had temporarily refreshed him, but he was no longer a young ‘junior doctor’ when a couple of hours sleep grabbed here and there had been enough to keep him going. At the moment the previous night’s lack of rest made him feel every one of his thirty-eight years!
‘I don’t mean to sound terse,’ he excused as he realised he had been exactly that. ‘I had a difficult case to deal with last night,’ he explained. ‘And lack of sleep means I’m a little short on patience today!’
‘Of course.’ Rome Summer stood up quickly. ‘I’ll explain a little more to you as we go upstairs.’
Jonas picked up his case of instruments, listening politely to the other man as they ascended the stairs, realising Rome needed to talk, that he found all of this extremely difficult to deal with.
Jonas sympathised with him, could imagine how the older man must be feeling. For a man who had controlled his world, and that of his family, for the last thirty years, Jonas realised this must all have come as a bit of a shock to Rome Summer. It was something he had no control over whatsoever. But even if the other man’s suspicions proved to be correct, it wasn’t the end of the world. Other people, other families, had gone through this sort of thing before. And would no doubt continue to do so for a long time to come!
But Rome Summer looked less than capable of dealing with it, Jonas realised a short time later, Rome haggard now as the two men returned to the sitting-room, Jonas’s diagnosis conclusive.
‘I just can’t believe it.’ Rome groaned, his face buried in his hands. ‘I had my suspicions, of course—’
‘You wouldn’t have telephoned me otherwise,’ Jonas pointed out dryly, handing the other man a cup of the now cool coffee; in the circumstances, cold or not, the caffeine would do the other man good.
‘But somehow I didn’t really believe it.’ Rome shook his head dazedly, sipping the coffee without even seeming aware of what he was doing.
Jonas let the other man sit quietly for several minutes, giving him time to get over his initial shock; no doubt the coffee would help do that, too. Once the other man had accepted the diagnosis as fact, the two of them could get down to talking over the practicalities of what needed to be done over the next few months.
Rome finally raised his head, looking across at Jonas with slightly moist eyes. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said heavily. ‘I realise I’m not taking this too well.’ He gave a rueful grimace. ‘I was wishing the girls’ mother were here. She would have known what to do.’
‘How many daughters do you have?’ Jonas enquired politely, knowing the other man still needed to talk, and remembering having read somewhere that Rome Summer’s wife had died several years ago.
‘Just the three.’ Rome sighed. ‘But sometimes it seems like twenty-three!’
Jonas imagined that Danie Summer could quite easily account for twenty of those in her own right; she was certainly spirited enough to cause any man a headache, let alone her harassed father!
‘Do they all live at home with you?’ he asked lightly, curiosity prompting him to find out if Danie had some poor man as her husband somewhere in the background!
‘None of them.’ Rome shook his head. ‘Harrie was married last month,’ he said with obvious pleasure and pride. ‘Andie is usually based in London, although she’s been staying here with me the last few weeks.’
‘And Danie?’ Jonas persisted softly.
‘I’m based, not wherever I hang my hat, but wherever I fly my aircraft!’ the woman in question told him coldly as she walked unannounced into the room.
Jonas stiffened at the sound of that caustic voice, although he literally froze with shock once he had turned to look at her. The black baseball cap was gone, and he found that those dark lashes and brows had been deceptive. Hair of the most gloriously deep red now cascaded in loose waves down the length of Danie’s spine.
If Jonas had thought her beautiful before, that red hair was definitely her crowning glory, giving prominence to her high cheekbones, bringing out the deep green colour of her eyes. There was no doubt about it—Danie Summer was one of the loveliest women he had ever set eyes on!
He stood up slowly. ‘Your aircraft?’ he questioned silkily, feeling suddenly defensive in the face of this woman’s arresting beauty.
A look of irritation darkened her features. ‘Rome’s aircraft,’ she corrected, before turning to her father. ‘Everything okay?’ she prompted sharply, looking at him searchingly.
Rome seemed to have undergone a transformation in the last few seconds, Jonas noted wryly, that boyish grin back on his face, his worried expression of a few minutes ago completely dispelled. For his daughter’s benefit, Jonas didn’t doubt. Although there was no way Rome would be able to keep the truth from Danie indefinitely…
‘Everything is fine,’ Rome told Danie lightly. ‘Jonas and I were just discussing having lunch before he returns to town.’
Jonas hesitated at the totally erroneous statement. Considering he hadn’t even had breakfast yet…! But, he had to admit, food of any kind did sound rather tempting at the moment…
‘As long as I’m not inconveniencing anyone…?’ he accepted questioningly.
Glittering green eyes were turned in his direction. ‘Since when has inconveniencing someone bothered you?’ Danie snapped.
Jonas’s mouth firmed at the insult, Rome chuckling softly as he saw his reaction. Well, Rome might find his daughter’s rudeness amusing, but Jonas found it exactly what it was—bad-mannered!
‘You can have lunch with Harrie and Quinn any time, darling.’ Rome put his arm lightly about his daughter’s shoulders.
‘But I was having lunch with them today,’ Danie complained.
So she had had other plans for today, after all… Jonas fumed inwardly; it wasn’t his fault she hadn’t been able to carry them through—her father was responsible for that.
‘Wouldn’t you rather have lunch with two attractive men?’ Rome teased his daughter.
Danie turned to give Jonas a slowly dismissive glance from head to toe. ‘Not particularly,’ she finally replied, before turning back to her father.
What this young lady needed was a smack on the backside, Jonas decided grimly. If her father didn’t feel capable of administering it, Jonas was sure there must be plenty of other men who would!
Including him…?
Jonas frowned. He had never lifted so much as a finger against a woman in his life, and no matter how much Danie Summer might deserve a good spanking, he knew he wouldn’t be the one to give it.
He had grown up in a totally female household; his mother had been widowed while still in her early thirties, and left with the sole care of Jonas and his two older sisters. Beautiful and warm-natured though she was, she had remained a widow in the succeeding years, managing, with only the help of a housekeeper, to bring the three children up alone. Meaning that Jonas, as the only male in the household, had been cosseted and spoilt by not just his mother and sisters, but the housekeeper, too.
It had
