His Christmas Acquisition (18 page)

‘I’m sure your date wouldn’t approve of us dancing,’ she said primly, following his lead and trying to hold herself as rigidly as possible. ‘Where is she, anyway?’

‘Behind you—a quarter to ten. Bright blue dress. Blue shoes.’ He swung her around so that Jamie had a perfect view of a tall blonde with lots of long, tousled blonde hair and long, long legs. The pull of jealousy was so overpowering that she felt momentarily giddy.

Ryan had kept this one quiet. There had been no emails popping up on his computer, the password for which Jamie had, no breathy phone calls, no mention of anything having to be rearranged so that he could fit in his latest woman.

She didn’t want to think about it, but she did. Was this one the serious one?

‘She’s very pretty,’ Jamie said crisply. ‘Have you introduced her to your mother as yet?’

‘My mother,’ he said into her ear, dipping her which made her feel very exposed in her too revealing dress, ‘has yet to learn that you and I have broken up.’

‘You mean you haven’t told her?’

‘No opportunity. Who’s the guy, Jamie? Now that you’ve quizzed me about my date.’

‘I haven’t quizzed you!’

‘Are you trying to avoid my question?’ Her breasts against his chest were turning him on and he drew back slightly rather than risk having her feel his erection pushing against his zip.

‘I don’t see that it’s any of your business.’

‘I’m concerned about you. We
were
almost married, don’t forget.’

‘We were
never
almost married!’

‘My mother would probably disagree. So I don’t feel it’s out of place to tell you that it’s a big, bad world out there and you don’t have much experience of it. In the space of a couple of weeks, you’ve managed to get yourself a man. He could be anybody.’

‘How dare you?’ Jamie gritted. ‘I don’t believe I’m hearing this!’

‘You should be flattered that I continue to take an interest in your welfare. That guy may have a neat haircut and wear deodorant but it doesn’t necessarily make him one of the good guys.’

Jamie almost snorted in disgust. Did Ryan Sheppard consider
himself
one of the good guys? Good guys didn’t string women along! She bit back the temptation to ask him whether his date for the night—the one who had been abandoned in favour of his secretary for no other reason than he was incurably
nosy
—would categorise him as a ‘good guy’ when she was probably after love, marriage and the whole fairy-tale story. Chances were slim that he would deliver.

In fact, she wanted to ask him just how serious he was about the blonde. But there was no way that she was going
to do that. The past two weeks had been agonising. Every day had been a challenge to not look at him, not react to him, desperately try to pretend that she was over whatever passing fling they had enjoyed. She wasn’t going to encourage any kind of personal conversation now, and it infuriated her that just being here with him, seething at everything he had just said, still made her feel more alive than she had felt ever since she had returned to London.

‘You read the papers. You watch the news. Low lifes are everywhere and some of them do a good job of passing for normal.’

‘Well, thank you very much for you concern and your wise words, Ryan, but you can relax. Richard comes with personal recommendations.’

‘Really? Spill the beans.’

‘Greg introduced me to him, if you must know. He and Greg went to university together and Richard works in London.’

‘Another vet? Didn’t you get your fill of guys who miss their sickly animals whenever they’re away from them for too long?’

‘I’m not going to stand here and listen to this.’

‘You’re not standing. You’re dancing.’ He twirled her around and watched as the colour mounted in her cheeks and her hair became tangled and dishevelled. ‘And is vet-number-one here with his erstwhile wife?’

The music stopped but when Jamie would have walked off he kept her firmly anchored by virtue of his fingers curled around her wrist. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Abigail looking at them with scowling displeasure, and he knew that he should go across to her, at least make a show of wanting to spend some time in her company.

Without releasing Jamie, he beckoned across a waiter, who magically materialised, and whispered something into
his ear. A few more bottles of champagne, he reasoned, to be delivered to the tall blonde in the blue dress—and his most sincere apologies, but he had business to discuss with his secretary. The thought of abandoning his conversation with Jamie was out of the question.

‘I’m sure your date won’t mind if we trip the light fantastic for a bit longer. And you were going to tell me about Vet One and your sister.’

Jamie gave an exasperated sigh. She didn’t want this. She didn’t want to be dancing with him, to feel his hand resting on her waist and the heat from his body scorching her. She was aware of the guilty thrill spreading through her body and she didn’t want that either. She reasoned that it would do no good to storm off in a petulant strop. She was only dancing with him, for heaven’s sake! And, besides, Ryan could be as tenacious as a dog with a bone. Did she really want him following her to her table? Joining them? Calling across his girlfriend to share the fun and laughter? No! One more dance and he would be gone and she would be able to breathe properly, she told herself fiercely.

‘They’ve patched things up,’ she said reluctantly and Ryan held her back so that he could look at her with interest.

‘Why haven’t you told me this before?’

‘I didn’t think that you would be that interested.’

‘I’m cut to the quick, Jamie.’ His voice was light, but he was surprised to discover that he didn’t like being kept out of the loop with this information. Hell, she had retreated back into her impenetrable fortress and slammed the door firmly in his face. ‘What happened?’

‘Long story.’

‘I’m happy to keep dancing until you’ve got it off your chest.’

‘I had a heart-to-heart with Jessica when I got back to London.’ Jamie was distracted enough not to notice the way
he had pulled her closer to him. She thought back to that fateful conversation with her sister. It had been the best thing she had ever done and for that, she knew, she owed a great deal of thanks to Ryan and his family. She had seen, first hand, how relationships between family members should operate. She had witnessed how important it was to be open and honest.

She had also not been in the best of moods, back in her house, when she had been confronted with a sister who had not budged in her stance that marriage was a bore and she was due a life of fun and excitement. Greg was still there trying to play the persuasive card and so, it seemed, were all the ensuing arguments.

For the first time in both their lives, Jamie had sat her sister down and really given her a piece of her mind.

‘I told her that it wasn’t acceptable for her to descend on me and not really give a hoot whether she was disrupting my life or not. I told her that she was thoughtless and inconsiderate and that she was old enough to sort out her problems. I also said that she was being an utter fool, that Greg was crazy about her, that he was a treasure, and that if she decided to end the relationship then she should do it and stop dithering. Most of all I told her that she would have to sort things out somewhere else because I was fed up with both of them in the house.’

‘A red-letter day for you, in other words,’ Ryan murmured. Wisps of her hair brushed his lips and he stifled a shudder of pure craving. When she looked up at him with an open, genuine smile, the first he had glimpsed since they had returned to London, he was overwhelmed with the crazy sensation of just not feeling right in his own skin.

‘It all came out then. Jessica told me that she was terrified of getting pregnant and losing her figure. I suppose I
always envied her. She did what she wanted to do, and she always pulled it off because she was so beautiful, while I stayed in the slow lane, always being responsible, always there to pick up the pieces.’

Talking to him, Jamie realised how much she had missed it. It was unbelievable that in such a short period of time she had become accustomed to sharing her thoughts with him and appreciating his always humorous, always intelligent take on whatever she had had to say.

She felt a suspicious lump at the back of her throat and looked away quickly. It was very important not to give in to all those waves of nostalgia and regret that had a nasty habit of sneaking up on her when she wasn’t looking. She had to remember that they had moved on from that place of lovers. He had a new girlfriend—probably a model or an actress, by the looks of her—thereby proving that he would always run true to form, that
she
had been nothing but a novelty to be enjoyed on the run. And she, in turn, had been making a huge effort to get out there. Well, she had accepted a date, which was a promising start.

‘So there you have it!’ she told him brightly. ‘Not a particularly interesting story.’

‘Let me be the judge of that. So where was hubby when all this soul-searching was taking place?’

‘Out meeting Richard for a drink.’

‘How very thoughtful of him to introduce the two of you.’

Jamie was finding it hard to recall exactly what Richard looked like. As usual, Ryan’s image superimposed itself on everything and she felt angry and helpless at the same time at his way of just taking over her thoughts.

‘Yes. We hit if off instantly.’

‘Did you, now?’ Ryan said through gritted teeth.

‘Maybe I have a thing for vets!’ she trilled gaily. ‘Just like you have a thing for actresses and models.’ Jamie hadn’t
wanted to say that, but the words popped out of her mouth, and her heart sank a little when he didn’t utter a blanket denial to her sweeping generalisation.

‘Maybe you do. Well, make sure that you give me ample warning if you decide to get married and start having a brood of children.’

‘I don’t think that marriage is something to be rushed into. Besides, I’ve only been out with Richard …’
once
‘… a couple of times.’ She smiled politely and drew away from him as the song came to an end. ‘And, yes, I’ll make sure that I tell you well in advance if and when I decide to tie the knot.’

‘Hell, Jamie, have you ever heard of playing the field?’ Ryan raked his fingers through his hair and glowered at her. A couple of dates and she wasn’t denying the possibility that this might be the real thing! He wanted to root her to the spot, involve her in another dance, take the opportunity to tell her that throwing herself into the first relationship that came her way so shortly after they had broken up wasn’t the right thing to do, but she was already walking away, threading a path through the crowds.

‘You know that’s not the way I am!’ she told him over her shoulder, her voice bright and casual. ‘And please don’t follow me back to the table or I shall begin to feel really guilty about your poor girlfriend having to amuse herself.’

‘Abigail’s perfectly fine.’

‘Really? Because she seems to be seething.’

‘Question.’

Jamie stopped and looked at him. Even in this crowded place, he dominated his surroundings. His physical beauty leapt out and made a nonsense of all the other men in the cavernous room. No wonder his girlfriend looked put out. The competition in the club was stiff, lots of airhead blondes
with long legs and short skirts, and a fair amount of them were openly sizing up the biggest fish in their midst.

‘What is it?’

‘Have you slept with him yet?’

His light-hearted, bantering tone said it all and an angry flush spread across her cheeks. Was he laughing at her? Was he thinking that she cut a ridiculous figure here, out of her comfort zone, dressed like a bird of paradise but without the streaming long hair and the endless legs? She wanted to hit him, and she balled her hands into fists and narrowed her eyes coldly.

‘I really think it’s time we ended this conversation, Ryan. I’ll see you at work on Monday. Have a good weekend.’ She turned away abruptly and walked with quickened strides towards the table, where Richard was waiting for her.

Why, she agonised, couldn’t she have fallen for a man like Richard Dent? On paper, he was everything she had always reckoned she would want in a prospective partner. He was pleasant to look at, he was friendly, considerate and thoughtful. He had brought her flowers and had ruefully but manfully accepted it when she had told him that she liked him as a friend but that she wasn’t interested in promoting a relationship with him. They had talked and, when she might have expected him to make his excuses and leave as soon as he could, he had insisted that they go out to the club, because why shouldn’t friends have fun together?

She tried very hard to focus on what he was saying but her eyes kept straying, searching out Ryan, watching his body language with his girlfriend, torturing herself with thoughts of what they would be getting up to later.

Jamie spotted them leaving when Richard dragged her up to the dance floor for one last dance. Ryan’s girlfriend seemed to be doing a great deal of excited gesticulating. He appeared to be ignoring her. Before she could look away, he
caught her gaze, held it and then gave a slight inclination of his head. To her it seemed like a mocking salute, and in response she unconsciously and defensively allowed herself to relax in Richard’s arms.

Of course it was a foolish, hollow gesture. Whilst he would be heading back to his place to fall into bed with yet another pouting blonde, she would be giving Richard a light embrace, exchanging mobile numbers and promising to meet up for a drink when their diaries permitted.

Her house, when she returned an hour later, seemed eerily empty. Jessica had taken everything with her and once Jamie had cleaned the place it was as though her sister had never been there. They had parted on good terms, and for the first time she wished she had her sister with her, someone to talk to instead of wandering alone into the kitchen where she made herself a cup of coffee and settled down to consider her options.

The reality of seeing Ryan with another woman had come as a brutal shock. Ahead of her stretched an endless future of seeing him with other women, waiting for him to fall in love with one of them. Out there, there would surely be a leggy blonde who had the personality to suck him in. How would she feel when that happened? Would she still be able to plaster a professional smile on her face and pretend that everything was all right? And, if she honestly couldn’t see that happening, then surely the only course of action left would be to hand in her resignation?