Pulling his truck to the side of the road, he parked in front of her. Getting out, he strolled slowly towards her. He had no idea what reception he’d get, but it wouldn’t be good. He knew how he’d felt when he’d seen Dan and Victoria. He knew how hurt his Laura would be. He prayed for guidance to find the right words to show her what she meant to him. He couldn’t afford to put a foot wrong.
Drawing up to her window, he looked in. The lights by the side of the road shone in to show her tucked up under her jacket, sleeping. Her eyes looked red from crying, her face pale. His heart twisted at the sight of her. More than anything, he wanted to soothe away her pain and set things right. He only hoped she would believe him. Gently, he tapped on the window. She stirred, but didn’t wake up. He tapped again.
The sound of knocking penetrated her blissful dream. Laura didn’t want to open her eyes, but the sound came again. She tried to cling to the wonderful dream of her and Jake making passionate love together, but it crumpled and fell apart with the incessant noise at her side. She jerked awake, confused to find herself in her car. Bits and pieces of the events that had taken place, came flooding back. Laura took a deep breath to compose herself. The last thing she needed was to fall apart again.
Another knock sounded at her window. Thinking the recovery truck had arrived, she twisted with a false smile in place for the driver. Instead, she saw Jake standing at her window, his face concerned. Her smile died instantly. What was he doing here? Maybe he’d come to give her the things she’d left at his house. After all, he wouldn’t want reminders of her to spoil things for Victoria she thought sourly.
Jake knocked again. “Will you please open this door?” she heard him shout through the window.
“No!” she yelled back, folding her arms stubbornly over her chest.
“Laura, you have to let me explain. Please.” He knocked again.
“What’s to explain?” she asked bitterly, winding down the window a bit so he would be able to hear every word she said. “I get it completely. I saw everything I needed to see to tell me exactly what I needed to know. The only thing I don’t get is why you’re here bothering me now.”
“You only saw what Victoria wanted you to see,” Jake told her desperately. “She set that whole thing up.”
“Oh, of course she did,” Laura interrupted sarcastically. “She forced you to take all your clothes off and jump on her did she?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Jake ran his hand through his hair in frustration.
“Why are you bothering me Jake? You made your choice, go live with her.” She wound up the window again, frustrated beyond belief that she couldn’t just start her car and get the hell away from him.
He tapped on the window. “She tricked me,” he shouted through it. “Just give me a chance to explain to you what happened. Then if you don’t want anything more to do with me, I’ll leave. But only when you’ve heard me out. Until then, I’m not going anywhere and if you try to leave, I’ll follow you until you run out of gas. Either way, I won’t give up till you’ve listened.”
Laura ground her teeth in frustration. She really didn’t have much choice. Her car was going nowhere and neither was she until the recovery truck arrived. She wouldn’t put it past Jake to follow her all the way to the garage and then the airport. The easiest thing to do was listen to his lame explanation, tell him what she thought of him and then hopefully he’d leave. She unlocked the door and climbed out, her expression murderous.
“Fine, but don’t expect much. It’s going to take one hell of an explanation to get you out of what I saw you doing.” She glared daggers at him. “I’m not even sure why you’re here. It’s quite obvious what you want. What happened, did Victoria decide she didn’t want you after all and you thought you’d go for second best? You think I’m so desperate, I’ll grab whatever scraps you throw me?”
“You are not second best!” he gritted out. “I didn’t choose her. Just don’t jump to conclusions and hold your comments until I tell you what happened. Alright?”
“Fine!” she snapped, crossing her arms over her chest and staring off into the underbrush. It hurt too much to look at him directly. She wished he wouldn’t put her through this torture. Did he think that little of her that he could hurt her so badly?
Jake sighed, wondering where to start. He knew he only had one shot at this. “Firstly, I was preoccupied after our talk in the barn. I was really worried that I’d stuffed everything up for us by not telling you what happened with Victoria after that night with Dan.”
“So you thought you’d hedge your bets and get on Victoria’s good side, if things didn’t work out with me?” Laura sniffed disdainfully, refusing to make this easy on him. “What a pity I came back too soon and found you out!”
“That’s not it,” he ground out in frustration. “You said you’d listen without commenting or jumping to conclusions.”
She gritted her teeth. “Fine, what happened then?”
“I was distracted and didn’t see Walter until it was too late. He backed a horse right into me and I landed in a pile of manure.” He grimaced at the memory of the smell. “I had no choice but to go up and take a shower. I couldn’t even stand me and I swear even the horses were turning up their noses at me!”
Laura glared at him, her expression stony. If he thought he could worm his way back into her good graces with that attempt at humour, he was in for a shock. Laura found nothing funny in what had happened. He’d betrayed her. She couldn’t see what the point was of telling her about some random incident. How could that excuse him jumping into bed with Victoria?
Jake saw her expression, his heart sinking. Now for the hard part. He hoped she’d see he was telling the truth. “I came out of the bathroom wearing my towel and nothing else. When I got into the bedroom, she was already there. The room was dark, only two candles lit so everything was cast in shadows.”
Laura’s face hardened. She hated to be reminded of what she’d seen. It had looked so cosy and romantic, the sort of thing she would have loved to share with him herself. Her fingers curled into her palms, her nails digging into the soft flesh. She bit down on her lower lip, trying to block out the pain of those images that insisted on floating through her head.
“She had even laid some of your clothes out on the floor, as if you’d stepped out of them and got into bed,” Jake said softly. Laura jerked her head round to stare at him, shock holding back her ability to voice the thousands of questions rolling round in her mind. “I thought it was you. That you’d forgiven me, come home and when you heard me in the shower, you went into the bedroom and got into bed, waiting for me so we could make up in a beautiful way. It never entered my head for one moment that Victoria was the one in the bed, not you.”
Laura froze, her mind whirling, her heart beating triple time. Could he be telling her the truth? She cast her mind back on the scene she’d witnessed. It had been dark in the room. She’d not been able to make out much herself. Was it possible that Jake had really thought it was her? She didn’t know, but hope flared in her chest.
“Did you sleep with her?” she asked quietly, terrified to ask the question, but needing to know the answer. If he’d slept with her, there was no going back. She held her breath, scared to hear his answer.
“No, it didn’t take me long to figure out that she wasn’t you.” He stepped closer to her, wanting to touch her and ease away her pain, but knowing she wouldn’t let him yet. “We kissed and touched a bit before I realised it wasn’t you. It makes me ill to think of it, but that is as far as it went. The moment I realised who she was, I stopped the whole thing. I let her know in no uncertain terms that she held no interest for me whatsoever. She was pretty mad when she left.”
Laura sucked in a shuddering breath, pain and confusion tearing her apart. “I don’t know what to think about what you’re telling me,” she whispered. “I want to believe you, but I’m tired of doing that and then being hit with more pain when something else happens.”
“I am sorry for the things I have done that have hurt you so much, but I promise you this last thing was not of my doing. I didn’t invite her to my bedroom and I didn’t sleep with her. That whole incident was all Victoria’s doing.” He gripped her hands gently in his, encouraged when she didn’t pull free. “I told you when we slept together last night that you are the one I want and I meant every word. I also said that if you could believe in that, Victoria could do nothing. I admit, I never imagined she would pull a stunt like this, but I am hoping you can see that I am telling the truth about what happened.”
Laura looked into his eyes. She could see his pain and desperation staring back at her. Would he look this way if he didn’t mean it; if he was lying? More than anything else, she didn’t want to go through what she’d been through last night ever again. Could she trust that he hadn’t actually slept with Victoria? He could be lying. She would never know. If she stayed and he betrayed her again, how would she survive it if they’d been together longer? She already felt like what had happened had nearly destroyed her and they’d only known each other such a small amount of time. She was sure the longer she was with him, the worse it would be if things fell apart.
Jake could see the war of emotions crossing her face. His heart went cold at the look in her eyes. He could feel her slipping away from him and it terrified him. “Please Laura. Don’t give up on us. Don’t throw away what we could share because you’re scared of being hurt. I tried to do that after Dan and Victoria, but I know now that love is worth taking the risk. Don’t shut it out. I need you and I love you. I won’t ever let you down again. Please trust me and believe me that I have told you the truth.”
Laura gazed into his beautiful blue eyes. She thought about going back to England and never seeing him again. Never holding him or kissing him; of letting go of the future she’d begun to see for them. Did she really want that, if he’d really been set up by a vicious woman that worked so hard to ruin people? Her heart twisted. Hadn’t she always thought her mother would have been okay if she’d only been willing to take a chance on love again? Laura didn’t want to shut her own heart just because she was afraid to be hurt.
She took a deep cleansing breath, closing her eyes as she felt the pain and indecision melt away. He was worth taking a chance for and so was she. She wanted a life with him more than anything. She couldn’t just throw this away. She had to believe he was telling her the truth. “Okay, Jake,” she smiled slowly. “I am willing to give this another chance. But don’t you ever put me through anything like this ever again!”
He pulled her in close, relief flowing through him so strongly, his body was shaking. “I won’t,” he assured her. “Just never greet me with a darkened room or at least don’t be surprised if I put the light on first to make sure it’s you!”
Laura hugged him tightly as she breathed in his unique scent, letting the warmth of his body soothe her. She thought about his statement, anger flowing through her veins. “She really put my clothes on the floor so you’d think it was me?”
“She really did,” he replied, kissing her gently on top of her head.
“I’m going to kill her!” Laura hissed, clutching at his shirt. It took an awful lot to make her mad, but when she did blow, she blew spectacularly. Right now, she wanted to pound Victoria into the dirt for what she’d tried to do.
He pulled back, looking into her angry face. “I’d rather you stay well away from her. After last night, I don’t want to even know what else she’d stoop to.”
“You expect me to do nothing after what she tried to do? She nearly succeeded in splitting us up Jake!” she fumed.
“But she didn’t.” He kissed her softly, smiling as her pursed lips softened under his. “After this, nothing she can do will ever work. This is the worst she could manage. What else could she possibly throw at us?”
“I hope you’re right,” Laura murmured. She kissed him back, relief that she hadn’t lost him making her feel light headed and dizzy. They stood, barely aware of the cars and trucks pounding by on the road every now and then. Nothing existed but each other and the love they had between them.
Pulling back, Jake glanced around them. “We can’t stay here. Do you want to drive behind me and we’ll head home?”
She pulled a face. “I can’t. The car broke down. I’m waiting for the recovery truck to arrive. I’m surprised you didn’t realise. Surely you know I would have driven off at the first sighting of you, if I could have.”
“I guess I was too worried about what you would say for that to occur to me. I have to say you breaking down was very fortunate!” Jake laughed. “Otherwise I might not have got you to stop long enough to listen to me. Or you might have been on a plane home and how would I have ever found you then?”
“Would you have tried?” she asked shyly, smiling up into his face.
“I would have torn the whole damn country apart,” he assured her, earning soft laughter and another kiss. “Now, how long until this recovery truck arrives?”
“I don’t know. I’ve been waiting a while now,” she told him, consulting her watch. “It can’t be much longer. The only thing is, I didn’t ask them for a replacement car, as I thought I’d be going home.”
“Good,” Jake smiled. “We need to get you a car that’s permanently yours. You can’t use a hire car for the rest of your life!”
Laura felt a warm glow in her heart at his words. She felt a sense of belonging fill her being. He wanted her in his life. He’d made that clear. She promised herself that from this moment on, she would believe in that no matter what. She watched as Jake took her things from the car and loaded them into his truck. They waited for another half hour for the pick-up truck to arrive. Jake texted Kerry to let her know he had found Laura and all was well. He doubted his sister would have gone to bed, but he didn’t want to risk waking her if she’d fallen asleep.
A battered truck finally turned up. A large chubby man with a round portly stomach hauled himself out of the vehicle, groaning loudly. He rubbed at the rough whiskers on his face as he confirmed their identity. Then with much grunting and moaning, he hitched up the car. He presented her with some paperwork before he got back in his truck and took off.
Jake and Laura gratefully made their way to his truck, driving back along the road towards home. Laura let her head fall back onto the seat, closing her eyes to savour the moment. She would never have imagined that things would turn out this way when she’d been driving along this road earlier. She was so grateful her car had broken down and Jake had found her. Maybe packing up and running away had been the wrong thing to do. She realised now she should have taken the time to face things, instead of trying to avoid them.
She thought of Martha and the letter she’d left her. That was something she would have to sort out in the morning. She wished she could turn back the clock and do things differently. Martha would be so disappointed in her when she got that letter. Laura hoped she could get to the diner before Martha got the chance to read it, just so she wouldn’t cause too much undue stress. More than ever, she wanted to strangle Victoria for all the trouble she’d caused.
Jake’s explanation drifted through her mind, something nagging at her that she simply couldn’t catch hold off. Suddenly Laura’s heart tripped over as a thought occurred to her. Victoria had certainly set a trap, but for who? She couldn’t help but wonder if Victoria had meant for her to find Jake in that compromising position. After all, he’d soon realised it wasn’t Laura in his bed and had stopped all physical intimacy when he did. Victoria had to have known he would realise it was her sooner or later. Was it possible she had been attempting to clear the field?
Her mind ticking over, Laura bit her lip in concentration. She was sure she was on to something, but she wasn’t sure what. Something was fishy about the whole situation. She only needed to think it through. She frowned deeply as she tried to sort out all the bits of what she was sure was a complicated puzzle. Slowly something else began to occur
to her, making her heart thump even stronger.
Jake glanced over at Laura, seeing the frown marring her sweet face. “What are you thinking about,” he asked curiously.
She bit her lip, looking at him with a serious expression. “I was thinking about what you told me earlier.”
“What about it?” he asked worriedly.
“Can I just ask you something?” Her frown deepened, her eyes glazed as she seemed to be working something over in her mind.
“Sure,” he hoped she hadn’t begun to doubt him again. His heart picked up speed.
“Did Walter know Victoria when she was here two years ago?” Of all the things Jake had expected her to ask, that wasn’t it.
“No, he didn’t start working for us until she’d left. Why?” He couldn’t understand why she was suddenly thinking about Walter. He squashed a flash of jealousy.
“That’s odd. Are you sure she had already left?” Laura persisted.
“Positive. She packed up and moved on the day we were meant to be married. Walter started about three days later. Why?” He was puzzled as to where she was going with this.
“Well, he told me he’d seen her on distance. He made sure I knew how beautiful she was. He said he’d seen her before she’d gone away. If what you say is right, how is that possible?”
“I guess he might have been in town and seen her before he got the job with us.” Jake shrugged, not really caring.
“I guess so.” She continued to chew at her lip, her face still screwed up in concentration.
“Why are you so interested in when Walter may have seen her?” Jake tried to keep the bite of jealously down, but he couldn’t help but wonder at her interest.
Wild Fire (The Fairy Tale Match Series) Page 27