Part 19 (2/2)

'You can change that,' she murmured, her fingers straying daringly over his fiat stomach until he imprisoned them against him. 'Let's go to bed, Jake ...'

His expression softened. 'All right.'

With a feeling of unbearable antic.i.p.ation she scrambled off the couch, but as she went to turn off the lamp, another sound came to her ears. It was the sound of someone crying. Anya!

With a startled glance at Jake who had heard the sound, too, she b.u.t.toned her s.h.i.+rt and hurried into her mother's bedroom.

For an awful moment she thought the child had got out-of bed and discovered that her father was here, but it was soon obvious that Anya had just awakened, and that her tears were instigated by fear, not anger.

'Joanna,' she sniffed, when she saw the older girl leaning over the bed. 'Oh, Joanna, I was having an awful nightmare ! I-I dreamt that we-Daddy and I-were in the car with Mummy again, and she was trying to kill us all.'

'Honey, don't!' Joanna sank down on to the bed beside her and took one of the little girl's cold hands in both of hers. 'You've been dreaming, that's all. No one's trying to hurt you. You're safe with me. And-and Daddy's here, too.'

'He is?' Anya was evidently delighted. 'Where is he? Can I see him?'

'I'm here, Anya.' Jake came to squat at the other side of the bed, his eyes encountering Joanna's with none of the coldness she had been half afraid of. She remembered too well his reactions when Anya interrupted them before, but this time it was different, and he was letting her know it.

'What are you doing here, Daddy?' Anya asked, in a shrill childish treble, as the demands of the conscious overcame her fear of the subconscious. 'Did Joanna call you? How did you get here so soon?'

'I was already in London,' Jake explained gently, dark and disturbing in his white s.h.i.+rt, the collar still open to reveal the shadow of hair beneath. 'Aunt Marcia knew where to contact me, and she did.'

Anya sighed. 'Did Joanna tell you why I came? Are you very cross with me?'

'I should be,' he averred huskily, glancing at Joanna. 'But in the circ.u.mstances, perhaps you did us both a favour.'

Anya frowned. 'Why? Is Joanna coming back with us?'

Jake hesitated. 'And if she is?'

'Terrific!' Anya's mouth lifted.

Jake looked at Joanna again. 'What if I told you she was coming back, but not to be your governess?'

'Not to be?' Anya looked confused. 'But -'

'What if I told you I wanted to marry her?' Jake continued softly.

'Would that make you feel differently?'

Anya was obviously finding it all difficult to absorb.

'Does-does Joanna want to marry you?' she asked, giving the girl a studied look, and Joanna intervened.

'I love you, and I love your father,' she said simply. 'And if your father and I got married you'd have both a mother and father again.'

Anya's mouth trembled. 'I don't think I want a mother,' she said uncertainly. 'Why can't you just be my governess? My friend?'

'A mother should be all those things,' declared Joanna gently.

'Anya, try to understand. Your father is lonely. I'm lonely. And you're lonely, too. Let's make each other happy.'

Anya still looked doubtful. 'Would we be coming back to live in London?'

Jake bent his head. 'Some day, maybe.'

'Would I still have to go to boarding school?'

'Don't you want to go to boarding school?'

'Not much.'

'Then we'd talk about it,' said Joanna practically. 'If you promised to behave yourself, I suppose we might find a day school that would take you.'

'Would you take me to school, Daddy?' asked Anya anxiously.

'Like you used to do?'

Jake smiled. 'If that's what you want.'

'And could we have holidays and things, and wouldn't you mind being seen in public and everything?'

'I'd make sure he didn't,' a.s.serted Joanna firmly, challenging Jake's tawny gaze with her own green ones.

Anya sighed. 'Can I think about it?'

Jake chuckled. 'I think you ought to go to sleep, don't you?

We'll talk about it in the morning, hmm?'

'Are you staying here, too?' asked Anya anxiously, looking up as he got to his feet, and although Joanna held her breath, he nodded.

'Go to sleep,' he said, taking Joanna's arm to lead her from the room.

'I'll see you in the morning.'

Joanna went into the kitchen and Jake followed her. 'Would you like some coffee?' she asked, still half afraid he might have changed his mind, but he shook his head, drawing her possessively back against him.

'All I want is you,' he said, with beguiling sweetness, and this time when he swung her into his arms, there was no drawing back.

Nine months later, Joanna stood at the bedroom window of the flat near St James's Park, which Jake had bought soon after the accident.

Behind her she could hear the running water in the shower, and guessed that Jake would not be long before he joined her.

That evening they had given their first dinner party, for Gordon Blakeney and his wife, and it had been a success, and she wrapped her arms about herself with a feeling of almost unbelievable happiness.

The water stopped running and a few minutes later Jake entered their bedroom, dark and disturbingly attractive in his cream bathrobe. Drops of water still sparkled on the silky gleam of his hair, and he tossed the towel he had been carrying on to the floor as he came towards her.

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