housing projects that were rapidly winning Logan Development a respected name. But the almost derelict house, sleeping at the centre of wild overgrown grounds, cast such a spell on him he couldn’t bring himself to demolish it. Instead he put the property on the back burner and concentrated on more pressing projects. When he eventually turned his attention to Mill House he’d planned to make it into a show house as an advertisement for the company’s restoration skills before putting it up for sale. But the process of converting a virtual ruin into a dreamhouse backfired on him. While the house was slowly, carefully restored, and the land around it tamed and nurtured, he’d looked from tall windows at a seductive veview of mill pond and chestnut trees and felt a sense of possession almost as fierce as the emotion once experienced for Kate. When the work was completed Mill House was so much his own creation it was impossible to let someone else live there.
Jack unlocked the boot room at the back of the house and bent to pat the black retriever who came rushing in exuberant welcome to meet him. He let Bran out into the garden for a quick run and stood at the door, eyes absent on the moon’s reflection in the water. After a few minutes he whistled and the dog shot back inside, getting underfoot in the kitchen as Jack made coffee in preference to fetching the brandy decanter. He sat down at the table to drink it and scratched Bran’s ears, his smile wry as he looked down into the adoring eyes. Canine love was a lot easier to deal with than the human variety.
In bed later Jack gave up any pretence of trying to sleep. Normally he never allowed himself to dwell on the past, but one look at Kate tonight had opened a mental door that refused to slam shut.
Logan and Son had already won recognition as the town’s premier building contractor when Jack’s father sent him to make an estimate for a house extension. While Jack was making notes of the owner’s requirements the kitchen door burst open and Kate had come running in, slender and coltish in T-shirt and jeans, bright hair flying.
She’d stopped dead at the sight of the visitor, colour high. ‘Oh—sorry. Didn’t know we had visitors.’
‘It’s all right, dear,’ said Robert Sutton, and introduced the girl as his sister-in-law, Katherine Durant.
Jack held out his hand. ‘I’m the son in Logan and Son,’ he said, smiling, and Kate put her hand in his.
‘I’m Kate,’ she said breathlessly. ‘I sold you a poppy the other day.’
‘I remember.’ Conscious that Robert Sutton was watching them like a hawk, Jack returned to facts and figures and Kate left them to it. To his intense disappointment she was nowhere to be seen when he left the house, but as he drove out into the road his heart leapt at the sight of Kate walking a little way ahead. He halted alongside and rolled the car window down. ‘Can I give you a lift?’
She smiled demurely. ‘How kind of you.’
On the way into town Jack learned that Kate had just celebrated her twentieth birthday. After a business course at the local college, she was currently temping with local firms while making applications for something permanent in London.
‘Now you,’ she ordered.
Jack told her he was four years her senior, with a degree in civil engineering, and had worked for a big name construction company during university vacations to gain experience. ‘But my aim was always to join my father’s firm once I had the education part out of the way,’ he told her. ‘Dad and I make a good team. Business is booming. Where shall I drop you?’ he added, and from the corner of his eye saw familiar colour rise in her face.
‘Confession time,’ she admitted reluctantly. ‘I wasn’t going anywhere. I lurked in the road to—well, to ambush you. Just drop me anywhere convenient and I’ll walk back.’
Bewitched by her honesty, Jack turned into the car park of the Rose and Crown. ‘Have lunch with me first.’
She smiled at him radiantly. ‘I’d love to!’
Their first meal together was a sandwich and a glass of lager, but to both of them it was nectar and ambrosia as they sat in a corner of the crowded bar, so absorbed in each other they could have been on a desert island. It was over an hour before Jack remembered to look at his watch.