Lee Wilkinson - From Mistresses To Wives?

‘I’m…not sure.’

‘Oh, I think you are,’ he said. ‘It explains all this. He thought there was a chance of the old man cutting him off if he didn’t show willing in the marital stakes.’ He smiled sourly. ‘I’ll give him top marks for effort! Pity it was for nothing.’

Jessica’s eyes blazed sudden green fire. ‘This might have happened a bit sooner than it would have done, but it certainly isn’t for nothing!’

‘Not for you, maybe. Although I wouldn’t count on holding his interest for too long. A regular Don Juan, is Zac. He’s had more women than I’ve had hot dinners!’

He was getting a real kick out of this, Jessica realised. A wholly malicious one too. What she wasn’t about to do was give him the satisfaction of seeing her true feelings at this moment.

‘Understandable,’ she said. ‘ He’s every woman’s dream of a man!’

The point went home, bringing a nasty glint to the grey eyes. ‘Only till they wake up.’

Isabel appeared at Jessica’s elbow as she opened her mouth to deliver another broadside. Her mother-in-law looked from her to Brady with some speculation.

‘Your wife went to lie down,’ she said. ‘I think she’s just tired, but perhaps you should go and make sure. Her time can’t be all that far off.’

‘It’s another eight weeks yet,’ Brady responded, making no move.

Isabel held her gaze. ‘All the same…’

He took the hint, albeit with reluctance. Isabel turned her attention to Jessica with a smile. ‘Men can be so dense at times, don’t you find?’

Jessica found a smile of her own, if a strained one. ‘Not up to now.’

‘Oh, I’m not talking about Zac. He’s always been quick on the uptake.’

Not this time, Jessica reflected hollowly. If he’d realised what his grandparents were up to, she wouldn’t be standing here now.

‘Are you all right?’ asked Isabel on a concerned note. ‘You’ve lost colour.’

Jessica shook herself mentally. ‘Too much Champagne, I expect. It never did suit me very much.’

‘Me neither. I never could see what all the fuss was about. Personally, I’d as soon have a glass of apple juice.’ She paused, her expression softening as she surveyed the striking face beneath the crown of lilies. ‘Zac’s a very lucky man to have found you, Jessica. I have to confess, I was a bit concerned about the short time you’ve known one another, but I can see there’s nothing to worry about. I’ve asked him to bring you up to Scotland as soon as possible to meet my family. You will come, won’t you?’

There was only one answer Jessica could make. ‘Of course. I’ll look forward to it.’ She felt her lips go stiff again as she caught Zac’s signal from across the room. ‘I’d better go and change,’ she added.

‘Oh, yes, you’re going down the coast for a few days. I’d have thought Zac might find the time to take you somewhere a little more romantic, but I don’t suppose it really matters where you spend your honeymoon.’

From the sound of it, Jessica could only conclude that Zac hadn’t seen fit to pass on the news of his grandfather’s alleged condition to his mother either. But then, he’d hardly want her to see the marriage as nothing more than a means to an end? Which was all it really was, of course. To do him credit, he’d never tried to make out that love played any real part in the relationship.

Upstairs in the bedroom, she took off the silk dress and sat down at the dressing mirror in her filmy underwear to renew her make-up. The face gazing back at her looked normal enough, green eyes surprisingly steady. Zac had to know the truth, of course. The realisation that he’d been tricked into this hasty marriage was hardly scheduled to enhance the honeymoon, but she could hardly keep it from him.

She was still sitting there when the door opened to admit the tall, grey-clad figure. Zac came over to slide both hands over her bare shoulders, pressing a kiss to her nape.

‘You look so utterly delicious!’ he said softly. ‘Good enough to eat!’

Jessica steeled herself as he moved his hands down to the clip of her bra. ‘Not here,’ she protested.

He laughed and desisted. ‘You’re right. We’ve the whole night ahead of us. I’ll go and get into something a bit less formal. The place we’re staying is very casual. No dressing for dinner. No dressing at all, if we don’t feel like it,’ he tagged on with the wicked sparkle she had always found such a turn on.

Tell him now, Jessica urged herself as he moved back to the door, but the words wouldn’t come. There was every possibility that he would storm downstairs to demand a reckoning. Better to leave it until later when they were alone.

Wearing a lightweight suit in pale green, she went downstairs to find Zac ready and waiting with their bags. Isabel took leave of her with a kiss.

‘Hope to see you again soon,’ she said.

Looking tired still, Sarah gave her a hug, laughing over the barrier caused by her ‘bump’. They must get together, the four of them, she declared. Meeting her husband’s eyes over her shoulder, Jessica read a very definite dissension. She doubted, anyway, that Zac would want it.

She was quiet in the car. Zac turned a quizzical glance after a few miles.

‘Lost your voice, have you?’

‘It’s been a long day,’ she said.

‘It isn’t over yet,’ he returned. ‘I missed you last night, Jess. This morning too.’

Jessica felt her heart lurch. Would it really hurt, she asked herself, to leave the telling until after the honeymoon? These coming few days with no outside distractions could make all the difference to their relationship. By the time she did tell him, it might not even matter any more.

‘Same here,’ she said.

His smile held a promise. ‘We’ve plenty of time to make up for it.’

They began doing just that within fifteen minutes of reaching the small but exclusive hotel where Zac had booked the one and only suite. Anticipating an explosive reunion, Jessica was infinitely stirred by the unaccustomed tenderness in his love-making. It gave her hope of a deepening emotion on his part: deep enough, if she worked at it, for the news of his grandfather’s plot to have lost its impact by the time he learned of it.

They certainly seemed to grow closer during the following days. The hotel was set in five acres of grounds, with miles of countryside beyond that to wander in. The sea was only a half a mile away. Zac went for a swim one morning, scorning Jessica’s view that it was far too chilly at this time of year for more than a paddle.

‘It’s bracing,’ he declared. ‘Invigorating!’

‘ I don’t need invigorating,’ Jessica replied blandly, bringing a glint to the grey eyes.

She jumped back as he dropped the towel he was using to rub himself down and reached for her, but she was too late. The beads of cold water still adorning his body soaked through her shirt as he pulled her close, his mouth an irresistible force.

‘I’m soaked!’ she complained when he let her go.

‘Teach you not to underestimate me,’ he said.

Laughter bubbled on her lips. ‘As if I’d ever do that.’

There was an answering smile on his lips as he surveyed her. ‘Good thing you brought a jacket.’

Glancing down at herself, Jessica could see what he meant. With no bra beneath the clinging T-shirt, there was little left to the imagination.

‘I feel like a Page Three exhibit!’ she claimed ruefully.

‘There’s a hell of a sight more erotica about the way you look right now than in any bare boob display,’ Zac declared.

It was certainly having a visible effect on him, she noted as he turned away to continue drying himself. Stirring him physically was no problem. She only wished she could be as sure of his inner emotions.