married—is he?’ she added uncertainly.

‘How would I know?’ Sian’s tone was tight.

‘Well, I—I just thought you might.’ Bethany frowned.

‘Oh, damn! You don’t think he is, do you?’

‘I have no idea.’

‘Aren’t you interested?’

Interested? In whether or not Jarrett had a wife? Once upon a time Sian would have been very interested. But not any more. Jarrett could have had a dozen wives the last three years—and with his sex drive that was possible!—and she wouldn’t give a damn. She was engaged to Chris, wasn’t interested in Jarrett’s movements any more.

‘No,’ she answered flatly.

‘Well, I would have thought in the circumstances—’

‘Serve the steaks, Bethany,’ she interrupted abruptly. ‘I just heard Daddy come in.’

Their father’s arrival home was a welcome interruption to what was turning out to be a painful conversation, and her smile was bright and welcoming as he came into the kitchen. He was a man in his late fifties, his hair still thick, but iron-grey, his eyes the same deep blue as Bethany’s, his frame leaner than it used to be owing to a heart attack several years ago, the doctor ordering him to lose weight at the time, weight he had never regained. Sian took after her mother, the mother who had died while both girls were still at school.

‘What a welcome sight for any man!’ her father greeted jovially, sitting down at the table.

‘Steak and salad?’ Sian derided.

His smile deepened. ‘No, my two beautiful daughters waiting for me when I get home. Although no one would think you were sisters. I think I’d blame you on the milk man, Bethany, if you didn’t look exactly like my mother.’

It was a long-standing family joke about the difference between the two sisters, Bethany being tiny and explosive, Sian tall and cool, but they all laughed together nonetheless.

together. Yes, they were a very ‘together’ family, and it was something Sian had come to treasure over the years. She had taken care of her father and Bethany since she was fourteen years old, and when she and Chris married they intended to continue living here. Chris had easily fallen in with the idea of staying in the house that was more than big enough for all of them without them tripping over each other every minute of the day.

‘Sian’s more likely to be the result of the milkman,’ Bethany teased. ‘He has red hair!’

‘So he does,’ their father chuckled.

Sian was used to this playful teasing, but knew that with her red hair and hazel eyes she looked exactly like her mother.

As usual lunch was a lighthearted affair, Jarrett King seemingly forgotten by Bethany for a few minutes. Their father left to return to his office at two o’clock, and Bethany disappeared upstairs once they had done the washing-up together.

Sian followed her up a few minutes later, waiting until her sister had come off the telephone before talking to her. ‘Shouldn’t you be getting back?’ She frowned at the chaos that was her sister’s bedroom, clothes and magazines strewn everywhere.

‘Mm.’ Bethany had a self-satisfied smile on her face, unconcerned with the mess about her. ‘I just checked at the Swan. Jarrett’s due there any day now.’

Sian’s heart gave an unexpected lurch. So soon! Heavens, he could even turn up today. Her hunted feeling earlier while she shopped no longer seemed so far-fetched.

‘Bethany, it’s two-fifteen,’ she reminded her sharply.

‘So Gloria will have a moan at me for being late.’ Her sister seemed unworried. ‘She knows I’m the best stylist she has.’

‘Ex-stylist, if you don’t stop messing her about,’ Sian warned. ‘You were late this morning too.’

‘I needed those denims. And they weren’t ironed.’

‘I’ve already told you I haven’t had time to do the ironing yet—’

‘Sian, don’t you ever regret being a slave to Daddy and me?’ Bethany frowned. ‘You’ve been taking care of us for the last eight years, and you never moan or complain.’

Sian’s smile was tight. ‘I didn’t realise I was a slave, I thought I did it because we’re family.’

Bethany stood up to hug her. ‘We are,’ she smiled. ‘But don’t you ever feel like a break? Don’t you ever want to just say “to hell with you” and just leave?’

‘When you were an audacious little brat of thirteen I felt like it a lot of times,’ Sian laughed as Bethany blushed. ‘But I’ve never really considered leaving you and Daddy.’ She was suddenly serious. ‘Mummy—well, she expected me to take care of you both.’

‘But you were only fourteen yourself. Didn’t you—’

‘Bethany,’ she interrupted patiently, ‘Gloria may be very forbearing where you’re concerned—and that may be because you’re her best stylist,’ she mocked gently. ‘But—’

‘Who does your hair for you!’

‘You do,’ Sian laughed as her sister rose to her bait. ‘But even Gloria has her breaking point. You’re going to be at least half an hour late already.’

Bethany grimaced. ‘And I have Mrs Jones’s blue rinse to do,’ she groaned.

‘So much for a client’s secrets!’

Her sister laughed. ‘Careful, or I’ll tell everyone about that grey hair I found amongst all that red last week!’

‘It was blonde,’ Sian pretended indignation.

‘If you say so,’ Bethany taunted. ‘As you pulled it out we’ll never know—until you get two grown back in its place, that is.’

‘Get back to work!’ Sian laughed.

‘I’m going, I’m going,’ Bethany picked up a magazine and handed it to Sian. ‘I found that magazine with the article about Jarrett in,’ and she hurriedly left the room, running down the stairs, and the roar of the Mini’s engine soon told Sian her sister was on her way back into town.

She held the magazine in her hands for long timeless minutes without looking at it. She was afraid to look at it! And she was afraid of Bethany’s single-minded interest in Jarrett; she knew better than anyone how he could hurt her young sister with his cruelty and indifference to anyone’s wishes but his own.

Finally she had to look at the magazine article; she couldn’t stop herself any longer, her breath catching in her throat at the familiar figure in the photograph, the long muscled legs, the lean thighs only just covered by the green bathing trunks, the taut stomach and powerful chest, the whole of his body deeply tanned, his chest covered with a fine sheen of dark blond hair. Lastly she looked at his face—a face little changed, the jaw still as determined, his mouth still as forceful, sensually so, his nose long and hawkish, jutting out below deeply green eyes surrounded by thick dark lashes, his brows the same dark blond, a startling contrast to the sun-bleached fairness of his hair. Bethany was right, Jarrett was devastating, although she wondered at the cynicism in his eyes, the lines of decadence beside his nose and mouth. He obviously hadn’t spent the last three years longing for Swannell—or anyone in it.

She read the article with the picture, of how his uncle had died several months ago and he was now in complete control of the King Construction Company, of how he intended extending the company more in England.

A sudden panicky thought entered Sian’s mind. Suppose he was coming to Swannell with that purpose in mind? Suppose—No, the King office in Swannell had long since closed up; Jarrett’s move to America had forced that decison. He must just be coming here out of curiosity’s sake, to see the town that had once been his home, the town that had been his stepping-stone to the multi-millionaire he now was.

She forced herself to read the rest of the article, getting lost in the maze of assets that King Construction had, although the cryptic comment at the end of the article puzzled her somewhat. Obviously it was one of those ‘in’ magazines, the type that thought you already knew the life history of its victim, and the mention of some woman called Arlette meant nothing to her. ‘And while the more than attractive Mr King is in his native England, the lonely Arlette will be cooling her heels in New York as she waits for his return. If I were Mr King I would want the lovely Arlette with me!’ came the reporter’s personal comment.

Arlette. She didn’t need to be told that this was the latest woman in Jarrett’s life; it was all too obvious. She would be beautiful, of course, would have the sophistication and raw sensuality that he liked. God, that he demanded!

Sian threw the magazine down on the bed in disgust, going determinedly down the stairs. She had wasted enough time thinking about Jarrett for one day, she doubted he would waste a minute of his valuable time thinking of the naïve teenager he had left behind him without a qualm.

It was already after three o’clock, she would have to hurry if she was to do the housework before she went back to the surgery. She hated being rushed, and inwardly blamed Jarrett King for upsetting her routine. Everyone in Swannell knew he had made a success of his life—did he have to come back and flaunt it!

She arrived back at the surgery with only a minute to spare, smiling at Chris as he came out to speak to her. He was a very handsome man, with unruly dark curls that he kept short, laughing blue eyes that could be stormy with emotion, with a tall athletic body, and he enjoyed all sports; he and Sian often challenged each other to a game of tennis—which she usually lost.

Chris and his family had come to Swannell almost three years ago, and Chris had been in partnership with Martin Cross for most of that time. Their veterinary practice was very successful.

It had been Chris’s love and gentleness with the animals he treated that had first attracted her to him, although it had taken him some time to persuade her to even go out with him. Now she wore his ring, her admiration for him having turned to love during the year they had been dating.

He bent to kiss her lightly on the lips, the door still firmly locked against the public. ‘Have a good afternoon, love?’

‘A bit hectic’ She put all thought of Jarrett King from her mind, feeling it was disloyal to Chris to even think of another relationship she had had in the past when she was engaged to marry him. ‘And you?’ she smiled.

‘Fine,’ he nodded, sitting on the edge of her desk. ‘Feel like going out to dinner tonight?’

Her brows rose. ‘What are we celebrating?’

‘Nothing,’ he smiled, looking boyish despite his thirty years. Sian had to resist the impulse to smooth back the unruly lock of dark hair from his forehead. ‘You’re looking beautiful, it’s a lovely day, and I think we can afford to go out for one meal,’ he teased.

She didn’t dispute that fact, knew they had enough saved for several meals if they wanted them. They had been saving hard lately, allowing little for luxuries, perhaps a nice meal out was what they needed. ‘I’d like that,’ she agreed, smiling ruefully as the doorbell rang. ‘Your first customer.’ She stood up to unlock the door.

He grimaced, kissing her lightly on the mouth once again. ‘Let’s hope it’s a nice quiet hamster to start with. They can bring the snakes in later!’

Sian was laughing as she opened the door. Several weeks ago the local zoo had made an urgent call to Chris about one of their reptiles, and when he got there he found it was a boa constrictor! She had a feeling he regretted being on call to the zoo after that visit.

The next couple of hours passed quickly, with a constant stream of cats and dogs and rabbits needing Chris and Martin’s expert attention—but no snakes, thank goodness! For Sian her time at work always passed with high speed, mainly because no two days were the same and because she enjoyed what she was doing.

It was seven-thirty before she and Chris were ready to leave, Chris driving to her home so that she could change her clothes for going out. Chris came into the house with her, and went straight into the lounge to sit with her father, the two men getting along with an easy familiarity.

Bethany was on the telephone when Sian reached the top of the stairs, and she gave Sian a startled look before ringing off and following Sian into her bedroom. ‘You’re early,’ she frowned.

‘It’s almost eight,’ she shrugged.

‘Oh,’ her sister gave a light laugh, ‘in that case you’re late. I—er—Are you staying in this evening?’

‘No, as a matter of fact I’m going out.’ Sian gave Bethany a sharp look. ‘You aren’t bringing Jeremy here again, are you?’ she frowned. ‘You know Daddy can’t stand him.’

‘Jeremy and I broke up ages ago,’ her sister dismissed impatiently. ‘Well, at least a week ago,’ she amended ruefully. ‘No, I just wondered because I’m going out too.’

‘And?’

‘I—Could I borrow your black blouse?’ Bethany asked breathlessly. ‘It looks really good with my grey velvet trousers. You aren’t going to wear it, are you?’ she added hopefully.

‘No.’ Sian laughingly threw the blouse to her sister. ‘Thank goodness I’m taller than you and so none of my dresses fit you, otherwise you’d be borrowing all of my clothes!’

Bethany stood up to leave, looking a little hurt. ‘You can borrow anything of mine you want.’

‘Not tonight,’ she refused, her sister’s taste in fashion tending to be a little too young for her, her own style tending to be smart and well-tailored rather than strictly fashionable. ‘Have a good time,’ and she hurried to use the bathroom first.

‘You too,’ Bethany said absently.

Sian had no doubt about enjoying herself. Chris was always good company, and the food at the Raven restaurant was excellent without being too much of a strain on the pocket. It was a quietly intimate restaurant, only holding about forty people, exactly the sort of place to go to unwind after a busy day.

‘I’m glad I suggested this,’ Chris said as they waited for their meal to be served. He was obviously starting to relax now, his hand holding hers across the width of the table.

‘So am I,’ she smiled at him warmly, wondering how she could have been so lucky as to have a man as gentle and considerate as Chris fall in love with her. He looked so handsome in the navy blue suit and light blue shirt, his skin lightly tanned, and she knew that many women would envy her escort.

But for the moment her attention was riveted on the man standing at the doorway. And well it might! Jarrett hadn’t changed at all, was still a powerful presence, an aura of arrogance and assurance emanating from him, even the casualness of his clothes, the black fitted trousers and dark green shirt making him stand out as a man alone.

But he was far from alone! Standing at his side, looking very beautiful, was Bethany!

Sian’s eyes widened as she saw the way her sister clung to Jarrett’s arm, the way she gazed up at him with adoring eyes, and she knew Jarrett had made a conquest. An easy one, if Bethany’s bemused expression was anything to go by.

Finally she forced herself to look back at Jarrett, and felt a jolt go through her body as she found green eyes fixed on her in total recognition. For timeless seconds their gazes locked as they stared at each other, Sian seeing the way Jarrett’s eyes darkened in colour, his mouth curving into a smile, an intimately enticing smile that three years ago would have had her running impetuously into his waiting arms.

But that was three years ago; she had Chris now! With a cool nod of recognition, she deliberately broke her gaze from Jarrett’s and turned away; the mystery of how Bethany came to be with Jarrett when this afternoon she hadn’t so much as spoken to him could be answered by her sister later. But she had a feeling her sister wasn’t going to come out of it favourably.

‘Chris, I—’

‘Sian, how are you?’

Not even his voice had changed, still deep and slightly husky, completely confident, nothing hesitant about this man at all.

She turned slowly, willing herself to meet Jarrett’s gaze unflinchingly. He towered over their table, lean and attractive, deep lines of experience etched into his face, a wariness to his eyes as he looked steadily down at her.

She swallowed hard, her hand unconsciously clutching tighter to Chris’s, although she was unaware of his sharp look. ‘I’m well, thank you, Jarrett.’ Her voice came out cool and composed—much to her surprise. This was all like some horrendous dream, and she was surprised she could talk at all.

‘Good,’ he said with satisfaction. ‘You’ve grown into a beautiful woman, Sian,’ he added huskily before turning to Chris. ‘I’m pleased to meet you, Mr … ?’ he looked enquiringly at the other man.

Chris stood up. ‘Newman, Christopher Newman,’ he supplied, politely shaking the other man’s extended hand, his expression a little wary as he eyed him curiously.

‘My fiancé,’ Sian put in pointedly—and then wondered why she needed to challenge Jarrett in this way. What possible interest could it be to him what Chris meant to her, or what part he played in her life?

‘Indeed?’ Jarrett drawled, the expression in his eyes hidden now, his lids hooded. ‘I had heard that you were engaged, Sian. When is the wedding?’

She paled at the look of fierce anger in his face, unable to answer him. She couldn’t have spoken if her life had depended on it, her tongue seeming cleaved to the roof of her mouth. She looked at Chris appealingly.

‘Next month,’ she heard him answer Jarrett. ‘Just four more weeks and Sian will be my wife,’ he added with satisfaction.

The anger in Jarrett’s eyes threatened to flare out of control. And Sian knew why. She had just four weeks to go before she and Chris married, when three years ago she should have married Jarrett!

CHAPTER TWO

THIS man should have been her husband, and if he hadn’t chosen to join his uncle in America when he did he probably would be. But would he? Jarrett looked as if he enjoyed the freedom and power his new wealth gave him, and if he looked a little jaded that was his business. Although she would take a guess at a woman being involved—there always had been!—possibly the Arlette the magazine had referred to so pointedly. Why hadn’t he brought the other woman with him?

Maybe, as with her, he preferred to leave the current woman in his life at home, to forget about her while he found someone else to amuse him. And it looked as if that ‘someone else’ was going to be Bethany!’

Her sister had been sixteen when Sian had been dating Jarrett, and at the time he had treated Bethany like a troublesome child. That hadn’t been surprising. Bethany had always wanted to tag along with him, never left them alone for a minute when they were in the house, and at thirty-three Jarrett had already been highly sensual, his passion surpassing any other man’s she had ever known. Bethany had cramped his style, but now it seemed she was old enough to be at the receiving end of that fiery desire that had so unnerved Sian three years ago. In those days, when she was alone with Jarrett, she hadn’t been able to control her response to him, and she now feared that mindless obsession for Bethany.

Not that her sister looked as if it frightened her; she was clinging unashamedly to his arm, small and kittenish, unaware of the leashed danger in the man standing at her side, at the devastation he could wreak in a woman’s life before he walked away without so much as a backward glance.

As he had with her! Oh, she had loved him so much then, would have done anything for him. But her unreserved love hadn’t been enough for him.

‘Darling?’

She looked almost dazedly at Chris, seeing his puzzled frown. ‘Sorry?’ she said jerkily.

‘Mr King was offering us his congratulations.’

‘Really?’ She turned to look at Jarrett, unable to read his reaction now. His expression was deliberately bland, the fierce anger gone.

It was an anger he had had no right to feel in the first place! She had waited for him to come back to her, had waited a long slow lifetime for him to come back, but he never had. He had no right to feel anything about the fact that she was marrying another man.

‘But of course,’ he drawled now. ‘Why don’t you join Bethany and me and we can have a celebration dinner on your behalf?’

‘That’s very—’

‘No!’ Sian’s sharp denial interrupted Chris, and she flushed as Jarrett’s eyes narrowed to hard green pebbles, not even daring to look at Chris for his reaction to her outburst. Poor Chris must be wondering what on earth was going on! ‘We’ve already started our meal,’ she added more calmly, indicating the half-eaten melon on their plates.

Jarrett shrugged. ‘You could easily transfer to our table. It would be no trouble, I’m sure.’ He made it sound as if he would make sure it wasn’t!

‘Can’t you see that they would rather be alone, Jarrett?’ Bethany cooed up at him. ‘They probably have plans for the wedding to discuss.’

Green eyes narrowed at this suggestion, and once again Sian was given the impression that the idea of her marriage to Chris displeased him.

‘We do have the reception to talk about,’ she confirmed firmly, undaunted by that displeasure. ‘And we wouldn’t want to bore you with the details.’

‘I’m sure I wouldn’t be bored.’ Jarrett’s voice was hard, his eyes challenging as he once more met her gaze. ‘I’ve had some practice at it myself,’ he added softly.

Colour heightened her cheeks before quickly fading again. ‘It can be a tiring business,’ she told him stiltedly. ‘Especially if it turns out to be unnecessary.’

What reply Jarrett would have made to that deliberate taunt she never knew. ‘Our table is ready, Jarrett,’ came Bethany’s timely interruption.

His mouth tightened, then he gave a slow nod. ‘Very well,’ he said slowly. ‘It was good to see you again, Sian. Newman,’ he nodded abrupt dismissal of the other man.

Chris slowly sat down as the other couple moved to their table across the room, Bethany’s face animated as she spoke to the preoccupied man sitting across from her. ‘So that’s Jarrett King,’ he muttered.

Sian’s eyes widened at the open dislike in her fiancé’s voice. ‘Yes, that’s Jarrett,’ she said in a puzzled voice, wondering at Chris’s attitude. Apart from that curt departure Jarrett had been very polite. And yet Chris seemed to dislike him on sight, an unusual reaction for him. Chris seemed to get along with everyone usually. Obviously not Jarrett.

‘He isn’t what I expected at all,’ he mumbled, a frown to his dark blue eyes.

‘Expected?’ she echoed sharply.

He shrugged. ‘Everyone in Swannell has heard of the famous Jarrett King.’ He glanced over at the other couple. ‘I’m not sure Bethany should be with a man like him. I’ve heard things about Jarrett King that make him highly unsuitable as a companion for Bethany.’

Sian had stiffened now, for some reason resenting the same criticism she herself had directed at him mentally. ‘Really?’

‘She’s too young to handle a piranha like him—’

‘I think that’s going a little too far, Chris,’ she protested heatedly.

His eyes narrowed, his mouth tight. ‘Why are you defending the man?’

She shook her head. ‘I’m not defending him—’

‘No?’ he bit out angrily. ‘It sounds very much that way to me.’ He eyed her moodily.

She was very much aware of Bethany and Jarrett as they sat across the room from them, of Bethany’s sparkling charm and Jarrett’s lazy humour, almost as if Bethany’s efforts to charm him amused rather than attracted him.

Her mouth was tight as she turned back to Chris. ‘I agree with you that he is totally unsuitable for Bethany,’ her tone was abrupt, ‘but I don’t agree that he’s a piranha.’

His eyes flashed deeply. ‘Not even after the way he walked out on you?’ he rasped.

All the colour drained from Sian’s face, leaving her eyes looking huge and haunted. ‘What do you know about that?’ she choked, crumbling the bread roll on her plate to destruction.

Chris’s mouth twisted. ‘Only what the people in this town felt I should know when we became engaged.’

She swallowed hard, having no idea he had been told the gossip about her. ‘Then perhaps they told you wrong!’

‘He left with another woman, didn’t he?’ Chris scorned.

‘Yes.’ Her voice was pained at the truth of that.

‘Let’s eat, Sian,’ he muttered as their main course arrived. ‘This is hardly the place for this discussion.’

She didn’t think anywhere would be the right place for discussing what was basically a private matter between herself and Jarrett. He had left with Nina Marshall, yes, but only because he found more pleasure in being with her than with Sian.

All enjoyment in the meal had gone for her. All she was aware of was Chris’s brooding anger, and Jarrett and Bethany’s obvious enjoyment in each other’s company, the sound of Jarrett’s husky laughter beginning to grate on her nerves by the time they got to the coffee stage of their meal, and she refused any of the strong brew, as did Chris.

‘Shall we go?’ he asked tersely.

She had never seen Chris like this before; she was more used to his easy charm and gentleness. This side of him was completely new to her, and she wondered if jealousy of Jarrett could have prompted this reaction. She could have told him he had no reason to feel anything over Jarrett; any love she might have felt for him had died when Nina Marshall returned to Swannell, also dismissed from his life. In time she could have perhaps forgiven his loving the other woman more than her, but when Nina returned a couple of weeks later without him it became obvious that neither of them had meant that much to Jarrett.

As they walked past Jarrett’s table his hand came out to grasp Sian’s wrist. She looked down with a gasp; Chris had gone on ahead to pay the bill and so not witnessed this intimacy. But Bethany had, and her embarrassment was all the more acute because of her sister’s wide-eyed stare.

‘Let go of me,’ she ordered between gritted teeth, very conscious of her hip pressed against his arm, could feel the warmth of his body through his shirt.

He made no effort to release her, his thumb moving rhythmically against the delicate veins in her wrist. ‘I have to talk to you,’ he told her throatily, his eyes intent.

‘I’m sorry,’ she wrenched her arm out of his grasp. ‘If you’ll excuse me … ?’

‘No!’ He stood up, towering over her as he always had, as powerfully built as ever. ‘Sian, I need to talk to you.’ He clasped her forearms.

‘Why?’ she asked flatly. ‘Isn’t it a little late for talking between us? I thought we’d said it all three years ago.’

‘Sian—’

‘Darling, are you ready to leave?’ Chris had paid the bill, coming back for her as he realised she hadn’t followed him out, and his irritation fanned to anger as he saw the way Jarrett was touching her. ‘If you wouldn’t mind, King …’ He pulled Sian to his side, a reckless challenge on his face. ‘It may have escaped your notice,’ he added tauntingly, ‘but Sian wears my ring now.’

She gasped at this deliberate provocation, seeing Jarrett’s eyes narrow to steely slits.

‘Sian never wore my ring,’ he answered in a mild voice—too mild! ‘We never needed such affectations as rings to know she belonged to me.’

Sian felt herself sway, forcing herself to remain standing as Chris’s hand crushed hers. But she couldn’t speak, knowing she would choke if she even attempted it.

Chris was white with fury. ‘Well, she doesn’t belong to you now,’ he snapped. ‘So just stay away from her!’

Jarrett’s jaw had tightened ominously at this, a pulse beating steadily there. ‘I’ll stay away from Sian if she tells me to—and if I think she really means it,’ he added tauntingly. ‘So don’t give me orders, Newman,’ he grated. ‘Sian could tell you—only too well—how much better I respond to—persuasion.’

‘Why, you—’

‘Could we please leave, Chris?’ Sian had finally found her voice; this last provocation had been too much. She looked at Jarrett with cold hazel eyes. ‘And I do ask you to stay away from me, Jarrett—as I ask you to stay away from Bethany.’

Her sister coloured painfully, her embarrassment acute. ‘Sian, you can’t—’

‘I agree, she can’t,’ Jarrett drawled, bestowing a smouldering smile on the besotted Bethany. ‘And you didn’t mean that, Sian,’ he looked back at her with mocking eyes. ‘I always knew when you were telling the truth—and that wasn’t it.’

Her mouth twisted, her hand through the crook of Chris’s arm now. ‘How unfortunate I was never as perceptive where you were concerned,’ she was deliberately insulting, ‘then I would have known from the first what sort of man you are.’

‘And that is?’ he bit out harshly, all amusement gone now.

‘The sort of man I don’t like dating my sister!’ She turned away from the angry flame of his eyes. ‘I’ll talk to you later, Bethany,’ she warned.

Her sister looked sulky. ‘I’m not a child, Sian,’ she snapped.

‘I agree—you aren’t,’ Sian said tightly. ‘Which is precisely the reason I think we should talk.’

‘Still trying to be the conscience of your whole family, Sian?’ Jarrett derided.

She looked at him coldly. ‘Still caring for my family, yes, Jarrett. But caring is something you know nothing about. Excuse us.’ This time she and Chris managed to get out of the restaurant undisturbed.

‘Arrogant bastard!’ Chris rasped as he opened the car door for her to get in, closing it with a decisive slam.

Sian knew how disturbed he had been by the encounter by the fact that he swore; Chris never used strong language. But about this she couldn’t blame him. She could quite cheerfully have sworn herself!

Jarrett was arrogant, more so than ever before. And he was out to cause trouble. Why, she had no idea; he had hurt her badly enough in the past without wanting to cause a strain between herself and Chris. But the strain was already there, with Chris driving recklessly back to her home.

‘I’m coming inside.’ There was a determined glitter to his eyes. ‘We need to talk.’

She could see that, knew that Chris deserved some sort of explanation. But about tonight she didn’t have one; she had no idea why Jarrett was acting as he was, had no idea what he was doing back in Swannell. He was a little young to be retracing his roots!

Her father was still up when they got in, so she went and made them all a cup of coffee, giving a barely perceptible shrug of her shoulders to Chris, seeing by the stubborn set of his mouth that he intended staying as long as it took for her father to go to bed. He was determined to have that talk with her tonight.

Sian felt totally confused as she prepared the coffee. She had no idea why Jarrett should want to talk to her about anything – especially while he was dating her sister! She couldn’t let Bethany be hurt as she had been hurt, she had to protect her sister against herself if it came to it.

‘Have a nice evening?’ Her father took the cup of coffee she handed him, oblivious of the strained atmosphere between the engaged couple.

‘We went to the Raven.’ Sian avoided giving him a direct answer, the reputation of the restaurant such that he was sure to think they had enjoyed themselves.

‘You didn’t happen to see Bethany, did you?’ he enquired casually.

‘We—’

‘You know the Raven isn’t her sort of place,’ she interrupted Chris’s reply, knowing by his angry scowl that he was about to say more than she wanted him to. But again she had avoided telling a deliberate lie. The Raven wasn’t Bethany’s sort of place.

‘No,’ her father chuckled, very comfortable and relaxed in his casual and old trousers and tattered worn cardigan, his usual attire after his formal clothing of the day at his office. ‘She’s more likely to be at the Swan, they have a discothèque there.’

‘Not on a Wednesday,’ Sian told him absently, aware of Chris’s glowering impatience.

‘Oh well, I suppose she’s just out with one of her friends,’ her father shrugged. ‘She left in such a hurry she didn’t have time to tell me. I doubt she’ll be too late.’

‘No,’ again Sian answered, when it became obvious Chris was going to make no effort at conversation.

‘There was a good Western on television tonight,’ her father told her happily. ‘I enjoyed that.’

Sian smiled indulgently, Westerns were her father’s passion. ‘John Wayne?’ she teased, knowing the Duke was her father’s favourite cowboy.

‘Randolph Scott,’ he named his second favourite, and put down his empty cup. ‘Well, I’m off to bed now. I’ll see you tomorrow, I suppose, Chris?’ he smiled at the other man. Liking and respect existed between the two of them, a deep contrast to what her father had felt for Jarrett; he had never quite trusted him. And that mistrust had been justified!

‘I’m sure you will, George.’ Chris roused himself enough to be polite.

Sian stood up to kiss her father affectionately goodnight, a habit from when she was a child, a pleasant habit. ‘See you in the morning,’ she smiled.

‘Mm,’ he touched her cheek. ‘And don’t be too late to bed,’ he frowned. ‘You’re looking a little peaky today.’

‘Pre-wedding nerves,’ she joked.

Her father smiled. ‘Both of you, by the look of it,’ he teased Chris’s tense expression.

‘It’s a hectic time,’ Chris mumbled.

‘I agree,’ her father laughed. ‘But it will soon be over, and I’m sure the honeymoon will be worth it,’ he added with a mischievous twinkle in his eye.

‘Dad!’

He could still be heard chuckling as he went up to his bedroom, having no idea of the fraught tension he had left behind him, sure that they would be in each other’s arms the moment he left the room.

‘Is there still going to be a wedding?’ Chris finally rasped. ‘Or a honeymoon, for that matter?’

Sian gave him a startled look, paling. ‘What do you mean?’

He stood up forcefully, as if the inactivity of sitting down made him impatient. ‘Don’t try telling me that meeting King again hasn’t unsettled you,’ he scorned.

‘I found it a little—strange,’ she chose her words carefully, ‘but that’s all.’

‘Is it?’ he derided. ‘Then why didn’t you want your father told that Bethany was out with him?’

She sighed, chewing on her inner lip. ‘He wouldn’t understand—’

‘Neither do I! God, when I think of the way he was touching you! I could have hit him in that moment,’ Chris growled.

She had known that, but if he had Jarrett would have hit him back, and he wouldn’t have pulled his punches either. Jarrett was a physical man in every way, and he would have derived enjoyment from hitting Chris.

‘I didn’t like it either—’

‘Didn’t you?’ he ground out. ‘You didn’t exactly look as if you were fighting him off when I came back to see what was delaying you!’

‘We were in a public restaurant,’ she flushed. ‘I didn’t want to make a scene. As for my father being told about Bethany—he doesn’t like Jarrett, he never did. It would upset him to know Bethany was out with him.’

‘And you think it didn’t upset me to see King touching you?’ Chris asked bitterly.

‘I can see it did,’ she soothed, her hand on his arm. ‘But I didn’t choose to have him touch me.’

‘What did he want?’

‘To talk to me—’

‘Talk!’ he derided harshly. ‘It looked to me as if talking were the last thing he had on his mind. The man was eating you with his eyes! Tell me about him, Sian, tell me about the two of you, why you broke up.’

She turned away. ‘We just weren’t suited.’

‘He doesn’t give that impression,’ Chris said dryly. ‘In fact, he seemed to imply you were very suited, in some ways,’ he looked at her searchingly.

She closed her eyes, flashes of vivid memory going in and out of her mind—she and Jarrett swimming in the river together, making love afterwards on a blanket beneath the willow tree, its weeping branches affording them a privacy that hid them from the outside world. After that first magical time together they had spent a lot of summer afternoons in the same way, never tiring of each other, never quite sated as they longed for the next time they could be alone together to make love.

‘You were lovers!’ Chris rasped at her silence.

She raised her lashes. ‘I told you there’d been someone else—’

‘But not him!’ Chris groaned.

The flecks of green in her hazel eyes were more noticeable as her anger rose at the disgust in his face. ‘Why shouldn’t it have been him? I was going to marry him!’

‘Why didn’t you?’

‘Circumstances,’ she revealed tautly.

Chris’s eyes narrowed to stormy blue pools. ‘The woman Nina Marshall,’ he demanded to know.

Sian moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue, looking down at her clasped hands. ‘Yes. He went to America, I decided not to go with him.’

‘Tell me about it.’

‘Chris—’

‘Just tell me, Sian,’ he sighed his impatience. ‘Don’t I have a right to know about you and him?’

‘I—I suppose so.’ She swallowed hard, sitting down, knowing it wouldn’t be easy to relive the memories. ‘I was nineteen when I met Jarrett. Oh, I’d seen him about town, but he was a little too old for me, a little out of my league, so we’d never actually spoken. He ran a branch of his uncle’s business here, had a steady girl-friend called—called Nina,’ she revealed painfully. ‘He and I met one day, quite by accident, at Mrs Day’s.’ Her expression was far away, vividly remembering that first meeting with Jarrett, the jolt of awareness that had seemed to shoot through both of them the moment their eyes met. ‘He—he had some men doing some work at her house, an extension, I think. And I—I’d taken some apples round from the orchard here. He was there talking to his men, we began to talk, and—’

‘And so he dropped his girl-friend and started going out with you,’ Chris derided.

Sian flushed. ‘Not exactly. He told me things had been cooling between him and Nina for some time, meeting me just ended it sooner than it would have done. That’s what he said,’ she insisted at Chris’s contemptuous expression.

‘The man would have said anything to get you!’

‘Perhaps,’ she avoided his glance. ‘But at the time I believed him. We spent an idyllic summer together, and after two months he asked me to marry him. I accepted,’ she continued softly. ‘We’d already started planning the wedding when his uncle invited him out to run the American business.’

‘You didn’t want to go?’

She gave him a sharp look. ‘He was going to be my husband, of course I would have gone.’

‘But he went to America without you.’

‘Yes.’

‘Why?’

‘Because by that time he was back with Nina,’ she said shrilly.

‘What happened to her?’ Chris frowned. ‘He seems to be very much on his own now.’

He seemed to be, but the magazine article implied differently; Arlette was now the woman in his life. ‘Nina Marshall lives in London now, with her husband,’ she told Chris dully.

‘So she wasn’t stupid enough to marry him either.’

Sian stiffened. ‘I believe it was Jarrett’s decision not to marry.’

‘He seems to make a habit of it!’

‘Yes.’ She didn’t dispute what was fact, she knew just how selfish Jarrett could be.

‘Do you still love him?’ Chris had calmed down a little now and was more his gentle self.

‘No,’ she answered with certainty. ‘My love for him died a long time ago.’

Chris came over to put his arms about her, drawing her into the comfort of his arms. ‘Do you still love me?’ he asked teasingly.

She gave him a warm smile. ‘You know I do.’

He rested his forehead against hers; he was only a couple of inches taller than her. ‘I love you too. I just found it strange being confronted with your last fiancé.’

‘You make it sound as if I’ve had hundreds!’ she derided. ‘And as Jarrett said, we were never officially engaged. I doubt he ever meant to go through with marrying me, even if he and Nina hadn’t—well, if they hadn’t got back together.’ She rested against Chris’s shoulder. ‘I was young, and naïve, and easily impressed by his maturity and experience. A bit like hundreds of other girls of that age. You don’t realise until it’s too late that you were just another conquest, a conquest to be made in any way possible, even with an offer of marriage.’

She spoke quietly, bitterly, aware that she wasn’t telling the whole truth, not to Chris or herself. Jarrett’s offer of marriage had been genuine, as had been his love for her; he couldn’t possibly have pretended the way he trembled with the emotion, he was usually a man of strength and determination. But she hadn’t been enough for him, and he had ultimately returned to the more sophisticated Nina. Finding out that the other woman still featured very much in his life had been a humiliating and painful experience, one she had never forgotten.

‘I’m sorry I put you through all that, darling,’ Chris smoothed her hair. ‘I was mad to think you could still think anything of him after the way he treated you.’

Sian didn’t answer, aware that she would be telling a lie if she did. She wasn’t indifferent to Jarrett. She didn’t love him, but she wasn’t indifferent to him either. When he had touched her at the restaurant she had felt that familiar quicksilver excitement that had been a fundamental part of their relationship; she could feel it now if she closed her eyes and thought about him.

But that was something she was trying not to do, and she returned Chris’s kiss with more than their usually restrained passion, seeking oblivion from the burning ache in her body, and knowing it wasn’t going to happen. She had no doubt of Chris’s desire for her, could feel that desire for her now, but they had agreed to wait until they were married before making love. She knew that no matter what the provocation Chris would never break that agreement.

Although tonight he came very close to it! ‘Sian darling …!’ he groaned against her bared breasts, shuddering against her before refastening her clothes without haste or embarrassment. ‘I wish it were our wedding night,’ he said huskily, his dark curls ruffled from her caressing hands, his face still taut with desire. ‘Then I wouldn’t have to leave you like this—or myself either,’ he added ruefully.

In a way Sian was glad he did have to leave, knowing that tonight his lovemaking, which she had always enjoyed, had been a substitute for more heated caresses, more experienced hands, hands that knew all the pleasure spots of her body as if by instinct.

God, she wished Jarrett had never come back, wished she never had to see him again. But there was no reason why she should; she couldn’t be forced into meeting him. Although the determination in Jarrett’s eyes when he told her he wanted to talk to her seemed to deny that. Jarrett King had always been very adept at getting what he wanted from life. And for some reason he wanted to talk to her.

Chris stood up, tucking his loosened shirt into his trousers before pulling on his jacket. ‘Try and talk some sense into Bethany, hmm?’ he said grimly. ‘She really shouldn’t get involved with a man like King.’

‘No.’ Sian stood up too, walking with him to the door.

‘I’m sorry, darling.’ Chris gently touched her cheek. ‘I’m sure that when you thought yourself in love with him that he wasn’t the hard bastard he seems now. But the way he was tonight he can only be bad for Bethany.’

‘I’ve already said I’ll talk to her,’ she said stiffly.

‘Sian—’

‘It’s very late, Chris,’ her voice softened, knowing he was only showing concern for her sister, ‘and I’m tired.’

‘Of course you are,’ he nodded, bending to kiss her lightly on the lips. ‘I’ll see you in the morning, darling.’

She went back to the lounge after he had left and cleared away the coffee tray, washing the cups and saucers as a way of occupying herself while she waited for Bethany to come home. The talk with her sister would be better taking place tonight, even though she wasn’t looking forward to it. Bethany could be very determined when she set her mind on something, and her attraction to Jarrett seemed to be very strong.

Chris had been wrong about one thing. Jarrett had been a hard bastard three years ago too, although at the time, like Bethany now, she had been too fascinated by him to realise what he was like.

A few days before her wedding to him she had learnt exactly what sort of man he was; she had refused to even think of marrying him then and going to America with him. And yet she had still clung to some stupid belief that what she had seen had been a mistake, that her own eyes had deceived her. The day Jarrett left Swannell with Nina Marshall she had known it was the end as far as they were concerned.

And now Bethany was out with him. Her young sister couldn’t have forgotten their father’s fury when Jarrett had let Sian down so selfishly, or the pain he had caused Sian. She had to be made to see that he would only hurt her too. And preferably before their father learnt that she was seeing him!

It was almost twelve when she heard the sound of a powerful engine roaring to a stop outside the house, guessing Jarrett still had a liking for fast cars; he had had a Jaguar sports-car three years ago. He had been rich enough in those days, the firm he ran for his uncle was very successful, but being head of the King Construction Company had made him into a multi-millionaire; he probably drove a Ferrari or Lamborghini now!

The front door closed softly as Bethany let herself into the house, and Sian was drying her hands from washing up as she went out to meet her young sister, her voice a soft whisper so that they didn’t disturb their father. ‘Bethany, I—’ the words lodged in her throat as she saw the man standing confidently at Bethany’s side. Jarrett!

She was sure her face lost some of its colour. To see him here in her home again, after all this time! She glanced nervously up the stairs, although there was no sound from her father’s room.

Jarrett’s mouth twisted derisively as he saw that worried glance. ‘Shall we go into the lounge?’ He led the way with a confidence that spoke of past familiarity, his welcome assured then.

But it wasn’t now! Dear God, did Bethany have no sense? It seemed not; her sister still had that dreamy enthralled look in her eyes.

Jarrett seated himself in an armchair with a confidence that knew no limits, resting the ankle of one leg on the knee of the other, his gaze steady and assured as he looked up at the two standing women.

‘I—er—I invited Jarrett in for coffee.’ Bethany at least seemed compelled to talk.

‘Really?’ Sian said stiffly, having no intention of going to bed and leaving Jarrett alone down here with her sister. She remembered too many occasions in the past when she and Jarrett had been stretched out side by side on that sofa, their lovemaking silent but impassioned while her father and sister slept on unaware upstairs.

Jarrett’s gaze was narrowed on her face, his brows raised questioningly as her thoughts made her blush. ‘I suggest you go and make that coffee, Bethany,’ he said deeply. ‘For three.’

‘None for me,’ Sian refused abruptly. ‘It’s getting rather late, Bethany,’ she added pointedly.

Her sister flushed resentfully. ‘Jarrett?’

‘I’d like coffee,’ he drawled challengingly.

With a defiant look in Sian’s direction Bethany went off to the kitchen.

Sian was very conscious of being completely alone with Jarrett, of him sitting only a few feet away. And she didn’t like it, she had a feeling of being manoeuvred.

‘Your fiancé has gone?’ he asked softly.

She kept her face stiffly averted. ‘Yes.’

‘He knew about us.’ It was a statement, not a question.

‘Yes.’

Jarrett stood up, at once seeming predatory, and Sian took a wary step backwards. His mouth twisted derisively. ‘I never needed to use force on you, Sian,’ he drawled mockingly.

‘You would now,’ she snapped.

‘If I were interested,’ he watched with satisfaction as she paled, ‘and I am,’ he added softly. ‘I telephoned you earlier tonight, as soon as I got to town, but you weren’t at home,’ he told her huskily, suddenly very near, the heat of his body, the seduction of his aftershave, reaching out to her.

Sian refused to look at him. ‘Why on earth would you telephone me?’ she asked jerkily.

Suddenly he was more than just close, he was dangerously so, the lean length of his body curving into the back of her as his arms came about her waist and pulled her into him. ‘Guess,’ he murmured throatily against her earlobe.

CHAPTER THREE

SHE couldn’t stand it, couldn’t bear his proximity. Her legs felt weak, her heart was beating a wild tattoo against her rib-cage, her breathing so shallow she hardly breathed at all.

She felt his hands slowly start to move towards her breasts, and with a strong tug she moved quickly away from him, putting some distance between them as she stood behind a chair, seeing Jarrett’s eyes gleam with mockery at the gesture; no chair would save her from him if he wanted her back in his arms. He made no effort to do so.

‘I can guess all too easily,’ she snapped.

‘I doubt it.’ His eyes were narrowed.

‘Oh, but I can,’ Sian scorned. ‘You wanted a woman to keep you company your first evening back in Swannell. I’m only too pleased Bethany could accommodate you.’

‘You aren’t pleased at all,’ he mocked. ‘And it would have been you I took out to dinner if you’d been at home when I telephoned.’

‘How fortunate for me that I wasn’t here! And for you too. You see, I would have refused to go anywhere with you.’ And she had a sneaking suspicion that she had been at home for at least part of Jarrett’s conversation with Bethany, remembering the haste with which her sister had ended her telephone call when Sian had got in from work.

Her sister needn’t have worried, she certainly wouldn’t have accepted an invitation from Jarrett. But if she had known Bethany had she would have tried to prevent her seeing him. Maybe her sister had known that, and felt it wiser to keep silent about the call. She had a feeling that was nearer the truth.

‘I trust my sister has been suitably impressed,’ she said contemptuously. ‘But of course she has—you made sure of that. You can switch your charm on and off like a tap when it suits you to,’ she recalled bitterly. ‘Only I have no intention of standing back and letting you hurt my sister.’

‘The way I hurt you,’ he finished hardly.

‘Exactly,’ she snapped, gold flecks shining deeply in her hazel eyes.

‘And how about the way you hurt me?’ he rasped coldly. ‘Or don’t we talk about that?’

‘Hurt you?’ she derided scornfully. ‘You can’t be hurt, Jarrett. Only people with feelings and emotions can be hurt. And you don’t have either!’

His face showed he was blazingly angry, his mouth a thin taut line. ‘And you don’t have an ounce of trust in your body,’ he ground out. ‘If you had you would have believed me about Nina Marshall three years ago!’

She turned away. ‘I don’t want to talk about it.’

‘You never did,’ he wrenched her round roughly. ‘And because of my damned pride I didn’t see why I should keep explaining myself to you.’ His eyes glittered down at her like twin jewels. ‘Has your distrust kept you warm at night, Sian? Has it told you it loves you? Has it made love to you until your head spins? Has it done any of that?’

She paled more with each groaned taunt, and turned away, refusing to listen to any more of this torture.

But Jarrett would have none of that, his fingers biting into her arm as he made her listen to him. ‘Because my pride hasn’t given me any of that, Sian—’

‘I’m sure your women have!’ she dismissed coldly. ‘As Chris has me.’

Jarrett’s face darkened with an ugliness she had thought never to see again, his mouth twisted with fury, his eyes two shafts of burning light as they blazed down at her in total anger. ‘Is he your lover?’ he ground out.

She flushed. ‘I don’t see what that has to do with you,’ she challenged.

‘Don’t you?’ he returned softly, dangerously. ‘If his body has mated with yours—and I refuse to call it making love,’ he added harshly at her gasp of outrage. ‘I made love to you,’ he claimed arrogantly. ‘No other man could ever do that.’

‘You arrogant—’

He sighed, shaking his head at her vehemence. ‘A person can only find that true oneness with another person once in a lifetime. We both know that we were that for each other, and no amount of denial on your part can change that.’

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