Not that she hadn’t thought about it, but—
‘I wouldn’t want you to make the same mistake I did with Sandy five years ago, Mattie,’ Thom continued candidly. ‘We dated for a while then,’ he explained at Mattie’s questioning look. ‘I knew I loved her, that she was the only woman I could ever marry—I just forgot to tell her that! Needless to say, someone else came along and told her all the things she needed to hear. Before I knew what had happened, she was married to that someone else.’ He sighed. ‘I had to wait another four years for her to decide she had made a mistake, for her to be free so that I could finally tell her how I felt about her.’
That was hardly the case with Mattie and Jack, was it? She might be in love with Jack, but he certainly didn’t feel that way about her, would probably run a mile in the opposite direction if she were to tell him she was in love with him—
‘What are you two talking about so seriously?’ Jack broke into her troubled thoughts.
Although the hard glitter in those dark brown eyes in no way reflected the friendliness of his tone! In fact, he looked distinctly angry. Because she was talking to Thom? Well, that was ridiculous when he had spent the majority of the evening so far talking to Sharon!
‘I—’
‘I was just telling Mattie—’ Thom spoke decisively over what was going to be Mattie’s sharp reply ‘—that I lost your sister five years ago because I was too stupid to tell her how I felt about her.’ He looked challengingly at Jack.
Mattie felt embarrassed colour enter her cheeks; Jack was going to wonder how on earth she and Thom could have got onto such a personal subject in the space of a few minutes!
Jack steadily returned Thom’s gaze for several long seconds. ‘Really?’ he finally drawled.
‘Yes—really,’ the other man echoed firmly.
For goodness’ sake, this was supposed to be a family celebration—and Jack and Thom were eyeing each other as if they were sizing each other up for a fight!
‘And I was just saying how romantic it all was that they have finally got together,’ Mattie put in brightly.
‘Women are very big on romance, Jack,’ Thom pronounced. ‘You should try it some time,’ he added dryly.
Jack’s expression darkened. ‘With a family like mine that can sometimes be rather difficult,’ he returned tightly.
Enigmatically, as far as Mattie was concerned. All she did know was that she had to break up this conversation—challenge? After all, they were here to celebrate Thom and Sandy’s engagement.
But Sandy joined in the conversation before she could say anything else. ‘After the complete mess you made of sending our Easter flowers, Jack, you’re lucky any of the female members of this family is actually speaking to you,’ she admonished her older brother. ‘Luckily we all have a sense of humour! It was really rather funny, Mattie,’ she turned to confide. ‘Jack sent us all flowers, but with all the wrong cards attached. Think of the fun it would have been if we had all been his girlfriends instead of his sisters!’
Jack looked nonplussed. ‘Yes—just think.’ He gave a challenging glance in Mattie’s direction.
Mattie, who just wanted to crawl under the table and hide!
She was also aware that Thom was studying her closely, that he could no doubt see the embarrassed expression on her face, the warning glare she had just shot in Jack’s direction.
‘It’s just as well you’re a one-woman man, isn’t it, Jack?’ Thom murmured slowly.
‘Isn’t it?’ Jack returned noncommittally, his gaze still holding Mattie’s.
‘Whereas we all thought it was a scream.’ Sandy chuckled.
‘It does sound rather—amusing,’ Mattie acknowledged hollowly.
‘That depends how you look at it,’ Jack derided.
‘He didn’t muddle the card up on your flowers too, did he, Mattie?’ Sandy continued mischievously. ‘You really would have thought it strange if you had received flowers with a card on to Tina, Sally, Cally, or Sandy!’
Mattie gave a weak smile, knowing it was best not to mention that she hadn’t received any flowers at all—just blackmail threats!
‘I think we should stop teasing poor Jack,’ Thom cut in. ‘You haven’t told us what you do for a living, Mattie?’ he asked interestedly, blue eyes gently probing as he looked at her.
‘What makes you think she does anything?’ Sharon, obviously deciding she had been excluded from the conversation quite long enough, put in scathingly. ‘After all, Jack is a very wealthy man, aren’t you, darling?’ She once again looked at him beneath those long, dark lashes.
Thom shot his sister a dismissive glance. ‘Because most women prefer to work nowadays, Sharon,’ he told her patiently.
‘I don’t,’ she dismissed in a bored voice.
‘I said most women, Sharon,’ her brother derided before turning back to look questioningly at Mattie.
Mattie knew that if she told them she was a florist then the game would most definitely be up; she already knew that all the members of this family were intelligent enough to add two and two together and come up with the appropriate answer of four!
‘I’m a contracts manager,’ she supplied noncommittally. ‘And in my spare time,’ she added—before anyone could ask any more questions!—‘I help my mother run a boarding-kennels.’
‘Speaking of which… How’s Harry doing, Jack?’ Sandy prompted concernedly.
Obviously, from the warmth of Sandy’s voice as she talked of Harry, the Bearded Collie was a favourite with all the Beauchamp family. Mattie was glad, having decided long ago that anyone who liked dogs and children was okay with her. And she couldn’t help liking the Beauchamp family. More than liking one of them!
‘Ask Mattie.’ Jack smiled. ‘Harry is staying at her mother’s kennels,’ he explained at Thom and Sandy’s questioning looks.
‘That makes sense,’ Sandy agreed. ‘Has he settled down okay, Mattie? Jack has been so worried about boarding him, he almost didn’t come to Paris at all!’
Mattie couldn’t quite believe that was true; Jack’s was obviously a very close family.
Even those members of it who really weren’t any sort of relation at all, she thought with a glance in Sharon Keswick’s direction.
‘You were the one who spoke to my mother yesterday, Jack,’ Mattie reminded him with a lingering resentment; she would have liked to speak to her mother yesterday too, but Jack hadn’t even given her the option!
‘Harry has himself a girlfriend,’ Jack revealed with a grin. ‘A rather beautiful Labrador named Sophie,’ he explained affectionately.
‘There seems to be a lot of it about,’ Thom murmured tongue-in-cheek. ‘You know, Jack—’ He broke off as the waiters started to arrive with their main courses.
The next few minutes were taken up by the arrival of the food, and the admiring remarks on its presentation and wonderful smells, by which time the subject of what Mattie did for a living had been well and truly dropped.
Much to her relief!
Thom, much as she found his company pleasant, didn’t seem to be as convinced as the rest of the family by the relationship between Jack and herself. Despite his earlier comments, he seemed to have realized there was more to the relationship than either of them were telling. Or less, as actually was the case!
‘Good?’ Jack prompted after Mattie had tasted her first mouthful of the mouth-watering chicken she had ordered for her main course.
‘Very,’ she confirmed abruptly.
Jack sighed. ‘Mattie, other than being downright rude to the woman, what can I do about the situation?’
Her eyes widened at his defensive attitude. ‘Did I say anything?’
‘You didn’t need to,’ he muttered. ‘I could feel your disapproval burning into my shoulder blades!’
Had her feelings earlier been that obvious? To Thom, obviously. But to Jack, too? That would never do!
She forced a smile to her lips, aware that Betty Beauchamp, sitting across the other side
of the huge table, was watching them with an indulgent smile on her lips. ‘I was merely wondering why you bothered to bring me with you at all when you so obviously enjoy Sharon’s company,’ she said with saccharine sweetness.
‘Enjoy her company…!’ Jack’s expression darkened. ‘I would like to wring her damned neck!’
Mattie couldn’t help it; she laughed. Jack looked so much like a disgruntled little boy, it was difficult not to.
‘That’s better.’ Jack’s expression brightened, before he leant forward to kiss her softly on the mouth. ‘Seeing you laugh is like watching the sun come out,’ he explained at her stunned expression.
‘Oh,’ she accepted shyly, feeling suddenly self-conscious with all of his family sitting around them.
But, then, that was the point, wasn’t it? she instantly reasoned with herself. She mustn’t take that kiss too seriously; Jack was merely putting on an act for his family. And Sharon Keswick.
Because the other woman, as Mattie glanced over Jack’s shoulder, looked absolutely furious at this public display of affection between Jack and Mattie. In fact, if looks could kill…! ‘Well, that seems to have worked,’ Mattie told Jack wryly. ‘Sharon isn’t at all happy about that kiss.’
He shook his head. ‘Mattie, that isn’t the reason I—’
‘Smile, Jack,’ Mattie told him softly. ‘Your mother is watching us, too.’
He frowned darkly. ‘I don’t give a damn—’
‘Well, I do,’ Mattie cut in firmly. ‘I happen to like your mother very much.’
Jack gave her a considering look, a sudden grin lighting his features even as he reached out and squeezed Mattie’s hand. ‘From what she said to me a few minutes ago, I think she likes you too,’ he confided gruffly.
Mattie would have liked to know what it was his mother had said to him, but at that moment Edward Beauchamp stood up to make a short speech to toast his daughter and her fiancé, finishing his speech by adding that he hoped they would all be together again like this for the wedding in three months’ time.
Three months’ time…
What would Mattie be doing in three months’ time? Not seeing Jack, that was for sure.
Which thought was enough, once again, to rob her of her appetite. At this rate, she would have lost weight by the time she left Paris!
‘As today was such a disaster, is there anything you would especially like to do tomorrow?’ Jack had no such qualms, eating his steak with enthusiasm as he waited for her answer.
‘We all thought of going to Notre-Dame tomorrow,’ Sandy was the one to answer him. ‘Making a family outing of it. Do you remember the family picnics, Jack?’ she reminded him wistfully.
‘Ants in the sandwiches and flies in the ice creams.’ He nodded.
‘Trust you to remember that part of it!’ Sandy laughed.
Mattie could only sit and listen in fascination as Jack and Sandy started to reminisce about some of their more hilarious family holidays. As an only child, on her own with her mother from the age of three, this shared sibling fun was all new to her.
One thing she did become very aware of as the rest of the evening passed in pleasantly uncomplicated conversation—somehow Jack managed to continue to exclude Sharon Keswick from most of it!—was that to be accepted into the warmth exuded by the Beauchamp family was like being taken into a charmed circle.
It became more and more difficult for Mattie, as the evening progressed, for her to realize that as far as she was concerned she was only a part of this for a few days, that on her return to England on Monday she would probably never see Jack again…
‘Mattie and I are going for a stroll,’ Jack announced determinedly as they all left the Eiffel Tower several hours later.
‘A stroll, hmm, Jack?’ As usual Jim said exactly what he thought.
‘Whatever.’ Jack shrugged, grinning at the other man, his arm about Mattie’s shoulders.
‘I think I’ll join you,’ Sharon Keswick had once again managed to manoeuvre herself on Jack’s other side. ‘I could do with some fresh air after being cooped up for hours.’
Considering there had been a cool air-flow in the restaurant, as well as the room being brightly lit and airy, Mattie found this excuse rather lame. But at least Jack didn’t look too thrilled by the prospect of being joined by the other woman, either.
Her own heart had given an emotional leap at Jack’s suggestion, only to plunge down into the depths of despair at the thought of once again sharing him with the pushy Sharon.
‘Why don’t we all go?’ suggested one of the twins.
Cally, Mattie thought, although it was a little difficult to tell the two women apart this evening; both were wearing black dresses, their shoulder-length hair styled the same. Whichever one, Mattie was grateful for her intervention; she could imagine nothing more excruciating than strolling in the moonlight with Jack and Sharon Keswick!
‘What a wonderful idea,’ Betty Beauchamp took up the conversation. ‘It’s years since we’ve strolled together in the moonlight in Paris, isn’t it, Edward?’ She looked up adoringly at her husband.
‘I believe Jack was the result of our last stroll here,’ Edward returned dryly.
‘Well, at least we know that isn’t going to happen to us again,’ Betty teased. To the amusement of the rest of the family.
‘No, but with the obvious exclusion of Tina, it could happen to one of the others,’ her husband reasoned ruefully.
‘I already have a boy and a girl, so I’ve done my bit,’ one of the twins protested.
‘And we’ve decided to stop at one,’ the other twin assured everyone.
‘Well, don’t look at us,’ Jack advised, his arm tightening about Mattie’s shoulders. ‘Much as I love my niece and nephews, I want Mattie to myself for a while before we think about having children.’
‘Let’s all just take a stroll and see what happens, hmm?’ His mother laughed affectionately, her arm linked again with her husband’s.
Mattie was only too happy to begin their walk, her cheeks fiery red after that last conversation. Obviously close families had their drawbacks as well as their pluses!
‘Before we have children’?’ she queried as Jack strode a little ahead of the rest of the family, their close proximity meaning he swept Mattie along with him.
Jack scowled. ‘Well, I had to say something, didn’t I?’ he bit out.
Mattie gave him a considering look. ‘They were all only joking, Jack,’ she chided.
Surely, if anyone should have been disconcerted by that particular conversation, it should have been her, and, embarrassing as it had been, it really had only been in fun.
‘I know that.’ Jack sighed heavily, glancing back impatiently at the rest of his family as they strolled happily along behind them. ‘It’s just—it’s a conspiracy, that’s what it is!’
‘What is?’ Mattie prompted.
‘Last night and today taken up with Tina and Jim’s problems, and now this evening the rest of the family seem determined not to give us any time alone together.’ He shook his head impatiently. ‘It’s a family conspiracy!’
Mattie looked at his disgruntled expression, his whole demeanour one of tense irritation. He looked as if he would like to strangle someone. Anyone!
She bit her lips as they began to twitch with amusement, desperately trying not to laugh. And losing.
‘And just what is so funny?’ Jack turned to look at her in amazement as the chuckle she had been trying to hold in burst out anyway.
‘You are,’ she told him once she had sobered slightly. ‘I’m sure that not one member of your family has any deliberate intention of intruding. Besides—’ her humour faded completely now ‘—have you completely forgotten that this is all only an act, anyway?’
Jack looked down at her. ‘‘‘Completely’’ forgotten…?’
Mattie pulled a face. ‘Well, Sharon Keswick wasn’t in the least put off by our supposed relationship, was she?’
‘Are you implying
that’s my fault?’ he said softly.
‘Well, it certainly isn’t mine,’ Mattie defended protestingly.
Jack drew in a ragged breath, before releasing that same breath in a deep sigh. ‘No,’ he accepted heavily. ‘The problem is, Mattie, that—several years ago, I made the mistake of going out with Sharon for a few weeks—’
‘You didn’t tell me that!’ Not that she had needed telling after this evening; it had been all too obvious by the other woman’s behaviour that she thought she had some sort of proprietorial claim on Jack.
‘No one likes owning up to making a mistake.’
‘I owned up to mine,’ Mattie reminded him.
And look where it had got her! In Paris certainly, which was wonderful. But falling in love with Jack, a man far beyond her reach, wasn’t quite so wonderful…!
Jack gave a disgusted snort. ‘Sharon looks—gorgeous—’
‘I can see that,’ Mattie snapped. She really didn’t want to hear this!
‘Well, looks aren’t everything,’ Jack told her irritably. ‘The woman is a nightmare. I only went out with her three or four times—that’s all, Mattie, I swear,’ he insisted at her sceptical look. ‘On the basis of those three or four dates, she tried to take over my life. Believe me, Mattie, there is nothing more off-putting to a man than a woman who tries to do that on the basis of a few weeks’ acquaintance. I couldn’t get away fast enough! Which is why it was very awkward when Sandy and Thom got together again a few months ago.’
Mattie could appreciate that. But could she also believe that Jack was immune to the other woman’s obvious beauty…?
What did it matter what she believed? Another two days and none of this would be any of her business—it was none of her business now, for goodness’ sake! And no matter how she felt about Jack, she had to keep remembering that!
‘I’m sure it will all work out,’ she assured Jack.
Jack glanced down at her. ‘Sorry to bore you with my problems,’ he apologised.
‘I’m not bored,’ Mattie instantly responded—as if she ever could be, in Jack’s company! ‘I’m just sorry I haven’t been more of a help. If it’s any consolation, I think a definite frost set in after the kiss,’ she told him teasingly.
In Separate Bedrooms Page 11