shrugged. ‘There’s a certain similarity, yes. But—’
‘It’s enough,’ Merry waved a dismissive hand. ‘Dani told me she was meeting friends for coffee this evening. Am I to take it David is that friend?’ Singular, not plural. But not exactly a lie, either. Not that she had thought for a moment that it would be; she and Dani had never lied to each other.
Those blue eyes were narrowed now. ‘That’s what he told me before he left this morning to attend classes, yes,’ Zack agreed. ‘Amongst other things,’ he added. ‘I called here earlier in the day in the hope I could talk to Dani’s mother without—’
‘I work, Mr Kingston,’ Merry told him caustically. Unlike some people, obviously... The cut of his clothes, and that air of arrogance, spoke of wealth, and a nature that didn’t suffer fools gladly. Well, she certainly didn’t have the former, but she didn’t suffer fools, either, and this man was taking an awful long time to get to his point!
He was staring at her now, seemingly speechless—not something that happened often, Merry was sure!
She had realised a few minutes ago that he assumed she was Dani’s sister.
‘I suggest we dispense with any misconceptions you may have formed when you arrived, Mr Kingston,’ she told him briskly. ‘Dani doesn’t have a sister, older or otherwise. In fact, Dani is an only child.’ She met his eyes steadily.
Zack Kingston blinked, and then blinked again, his head tilted to one side as he reassessed the situation a second time. Finally he shook his head. ‘You aren’t old enough to be Dani’s mother! Unless—’ His gaze sharpened in dismay. ‘Exactly how old is Dani?’
Merry was unabashed. ‘Daniella—Dani—is eighteen.’
He looked relieved to hear that, but his puzzled vision returned to Merry once again, raking over her appearance once more, from the top of her head down to her bare toes, returning to her face—a face full of good humour, her green eyes clear and bright, her nose small and pert, her mouth wide and inclined to turn up at the corners, giving her a happy look even when she didn’t feel much like smiling.
As she didn’t now. This man, she had come to realise over the last few minutes, had come here to tell her something important about his nephew and her daughter. And in view of the way Dani had made her own way into life, Merry couldn’t help the feelings of foreboding that were seething over her. She no longer found this man’s mistake over her identity a cause for amusement, merely questioned the urgency of his need to talk to Dani’s mother.
Zack drew in a controlling breath. ‘Miss Baker—Er, Mrs—’
‘Miss Baker,’ Merry corrected stiltedly. What was that saying about ‘the sins of the father’...? Did it also apply to ‘the mistakes of the mother’? ‘I’ve never been a Mrs Anything, Mr Kingston,’ she informed him flatly, pointed chin raised defiantly.
He nodded abruptly. ‘Well, Miss Baker, it appears you’re about to have a wedding in the family now! My nephew David informed me this morning that he intends marrying your daughter!’
Merry swallowed hard, feeling the colour drain from her cheeks. Dani. Eighteen-year-old Dani. Beautiful Dani, who had her whole life before her. Dani, who had only been at university for two months. It couldn’t be happening all over again!
Was the mistake of the mother being repeated by the daughter...?
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