admitting that something about her brought out all his protective instincts. Well, it was her first day, after all.
Nearly jumping out of her skin at the sound of his voice, Ria turned and looked up into those achingly desirable eyes, which were glistening more blackly than ever in the dim light, and she unzipped her bag, frantically searching for a tissue.
‘Oh…no…I think it’s a bit of hay fever, that’s all,’ she lied. ‘I do suffer from it occasionally.’
Help, she thought. How did he know where I was—and why did he follow me, anyway? She was going to have to pull herself together and act normally.
She found a tissue, dabbing at her eyes. ‘I was just admiring this wonderful place,’ she sniffed. ‘I hope the boys realize how lucky they are to be at school here.’
‘Oh, I doubt it,’ Jasper said flatly. ‘Did any of us appreciate our lives when we were young? It’s the norm to take everything for granted, isn’t it?’
Well, the good life had certainly been the norm for him and Carl, he acknowledged, feeling a sense of shame when he compared their lot with some of the boys who turned up here. The Trent brothers had had loving and diligent parents, whose one thought had been the well-being and happiness of their sons—and of all the children who passed through their school.
Neither spoke for a moment, then Ria said, pointing, ‘Does the school own all this land as well?’
‘Yes—that’s all part of us,’ he said. ‘Local farmers borrow it from time to time to feed their stock.’ He paused. ‘Observing those animals, hearing them grazing, pulling lazily at the grass, especially after the sun’s gone down, can be very therapeutic, ’ he added, and Ria glanced up at him quickly. He had expressed her own inner thoughts exactly.
He was standing very close to her now, so that they were almost touching, and for a ridiculous moment Ria wanted to lean into him, to feel the warmth of his body mingle with hers, to be comforted, to be loved. It must be wonderful to be the woman in his life, she thought—because there had to be one. There had to be a beautiful woman somewhere, waiting for this gorgeous, strong, dependable man to come home, she thought and, to her horror, Ria thought she was going to start crying again. But feeling sorry for herself was the last thing she could do with right now.
Moving away from him slightly, she blew her nose.
‘So, then, won’t you be sorry to leave all this when your brother comes back?’ she asked.
‘Oh…sort of…I suppose,’ he said non-committally. ‘But Carl is the one for this job, not me—not really. No, he is the headmaster par excellence.’
Something in the faintly sardonic tone of Jasper’s voice as he said that made Ria frown briefly. She was in no doubt that Jasper Trent had fulfilled his obligations to perfection during the short time he’d been in office. In fact, Tim had said as much, earlier. ‘Jasper has been terrific,’ he’d said, ‘and great to work with, so long as you watch your Ps and Qs…though he doesn’t suffer fools gladly. Which is why he’s so successful with the manufacturing business he owns in Somerset, I suppose,’ he’d added. ‘Everyone certainly knows exactly where they stand with him.’
Now, not really wanting to leave this spot, yet realizing that it was getting late, Ria turned to leave. ‘I suppose I should go back—and have a good night’s sleep,’ she said, glancing up and forcing herself to smile quickly at Jasper as he fell into step beside her.
He looked down at her thoughtfully. As soon as he’d reached her a few minutes ago, he’d known only too well that she was upset about something. And it had been nothing at all to do with hay fever, either. That season had not arrived yet. No, he sensed Ria Davidson to be far more vulnerable than the impression she liked to give—perhaps partly explained by the fact that she had spent so much of her childhood away from her family, he thought. She had also mentioned her stepmother briefly, hadn’t she. Perhaps they had never got on, and she still nurtured bad memories. But all that was unlikely to be the cause of her distress tonight, he reasoned. He hoped she wasn’t regretting accepting the post, regretting being here. Yet he knew that wasn’t the case. She had been so obviously grateful to have her own flat, and to earn the money which would help her get started on her travels, and during dinner she’d been lively and quite obviously feeling happy.
He shrugged inwardly. Keeping the staff contented with their lot, sorting out emotional and practical problems with everyone from time to time, had been one of the most difficult aspects of the job and Carl was welcome to have it back, he thought.
They walked back together in comparative—but surprisingly easy—silence, and by now it was almost pitch-black. But the security lights everywhere were more than sufficient to light up their path as they returned to the school building.
‘I’m just going back to my car for a moment,’ Ria said. ‘Something I’ve forgotten.’
‘I’ve forgotten something, too,’ he said, looking down and smiling briefly.
They made their way to the far side of the building towards the car park, Ria hugging her bare arms because, despite the warmth of the day, the night air had a distinctly chilly feel about it. Opening her car door, she reached over to the glovebox where she’d left the novel she was presently reading. It was by one of her favourite authors and Ria was glad that she’d remembered she’d left it behind. A few chapters later would relax her and give her what she hoped would be a restful night.
As she walked back slowly, Jasper was slamming his door and he looked up as she came up to him.
‘I’d forgotten my book,’ Ria said, trying to hide it under her arm. She didn’t imagine that her current choice of bedtime reading would meet with the headmaster’s approval!
‘And I’d forgotten my jacket,’ he remarked, slinging it casually over one shoulder.
‘Well, I wish I’d remembered to bring mine because it’s not quite summer yet, is it?’ she began and, before she could think—or say—another word, she found her shoulders being covered by Jasper’s jacket as he wrapped it around her.
‘There—that had to be the reason why I forgot to take this with me earlier,’ he said, and at his touch Ria’s whole body trembled—with what? she asked herself desperately. Not with desire, surely! Her tongue went dry at the thought. Hadn’t desire, as far as she was concerned, been extinguished for ever? And, if it hadn’t, would she ever let it put her at risk again? She quickened her step, going slightly ahead of him for a second, wanting to put space between them.
‘Well, that was lucky for me, then,’ she said, needing to get back to the sanctity and privacy of her room. ‘Thank you…Jasper.’ Did her voice sound as tremulous to him as it did to her?
They returned to the building and Jasper paused for a moment, looking down at her. ‘Well, then…classes start in earnest on Thursday,’ he said. ‘Tim will be looking after you.’
‘Yes, thanks—he’s already spoken to me about the last bit of the course we’ve got to cover,’ Ria said, turning away. ‘Goodnight, then…’
‘Goodnight, Ria,’ he said slowly. ‘By the way,’ he began, and there was a pause as she glanced back at him questioningly. ‘Um…my jacket?’ he suggested mildly, and Ria gasped, slipping it from her shoulders.
‘Of course! I’m so sorry…I’d forgotten about
