SEVEN
IN THE softly lit restaurant, with candlelight flickering between them, at the beautifully laid corner table that he had specifically reserved, Jarrett formed his hands into a steeple and rested his chin on it to study his companion more closely.
It wasn’t just the muted lighting and candlelight that rendered her features beautiful. It was a face that he could never imagine growing tired of looking at. Just one glance into eyes the colour of new-mown summer grass with sweeping chestnut lashes was enough to kindle a lifelong fascination. But it didn’t hurt that Sophia’s other features were equally compelling—from the small, elegant nose, the strongly defined pretty mouth, right down to the gentle cleft in a firm chin that denoted an uncommon strength of character and resolve. And, by God, she must have had to employ both of those attributes in spades during a marriage that had surely been made in hell.
He was still reeling at what she had told him. The truth had turned out to be much worse than he’d anticipated. The thought of her suffering at the hands of the sort of man her husband had been was enough to make a peaceable man like himself commit violence. In his opinion Tom had done her and Charlie a favour by dying suddenly like that. Still, it bothered Jarrett that Sophia would probably carry the psychological wounds of that terrible experience for the rest of her life.
That was why he had gently held her off in the midst of that incredible kiss they’d shared. He didn’t want her to feel as if he was taking advantage of her in any way, even if his decision to cool things down a bit had been one of the hardest things he’d ever done. Now he planned to woo her properly … to let her know that he would put respect for her feelings, needs and wants above his own desires. He’d waited a long time for the right woman to come into his life, and Sophia was already too important to him to scare her off with any kind of rash move. You didn’t rescue a bird with a broken wing and expect it to fly again without tending to it first, without allowing it time to heal.
‘What are you thinking about, I wonder?’ Sophia smiled, breaking into his thoughts.
‘I was thinking about you.’ There was a helpless, smoky catch in his voice.
‘Boring subject … been there, done that. Earlier today, as a matter of fact—remember?’
She made a face and for a moment the child in her surfaced—a child who had been unbearably wounded. It made Jarrett’s heart constrict. It was becoming clear to him that she went on the defensive at the least provocation. He didn’t doubt her bitterly unhappy marriage had ripped into her sense of safety.
Leaning forward a little, he caught her gaze. ‘How could you think yourself boring when the whole village is buzzing with speculation about you? You’re not like anybody else round here … And although people are naturally suspicious because you’re an unknown quantity, they’re also envious.’
‘You should know by now that they have nothing to be envious of. Besides, do you think I want that kind of attention? I’d rather live like a hermit in a cave. All I want is to be able to go about my business unnoticed and be like everybody else. Just to be ordinary. I’m not asking for the world. I have the same aspirations as most women round here, I’m sure … To be a good mother, be well paid for the work that I do, and to have a comfortable and affordable home. I love High Ridge, but I’d be a liar if I said that it doesn’t keep me awake nights wondering if I haven’t bitten off more than I could chew because I’m living in a house straight out of one of Dickens’s novels!’
Jarrett smiled, wondering if she had any idea how beautiful she was in her simple wrap-around blue jersey dress, with her long chestnut hair glossy as dark fire as it flowed down over her slender shoulders. ‘Those are reasonable and commendable aspirations indeed,’ he answered thoughtfully. ‘Except that I’m perturbed you haven’t included the desire for a meaningful and happy relationship on your list. I was hoping you might include that one.’
Sophia’s returning gaze was steady. ‘Maybe that’s because past experience has demolished all the optimism I once had.’
He was still soberly absorbing this comment when two smartly dressed waiters arrived with their food. The Italian restaurant Jarrett had driven them to was about ten miles from the village, deep in the heart of the surrounding countryside. The chances of bumping into anybody local were slim, and he’d hoped that might help Sophia to relax. Glancing down at the pasta dishes they’d selected from the menu, he didn’t think either he or his companion would be disappointed with their choices. Not if the tasteful presentation and delicious aroma that wafted tantalisingly beneath his nose was anything to go by. And he knew the food was particularly good here because he’d eaten there on the odd occasion with his sister.
His stomach growled. The only sustenance he’d imbibed all day was a slice of nearly burnt toast and a cup of strong black coffee at breakfast. In fact his appetite and his sleep had been poor all week, due to his belief that Sophia was seeing another man.
‘Let’s eat, shall we?’ he suggested lightly, giving her a broad smile as their attentive waiters left them alone again. ‘I don’t know about you, but I could eat the proverbial horse!’
‘So, not only don’t you have someone to clean for you, you obviously haven’t succumbed to hiring a cook either?’ Picking up her fork, Sophia expertly twirled some strands of spaghetti round it, guiding it into place with her spoon.
For a moment Jarrett was too transfixed by the sight to even think about satisfying his own appetite. She somehow managed to make the most commonplace actions look sexy, he mused, as a pleasant buzz of heat infiltrated his insides, ‘Are you putting yourself forward for the job? Because if you are then I’ll happily forego the interview and appoint you straight away.’
She moved her head to indicate no. ‘I won’t consider it right now, because I need to put my energies into my photography, but ask me again in a month or two when the coffers aren’t exactly spilling over with coin and I might accept.’ She popped a forkful of pasta with its accompanying fragrant sauce into her mouth and squeezed her eyes shut in a demonstration of unrestrained pleasure. ‘Mmm …’ she groaned. ‘This is really, really good’
Jarrett almost let his fork clatter back onto the table. The look on her face was straight out of a candid scene from an erotic movie. Helplessly shifting in his seat as an arrow of flame zeroed straight into his loins, he suddenly found it wasn’t food that he was hungry for.
‘Aren’t you going to eat?’ Sophia asked innocently. ‘I thought you were starving?’
He cleared his throat. ‘I am. I’m afraid I just got a little distracted.’
‘Oh.’ She brushed off the comment with a careless shrug, but nonetheless he saw the swathe of hot pink that swept into her cheeks.
Feeling undeniably pleased, Jarrett watched her tuck into her meal for a few seconds longer before hungrily attacking his own.
By the time coffee arrived Sophia was feeling much more relaxed and at ease. Tonight, in this lovely restaurant, she was like any other diner enjoying the company of her date, and nobody either knew or cared about her painful past. That gave her a sense of freedom and autonomy that she’d long craved.
Adding some cream to her coffee, she stirred it in, and when she looked up again Jarrett was studying her, an enigmatic smile lifting the corners of his mouth. A frisson of intense pleasure rippled through her as she recalled his urgent passionate kisses just a few short hours ago. There was no doubt in her mind that the man could win a trophy for his ability to kiss a woman and render her weak with instantaneous
