Unforgettable (Gloria Cook) - By Gloria Cook Page 0,85

over it, a gloom of bad regretful memories for Jack.

Cathy’s clothes were not going to fit Verity’s taller, curvier form so she sat down to the meal clad in Mrs Kelland’s best dress, its generous width pulled in with a tie belt. Her legs would have been too much on display and so the cook-housekeeper had also loaned her a skirt to wear under the dress, pleated over and held fast by a couple of safety pins. The result should have made Verity look like a bag stuffed with potatoes but she actually appeared rather fetching, although old-fashioned. She smelled of coal tar soap and dabs of Mrs Kelland’s violet scent that the woman had insisted she put on her wrists. Her wet hair was pinned up in a high bun giving her an exotic Latin look. ‘I’ve helped dress ladies before when the occasion has called for it but I’ve never turned one out looking like you, though you still come across just as lovely, Miss Verity,’ Mrs Kelland had declared, amused, as Verity was, by the end result.

‘I’ll return your clothes tomorrow and thank you, Mrs Kelland.’ On the cusp of the moment she had given the woman a hug. ‘You all make me feel so at home here.’

‘Well, you said it, miss.’ Mrs Kelland went off to her kitchen chuckling a certain chuckle.

The implied meaning was not lost on Verity. At home here. That was a not unwelcome notion.

‘You look charming, Verity,’ Jack said gallantly, at the foot of the stairs. Verity had taken so long relaxing in the deep Victorian bath and getting ready that Jack had beaten her in cleaning up for the meal.

‘I think I rather do,’ she smiled, accepting his waiting hand. As for him, he was enticing and virile in a white open-neck shirt and cravat, his potent muscles bursting against the fine linen of his shirt.

‘Are you hungry?’

‘Ravenous.’

He eyed her for many long seconds. ‘Let’s eat.’ He escorted her into the dining room as if they were about to dine at a regal banquet, but once at the table – a long shining beauty set with a simple silver vase of roses – he brought the mood back to natural friendliness and engaged her in light-hearted banter.

In utter contentment they munched their way through breaded ham, and egg and parsley flan, boiled potatoes and salad leaves. Dessert was a delicious strawberry mousse. ‘Just about all from my own produce,’ Jack said proudly. ‘And thanks to the best company I’ve had in absolute ages the food has never tasted so good.’ Until now he had only gone through the motions of living, regularly getting drunk and bedding the temptress kind of women to seek refuge from the numb coldness in his mind.

Verity accepted the compliment with a salute of her wine glass. ‘Jack, when do you next want me to do some work for you at the farm office?’

‘I don’t; there’s nothing there for you to do,’ he replied frankly, although he lifted his wine glass to his cheek and was smiling round it at her.

‘Oh, does that mean you don’t require my services any longer?’ Verity asked the question in a serious tone edged with disappointment, yet her heart gave a series of tingly leaps. Jack’s winning smile gave away his intention to keep her in some way in his life. Verity wanted nothing more than to stay in it in some capacity.

‘We can say that officially you’re my personal assistant, if you like. One thing pressing on my mind is to find out what happened to my sister Stella, and my brother Tobias. I only have my father’s word that Tobias is dead. It’s true Randall cut off Stella without a penny. She wrote to me a few times, just sketchy notes, saying she was working in medicine and was about to go overseas, there was nothing more after that. But what I really want from you, Verity, is to be my companion.’ He put his glass down and reached for her hand. ‘Would you like that?’

She placed both her hands round his. ‘More than anything, Jack.’

‘In this house?’

‘Yes.’

‘Together with me forever – you know what I’m asking you?’ He lifted her hands to his lips and kissed them gently.

‘I do.’ She pulled the huddle of their hands and kissed them as he had done.

‘It was not exactly a romantic and conventional proposal but we’re two people who’ve been through enough of life’s experience and don’t need that. We’re on