Emma Darcy: The Marriage Decider

“I beg your pardon, but...”

“Oh, don’t mind me.” Ruth twirled one perfectly manicured hand dismissively. “Relief loosening my tongue. I thought Martin’s injury was worse that it is. It was hell waiting around in Casualty, fretting over what was happening or not happening.”

Martin... that had to be her husband. “His shoulder is all right then?” Amy asked, belatedly recalling it had been dislocated.

“They put it back in. He’s sleeping off the anaesthetic now so I thought I’d pick up Josh.” Her gaze swept the area behind Amy, frowning at not spotting the capsule. “Where is he?”

“With Jake.” Amy nodded towards the connecting door.

Ruth looked her surprise. “You mean he didn’t ask you to look after him?’

Amy grimaced. “Well, we had a little contretemps about that. As I understood it, you entrusted him with your baby, so...”

“You insisted he do it?” Ruth’s eyes shone with admiration.

“I hope that was right,” Amy appealed. “He does seem very good at it.”

Ruth broke into laughter again, her eyes twinkling merry approval. “You are priceless, Amy. I’m so glad I got to meet you. As for Jake being good with Josh, he is. Dogs and children gravitate naturally to my brother. So do women. As I’m sure you’ve noticed,” she added with arch understanding.

“Hard not to,” Amy returned dryly.

“Too used to getting his own way, my brother.”

She was right about that but Amy decided some loyal support was called for. “He does work at it Not much is left to chance, you know. His background research on every project is very thorough.”

“Oh, I wasn’t besmirching his professionalism. Jake was always an obsessive perfectionist. A born achiever.” Her mouth twitched sardonically. “But some things do tend to fall in his lap.”

Like a pile of willing women, Amy silently agreed, but it wasn’t her place to say so. She smiled. “Well, Joshua was in his lap, last time I saw him.”

“Right! It’s been fun talking to you, Amy. Hope to see you again someday,” Ruth said warmly, taking her exit into Jake’s office.

Fun... Jake’s family seemed addicted to fun. Amy wondered what it might have been like, growing up in that kind of atmosphere. She remembered her own childhood as being dominated by fear of her father. Not that he had ever stooped to physical abuse. He didn’t have to. He could cut anyone down with a word or a look. In hindsight, she could identify him as a control freak, but at the time, he was the authority to be escaped from whenever it was possible.

Her mother had been completely cowed. The only escape for her had been in death, and it was her death that had released Amy from staying any longer in her father’s household. Her two older brothers had already gone by then, driven away by their father’s unreasonable demands. She hadn’t seen them in years. She no longer had any sense of family.

What she did have was a strong belief in living life on her own terms. Which was probably why she hadn’t pushed for marriage with Steve. The thought of a husband was too closely connected to her father. She didn’t want to be owned like that. Ever. In fact, she’d found Steve’s much quoted term of being “free spirits” very attractive. Until she found out what “free” meant to Steve.

What a stupid, blind fool she’d been!

Amy shook her head at herself and turned back to work. There was nothing to be gained by maundering over her mistakes. Her best course was to learn from them and move on. She was briefly tempted to pull out the magazine she’d bought this morning and read the article on exit signs. The thought of Jake catching her at it put her off. No more gaffes today, she sternly told herself.

We’ve got Amy Taylor right where we want her...

Amy didn’t like that smug little boast. She didn’t like it at all. She liked not precisely much better. She hadn’t spent two years honing her defensive skills with Jake Carter for nothing. Whatever he had in mind, she was not going to be a patsy, falling into his lap.

It was Jake who’d made a gaffe, blabbing to the baby. She’d be on her toes from now on, ready to block whatever little one-upmanship game he was planning to play. This time she’d be one step ahead of him.

Yes...she was definitely feeling better.

Jake certainly had a knack of putting zest into her life.

Which was a big improvement on the black hole.

CHAPTER FIVE

IT WASN’T long before Jake came in to check how Amy was doing. Ruth had apparently left through his door to the corridor since there was no sight or sound of her and the baby. “On top of it?” he asked casually.

“No problem,” she answered, nodding to the print-out of the work she’d done.

He picked up the sheets, then propped himself on the front edge of her desk to read them. As always, his proximity put her nerves on edge and she had to concentrate harder on keeping her fingers moving accurately on the keyboard. She was even more aware of him than usual, remembering how he’d held her earlier... his body, his touch. She wondered if he was a sensitive lover.

Her gaze flicked to his hands, the long tapered fingers wrapped around the sheef of paper. They’d stroked her hair so gently. She reminded herself Jake was very smooth at everything he did. Sexual sensitivity didn’t necessarily mean he actually cared for the person. Stoking his own pleasure more likely. Though he had seemed to care about her this morning. Had it been entirely a pose for an ulterior purpose?

“Couldn’t have worded this better myself,” Jake said appreciatively. His smile had a caressing quality that almost made Amy squirm. “You have a great knack of filling out my instructions, Amy, applying the right touch to get through to people without pushing too hard.”

She quelled the whoosh of pleasure at his praise. “I have been learning off a master the past two years,” she pointed out, her eyes lightly mocking.

“And an apt pupil you’ve proved,” he was quick to add, his admiration undimmed. “Don’t know what I’d do without you. You’re my right hand.”

He was laying it on with a trowel. Amy instinctively backed off. “So what’s next on the agenda?” He was probably buttering her up to land some task he didn’t want to do himself in her lap.

“Two years, mmh?” he mused, ignoring her question. “You deserve a raise in salary. Ruth is right.”

“About what?” This was very doubtful ground.

He grinned. “You’re priceless.”

Amy frowned. “Do you make a habit of discussing me with your family?”

He shrugged. “Perfectly natural. You are my closest associate. Don’t you mention me to yours?”

“I don’t have a family.” It slipped out before she could catch it back.

His eyebrows shot up. “An orphan?”

The interest beaming at her was not about to be sidetracked. Amy sighed. All this time she’d worked with Jake Carter and managed to keep him at arm’s length where any personal issues were concerned. Today she’d blown it in more ways than one.

“Not exactly,” she muttered, telling herself her family was so far removed from her it didn’t matter. “My mother died when I was sixteen. My father’s remarried and we don’t get on. I have one brother living in the U.K., and another settled in Alaska. Hardly what you’d call close.”

Having rattled out the bare facts, Amy constructed a dismissive smile which she found difficult to hold when faced with Jake’s appalled reaction.

“You mean you’re alone? Absolutely alone with no one to turn to? No backup support?”

“I’m used to it,” she insisted. “I’ve been on my own a long time.”

“No, you haven’t,” he fired back at her. “Which was why you were weeping on my shoulder this morning.”