caress. ‘Don’t!’ she repeated sharply. The sickness surged up again and she swallowed hastily before saying, ‘Nothing’s wrong. I—’
‘Don’t lie. There is a problem. Tell me,’ he ordered.
‘All right!’ Denying her nausea in the hope that mind could conquer matter, she put aside the fear that Jake wasn’t as indifferent as she’d first imagined and concentrated on her misery at losing Leo. ‘I feel depressed because Leo’s left Castlestowe,’ she mumbled, and he gave a quick intake of breath.
‘Ah.’ He looked annoyed again. ‘We come to Leo.’
Sadly she gazed at Jake’s grim face. ‘He and Ginny are getting married again,’ she explained. ‘They’re going to live in St Lucia!’
With great deliberation, Jake unfolded his long limbs and stood up. ‘Just as well,’ he observed with crisp finality.
‘How can you say that?’ Amber objected, craning her neck upwards. ‘Stuart will be devastated! Leo will be living miles and miles away from his father—’
‘It’s only a nine-hour flight,’ Jake pointed out drily. ‘Besides, you told me they’ve never been close. In fact, I’d say that Stuart Brandon loves you more than he loves his son. Don’t look so shocked! It’s true.’
‘Well, Leo was brought up by nannies and sent to boarding-school,’ she said quickly.
‘Mmm.’ Jake paused and considered her thoughtfully, as if that wasn’t the whole explanation. ‘Whereas you, a godchild, have been loved by Stuart and treated like an honorary daughter ever since you were born. Look at this wedding reception he’s provided for you!’
‘He’s been very good to me,’ she admitted.
‘Surprisingly so.’
‘You don’t understand.’ Amber watched him fold his arms in a disturbingly challenging way. ‘The Brandons treat the people who work for them like family. My father grew up with Stuart. They had a mutual respect for one another. And, as you know, Stuart took a shine to me when I was little.’
‘There’s no denying that. You and Castlestowe are the great loves of Stuart’s life,’ said Jake shrewdly. ‘I’m sure he won’t miss Leo too much—nor will he mind running the estate. I think he’ll enjoy striding over the moors in tweeds and brogues. He’ll prefer that to living in London as a Member of Parliament and wearing city suits and breathing city air. He doesn’t strike me as the sort to enjoy Westminster life.’
‘Maybe you’re right,’ Amber conceded, knowing that her godfather hated London and only stayed to press Scotland’s causes. ‘I’m worried about Leo’s grandfather, though. He won’t be pleased at all.’
She saw Jake’s nod of acknowledgement. They’d visited the bedridden Earl a few times, in his suite at the castle.
‘He’s coped with tragedy before. Odd that he thought you resembled his late wife,’ Jake mused idly.
It was true. The portrait in the old earl’s bedroom bore a remarkable likeness to her: a tall, stately woman with fiery hair and a broad, earthy face. But she was Amber Fraser, the daughter of Angus Fraser, a gillie at Castlestowe like all his ancestors before him. And the Brandons were bred-in-the-bone aristocrats.
‘We’re the same Scottish type,’ she said, dismissing the matter. ‘Well, when the old Earl dies, Stuart will be the next Earl of Castlestowe—and after him Leo will inherit the title. He should stay.’ Her face fell. Without Leo’s friendship, she’d be lost.
Jake frowned. ‘He means a lot to you, doesn’t he?’
‘Yes!’ she replied, her eyes soft with tears.
He began to stride up and down the gallery as if he felt confined, then came to a brief halt in front of her. ‘Now he’s gone, at least I won’t have to worry about leaving you here in the cottage while I go on assignments.’
Amber felt offended at what he was implying. With as much dignity as she could muster, she straightened and rose slowly, graceful in the long, rustling crushed taffeta dress despite her Junoesque stature. With her flame-coloured hair floating around her flawless shoulders and her eyes blazing, she gave the impression of a woman on the warpath. Which she might be, if Jake pursued that line of thinking.
‘Leo and I have been together since childhood. He’s like a brother to me, nothing else! I don’t understand why you’re going on about it.’
‘Because,’ answered Jake tightly, ‘people have been questioning what was going on between you two up here—’
‘On my wedding day?’ she broke in, shocked.
‘You both seemed unusually wrapped up in each other,’ he retorted. ‘My journalist friends thought your behaviour was inappropriate. I have to say I agree with them.’
Amber went scarlet. She’d recognised the journalists, who’d been based in the African camp. They would have known about her passionate relationship with Enzo. Everybody did, because Enzo had made no secret of it. Presumably Leo’s friends now thought that she made a habit of flinging herself at men.
‘I see!’ she muttered bitterly. Would her one mistake brand her for ever? ‘I can’t even hug a friend now! It’s people’s dirty minds, not my behaviour that you have to condemn!’
‘I had to come up and take steps to scotch the rumours. I don’t want any more gossip, Amber,’ he said, his voice so softly laced with anger that it slid into her like a knife. ‘We agreed that not only would you remain faithful to our marriage vows, but you’d be seen to be above suspicion. Keep to that agreement, Amber, or I’ll wash my hands of you!’
She looked at him in dismay. The man she’d known—the caring man who’d brought her out of her nightmare and whom she’d witnessed carrying out so many acts of kindness—had vanished. Was this the real Jake? A suspicious, possessive man who expected her to be grateful to him because he’d given her baby the gift of legitimacy?
Desperately she clung to the memory of how he’d cheered up a group of women in a cellar in Sarajevo with an impromptu party. He’d played the piano, beautifully, meltingly, making them all cry. And then he’d danced with every one of them, while Amber had laughingly picked out one-finger tunes.
She made herself remember the time when he’d waded in, fists flying, to a group of men taking a sack of grain from a helpless woman. But that didn’t help. It only reminded her that he had one hell of a temper when roused.
‘What’s happened to you?’ she asked unhappily. ‘We’ve got on so well together up to now. I thought we could be good friends!’ Suddenly she realised just how important that promise of friendship had been to her. Without it, the marriage would be impossible. ‘Jake,’ she went on in a soft, shaky plea, ‘don’t change! Please don’t start acting like a jealous lover—’
His head snapped up sharply, making the black curls dance. ‘What the hell are you talking about?’ he demanded. ‘Of course I’m not jealous! But the last thing in the world I want is scurrilous gossip about my wife and Leo Brandon.’
His firm hand caught her chin and tipped her head up. A tongue of flame seemed to leap inside her. Sickness? No... Something different. Then
