taken her in his arms, all those good intentions of his dissolved in the face of a desire so strong it took every ounce of willpower not to pull her even closer than he had. He didn’t want to pat her damned back. Or utter soothing words. He wanted to tip up her chin and kiss the tears from her lovely face.
Thank God he hadn’t given in to that desire. Because she would not have surrendered to him as she did in his darkest dreams. She would have slapped him, then resigned as his housekeeper.
Abby didn’t particularly like him. That, he knew.
Which should have been a relief, given his resolve never to act on his secret desire for her. Instead he felt peeved by her indifference. And jealous of her obvious affection for Craig. Which was all perverse, given his own decision not to have anything to do with her on a personal level, a decision which fate—courtesy of his uncle—had now blown out of the water. Next Saturday morning he would be personally escorting Abby to Craig’s graveside, then afterwards he would be personally buying her a car.
That was all pretty personal, in his opinion.
But there was no way out, Jake accepted bleakly as he gazed down at the label of the bottle he’d pulled out and saw it was one of his favourites. A Shiraz from the Clare Valley. Good. Because he needed to get drunk. And he might as well do so on a favourite tipple rather than rubbish.
Not that he ever bought rubbish, he admitted as he poured himself his first glass. Long gone were the days when he drank rough red from casks. Hell, he hadn’t done that since his university days. And yet they had been good days. Happy days. Carefree days.
Nothing like today, Jake thought ruefully as he lifted the glass to his lips for a deep swallow. Today would not go down as good. Or happy. Or carefree. Today was…what?
He wasn’t sure how to describe it.
Dangerous came to mind. And not in a good way. Jake had enjoyed danger in his life at times. But this was a different kind of danger. This wasn’t physical danger. This involved his emotions. Intense, uncontrollable emotions.
Jake didn’t like intense, uncontrollable emotions. They made you do things which never ended well.
Jake carried the glass and the bottle out to his courtyard, where he placed the bottle on the small circular glass table he liked best then sat down in the chair next to it.
When his phone rang, he saw that it was Olivia.
He didn’t want to talk to Olivia just now. He didn’t want to talk to anyone. So he just turned off the phone and went back to drinking his wine.
WITHIN SECONDS OF arriving home Abby rang Megan, not wanting to procrastinate over the call. Megan would only be even more suspicious if she waited too long to give her the good news.
‘Hi there, kiddo,’ Megan answered, a term of endearment which often led people to think Megan was the older sister. And whilst there wasn’t much between them, Abby was actually older by fifteen months.
Abby had already decided that the best way to play this was to sound very happy about it. And she was happy. Just a bit wary about her sister’s reaction.
‘You’ll never guess what’s happened,’ Abby said brightly as she dumped her bag on the floor and plonked herself into a nearby armchair.
‘Something good by the sound of things.’
‘Unbelievably good!’ And she launched into an explanation of the day’s events. As planned, she left out the part about the travel fund money and only mentioned the new car. Naturally, she didn’t include the bit about her bursting into tears and Jake hugging her.
Megan exclaimed a shocked, ‘No!’ at the news about the new car, but thankfully didn’t make any sarcastic crack about what Abby might have done with Jake’s uncle to deserve such an incredibly generous gift. Things might have been different, however, if she’d mentioned the twenty-five thousand dollars as well. Though possibly not. Maybe Megan instinctively knew that Abby would never do anything sexual with a man she didn’t love. Wayne had been her first and only lover because he was the first and only man she’d ever loved.
‘Aren’t you a lucky duck?’ Megan said without a trace of jealousy in her voice. ‘A brand-new car! And you don’t even have to wait for probate to come through, since your hunky boss is buying you the car himself. This Saturday, you said?’
‘Yes. This Saturday.’
‘It’s a wonderful gift. Especially when you hardly knew his uncle. But perhaps not so much if he was filthy rich. Was he filthy rich?’
‘He must have been. Jake said he’d inherited heaps. That’s why he doesn’t mind forking out the money for me for a car.’
‘Oh, right. Still, it’s nice of him to do that. He’s not legally obliged to, I would imagine.’
‘Probably not, but he said he would never go against his uncle’s deathbed wishes.’
‘Did you see this letter his uncle left him?’
‘Well, no, but why would he lie about something like that?’
‘Maybe he fancies you.’
‘Oh, don’t be ridiculous! Why would he fancy someone like me when he has that gorgeous girlfriend? I’ve been thinking, Megan, since I’m getting a new car, would you like the ute? I know it’s done a good few miles but it goes really well. Wayne put a new engine in it not long before he died.’
‘Oh, I’d love it. Thanks, Abby.’
‘Jake is going to take me to see his uncle’s grave as well,’ she blurted out before she could think better of it.
The silence at the other end of the line was telling.
‘Oh, is he?’ Megan said at long last in one of her knowing voices. ‘And why is he doing that?’
‘Because I asked him to,’ Abby said, angry with herself. ‘And, before you jump to conclusions, we’re just dropping in at the cemetery on the way to the car yards at Parramatta. It’s hardly out of his way. And you are so wrong about his fancying me.’
Megan laughed. ‘We’ll see, hon. We’ll see.’
‘Oh, for pity’s sake.’
‘You’ve always underestimated your looks, Abby. Even when your teeth were not great, you were gorgeous. Now that you’ve had them fixed, you’re a knockout. And your figure is to die for.’
‘Oh, go on with you!’
‘No, I mean it. Your fantastic figure was one of the reasons Wayne was so possessive of you. And why he didn’t want you to work after you were married. Because he didn’t want other men lusting after you.’
Abby’s first reaction was to hotly deny what Megan said. But in her heart of hearts she knew it was true. Wayne had been very possessive of her. Right from the start, he’d
