better not. The sort of criticism you dish out would break me.’
He gave a husky laugh, a deep attractive sound that caused several of the other women present to turn and look at him. Juliet realised for the first time that she was actually being envied her dining companion, that most of the other women here would gladly take her place.
She looked at Jake Matthews with new eyes, seeing a wealth of experience in the deep cynicism of his face, a knowledge of women in those narrowed blue eyes that hadn’t been learnt just by looking at them. This man was at least thirty-five, there would have been many women in his life, could even be one now. He could even be married for all she knew!
‘I’d be very gentle on you, Juliet,’ he promised softly.
She searched his strong features for some sign of a double meaning, but could find none. But Jake had been flirting with her, she knew that. She hadn’t reached her mid-twenties without learning something of men, and Jake Matthews definitely found her attractive. ‘What would your wife think of you showing such favouritism?’ she asked pointedly.
His mouth quirked with humour, seeing right through her line of questioning. ‘I’m not married, Juliet.’
Her eyebrows rose as she couldn’t hide her surprise at his single state. ‘Have you ever been?’
‘No. Have you?’
‘No,’ she replied tightly.
‘I’m sure you’ve had offers, though,’ he taunted.
‘Several,’ she confirmed stiffly.
‘And I’ve never offered once,’ he drawled.
She knew that. If he had offered he would have been accepted. There would be few women who would turn him down. ‘You’re quite old not to be married,’ she said bluntly.
‘So are you,’ he replied as candidly. ‘What are you, twenty-three, twenty-four?’
‘Twenty-four. And you, over or under forty?’
‘Under,’ he grinned. ‘I’m thirty-eight. Now that we have the question of married status and age out of the way perhaps we can get to know each other a little better. Do you have any family, Juliet?’
‘Just my mother. She lives in Devon. And you?’ If he could ask personal questions then so could she!
He shrugged. ‘No parents, just a sister. She’s married to an American, living in California with her husband and two unruly brats.’
‘You don’t like children?’
‘I didn’t say that,’ he denied. ‘I like them well enough, and probably one day I’ll have a couple of my own. I certainly don’t intend remaining single for ever. I just haven’t found my other half yet.’
Juliet held back her gasp of surprise. ‘You really believe that everyone has a perfect partner?’
‘Yes,’ he nodded, grinning suddenly. ‘It’s a pity they rarely meet.’
‘You’re cynical!’ Juliet snapped.
‘Realistic,’ he corrected. ‘But I’ll marry one day, if only to have children. But they won’t become beach-bums,’ he added grimly.
‘Is that what’s happened to your sister’s children?’
‘Yes. The eldest one has already dropped out of school, the other one will soon follow. It’s a damned waste.’
‘And you?’ Juliet eyed him with amusement. ‘Did you dutifully finish your education?’ He didn’t appear to her to be the sort of man who would welcome the leash of authority, and she doubted he had been any different in his youth.
‘No,’ he smiled, that devastating smile that even Juliet was finding she wasn’t immune to. If anything he looked even more attractive when he smiled, his eyes a deeper blue, crinkled at the corners, his teeth very white against his tanned skin, the cleft in his chin more prominent. ‘But then you knew that, didn’t you?’
‘I guessed,’ she smiled back, and then stopped herself. The unaccustomed wine was making her enjoy talking to a man she should despise, in fact she was starting to like him, which wouldn’t do at all. ‘What did you do instead?’ Her tone was more stilted.
‘I went to sea for a couple of years. You grow up fast that way.’
‘I can imagine,’ she grimaced. It was a hard life, and Jake still kept himself very fit by the look of him, very lean and firmly muscled. It wasn’t the body of a man who sat behind a desk all day. ‘Did you like it?’
‘I enjoyed the stops in port—and I didn’t have a girl in every one,’ he added at her knowing look. ‘Just a couple of them,’ he grinned. ‘Believe me, after several months on board it’s nice to have someone to—go home to.’ He grimaced. ‘I stuck it for a couple of years before hitch-hiking over America. I really liked that. I did any work going to pay my way. Then when I got back to England I got a job as an errand boy on one of the big newspapers. I loved it—the tension, the excitement, the sheer hard work that went into putting out a newspaper every day. It was as if I’d come home.’ He shrugged. ‘I knew that atmosphere was for me.’
Juliet had been mesmerised by the different emotions flitting across his ruggedly tanned features. That he enjoyed his work was obvious, his expression one of tense excitement as he spoke of it.
‘Unfortunately, I can’t write,’ he added ruefully. ‘I tried for a while, but it was no good. But I’ve always liked reading, anything I could get my hands on, so I was finally taken on as assistant to the book critic of the time. When he retired I was chosen to take his place. The television programme came out of writing the column. A television studio has a similar atmosphere to a newspaper, everyone knowing what their job is, and determined to do it to the best of their ability.’
‘Including you,’ she recalled dryly.
‘Especially me,’ he nodded. ‘Juliet—–’
‘Hey, you two,’ Melanie appeared behind them, ‘everyone else has gone through to the lounge for coffee.’
And they had too. Juliet had been so intent on their conversation, so interested in spite of herself, that she had forgotten everyone else at the table, and she could tell by Jake’s almost surprised expression that he had too.
He stood up, pulling back her chair for her. ‘Forgive us, Mrs Dickson. I’m afraid Juliet has been too good a listener. I must have been boring her out of her mind.’ He gave a smile that said he knew she had been anything but bored.
She smiled at him politely, not denying the statement, watching as the smile died out of his eyes, even if his mouth remained smiling.
‘Come into the other room and have some coffee,’ Melanie encouraged. ‘You can continue talking in there.’
Juliet excused herself as soon as they reached the lounge, escaping thankfully to the bathroom. Jake Matthews was very easy to listen to, was fascinating in fact, and without realising it she had enjoyed being with him, had enjoyed his intelligence and humour.
But
