She staggered as she stood up, pushing her wayward hair out of her eyes. A glance at her wrist-watch showed her it was almost seven o’clock in the evening, and the rumblings of her stomach told her that it was high time she ate. She hadn’t eaten anything substantial for two days and now felt weak with hunger. Another argument with Jarrod was the last thing she felt able to handle.
But it wasn’t Jarrod standing nervously outside her door, it was his brother Dave. ‘Can I come in?’ he asked uncertainly.
‘I suppose so,’ Brooke nodded dully, not feeling in the mood to be polite to him, not after what he had tried to do to her.
‘Thanks.’ He closed the door behind him still looking at her for some sign of softening towards him.
Brooke swayed dizzily, putting out a hand blindly to stop herself from falling. Unfortunately there was nothing to hold on to and she sank slowly to the floor in a dead faint.
She opened deeply violet eyes a few seconds later to find herself on the sofa, blinking dazedly as Dave bent over her. She attempted to sit up, but sank back down against the cushions as Dave gently pushed her back down again. She smiled wanly, ashamed of her weakness.
‘I’m sorry about this. I don’t usually fall at the feet of my visitors!’
He grinned down at her. ‘It’s an unusual greeting, I must admit, but I didn’t mind. Quite nice really.’
She couldn’t resist his smile. ‘I don’t know what’s the matter with me. I suddenly came over faint. I feel rather silly now.’
He looked suddenly serious. ‘Have you felt like this before? Feelings of sickness, dizziness?’
She shook her head. ‘No. It’s nothing to worry about, I—’
‘Everything unusual is something to worry about. Your health isn’t something to be taken lightly. There has to be a reason for you fainting. Have you—’ he broke off, a ruddy hue rising in his cheeks. ‘Oh!’ he looked embarrassed.
‘Yes?’
‘Well, I— It’s none of my business.’ He turned away stiffly.
Brooke frowned. ‘What are you thinking now, Dave?’ she sighed, sitting up but not having enough energy to stand up. ‘Don’t bother to tell me, I can imagine what you’re thinking, especially with the impression Jarrod has tried to give you of our relationship. But I’m not pregnant, I’m just hungry. Such a lot has been happening the last couple of days that I seem to have forgotten to eat.’
His obvious relief showed in his face. ‘You mean you haven’t eaten at all?’
‘I’ve drunk a lot of coffee but had no food.’
Dave threw off his jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt. ‘Stay right there and I’ll get you an omelette and a cup of strong sweet tea.’
‘I don’t take sugar in my tea,’ she protested.
‘This time you will,’ he said firmly. ‘Doctor’s orders,’ he grinned.
‘Jarrod warned me about you,’ she teased. ‘I thought he was joking.’
‘He wasn’t. I take all this very seriously. Now just stay there while I get you some food.’
Brooke laughed. ‘I wasn’t going to move. Will you be able to find everything?’
‘I’ll manage.’
And he did, within a few minutes producing her a light fluffy omelette and the promised tea. She grimaced as she drank this, but forced it down under his watchful eye. ‘You certainly cook a good omelette.’ She sat back, replete.
‘It’s nourishing, easy and quick to cook. It’s usually all I have time for.’
‘You’re quite amazing really. I could never imagine Jarrod being able to do anything like that.’ She made a face. ‘He told me he has a housekeeper.’
‘Oh, he does, but he can shift for himself like the rest of us. At my age Jarrod was just starting out in business, and like me he refused help from our father.’
‘I didn’t realise. Jarrod always gives the impression of being—well, of being—’
‘I know exactly what you mean,’ Dave sympathised. ‘But he was just as hard up as we are once.’ He took the plate from her hand. ‘Feeling better now?’
‘Much,’ she smiled gratefully.
He came back from the kitchen. ‘I really came round to ask if you’ve forgiven me for the other evening. I know Jarrod’s temper and I’m afraid I did nothing to allay his suspicions.’
Brooke squeezed his hand reassuringly. ‘Well, we’re still engaged.’ She held up her hand with the ring on that she had forgotten to remove after parting from Jarrod. ‘So he couldn’t have been that annoyed.’
‘I’m glad, I’m not usually such a swine. My only excuse is that I rather like you myself.’ He shrugged. ‘Still, I suppose I’ll get used to the fact that the closest relationship I’ll ever have with you will be as your brother-in-law.’ He looked at his watch. ‘I have to go now. I just wanted to clear things up between us.’
‘And prepare me a lovely meal.’ She stood up as he did and followed him to the doorway. ‘It was nice of you to come round, I appreciate it.’
He opened the door before turning to face her. ‘Can I claim a brotherly kiss?’
‘As long as that’s all it is—and it’s only the one,’ she added teasingly.
The kiss couldn’t exactly be called brotherly but she didn’t have the heart to protest. In fact, she didn’t have the chance. Dave was pulled roughly away from her, leaving her dazed as she stared up into the lividly angry face of Jarrod.
His grey eyes were like slate as he glared at his brother. ‘Get out of here, Dave,’ he ordered, ‘before I do something we’ll both regret.’
‘Jarrod, it wasn’t—’
‘Get out, Dave!’ Jarrod repeated through gritted teeth.
Dave gave Brooke a helpless look before leaving. She turned to re-enter her flat, realising that Jarrod was angry beyond reason.
But he wasn’t going to let her go so easily, swinging her round to face him. ‘Can’t you stay away from my brother for just a few weeks?’ he demanded coldly. ‘At least until my father is out of hospital. Good God, girl, are you so much in love with him that a few weeks is too much to ask?’
‘I—’
‘No wonder you told me not to come back here, you knew Dave was coming over. Each time I see you I become more and more disillusioned with you, and yet I—’ he shook his head. ‘I still find myself wanting you. What do you have that makes men want you—myself, Dave, that boy Jerry? What is it about you that we all find so attractive?’ He looked at her critically, making her feel as if he stripped the very clothes from her body. ‘I can’t see what it is, you’re not as beautiful as hundreds of other women I know.’
‘Including Selina Howard,’ she put in bitchily.
‘Especially the lovely Selina.’
‘What did you come here for, Jarrod?’ she asked, angry and hurt.
‘My father would like to see you tomorrow. I’ll call for you about ten o’clock.’
‘I’ll be ready. Perhaps now you’ve said what you came here to say you’ll leave,’ she requested quietly, unable to meet the disgust in his eyes. He was right, each time they met she gave him an even worse impression of herself, mainly because of her lie that she and Dave were in love. If he should ever ask Dave about that love! But he never would, he wasn’t that interested in her, and his pride wouldn’t allow for it either.
‘Don’t worry,’ he said harshly, ‘I have no intention of staying any longer than I have to. Goodnight.’
After that each day progressed the same; Brooke would visit the hospital in the morning with Jarrod and spend the rest of the time alone. She was pale and growing thinner daily, but luckily Jarrod’s family put this down to the strain they were all under. Jarrod himself hardly spoke to her and she lived in daily dread of him telling her that this was the day their association came to an end.
By the time Friday evening came she was in such a state of nervous tension that any change in the routine of the last few days was welcome. Consequently she welcomed Jerry’s unexpected visit with open arms.
&
nbsp; Jerry looked around suspiciously. ‘No fiancé this evening?’
‘Nor any other evening.’
He looked surprised. ‘I heard you were back together.’
Brooke smiled. ‘And where did you hear that?’ She sat opposite him, her knees tucked beneath her chin as she looked at him.
‘It was in the newspapers that you and your fiancé have been visiting Clifford Stone with the rest of the family. I naturally assumed the engagement was back on.’
‘For the moment,’ she acknowledged.
‘For the moment?’
‘Until Mr Stone is strong enough to take the news.’
‘Oh, I see. I was a bit uncertain about coming round this evening, but I’m glad I did now. I—’ Jerry broke off as the doorbell rang. ‘Are you expecting someone?’
She frowned. ‘No.’
‘Oh God, I have a nasty feeling … Does this Jarrod of yours get violent? I haven’t forgotten his threat. I like you, honey, but I don’t particularly want to have to fight over you.’
Brooke stood up with a laugh. ‘It won’t be Jarrod. He never comes here now, except to take me to see his father.’
The door swung open before she reached it, giving the lie to her statement. Jarrod was the only one arrogant enough to walk into her home uninvited. He was dressed quite casually in black corduroys and a black silk shirt, and her heart jumped nervously at the sight of him.
‘Jarrod,’ she said lamely.
He smiled easily, completely unlike the cold front he had been showing to her all week. His eyes narrowed slightly as Jerry came to stand beside her. ‘Am I interrupting anything?’ he asked softly.
‘No! Yes— No—’ she wanted him here, but she didn’t want another argument. Before he had seen Jerry there had been a softness in his gaze that she had never seen before. She looked at him sharply, a terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. ‘Your father, is he—’
‘He’s fine,’ he reassured her quickly. He looked at Jerry and a charming smile lit up his face. ‘I’m afraid I still don’t know your name, but it’s nice to meet you again, Mr—’ he looked at him enquiringly.
‘Saunders, Jerry Saunders,’ he supplied, obviously bowled over by this charm.
Jarrod shook his hand. ‘And I’m Jarrod Stone, but then you already know that. Actually I came over to discuss the wedding date with Brooke. Had you forgotten?’ he asked her.
‘I— No, I—I didn’t realise it would be tonight.’ Her face was paler than ever. Tonight was the night Jarrod would sever their relationship once and for all. Oh God, she couldn’t live without him!
‘I thought you were aware of our plans.’
‘Yes, but I—I just didn’t realise it would be so soon.’
‘I can see no point in waiting any longer.’
Jerry looked a little uncomfortable. ‘I—er—I think I’ll leave now. See you, Brooke, Mr Stone.’ He nodded abruptly and left.
‘What was he doing here?’ Jarrod demanded once they were alone.
Brooke was taken aback at his anger, none of it having shown a few minutes earlier. ‘He—’
‘No, don’t bother to explain,’ he rasped. ‘I don’t want to know.’
‘You said you wanted to discuss the wedding date,’ she reminded him. ‘Or lack of it. Your mother telephoned this afternoon, she thinks it’s time we did something about the arrangements. Is that what’s made you decide to call the whole thing off?’
‘But I haven’t.’
‘Haven’t what?’
‘Decided to call the whole thing off. On the contrary, I think my mother has the right idea. It is time you did something about the arrangements. My mother will enjoy helping you.’
Her eyes widened. ‘But I—We aren’t—’
Jarrod looked amused. ‘Aren’t what? Before you say any more I think I should tell you that I had a word with Dave today. He seemed very surprised that the two of you were supposed to be lovers. In fact, he denied it emphatically. Not that he didn’t like the idea, he just knew it wasn’t true. Why did you tell me it was?’
He was so tall and intimidating and she unconsciously moved away from him. ‘I—It seemed to be what you wanted to hear.’
‘Come on, Brooke,’ he chided gently. ‘You know damn well it was the last thing I wanted to hear. I’ve been puzzling over it ever since I spoke to Dave and I can’t come up with the reason you lied to me about it.’
‘You can’t?’ Her voice was husky, her eyes wide with the fear that he had discovered her secret.
‘No, I can’t, but you can tell me it in a minute. First I want to tell you something, quite a lot of things in fact. I’ll begin with the day we got engaged. When I found out what you’d done I was angry, furiously angry.’
Brooke smiled as she remembered that anger. ‘I know that. It was unmistakable.’
‘But that anger soon faded. I became very curious about you, you’re so unlike anyone else I’ve ever met. You don’t let me bully you for a start, which I find quite intriguing.’
‘I never would have thought it,’ she said dryly.
‘No one has ever stood up to me as you do. So I became attracted to you, mindlessly so. The attraction grew so strong that I just knew I had to have you. I know I haven’t always been kind, but you’ve given me great provocation. I’m not used to denying myself anything, and you were denying me all the time. That day I kissed you in the woods adjoining my family home I’d been pushed almost beyond endurance, holding you in my arms all night.’
‘You didn’t show it. You appeared very calm and collected when you woke up the next morning.’ Too much so as far as she had been concerned!
‘I wasn’t. I escaped out of that bedroom as quickly as I could before I let you see how much I wanted to get back in bed with you and stay there all day.’
‘Jarrod!’ She blushed scarlet.
He grimaced. ‘I know, I know. But I couldn’t help myself, you have no idea the difficulty I had controlling myself. As it turned out I’d only dampened down the passion for as long as it took me to see you again. If Dave hadn’t come along and interrupted us I think I would have taken you right then. But he did interrupt us, and after that I was frightened I might have scared you. You see, I’m not a boy who can be satisfied with a few kisses—I wanted everything from you. But my age has been a certain barrier between us.’ He scowled.
Brooke didn’t know where this conversation was leading too, but this certainly wasn’t the arrogant Jarrod she was used to. ‘Your age has never come between us. I’ve never even thought about it, except that it gives you a certain amount of experience I don’t have.’
‘That I wouldn’t want you to have. But it seems to me that every time I’ve been to see you lately I’ve had to throw out one young man or another.’ He moved impatiently. ‘You can’t realise what it’s done to me to see you with them.’
She couldn’t, but she knew she couldn’t let him be misled about them any longer. ‘The only times they’ve been here is when you’ve called. It was just pure coincidence.’
‘That may be so, but it doesn’t alter the fact that you have more in common with them that I can ever hope for you to have with me. I’m thirty-eight next month, seventeen years older than you.’
‘It doesn’t matter,’ she insisted quietly.
‘Of course it does,’ he denied violently. ‘But I’ve come here tonight to ask you to marry me anyway.’
Her eyes widened. ‘You’re asking me?’
‘Yes, I’m asking.’ His look was anxious.
She shook her head. ‘But I—I don’t understand. You said you’d make me beg for marriage,’ she reminded him dazedly.
‘And now I’m the one doing the begging,’ he said bitterly. ‘And I am begging, Brooke.’
‘But—but why?’
‘Why?’ he gave a harsh laugh. ‘I’ve just been telling you why.’
‘Because you desire me. But you know I won’t marry you because of that.’
‘I know I’ve bee
n cruel and harsh and that I’ve accused you of things that just aren’t true. I know you’ve never been with a man, I knew that, and yet I still kept taunting you. I didn’t want to feel this way about you, Brooke, but I can’t help it.’
‘What way?’
‘I love you, damn you!’ he said violently, noting her shocked face. ‘Hard to believe, isn’t it, when you consider how badly I’ve been treating you. But it’s true, Brooke, I love you so much that I’m going insane with wanting you. That’s what you’ll have to put my harsh behaviour down to, temporary insanity.’ He grasped her shoulders. ‘But I’m sane now, sane enough to know that I love you and want to marry you. Will you have me?’
‘I—I don’t know what to say.’ She searched his face for some sign of mockery. ‘This isn’t a trick to get me to admit to wanting you enough to marry you, is it?’
He frowned, but it wasn’t an angry frown. ‘Oh God, I’ve treated you worse than I thought. Telling you I love you isn’t enough, is it? I’ve lost your trust, haven’t I?’
‘I don’t know,’ she admitted truthfully. ‘It’s just such a shock to hear you say you love me. You’ve never shown it in any way.’
‘I was a man in the last throes of losing the freedom I’ve always thought I valued above everything else, and I could be losing it to a woman who doesn’t give a damn for me. You were attracted to me, I knew that, but it wasn’t what I wanted. I tried so hard to make you admit to some feelings for me that in the end you retreated from me altogether. But whether you love me or not, whether you marry me or not, I’ll never be free again. You have a large part of me I’ll never get back, that I don’t want back.’
Brooke’s face softened at the look of utter defeat on his face. She touched his cheek gently, a large emotional lump rising in her throat as he turned to bury his face in her palm, his lips caressing, his eyes pleading. ‘There’s freedom in love too, Jarrod. A different sort of freedom, but it is freedom.’
His look was hopeful. ‘Does that mean that you—that you—’
Engaged to Jarrod Stone Page 17