you have a good business trip?’ she prompted as she moved to switch off some of the lamps prior to going to bed.
He shrugged. ‘It was the usual round of business meetings,’ he dismissed in a bored voice.
‘It can’t have been all business, Nick.’ She attempted to tease him, still deeply troubled by the way Jemima had telephoned him—and whether or not it was something that had happened before!
He looked across at her with intense green eyes, not answering her for several minutes.
And Gemini couldn’t help wondering if she had given herself away. Had her tone not been as teasing as she had meant it to be? Worse, had she sounded like a suspicious wife?
She hoped not; it was something she knew Nick would never tolerate. He never questioned her when she came back from buying trips, never showed the slightest interest in what she did on a social level while she was away from home.
Damn him!
Okay, so she wasn’t Jemima, but the two of them were identical to look at, and before she’d known the Drummond brothers there had never been any shortage of men wanting to take her out, to tell her she was beautiful, desirable. Nor since, if she were honest…
So why didn’t Nick find her attractive?
She’d asked herself that question so many times during recent months, and the only answer she had been able to come up with was that it was because she and Jemima were identical, and in Nick’s eyes maybe she was only a pale copy of her twin sister.
Now that hurt!
Because she was a person in her own right. When they were children their mother had always dressed the two girls the same, styled their dark hair the same way, so much so that they had simply become known as ‘the Stone twins’. But adulthood had brought deliberate changes, and the two women’s styles of dress were now completely different. Jemima favoured jeans and tee shirts, while Gemini’s clothes were always stylish and elegant. Jemima kept her hair cropped short for convenience’s sake; Gemini preferred a softer, shoulder-length style.
But Gemini knew she had to accept the fact that in Nick’s eyes it was the differences in their personalities that left her wanting…
‘No, not all business, Gemini,’ he finally answered her slowly, still watching her with narrowed eyes. “‘All work and no play”, and all that rubbish…’ he added derisively.
She swallowed hard, not knowing if she wanted to go on with this conversation but also knowing it was too late to stop now! ‘And in what way do you “play” while you’re away, Nick?’ She hoped she had managed to make her tone sound light and uninterested this time! Sound it—because it was far from the way she felt; her hands were clenched so tightly at her sides that her nails were sticking into the palms of her hands.
He bent to switch off the gas fire before answering her. To give him time to think of a suitable answer? One that would be acceptable to a wife? His wife?
But then she was his wife in name only, and not even that really. Her fashion label GemStone meant that most people still assumed her name was Gemini Stone, and not Drummond at all…
‘I spent a lot of time in the hotel pool,’ he finally drawled, his green gaze meeting hers challengingly.
Because he couldn’t have spent every evening in the swimming pool, and they both knew it! But to pursue this subject any further would surely be dangerous on her part; Nick would want to know the reason for her interest, and there was no way she could tell him it was jealousy of the time he spent with anyone else but her! Especially if that ‘anyone’ should turn out to be Jemima!
‘That must have been nice.’ She nodded, turning to leave.
‘Er—Gemini…?’ Nick stopped her as she reached the door.
She froze, turning slowly back to face him. Had she given herself away, after all? She could read nothing from his closed expression. ‘Yes?’ she prompted warily.
‘I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve accepted a dinner invitation for the two of us with the Crawfords tomorrow evening,’ he drawled pointedly.
The point was completely lost on her! Why should he think that would be a problem for her? She was always more than happy to go out with Nick. In fact, she looked forward to the evenings they would be out together in public; Nick was always the attentive husband on such occasions, and even though she knew it was a façade she still revelled in his protective care!
‘Jessica…?’ Nick reminded her as she continued to look blank. ‘I don’t think it would be quite the thing to take her along with us—do you?’ he added mockingly.
The baby! She’d done it again, Gemini realised; of course, they would need a babysitter for Jessica if the two of them were to go out together!
‘Perhaps Mrs James…?’ She grimaced hopefully.
‘We can ask her.’ Nick nodded. ‘Although I don’t think that was part of her job description when I employed her ten years ago!’
Gemini was sure it wasn’t. Rachel James was a woman in her late fifties, and while she used the title of Mrs she had confided in Gemini shortly after she’d come to live here as Nick’s wife, that it was a courtesy title only, useful in the profession she had chosen for herself, but that she’d never actually been married.
Which meant she’d probably never had to deal much with children, either, and in particularly not a very young baby!
‘I’ll have a talk to her in the morning,’ Gemini assured Nick dismissively. ‘But I don’t think Mrs James will mind.’
‘No,’ he acknowledged dryly. ‘I had visions of there being problems with Mrs James when you came to live here as my wife,’ he explained at Gemini’s questioning look, ‘but in fact it’s turned out to be the opposite! Mrs James always comes to you for instructions,’ he murmured ruefully. ‘Fills the house with daffodils at all times of the year because she knows they’re your favourite flower, prepares the meals she knows you like—’
‘If any of that is a problem for you, Nick, you should have said,’ Gemini put in uncomfortably; she hadn’t even realised he had noticed those slight but subtle changes in the household.
She’d only mentioned once in passing to the housekeeper that she loved daffodils, that their golden colour always made her feel in a cheerful mood—and before she knew it the house was ablaze with the beautiful blooms. Just as she had once mentioned that she preferred to eat fish and chicken to red meat—only to find that red meat all but disappeared from their dining table!
‘Oh, it isn’t a problem, Gemini,’ Nick assured her derisively. ‘I merely look on in admiration at the charm you’ve exerted over our formerly austere housekeeper.’
It wasn’t a question of charming the older woman; she merely treated Rachel James like a person. She hadn’t grown up in a household that had had employees in the house of any kind. She’d lived on her own in a flat before marrying Nick. She wasn’t accustomed to having staff in her home. Rachel had somehow sensed that in her, and had helped her all she could, forging a bond of understanding between the two women that Nick probably couldn’t understand.
Nick raised dark brows.
