hands clamped on her shoulders so that she winced. ‘Jordan! I should have thought of him before. Will you ask him, Kitty? Ask him to lend me the money? I swear I’ll pay him back somehow.’
Katherine shook her head, stunned by the request. ‘No... I couldn’t possibly. I mean, I don’t even know what you need it for!’
‘Because I’m a bloody fool, that’s why! I let a couple of the fellows I work with talk me into going to this gaming club with them. It was all just a bit of fun at first. I even won a couple of times. Diane was furious when I let slip what I’d been doing. She made me promise never to go again.’
‘But you did go?’ Katherine guessed. ‘And this time you lost? Oh, Peter, how could you be so stupid?’
‘I know. I know! I just kept telling myself that the next time I would win, but it never happened. Now the people I owe the money to are threatening to go to Diane’s parents. They’ve given me two weeks to come up with the cash. Two bloody weeks!’ Peter gripped Katherine even harder. ‘Jordan’s my only hope! Please, please, say that you’ll ask him, Kitty!’
‘I don’t know... I don’t know what to say...’ Katherine felt a lump in her throat as she saw despair settle over Peter’s face as he let her go.
‘I understand. I should never have asked you to do it. I...I’d better get back and see...’
She couldn’t stand it. She couldn’t bear to see him looking so dejected. ‘All right, then, I’ll ask Jordan.’
‘You will?’ Peter gave a whoop of joy as he swung her off her feet. ‘Oh, you don’t know what a weight that is off my mind!’
‘He hasn’t agreed yet,’ Katherine warned him.
‘But he will if you ask him!’ Peter gave her a quick hug. ‘I’d better get back to Diane before she thinks I’ve run out on her. You will ask him as soon as you can, though, Kitty, won’t you? I don’t want those people running to Diane’s parents and causing a fuss while we’re away.’
Katherine opened her mouth to repeat her warning that she wasn’t sure if Jordan would agree, only Peter was already hurrying away. She shivered as she turned to stare towards the shadowy hills again. The thought of asking Jordan for all that money scared her, but what else could—?
‘Well, what are you waiting for, Katherine? They always say there’s no time like the present, so why don’t you get it over with right now and ask me if I’m willing to lend you fifty thousand pounds for Peter. Or are you waiting to catch me at the right moment?’
Jordan gave a soft laugh which made her skin prickle as she turned and saw him standing in the shadow of the trees. ‘Mmm, I’m almost tempted to find out exactly when that is.’
Katherine took a deep breath and tried to close her mind to the nuances she’d heard in his voice, but she could feel ripples of awareness spreading through her, as though he had touched one nerve and all the others were responding.
‘I...I didn’t know you were there,’ she said huskily.
‘No? Never mind; don’t let that deter you.’ He gave another of those disturbing laughs as he came and leant against the fence beside her. He was so close now that she could smell the musky aroma of the aftershave he wore, and she could feel the heat of his body flowing through the thin fabric of her jacket. Suddenly it was as though all her senses were heightened to an almost unbearable degree, so that when his shoulder brushed hers she jumped, and saw the amused look he gave her.
‘Nervous, Katherine? I don’t see why you should be. After all it isn’t the first time you’ve found yourself thrust in at the deep end to help a member of your family out of a sticky situation, is it?’
Katherine’s face flamed as she understood what he meant immediately. It had been the need to help her father out of even worse financial straits that had brought her and Jordan together—although if she’d had any idea of the repercussions she would never have gone through with it!
She turned to glare at him, her grey eyes stormy as they met his mocking blue ones. ‘No, it isn’t new to me, Jordan. However, that doesn’t mean I find it any easier second time around.’ She gave a harsh laugh. ‘In fact, bearing in mind what happened the last time I asked you for help, I must have been mad to let Peter talk me into asking you again!’
Jordan’s lids flickered but his smile never wavered. ‘You got what you wanted, Katherine. Your father has been able to live comfortably ever since. Are you really trying to claim that you would have preferred to see him being dragged through the courts and ending up with nothing more than his name at the end of it?
‘No! Of course I wouldn’t have wanted that to happen. You know very well what I mean, Jordan!’
‘Of course I do. How could I be in any doubt, Katherine?’ His brows rose, his eyes glittering as they centred on her angry face. ‘You have always been totally honest about your feelings towards me, haven’t you?’
Katherine looked away, wondering what there was in the depths of his eyes which made her feel as though she was standing on the edge of some vast precipice, and that one unwary step would send her plunging into its unknown depths. ‘I... don’t think either of us is under any illusion about how we feel. However, that has little bearing on this present situation.’
‘Hasn’t it?’ Jordan’s tone was openly sceptical, the mockery she heard in it making her heart beat even faster.
‘No.’ Katherine’s hands clenched as she turned and stared into the distance while she fought to keep all trace of emotion from her voice. ‘Will you lend Peter the money he needs? That’s all I want to know.’
‘I’m sure it is, but has it never occurred to you that every time you bail Peter out it just makes matters worse? He is old enough to stand on his own two feet, but he’ll never do that while you keep fighting his battles for him.’
Jordan’s tone was scornful, and Katherine reacted immediately to it despite her determination to remain detached. ‘That’s not fair! How on earth can Peter get himself out of this mess?’
‘Not as easily as he apparently got himself into it, Kitty.’
Jordan mocked her with the childhood name, yet it was a measure of how upset her brother had been that he should have used it tonight. The thought made her even angrier. Jordan considered himself so infallible that he couldn’t understand how anyone else could make a mistake!
‘Unfortunately, not everyone is as perfect as you, Jordan! But surely even you could see how upset Peter was? Is it too much to ask that you try to be a little more sympathetic?’
He smiled contemptuously. ‘I imagine that Peter is far more interested in the support I can give him financially rather than emotionally. I shall leave that side of it to you.’ He sighed, sounding suddenly weary. ‘However, this is hardly the place to discuss Peter’s failings. I came to tell you that it’s almost time for him and Diane to leave; so shall we get back to the party? We can sort this out later.’
‘No. We need to sort it out now. I want to be able to tell Peter if you’re going to help him or not. Jordan, wait!’
Katherine felt her temper rise to dizzying heights as Jordan started to walk away. She caught hold of his arm to stop him, determined that he was going to
