Summer Sins

by Julia James

  His gaze swept over her pale face and disordered hair. ‘Are you OK?’

  ‘Of course … I’m just a bit tired, that’s all.’

  ‘Well, I guess that more or less answers my question without even asking it,’ he said.

  ‘What did you want to ask me?’

  ‘I was wondering if you wanted to have dinner with me this evening,’ he said.

  Hayley hid her secret delight behind sarcasm. ‘Have you run out of alternative dates?’ she asked.

  ‘No, but I have a work function tonight and I thought you might like to join me.’

  Her delight swiftly turned to anger. ‘So the only reason you’re asking me is because you need me to play the role of devoted new wife.’

  ‘That is one of the reasons, yes, but there’s another one.’

  ‘Which is?’

  He seemed to hesitate before he answered. ‘I realise I’ve been uncommunicative lately. It’s hardly fair to take it out on you. I’m sorry but I’ve had a lot on my mind.’

  Hayley knew she was being a fool for allowing herself to be mollified by his uncharacteristic apology, but she felt her defences melting all the same. ‘Do you want to talk about it?’ she asked.

  He brushed her chin with the back of his knuckles, the touch so soft she felt as if her heart had swelled to twice its size. ‘How soon can you get ready?’ he asked.

  She put a hand to her hair and grimaced. ‘I need to have a shower and put some make-up on.’

  ‘I’ll give you fifteen minutes.’

  The dinner was held in a restaurant overlooking Bondi Beach and even with the lively chatter and clinking of glasses and rattling of cutlery Hayley could still hear the sea pounding against the shore below.

  She was seated on Jasper’s left next to a man in his late thirties who owned a construction company that Jasper used for some of his larger projects.

  ‘I must say I was surprised but delighted to hear about your marriage to Jasper,’ Dave Braithwaite said. ‘I’ve been telling him for years he needs to settle down and have a couple of kids.’

  ‘Are you married?’ Hayley asked, conscious of Jasper’s arm draped along the back of her chair.

  ‘Yep, been married ten years now. My wife, Anna, would be here tonight except she’s expecting our third child. She’s been having bouts of morning, midday and afternoon and evening sickness, poor darling.’

  Hayley felt a hot blush move up from her toes to pool in her cheeks. ‘I hope she feels better soon,’ she said, shivering when Jasper’s fingers wove their way into her hair at the back of her neck.

  ‘So how about it, old boy?’ Dave addressed Jasper by leaning in front of Hayley. ‘Don’t you think Hayley would make a beautiful mother? You don’t want to leave it too long. Have your kids while you’re still young enough to keep up with them.’

  Hayley felt the tension in Jasper’s fingers and answered for him with a forced laugh. ‘We’ve only been married just over three weeks. Give us time.’

  Dave grinned. ‘My eldest child, Julie, was conceived on our honeymoon. Never once regretted it either. She’s an angel, so too is my son, Ben. Kids make you complete; there’s nothing like seeing your children born. I haven’t cried since I was a kid, but I howled like an idiot when they came into the world.’

  Jasper’s attention was called away by the person sitting on the right and Hayley felt her shoulders sink in relief. She chatted a little longer to Dave about his children before politely excusing herself when she saw the waiter approaching with coffee.

  Jasper found her standing on the balcony of the restaurant a short time later, the sea breeze lifting the curly strands of her hair. ‘Are you all right?’ he asked.

  ‘Yes, of course.’ She forced a bright smile to her lips. ‘I just felt like some fresh air.’

  ‘I’m sorry about Dave,’ he said. ‘He’s a bit full on at times.’

  ‘I thought he was nice.’

  He looked down at her, his dark eyes suddenly intense in the subdued lighting. ‘Hayley …’

  ‘Yes?’ She kicked herself for answering so quickly and with such pathetic hopefulness in her tone.

  His dark, unfathomable eyes held hers for endless moments.

  ‘I’m sorry to do this to you, but I have to see someone tonight on an urgent matter,’ he said.

  She swallowed against the disappointment rising from deep within her. ‘I see.’

  ‘I don’t know when I’ll be back. I just got a call a moment ago.’

  ‘Was it from a woman?’ The question burst out before she could stop it.

  She saw the answer in his eyes before they moved away from hers. ‘It’s not what you think, Hayley,’ he said heavily.

  ‘Spare me the sordid details.’

  He took her arm. ‘Come on, I’ll drive you home.’

  She pulled out of his hold and sent him a glittering glare. ‘Please don’t go out of your way. I’d hate to keep you from your terribly important late night business. I’ll get a cab.’

  Jasper watched her stalk back into the restaurant, but he didn’t have time to call her back, even though he wished to God he could explain.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  HAYLEY WAS JUST thinking about going to bed about an hour later when she heard the front entrance intercom chime signalling someone was seeking entry. She tied her wrap a little tighter around her middle, and, going to the intercom panel on the wall, asked who was there.

  ‘It’s Daniel,’ a young male voice said.

  She activated the security system and opened the door to see a tall gangly teenager with mid-brown hair walking up the pathway. As he came even further into the light her gaze immediately went to the blue-black bruise covering his right eye and then to his cut and swollen bottom lip.

  ‘Oh, my God!’ she gasped. ‘What on earth happened to you?’

  He shifted from foot to foot in an awkward and self-conscious manner, his hazel eyes falling away from hers. ‘I’m fine,’ he mumbled. ‘It looks much worse than it is.’

  She ushered him in and closed the door. ‘I’m Hayley, by the way,’ she introduced herself. ‘You must be Jasper’s son, Daniel Moorebank.’

  His eyes met hers briefly, something in their brown-green depths suggesting to her that he wasn’t entirely comfortable with being identified as such.

  ‘Is he home?’ he asked after a slight but telling pause.

  ‘No, I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘He had some … er … business to see to.’

  ‘Do you know when he’ll be back?’

  Hayley felt a bit of a fool for not being able to give him a straight answer. ‘I’m not sure, Daniel. He didn’t put a time on it. But why don’t you stay and let me put some ice on your eye? It looks terribly sore.’

  ‘I don’t want to be a bother …’ He shuffled from foot to foot again, his thin shoulders slightly hunched.

  Hayley pulled out a chair for him. ‘Here, sit yourself down and I’ll get an ice-pack. I’m sure your dad has one in the freezer somewhere. I think I saw it when I had some ice cream the other day.’

  She came back with it wrapped in a hand towel and handed it to him. ‘Just hold it against your eye for a while to take the swelling down,’ she said. ‘Would you like a glass of orange juice or something?’

  His thin cheeks flushed with colour. ‘I shouldn’t even be here,’ he said with a downturn of his mouth.

  She took the chair opposite. ‘Of course you should come here whenever you want to,’ she said. ‘You have every right to see your father.’

  His eyes came back to hers momentarily before shifting away again. ‘I don’t think of him that way … He’s always been just Jasper to me.’

  She frowned at him. ‘You don’t call him Dad?’

  He shook his head. ‘It wouldn’t be appropriate. We don’t have that sort of relationship.’

  Hayley felt her hackles rising over the way Jasper had treated his only child. How had it come to this? The boy was obviously deeply troubled, his face looked a
s if he’d been in some sort of nasty scuffle and his whole demeanour was dejected and downtrodden. She knew enough about young men to know they needed good role models in their life. Daniel was obviously a casualty of Jasper’s neglect to follow through on his responsibilities as a father.

  ‘Does your mother know where you are?’ she asked into the silence.

  A mask came over his face that instantly reminded her of Jasper. ‘I told her I was going to a friend’s house.’

  ‘Would you like to stay here tonight?’ Hayley asked on an impulse she couldn’t restrain in time.

  His lowered the ice-pack to look at her with both eyes. ‘Would that be all right?’ he asked, his expression touchingly hopeful, making him look a whole lot younger than his fifteen years.

  ‘Of course it will be all right,’ she assured him. ‘Haven’t you ever stayed over before?’

  He shook his head and reapplied the ice pack to his eye. ‘It wasn’t really encouraged,’ he said.

  Hayley felt her anger towards Jasper hit an all time high. No doubt he didn’t want his son hanging about when he brought his various lovers home to seduce the way he had seduced her, she thought resentfully. She gritted her teeth and determined that it was all going to change now … well, for the short time she was here at least.

  ‘Have you had dinner?’ she asked.

  ‘No.’

  ‘Would you like an omelette or a toasted sandwich or something?’ she asked. ‘It won’t take me a minute or two to rustle one up for you.’

  He gave her a grateful glance. ‘If you’re sure it’s not too much trouble.’

  She sprang to her feet and pushed her chair in. ‘It’s no trouble at all. I love cooking. I also love eating, which is a bit of a downside really.’

  He gave her a lopsided smile on account of his lip. ‘I don’t think you have too much to worry about. Jasper told me you had a fabulous figure.’

  She gaped at him in surprise. ‘He told you that?’

  ‘Yes.’ He paused for a moment before adding, ‘I’m sorry I couldn’t come to your wedding. I wanted to but …’

  ‘I understand,’ she said, wondering what Jasper had told his son about the circumstances leading to their marriage.

  ‘I think it’s great Jasper’s going to settle down at last,’ Daniel continued. ‘I’ve always felt a bit guilty that it was because of me that he shied away from marriage for this long.’

  ‘I’m sure that’s not true,’ she said, even though she knew for a fact it was.

  Daniel looked at her again. ‘I don’t think anyone should be forced to do something they don’t want to do,’ he said. ‘It would have been a disaster … you know … him marrying my mum.’

  Hayley turned her attention to cracking eggs into a bowl. ‘What makes you say that?’ she asked.

  ‘He doesn’t love her. He has never loved her.’

  He doesn’t love me either, Hayley felt like saying. She turned around, the bowl still in her hands as she faced him. ‘But he cares for you,’ she said. ‘And you care for him, don’t you?’

  Daniel’s expression visibly softened. ‘He’s the best friend a guy could ever ask for. I don’t think there’s a person I care more about than Jasper. He’s the reason I’ve coped for this long.’

  Hayley felt as if she’d missed something somewhere. What was he talking about? Coped with what? She put the bowl down and turned on the cook top, busying herself with the task of making him a meal, her mind twisting and turning as she tried to make sense of his contradictory statements.

  ‘You and Jasper lived at Crickglades together for a couple of years, didn’t you?’ Daniel was the first to break the small silence.

  She checked on the omelette before turning to look at him. ‘Yes. I moved in when I was fourteen. I left after the divorce three years later.’

  ‘I guess that’s why I haven’t met you before—out at Crickglades, I mean,’ he said.

  ‘Did you see much of your grandfather Gerald?’ she asked.

  ‘Now and again,’ he said with a hint of regret. ‘Not as much as I would have liked.’

  ‘It wasn’t encouraged?’ She took a wild guess.

  He gave her a twisted smile. ‘Yeah, something like that.’

  She turned back to the omelette and deftly slid it onto a plate and handed it to him. ‘Well you’re very welcome here—any time,’ she said with a warm smile.

  ‘Thanks,’ he said, his cheeks flushing in a way that for once didn’t remind her of Jasper.

  Daniel had been in bed for at least an hour when Hayley heard Jasper return. She felt rather than heard his car, the grumbling roar of its engine reminding her of a lion returning to its lair. She could almost tell his mood from the deep, throaty growl as he killed the engine, the slam of the driver’s door audible even in the lounge where she was sitting on the edge of one of the leather sofas waiting for him.

  He came in, tossing his keys to the nearest surface with a muttered curse, his fists clenching and unclenching until he swung around and saw her.

  Hayley’s eyes flared in concern when she saw the cut on his lip that was still bleeding. ‘Oh, my God! What on earth happened to you?’ she asked for the second time that evening.

  He wiped at his mouth with the back of his hand, grimacing as he saw the smear of blood. ‘It’s nothing. It looks much worse than it is.’

  The irony was remarkable, she thought as she came over to inspect the damage. ‘You sound exactly like your son,’ she said.

  His whole body stiffened and a deep frown divided his forehead. ‘Has he been here?’ he asked.

  ‘He is here,’ she answered. ‘He’s asleep upstairs and looking very much like he ran into the same door you did.’

  Jasper’s expression soured even further. ‘Yeah, well, it’s a pretty solid door, but I think I’ve put it out of action for a while.’

  She frowned up at him in confusion. ‘What’s going on?’ she asked. ‘Both you and Daniel turn up looking like you’ve done ten rounds with a heavyweight champion.’

  Jasper pulled out his handkerchief and spat the blood out of his mouth before he answered. ‘Stay out of it, Hayley. It’s nothing to do with you.’

  ‘No, I will not stay out of it. Tell me what the hell is going on. I have a right to know, if not as your wife then as a concerned third party. How could I not be concerned when a young boy of fifteen comes here with a black eye and a swollen lip?’ she said.

  ‘It’s no concern of yours.’

  She sent him an accusing look. ‘Did you hit him?’

  He jerked back from her as if she had slapped him, his face almost white with shock. ‘How can you ask that?’

  It was a pretty stupid question, she had to admit. Daniel had done nothing but praise his father the whole time she had been speaking to him. ‘I’m sorry,’ she mumbled. ‘Of course you wouldn’t do something like that.’

  ‘What sort of man do you think I am?’ he railed at her. ‘He’s a bloody kid, for God’s sake. He’s got enough on his plate right now without me cuffing him around the ears.’

  Hayley watched as he strode to the drinks cabinet and poured himself a measure of spirits, downing it in one swallow, his hands visibly shaking as he gripped the glass when he set it back down.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ she said again. ‘I was worried, that’s all. He seems a nice kid. He reminds me of you.’

  He swung around to look at her, his expression distinctly ironic. ‘Does he? In what way?’

  Her brow wrinkled as she thought about it for a moment. ‘He’s reserved, sort of private in a way. He doesn’t like to wear his heart on his sleeve.’

  ‘And you think that I’m like that?’

  ‘I think you don’t feel comfortable being vulnerable.’

  ‘So you think I’m nice as well, do you?’

  ‘I think you like people to think you’re a tough guy but underneath you have feelings, you just don’t like to have them on show,’ she said.

  He dabbed at his lip again. ‘
What feelings have you uncovered, baby girl?’ he asked with a mocking edge to his tone.

  ‘You love Daniel; I know you do.’

  ‘I have never said I don’t.’

  ‘His stepfather appears to believe differently,’ she said, recalling again Mrs Beckforth’s comments.

  ‘And you believe that jerk’s account, do you?’

  Hayley didn’t know what to believe. She was becoming increasingly confused. Daniel and Jasper’s relationship was hard to figure out. ‘I can only go on what I’m told,’ she said. ‘And you tell me nothing, so what else can I believe?’

  His mouth tightened, making his lip ooze more blood. He swiped at it angrily as he glared down at her. ‘I told you to stay out of my affairs,’ he said. ‘This has nothing to do with you. It’s between Miriam and Daniel and I.’

  ‘That’s not true,’ she argued. ‘I might only be a temporary wife but I care about you. I care about Daniel too.’

  ‘You’ve only just met him. How can you possibly feel anything for him?’

  ‘I do care about him,’ she insisted. ‘And I care about you. I love you. There, I’ve said it. I love you. I think I always have.’

  His expression grew as tight as a closed fist. ‘You’re talking rubbish as usual. You’re looking for security but I’m not the one to give it to you. You know the rules, Hayley. As soon as possible we’ll be divorcing.’

  ‘I don’t want a divorce.’

  His whole body froze as if she had just sprayed him with quick-setting concrete. ‘But I do,’ he said in a chillingly hard tone.

  Tears sprang to her eyes. ‘I know you don’t mean that,’ she choked. ‘You’re pushing me away because I’ve come too close. I know you, Jasper. I know you.’

  ‘You’re confusing sexual compatibility with something else.’

  ‘So you admit we’re compatible?’ she asked.

  ‘I can hardly deny it. As I said the other day you’re a great lay, sweetheart, but as to a future together—forget it.’

  She blinked back the bitter tears. ‘I can’t believe you’re throwing away this chance at a life together. We could be so happy together, Jasper. I know we could.’