because I love her.’ She shivered. ‘Let’s talk about something else.’
‘Come and sit down.’ He switched off two of the lamps, stirred the fire into life and led her to the sofa. ‘I never thought this would happen,’ he said, sitting beside her.
Kate made no pretence of misunderstanding. ‘You mean the two of us together like this in your amazing house?’
‘Exactly.’ Jack turned to smile at her, a glint in his eyes that had turned her knees to jelly when she was twenty.
But she wasn’t twenty any more. ‘I know what you mean. When I found those pictures in the magazine, I never imagined I’d see the place for myself.’
‘It must have been quite a surprise to come across my face in your Sunday paper.’
Surprise didn’t begin to cover it. ‘Yes,’ she said dryly, ‘it certainly was.’
‘Were you between fiancés at the time?’
‘You sound as though I had a string of them!’ she said tartly, and sipped some of her drink. ‘I happened to be alone that morning, but I showed the article to Rupert later and mentioned that I knew you. I searched the piece for personal details about you, but the emphasis was on your professional life.’
‘That was the deal with the journalist.’
Kate turned to look at him. ‘Jack, where did you live when you were married?’
His eyes shuttered. ‘Dad suggested we move into the block of flats the company was renovating on Gloucester Road at the time. I tried to make a go of the marriage, but Dawn and I had so little in common it was obvious from the start that it was never going to work.’ He drained his glass and turned to look at her. ‘It’s a part of my life I look back on with no pleasure at all—or pride.’
‘You fulfilled your obligations, Jack.’
‘But I did so for the wrong reasons,’ he said savagely. ‘I wanted to hurt you as much as I wanted to do the right thing for Dawn.’
She nodded sadly. ‘You succeeded on both counts.’
‘And soon realised my colossal mistake.’ He was silent for a long interval, his eyes sombre as he stared into the fire. ‘The surprise came when I learned that the baby wasn’t mine. I found I’d actually wanted a child. My child, anyway. Does that sound mad to you?’
She shook her head mutely.
He smoothed his thumb over the back of her hand in silence for a while. ‘So tell me,’ he said, turning to look at her. ‘Why did you send the third man packing? Was he another one wanting babies and a place in the country?’
‘No. He didn’t want children at all.’ Her eyes kindled. ‘I broke up with Rupert because he refused to take Joanna as part of the deal.’
Jack stared at her. ‘What the devil did he expect you to do with her?’
‘Hand her over to Robert’s parents, who are lovely people, but far too elderly and frail to cope with a child of her age on a permanent basis. When I explained this he gave me an ultimatum. I had to choose between the child and him, right then and there. So I made it brutally clear that there was no question of choice, and never would be.’Her mouth tightened. ‘Rupert took it badly—very badly.’
His fingers tightened on her hand. ‘What happened?’
Kate eyes glittered icily at the thought of it. ‘He flew into such a rage I thought he was going to beat me up. Dr Jekyll turned into Mr Hyde right there in front of me. But I was too furious on Jo’s behalf to feel afraid. I just stood there,eye to eye, daring him to hit me. It was touch and go for a while, but like all bullies Rupert backed down in the end. At which point I threw the ring at him and told him to get out of my life.’
‘Good God!’ Jack stared at her, appalled. ‘You took a hell of a risk, Kate.’
‘I realised that the moment he’d gone. I shook in my shoes for ages afterwards.’ She turned to look at him. ‘Now you can see why I hate talking about it. I just can’t believe I was such a bad judge of character.’
‘Not entirely,’ he reminded her. ‘Instinct warned you not to move in with him.’
‘True.’ Kate’s eyes darkened. ‘He was in such a rush about everything, I felt uneasy. He bought the ring just days after our first meeting, but no matter how much he argued I insisted we had to know each