Bewildered Haven

by Helen Bianchin

  'Pleasant thoughts, I hope?' Zachary's voice drawled from the doorway, and his eyes were darkly contemplative as they rested on her expressive features. 'Tough day?' he queried lightly as he moved into the room and poured himself a drink from the cabinet, then turned to regard her thoughtfully.

  Jenny smiled and managed a light negligent shrug. 'So-so,' she averred cautiously, and her eyes widened fractionally as he strolled towards her and settled himself casually down on to the arm of her chair. Her heart lurched crazily as he leant forward and brushed his lips in a fleeting caress to the sensitive exposed nape beneath the thick chignon of her hair.

  'How "so-so"?' he enquired ruminatively, and Jenny cast him a startled glance as he caught her chin and tilted it upwards. 'When you stepped out from the elevator this morning you reminded me of a lamb about to be fed to the lions,' he observed wryly. 'Even now, there's a slightly haunted look lurking beneath the surface. Lise?' he questioned inexorably, and Jenny grimaced momentarily.

  'Right first time,' she choked a little on the lightly forced laugh as it escaped from the back of her throat, and was powerless to stop her bottom lip from trembling.

  Zachary stifled a sharp imprecation and his eyes never left hers for a second. 'That bad?' he observed cynically, and for a brief second his eyes flared vibrantly alive in anger.

  Jenny swallowed compulsively and tried to make light of it. 'You just don't present a very plausible husband-and-loving-father image. That possibly might be achieved by the time you're a balding grey-headed paunchy old man straddling grandchildren on your knee,' she declared with some spirit, and saw the smile on his lips reach up into his eyes to set them twinkling darkly.

  'And while I'm a balding grey-headed paunchy— paunchy?' he demanded on a chuckling note of incredulity—'old man, what, pray, will you be?'

  'A nicely rounded white-haired wrinkled harassed old lady chasing after our grandchildren,' Jenny sparkled in amusement.

  'I think the lamb has emitted a lion-like roar,' Zachary laughed softly as he bent his head to claim her lips with an expertise that left her starry-eyed and more than a little breathless.

  'Finish your drink,' he instructed musingly some minutes later. 'We'll go somewhere quiet for dinner, and then you shall meet my doting grandmama.'

  Jenny looked up at him in surprise, her eyes widening in astonishment, and he traced a line along her cheekbone with an idle forefinger.

  'You find it strange that I have a grandmother?' her teased gently, and his eyes held hidden laughter as they beheld her confusion;

  'You've never mentioned any relatives at all. Somehow I imagined—' Jenny paused awkwardly and tried to hide her embarrassment.

  'What, Jenny-wren? That I was placed here from the nether regions as the devil's advocate ?' Zachary chuckled deeply and caught her hands as she attempted to extricate herself from his grasp.

  'You do it deliberately, don't you?' Jenny accused a trifle irrationally as she stood still within the circle of his arms.

  'You rise to the bait so beautifully—I find the temptation sometimes difficult to resist,' he murmured appeasingly, and she felt his lips rest on her hair and then trail tantalisingly down to the lobe of her ear before he released her. 'Come, child. I have strict instructions to present myself at Grandmama's door at precisely nine o'clock, with you at my side and a bottle of her favourite imported French champagne beneath my arm.'

  Jenny grinned engagingly and reached up to straighten his tie. 'She sounds quite—'

  Zachary tweaked back a stray lock of hair that had escaped from its now slightly dishevelled chignon and interrupted her sardonically. 'She's a thoroughly incorrigible and at times outrageously outspoken old lady, but a darling nevertheless,' he concluded with a measure of affection.

  'A like resemblance to her grandson, in other words,' Jenny shook her head in mock, despair. 'And I thought there was only one of you to contend with,' she twinkled up at him unrepentantly, and uttered an indignant 'ouch!' as he nipped the lobe of her ear none too gently between sparkling white sharp teeth.

  'I've news for you, Jenny Meredith,' he drawled quizzically. 'I have a sister in America who is impatient to become an aunt, and yet another sister living in Switzerland having only recently married a Swiss industrialist—I attended the wedding just two months ago,' he elaborated patiently.

  It was precisely three minutes before nine when Zachary turned the Mercedes-Benz into a long curving driveway high on the brow of the hill overlooking St. Heliers Bay. An imposing colonial residence of considerable size stood revealed in the powerful beam of the car's headlights, and as the car crunched to a halt outside the front entrance the door was flung open by a middle-aged woman whom Zachary introduced immediately as Hattie Carmichael—distant relative, nurse and general factotum.

  -She's quite beside herself Zachary,' Hattie hastened rather worriedly. The old dear began clock-watching as long as an hour ago, and she's worked herself into quite a state.'

  Zachary unhurriedly led Jenny inside to the magnificent entrance hall, and from there directly through to a large luxuriously furnished lounge. Jenny was aware of Hattie following them anxiously and also that Zachary murmured reassuringly over his shoulder, but nothing prepared her for the shock of meeting Zachary's grandmother.

  Shock was the only word Jenny could coherently use to describe her reaction to the tiny exquisitely dressed old lady seated regally upon an amply cushioned wing-backed velvet-upholstered chair. The white hair was beautifully coiffured and her eyes were a bright vivid blue and as sharp-sighted as they had ever been. There was still a gracious beauty in the lined face, and the hands she extended in greeting were liberally adorned with sparkling diamond rings.

  'At last you're, here!' she exclaimed with a degree of impatience. 'Come over here, child, where I can see you properly,' she commanded Jenny irritably.

  'Grandmama, meet Jenny Meredith,' Zachary drawled lazily, and deliberately stood back as Jenny moved forward to greet the old lady.; 'My paternal grandmother,' his voice vouchsafed affably

  'I'm very pleased to meet you,' Jenny said quietly, and placed her hands into the outstretched hands of the old lady, almost wincing as her fingers were gripped and shaken.

  'Am I so formidable that you must whisper?' the old lady demanded. 'My name is Nina Benedict, and as you are soon to become one of the family you may call me Grandmama.' She looked across at Zachary with those piercingly vivid blue eyes and beckoned him imperiously to her side. 'I hope you remembered the champagne. I refuse to salute your happiness and my future greatgrandchildren with anything other than Dom Perignon.'

  Zachary smiled gently down at her and caught Jenny's hand in his. 'I doubt that I would have dared to arrive without it, Grandmama,' he declared lightly, his eyes lighting with humour.

  'Bah!' Nina Benedict snorted regally. 'Don't be sassy with me. Hattie, fetch the glasses. I have only one' grandson, and after twelve years spent impatiently waiting for him to present me with his choice of a wife, he springs the occasion upon me a matter of days before the wedding !' She lifted her hands in a gesture of despair. 'I hope you don't entertain any of these modern notions, girl.' Jenny was subjected to an extremely sharp-eyed glance. 'I've set my mind on holding my first greatgrandchild in my arms come this time next year.'

  Incorrigible wasn't the word, Jenny thought a trifle wildly. This tiny little bundle sitting supported in her cushioned chair was nothing less than a matriarch!

  'Twins have a habit of appearing every second generation within my family, so I'm told,' Jenny mentioned to the top of Nina Benedict's snowy-white head, then lowered her eyes fractionally to gaze directly into the vivid blue ones barely a few feet away. 'Perhaps I'll be able to oblige you with two great-grandchildren at the same time,' she finished sweetly.

  The pair of vivid blue eyes sparkled with suppressed devilry. 'Yes, that would be delightful. I don't suppose you could arrange it so that there's one of each?'

  'As the mere father, will I have any say in th
e matter?' Zachary drawled laconically as he took the glasses from Hattie and placed them on the marble table, then proceeded to uncork the champagne.

  Jenny shot him a demure glance from beneath her lashes and met the dark promise gleaming wickedly in the depths of his eyes, and felt momentarily lost for words as the breath caught in her throat and her carelessly amusing reply died on her lips. The mere thought of him as a lover sent her pulse racing and inglorious colour flooded her cheeks. Oh, why did he possess the power to render her speechless, and to feel about as poised as a thirteen-year-old schoolgirl!

  'You see, Grandmama? Between us, we've managed to embarrass the poor girl,' Zachary murmured on a mockingly contrite note as he handed a glass of sparkling liquid to each of them. Hattie smiled kindly and a little sympathetically at Jenny and lifted her own glass as she waited for Nina Benedict's toast.

  'It is not many young women who can be so easily embarrassed these days,' Nina Benedict voiced tardily, sweeping her gaze from Zachary to Jenny, and her lips lifted into a slight smile. 'You will do very well, Jenny Meredith. It seems that if I'm to believe a half of what I hear, it's more than time this grandson of mine settled down!' She lifted her glass high, and her voice rang surprisingly clear. 'May you both be blessed with love everlasting; health and happiness be with you always.'

  The glasses clinked gently together and Zachary echoed a totally serious 'Amen', before bending down to drop a singularly sweet kiss on Jenny's softly parted lips. She felt her eyes widen into large poignantly expressive pools as they met her dark eloquent gaze only inches away. There was warm passion in the lambent depths of his dark eyes, a seriousness visible that had no need of words.

  'I have decided,' Nina Benedict's voice intruded resourcefully, 'that I shall arrange a wedding reception here after the ceremony. Just family, of course, and perhaps a few very close friends. Hattie and I will consult together tomorrow and begin making all the arrangements. You, Jenny, will leave your telephone number with Hattie. No,' she held up her hand as Zachary made a murmur of protest, 'I'm determined not to be thwarted. An old woman must be allowed to enjoy what pleasures are left, in what surely must be the last few years of her life!' There was a hint of defiance apparent as she drew herself proudly erect and tilted her chin, almost daring them to deny her.

  Zachary breathed a slightly exasperated sigh and gently chided the determined old lady. 'Grandmama, such an arrangement would prove too much for you, and I know the doctor would be in agreement with me.' He leant a conciliatory hand forward and gently rubbed her lined cheek affectionately. 'If it pleases you, Jenny and I will bring the four members of her immediate family here for a few drinks after the service. Hattie can organise some hors d'oeuvres, but that's all,' he admonished sternly. 'No elaborate buffet, no other guests—is that clearly understood?' Dark brown eyes challenged a pair of startlingly vivid blue, and Jenny found herself unconsciously holding her breath as she waited to see which pair would waver first.

  'Oh, very well,' Nina Benedict gave in, albeit gracefully. '-You're every bit as overbearingly bossy as your father and grandfather before you, I only hope,' she cast Jenny a speculative glance, 'that that hint of auburn in those glorious tresses denotes an independence of spirit.'

  Zachary chuckled deeply and squeezed Jenny's hand reassuringly. 'Indeed it does, Grandmama. It took quite considerable persuasion to convince Jenny that my intentions were serious—and honourable,' he added sardonically, and slanted a quizzical glance down towards Jenny, 'She wasn't at all sure I wasn't Lucifer himself, and didn't hesitate to voice her disapproval of me!'

  Nina Benedict laughed delightedly and paused to sip champagne from her glass. 'No doubt that presented a somewhat startling change! I declare, Zachary, that you might well have met your match,' she added with great satisfaction, twinkling a delightfully vivacious smile towards Jenny. 'And now, my children, you must indulge a decrepit old woman and reveal to me some of your plans. I presume you intend leaving the practice in capable hands for a few days?' She turned to Zachary and added one query after another in slightly breathless tones until he held up his hand.

  'Enough, enough! You'll be told all in good time,' he chided gently, and Jenny detected a slightly anxious note as he leant down and took his grandmother's hand. 'You mustn't overtire yourself—think of those greatgrandchildren! And now we must leave,' he said firmly, bending forward to brush her hair with his lips in an affectionate gesture.

  Jenny impulsively followed his action and was rewarded with a decidedly watery smile from the old lady. Hattie accompanied them to the door and wished them a cheerful 'Goodnight' before turning back to attend to the preparations necessary in getting her valued charge into bed.

  The large car sped swiftly in the direction of Bucklands Beach and Jenny sat in contemplative silence during the relatively short journey. There seemed so many questions she wanted to ask of Zachary, yet in a way she felt hesitant to voice them. And now that she had had time to give the matter some thought, it seemed somewhat unsettling that Zachary had expected Lise might cause mischief. Jenny felt a lump rise in her throat and swallowed convulsively. There was no doubt Lise had been more than a casual acquaintance, and Jenny felt bound to concede it was probable Lise had shared more than an occasional dinner. Much more! Oh, damn, damn, damn! Why did she want to cry? Here it was their last evening together until he returned in little more than a week's time, and she had to spoil it by childishly resorting to tears.

  The car drew to a halt outside her flat and she heard Zachary request coffee, and her answer was monosyllabic as she escaped from the car. Inside the flat, Jenny moved quickly into the kitchen and busied herself setting the electric kettle to boil and fetched cups and saucers from a cupboard, all the time willing herself to obtain some semblance of control over her chaotic emotions. Her heart leapt and raced erratically as Zachary's hand reached out to switch off the kettle before moving to close over the bones at her shoulders, forcing her to turn and face him.

  'I thought as much,' Zachary slanted gently as he lifted her chin. 'Come, my Jenny-wren—out with it,' he commanded in a dangerously soft voice, and his eyes darkened with barely concealed anger. 'If it's Lise that's bothering you, I'll ring Grant Ogilvie and terminate your employment as of now. What's more, I'll put you on an early morning plane to Tauranga and you can stay safely at home with your mother and Jane until I collect you next week!'

  Jenny blinked up at him in confusion. 'You can't do that!' she exclaimed. 'What on earth would they think?'

  'The devil with what anyone thinks!' he returned brusquely. 'I'll not have you harassed into becoming an emotional wreck by Lise—or anyone else for that matter. I've half a mind to whisk you off down to Wellington with me—at least there I can keep an eye on you,' he concluded wryly.

  'You make me sound like a runaway child,' Jenny grimaced huffily, whereupon she was shaken none too gently.

  'Child is the operative Word,' Zachary voiced cynically. 'Right at this moment I don't know whether to make love to you or to haul you across my knee and render a thorough spanking! Perhaps it might be an idea to follow one with the other,' he added musingly, his eyes openly challenging her.

  'You wouldn't dare!' Jenny choked, and felt, thoroughly alarmed at the leashed passion beneath the surface of his control.

  'You'd better believe it, Jenny-wren,' he warned softly. 'Listen to me carefully, for I don't aim to make a habit of issuing such explanations. Lise was nothing more than a passing attraction, and despite what she might like to hint to the contrary, we shared a few drinks and two, possibly three dinners together—that's all. Now— do I deposit you in the bosom of your family for the next week, or will you accompany me to Wellington?'

  Jenny searched those dark eyes above hers and slowly shook her head. 'No, Zachary, I'll stay here. Jane is due in Auckland on Friday for the weekend, and I thought I might visit my cousin on the North Shore one evening this week. If I don't stay,' she added a trifle sadly, 'anything else will seem like running away
.'

  Zachary's lips met hers, gently at first, then with an intensity that drowned out all rational thought. When at last he lifted his head she could only gaze up at him speechlessly, powerless to utter anything coherent.

  'If I don't go now,' he murmured wryly, trailing a teasing forefinger across her trembling lower lip, 'nothing will stop me from spending the night in your bed, after which you would find yourself unceremoniously deposited on to the plane tomorrow en route to Wellington with me!' He kissed her hard on the mouth, then straightened and turned away. 'I'll put a toll call through on Wednesday evening. Take care, Jenny,' he commanded gently from the doorway, and was gone before she could utter a single word of goodbye.

  CHAPTER 9

  Surprisingly Lise was away from work the following day —migraine, Suzy confided to Jenny over their morning cup of coffee. Judy snorted derisively and voiced her doubts that Lise's absence was due to anything other than sour grapes over Jenny's engagement to Zachary. It was something of a relief not to have to do verbal battle with Lise, although Jenny had given the matter considerable thought and decided to avoid contact with the girl at all costs.

  A telephone call through the day from her cousin Dianne brought an invitation to dinner that evening and Jenny accepted gladly, although she knew the news of her engagement would bring astonishment and conjecture. Even Dianne and George had heard of Zachary Benedict, and Jenny spent most of the evening listening to Dianne extolling the social excellence of the people Zachary mixed with and how incredibly lucky Jenny was to have met such a man. Jenny sat through it all with apparent calm and pleaded a headache shortly after ten o'clock so that she could make good her escape. It was partly true in any case—Dianne's incessant chatter had given her a headache!

  Lise returned to the office on Wednesday, and much to Jenny's relief she chose to ignore Jenny completely. It didn't exactly make for happy working conditions, but Jenny philosophically reasoned that she far preferred Lise's silence to the girl's spitefully barbed comments.