Although Jack obviously wasn’t as sure!
Mattie relented slightly in the face of Jack’s increasing misery, standing on tiptoe to whisper softly in his ear. ‘Just introduce me, Jack; it’s going to be fine.’
He swallowed hard. ‘I just wish you had let me explain—’
‘Do it later.’ She gave an encouraging squeeze of his hand. ‘And please don’t worry—’
‘Hi, everyone!’ greeted a huskily sexy voice from close behind them. ‘I do hope I’m not too late?’ the woman added insincerely.
Jack had stiffened at Mattie’s side at the first sound of that come-to-bed voice. Mattie gave him a concerned look before turning slowly to look at the newcomer.
The woman was tall, with flowing dark hair that reached down to her waist. The short, figure-hugging tube-dress she was wearing was the same deep violet colour as her eyes—eyes framed by the longest dark lashes Mattie had ever seen, her face having the delicate beauty of an exquisite china doll.
This was Thom’s sister, Sharon?
She had to be. Everyone else in the family was already present.
This was the woman Jack claimed he needed protecting from?
Mattie glanced at him consideringly. If that was how Jack really felt, then he must be the only man in the room who did!
Because every other man present, whether alone or with someone, was unashamedly staring at the beautiful woman who was now laughingly greeting Sandy and Thom, before moving on to the other sisters and their respective spouses.
But even as the woman chatted and laughed with the rest of the family, Mattie was conscious of the fact that Sharon was completely aware of Jack as he stood stiffly at Mattie’s side, could sense the other woman’s interest even before she finally came to stand directly in front of him.
‘Jack,’ Sharon initiated.
He gave a polite inclination of his head. ‘Sharon.’
‘I’m sure we can do better than that; after all, we’ll soon be one big, happy family!’ Sharon murmured throatily before leaning forward and kissing him lightly on the lips, effectively prompting the release of Jack’s hand from Mattie’s as he reached up to clasp the slenderness of Sharon’s tanned, bared shoulders and moved her firmly away from him. ‘It’s so good to see you again,’ Sharon persisted, now determinedly linking her arm with his in forced intimacy.
Mattie had heard other women use the phrase, ‘I just want to scratch her eyes out’, although she had never before felt such an inclination herself. But at that moment she knew she could cheerfully have carried out such a threat on the beautiful Sharon!
How dared Sharon look at Jack in that way, as if she just wanted to devour him? As if, for her, no one else in the room existed?
Although, to give Jack his due, he wasn’t giving the woman any encouragement—
He didn’t need to!
Sharon looked like a woman who knew what she wanted. And got it, too. And she obviously wanted Jack Beauchamp.
What Mattie didn’t understand was why Jack didn’t want Sharon in return. Or, at least, said he didn’t…
But why should he lie about such a thing? It didn’t—
‘—me introduce you to my friend, Mattie Crawford,’ Jack was saying now, his arm moving lightly about Mattie’s waist as he pulled her to his side. ‘Mattie, this is Sharon Keswick, Thom’s sister.’
‘And I thought we were so much more than that, Jack,’ the other woman taunted before turning hard violet-coloured eyes on Mattie. ‘It’s nice to meet you, Mandy,’ she greeted disinterestedly, her handshake definitely on the limp side too.
‘Mattie,’ she corrected, releasing her hand as quickly as possible, having no doubts that the use of the wrong name had been deliberate on the other woman’s part, at the same time deciding there was absolutely no point in returning any nicety of her own; she wouldn’t mean it any more than the other woman did.
‘Mattie,’ Sharon corrected in a bored voice, the light of challenge in those violet-coloured eyes now. ‘Have we met before? Perhaps you know the—’
‘Can I get you some champagne, Sharon?’ Edward Beauchamp stepped in to offer politely.
‘If you’ll both excuse us?’ Jack cut in dismissively. ‘I just want to introduce Mattie to the rest of the family.’
Considering that a few minutes ago it was the last thing he had wanted to do…!
‘What a good idea,’ Mattie agreed. ‘I’m sure we’ll talk again later in the evening, Miss Keswick,’ she told the other woman coolly.
‘You can count on it,’ Sharon murmured before turning smilingly to Edward Beauchamp and accepting the glass of champagne he held out to her.
‘Whew!’ Jack breathed deeply once they were safely out of earshot. ‘See what I mean?’ he added grimly.
Mattie wasn’t at all sure what she was supposed to see. Sharon was as interested in Jack as he had claimed she was—more than interested!—and he was as obviously fighting shy of that interest.
But surely there had been more to the encounter than that, an underlying something, a feeling that some sort of intimacy did exist between the two of them?
One thing Mattie did know: all the fun had gone out of the evening for her. She had intended teasing Jack a little concerning the identity of his four sisters, of having just a little fun at his expense, but now she felt no such inclination. In fact, as far as Mattie was concerned, with Sharon Keswick’s arrival she stopped enjoying herself!
Mainly because, as Sharon hadn’t been present when they’d arrived downstairs, a part of Mattie had begun to wonder if there really was a Sharon at all, if it hadn’t just been another part of the game Jack was playing with her. Because if that were the case, then there was the possibility that perhaps Jack had invited her to Paris with him for an altogether different reason…
But all those half-hopes and dreams had disappeared out of the window the moment the other woman had put in an appearance. And what an appearance!
Mattie once again felt like that ugly duckling amongst so many beautiful swans. One beautiful swan in particular…!
‘All I saw was a beautiful woman,’ Mattie snapped abruptly.
‘Oh, she’s certainly that,’ Jack conceded ruefully.
Mattie bridled resentfully; he could have at least attempted to play down the other woman’s beauty—even if it weren’t the truth! ‘Then where’s your problem?’ she returned scathingly.
Jack gave a shake of his head. ‘It’s too complicated to explain right now—’
‘I’m sure that if you use simple words, ones with only two syllables or less, that I’ll understand!’ Mattie scorned.
Jack turned to her looking worried. ‘Mattie—’
‘Not now, Jack,’ she interrupted, forcing herself to smile as they approached his family group. ‘Now you have to introduce me to your four sisters: Tina, the twins Sally and Cally, and Sandy,’ she recited.
Even the stunned look on Jack’s face as he came to an abrupt halt at this announcement didn’t give her the satisfaction she had expected it would. Because the arrival of the beautiful Sharon Keswick had completely taken the shine off the evening as far as Mattie was concerned.
‘If I were you, Jack, I would stop my impersonation of a goldfish, and introduce me,’ she told him, still smiling—even if she felt more like crying. ‘Your sisters and their partners are all wondering what’s keeping us.’ In fact, the younger members of his family were all discreetly looking the other way as she and Jack talked softly together. No doubt they were under the impression that she and Jack were murmuring sweet intimacies to each other.
No such luck!
This would teach her to believe there might be such a thing as happy-ever-after for her with Jack. Jack himself had claimed from the beginning that he wanted her with him in Paris as a deterrent to the attentions of Sharon Keswick, and the last few minutes had shown her that was the truth. Nothing less. But certainly nothing more.
She had envisaged that this evening, she would finally forgi
ve him for his little subterfuge, and then hopefully the two of them could spend the rest of the evening together enjoying themselves. They might even have ended the evening in the way that they could have done last night if his sister hadn’t interrupted them…
None of that was going to happen now!
It was her own fault, of course. Jack had been pleasant to her, a wonderful companion the evening before, but he had never given any indication that he felt more than that. She was the one who had made the mistake of falling in love with him.
‘You know!’ he finally stopped his impersonation of a goldfish—his mouth opening and closing but no sound coming out—long enough to gasp incredulously.
‘Of course I know,’ she said snippily. ‘Ha ha, very funny.’ She grimaced. ‘Satisfied?’
Jack still looked completely stunned. ‘But I—How—? When—?’
‘Your mother. This morning,’ she answered the unfinished questions. ‘Does this happen very often?’ she teased, realizing there was really no point in the two of them falling out; the beautiful Sharon Keswick or not, they still had this evening to get through with the rest of Jack’s family.
He blinked. ‘What?’
‘A speechless Jack Beauchamp!’ she replied with satisfaction.
His gaze narrowed. ‘You’ve known the truth since this morning…?’
‘The early bird catches the gossip,’ she misquoted.
‘Hmm,’ Jack mused suspiciously. ‘My mother didn’t mention any of this when I spoke to her earlier this afternoon.’
He must have gone to see his mother after Mattie had disappeared to the beauty salon…
‘Well, she wouldn’t have done, would she?’ Mattie retorted, slipping her arm into the crook of his. ‘Your poor mother had no idea I ever believed Tina, Sally, Cally, and Sandy were anything other than your four younger sisters!’ She gave him an overbright smile.
‘Of course not,’ Jack conceded slowly, his gaze narrowed on the insincerity of her smile. ‘So that was the reason for your unexpected—friendliness, earlier when I returned from the airport; you were playing with me, Mattie Crawford,’ he realized ruefully.
‘At your own game, Jack Beauchamp,’ she acknowledged dryly, thankfully latching onto this explanation; she had been playing with him earlier, but her feelings for him were very real. And she didn’t want him to even guess at those!
‘Touché.’ He gave an inclination of his head, his eyes gleaming with laughter as he draped his arm casually about her shoulders. ‘In that case, let’s go and say hello to the clan!’
‘The clan’, as he called them, were only too pleased to meet her, all his sisters warm and friendly, the men teasingly congratulating Jack on catching himself such a lovely girlfriend.
Mattie was grateful for the warmth of their compliments, needed all the ego-boosting there was going after that confrontation with Sharon Keswick.
In contrast, Sharon’s brother, Thom, was charming and friendly, with none of that brittle hardness that was such a part of his beautiful sister’s nature.
‘Has Mattie realized yet that you’re a workaholic, Jack?’ Thom teased his future brother-in-law.
Jack’s arm tightened about Mattie’s shoulders. ‘Maybe that will change now that I have Mattie,’ he answered suggestively.
‘Or that you’re a lousy golf player?’ Ian, Cally’s Scottish husband, joked. ‘He has a handicap of twenty-four,’ he confided in Mattie disgustedly.
‘I’m better suited to indoor sports,’ Jack returned smoothly.
‘In that case, has Mattie realized yet that you snore—? Ouch!’ Jim gave an aggrieved look in the direction of his wife, at the same time rubbing the ankle Tina had just kicked.
Mattie had been smiling from the beginning of this teasing of Jack, but now she couldn’t help bursting out laughing; poor Jim, he really did have a way of putting his foot in his mouth!
‘I really am sorry for the way I barged into your evening last night,’ Tina told her self-consciously. ‘I don’t know what you must have thought of me. And I kept poor Jack awake for hours with my emotional ranting and raving,’ she confessed.
No wonder he had looked so tired when he’d returned from the airport earlier…
‘Don’t give it another thought.’ Mattie squeezed the other woman’s arm understandingly. ‘That’s what families are for. Besides, it’s all settled now. And I understand congratulations are in order…?’ She looked at the newly expectant parents.
‘Thank you,’ Tina accepted glowingly. ‘And just ignore this idiot of a husband of mine,’ she added, at the same time moving closer to Jim to smile at him lovingly. ‘His brain very often doesn’t connect with his mouth!’
‘So that’s what his problem is,’ Jack mused affectionately. ‘And I thought he was just socially inept.’
‘That too,’ Tina agreed.
‘When the two of you have quite finished discussing my shortcomings…!’ Jim protested.
‘We haven’t even started yet!’ Jack warned him.
‘Time we were all making a move, I think,’ Betty put in softly, she and Edward having spent the last few minutes chatting with Thom’s parents.
The Keswicks looked like nice, ordinary people too, both short and slightly plump, making Mattie wonder how on earth they could have produced a daughter like Sharon…and not just her beautiful looks!
‘Just what else did you and my mother talk about when you met this morning?’ Jack enquired as they all strolled over to the Eiffel Tower. ‘Besides inadvertently telling you exactly who Tina, Sally, Cally, and Sandy are, she obviously told you about Tina’s pregnancy too.’
Mattie raised innocent brows. ‘I find your mother very easy to talk to.’
‘Unlike me.’ He grimaced.
Oh, she found Jack easy to talk to too. Too easy. Which was why she had to be constantly on her guard not to reveal exactly how she felt about him.
Mattie hesitated. ‘I—’
‘It really is so good to see you again, Jack,’ Sharon Keswick drawled suggestively as she strolled over to walk on his other side, unhesitatingly linking her arm with his. ‘I do hope you’ll excuse us, Mandy.’ She leant around Jack to show perfect white teeth in another of those insincere smiles. ‘But Jack and I are old friends,’ she explained, looking up at Jack beneath those incredible lashes now. ‘Isn’t this just the most romantic place on earth, Jack?’ she exclaimed breathlessly, those violet eyes wide and beguiling as she gazed up at the starlit sky.
Mattie—Mandy?—couldn’t help wondering just how ‘old’ the friendship between Jack and Sharon was…?
She also distinctly disliked the way the other woman kept touching Jack with every opportunity she had, as if she had a perfect right to do so. Which was ridiculous; it was really none of Mattie’s business who touched Jack. Or, more importantly, who Jack allowed to touch him. Because, despite his earlier comments, he wasn’t exactly fighting the other woman off now, was he?
Which was why Mattie wasn’t exactly surprised when Sharon managed to manoeuvre herself into the seat on the other side of Jack at the huge round table they were all seated at for dinner.
She wasn’t surprised—but she was furious. With Jack. With Sharon Keswick. But most of all with herself—for having been so foolish as to fall in love with a man who was so out of her reach!
CHAPTER TEN
‘I REALLY wouldn’t worry too much about my little sister, if I were you,’ Thom, seated on Mattie’s other side, reassured her some time later.
Mattie turned to give him a strained smile, her head pounding, her appetite for the first course they had already been served almost nil, her appreciation for the illuminated romantic Paris skyline even less. And all because of, as Thom had guessed so rightly, his sister Sharon.
Despite Jack’s attempts to include Mattie in the conversation, the other woman had completely dominated Jack’s attention since they’d sat down. If Mattie heard Sharon begin one more sentence with, ‘Do you remember, Jack, when we’,
she truly believed she was going to scream!
Just what sort of old friends were Jack and Sharon?
Not that it took two guesses to find the answer to that! Which made Jack’s reasons for dragging Mattie all the way here all the more—
‘He isn’t interested, you know,’ Thom spoke again, softly.
Mattie’s smile was scathing this time; Jack had certainly been interested at some time in the not-so-distant past!
‘He really isn’t, Mattie,’ Thom insisted, his hand resting briefly on hers as she shredded the bread roll on her side plate into inedible pieces.
Mattie glanced down impatiently at the mess that had once been the roll, rubbing the crumbs from her fingers back onto the plate. ‘I would hate to see what he looks like when he is interested, then,’ she said disgustedly, at the same time shooting Jack’s partially turned shoulders an irritated glance as Sharon continued to monopolise him.
Thom laughed. ‘Try looking at him when he’s with you,’ he suggested gently. ‘I’ve certainly never seen Jack looking as relaxed and happy as he was with you when we were all chatting together earlier.’
Mattie frowned her puzzlement at this comment. ‘But I’ve only ever seen Jack relaxed and happy,’ she said slowly.
‘Exactly,’ his future brother-in-law said.
Mattie really had no idea what Thom was talking about. Jack was a man completely sure of himself, of who he was, and where he was going. But, then, Thom also didn’t know that her being here with Jack at all was just an act on his part…
Which just went to prove what a good actor he was!
For all the good it had done; Jack had spent most of the evening talking to Sharon Keswick, anyway. Mattie’s presence here really was superfluous.
She gave a shake of her head. ‘I appreciate your concern, Thom, but it really isn’t necessary.’ Her smile made her face ache. ‘Jack and I don’t have that sort of relationship.’ They didn’t have a relationship at all! After this weekend she very much doubted she would ever see him again.
Thom shrugged. ‘Then perhaps you should.’
Mattie’s eyes widened. Not that she was a prude or anything, but it sounded rather odd having Jack’s future brother-in-law advising her to advance her relationship with Jack onto a physical one.
In Separate Bedrooms Page 10