Distracted by her Virtue (6 page)

Now it was Sophia’s turn to be dismayed. Someone must have said something unflattering about her. But even though she was curious to know what had been said, she knew it was a pointless and self-destructive exercise to find out. After what she and Charlie had been through what could it possibly matter what anyone thought of her?
Especially
people she didn’t know and who didn’t know her?

‘Let’s get out of here.’ Obviously impatient to be
gone, Jarrett glanced over at Charlie, who was still throwing the ball for an excitable Dylan to fetch.

Sophia touched his sleeve to get his attention. ‘If someone’s running me down I’m quite capable of standing up for myself, you know. You don’t need to act as my protector.’

‘No one’s running you down. People are just curious about you, and I don’t want you to feel inhibited by what you imagine they think of you.’ Shaking his head, he hunted her with his azure gaze so that there was nowhere for her to hide. ‘I’ve sensed since we met that something bad happened before you came here … something you want to escape from. You told me that you’re a widow but that you aren’t sorry about the fact. I’m not asking you to reveal the details about what happened right now, but all I’ll say is that if you’ve been hurt by someone I don’t intend for you to be hurt again by people’s narrow-minded suspicions.’

‘I see.’

Whilst she’d already told him that she didn’t need him to act as her protector, Sophia couldn’t deny the wave of warmth that his compassionate defence stirred inside her. It was an exhilarating feeling, and she wondered what she had done to deserve it. Having dealt with her problems single-handedly for so long, it was irresistibly comforting to have someone exhibit compassion towards her.

Just when Jarrett seemed about to make another plea for them to leave, she lifted a slender brow, smiled, and asked lightly, ‘Does our little trip to the seaside include food? It’s just that you’re dragging us away from that incredible-looking feast up there on the patio and I’m feeling rather hungry.’

‘I’ll treat you both to a five course meal at a swanky restaurant, if that’s any inducement?’

‘You don’t need to go that far. Charlie and I are extremely partial to a bit of fish and chips at the seaside.’

With a cheeky grin that squeezed Jarrett’s heart, Sophia swept past him to inform her son about the sudden change of plans.

Not only had Sophia collected her camera by the time Jarrett had followed her and Charlie home in his Range Rover, but she’d also picked up her son’s swim-trunks, towel, and a bucket and spade.

When they got to the beach she made a foray into the frigid sea in her rolled-up jeans and shirt—with a shrieking Charlie splashing about beside her—whilst Jarrett stood barefoot in the sand calmly watching them, declaring that they must be mad to even
think
of immersing themselves in such freezing cold water. Though she didn’t turn round to check, Sophia sensed his eyes on her as though they were twin suns burning into her skin. Just the thought of him observing her was enough to make her temperature rise, despite the cold of the sea.

To distract herself from the realisation, she dipped her hands into the water, spun round and aimed what she’d collected at Jarrett. The water hit him straight in the face.

‘I can’t believe you just did that.’ He rubbed at his dripping eyelids and scowled.

Laughing out loud at his shocked expression, Sophia couldn’t prepare herself for his reaction. Never mind that he was going to get soaked, Jarrett raced up beside
her, grabbed her by the waist and lifted her high into his arms.

Charlie could scarcely contain his delight. ‘What are you going to do with my mummy, Mr Jarrett?’ he squealed.

‘All’s fair in love and war, Charlie.’ Directing the comment at Sophia, Jarrett gave her an unashamedly roguish grin.

Her heart thumped in alarm when she realised that he was probably going to dump her fully clothed into the sea, so she fastened her arms round his neck and made her expression as fierce as she was able. ‘Don’t you
dare
! If you do I’ll take you with me, I swear!’

‘That’s a puny threat. I’m twice your size. You’re hardly strong enough to take me down with you.’

‘Try me!’ Sophia warned.

But as her furious gaze locked with his the volatile tenor of the situation changed completely to something far more exciting and disturbing to her peace of mind. His nearness, along with the sexily musky aroma of his cologne, made her feel dangerously weak. Not just weak but
aroused …
Straight away she saw by Jarrett’s darkened pupils that she was having the same effect on him.

‘Maybe I’ll save the dunking for another day,’ he commented huskily, then abruptly returned her to her feet and the freezing water that lapped the shore.

Murmuring, ‘In your dreams …’ to hide her embarrassment, Sophia directed her full attention back to her son. ‘Come on, Charlie, let’s run towards the waves and run back again before they reach us!’

By the time she and Charlie ran back onto the shore, a few minutes later, Jarrett was waiting with the generous
sized bathtowel she’d brought from home. Catching her eye, he smiled as if to reassure her he held no grudges about her splashing him with ice-cold seawater. Then he unhesitatingly wrapped the towel around Charlie, as if genuinely concerned that he get warm and dry again as quickly as possible.

Sophia was certain that anyone observing them would assume that he was the boy’s father. Their colouring—apart from the eyes, of course—was practically identical. The notion gave her the strangest most unsettling pang. Jarrett was bigger, leaner and more muscular in build than her husband Tom had been … taller too. It wasn’t likely that Charlie would reach a similar height. Yet he would undoubtedly be handsome when he was grown.

Ruffling her son’s damp corkscrew curls, Jarrett stood aside so that Sophia could finish off the drying and help him get dressed. With his T-shirt and shorts on again, Charlie was eager to collect some seashells, so he skipped a little bit further on down the beach with his red bucket and spade, his mother’s clear instruction to not wander out of her sight ringing in his ears. Deliberately avoiding glancing directly at Jarrett, because his commanding masculine presence was making her feel painfully self-conscious, she lifted her long, drenched plaits off the back of her neck, arranged the towel round her shoulders and stooped to pick up the straw bag with the spare set of clothing that she’d left lying on the sand next to her sandals. Her jeans and shirt were plastered icily to her skin where Charlie had splashed her.

‘I’m going over by those rocks to change,’ she told
Jarrett, finally meeting his arresting cobalt gaze. ‘Would you keep an eye on Charlie for me?’

‘No problem. I’ll go and join him to help collect seashells.’

Even though they’d spent a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon together on the beach, and at the small seaside restaurant where they’d had fish and chips, Jarrett honestly hadn’t expected Sophia to invite him in when they reached High Ridge. But fate was on his side. Charlie had fallen asleep in his car seat.

Sophia got out of the car, peered in at him, then glanced round at Jarrett with an almost apologetic shrug. ‘Would you mind carrying him into the house for me? I’ll grab our things and open the door.’

On entering the hallway, he saw the ceiling with its old-fashioned cornices was far loftier than he’d anticipated, but the overall impression Jarrett got was that the place was as dark and dingy as Miss Havisham’s decaying manor in
Great Expectations
. The remaining evening light that did manage to stream in through the front door’s decorated windowpanes was nowhere near illuminating enough to make the place remotely welcoming. Underfoot was an equally dingy, well-trodden maroon carpet that in his view ought to be replaced, or at least given a professional clean.

As he followed Sophia into the house, carefully transporting her still-sleeping little boy in his arms, he couldn’t help reflecting that he’d love to help restore the place to its former beauty. But even as the thought stole into his mind Jarrett’s sight was helplessly waylaid by the graceful sway of the lithe yet shapely hips of the pretty woman in front of him. Her long slim legs
along with the peach-like derrière snugly enclosed in a pair of almost shabby blue jeans suspended any further reflections bar the realisation that he
wanted
her. From the moment he’d seen her lissome shapely figure outlined by the clinging jeans and shirt at the beach, and briefly lifted her into his arms, he’d ached with every fibre of his being to be intimate with her—and soon.

‘You can put him down on the couch,’ his lovely companion instructed him, her porcelain cheeks flushing a little as her emerald eyes warily met his.

He willingly complied—but not before thinking how much he’d love to free her beautiful chestnut hair from the plaits she’d worn all day, knowing that it would ripple down her back like a pre-Raphaelite beauty’s. Jarrett had a powerful compulsion to comb out the long silken skeins with his fingers, then gently smooth them back so that he could more closely examine the sublime contours of her lovely face.

‘I can carry him up to bed if you’d prefer?’

Sophia declined the offer. ‘He’ll be fine right here on the couch. We don’t use the bedrooms upstairs. There’s a lot of work to be done to make them anywhere near habitable, I’m afraid. Charlie and I sleep in what was once the parlour. I’ve cleaned it up a bit, got rid of the dust and cobwebs—that sort of thing. I’ve put up some new curtains and arranged our beds in there. There’s even a fireplace that we can use in the winter if need be. The house doesn’t have the luxury of central heating, and I’m sure the temperatures will be bitter by then.’

After gently pulling the colourful crocheted blanket that lay folded at the end of the antique sofa over Charlie’s sleeping form, Jarrett straightened to give her his undivided attention. ‘I don’t mean this unkindly,
but did you even know what you were doing when you bought a place like this?’

Sophia dropped the straw bag she’d taken to the seaside onto a nearby Edwardian chair and folded her arms. Then she lifted her chin in a gesture that clearly illustrated her defensiveness. ‘I didn’t buy it. Do I look like the kind of person who could afford to buy a house like this?’

He shrugged. ‘What
does
a person who can afford to buy an expensive period property look like? If you didn’t buy it, then how did you come to be here?’ Sensing this wasn’t the kind of information she readily wanted to share, he almost held his breath as he silently willed her not to keep it a secret.

Absently freeing the two covered red bands that secured her plaits, she started to loosen her hair.
Jarrett’s mouth turned helplessly dry as he watched her comb her slender fingers through it
. Just as he’d imagined, the luxurious fall of rippling dark strands might have come straight out of a pre-Raphaelite painting.

‘My aunt left it to me.’

‘Mary Wingham was your aunt?’

‘My great-aunt.’

Taken aback for a moment, he rubbed a hand round his jaw. ‘Did you visit her much when she was alive?’

She looked downcast. ‘No. I didn’t. The last time I was here was when I was about twelve years old.’

‘Yet she bequeathed you this house?’

‘Yes.’

‘She must have been very fond of you.’

‘Hmm.’ The soft green eyes glimmered wryly. ‘My dad always told me she didn’t exactly like our family … although I think she secretly had a bit of a soft spot for
him. Anyway, the last time I personally set eyes on her was at his funeral, and I remember her looking pretty upset. But I still don’t know why she chose to leave the place to me. Of course I’m very grateful that she did.’

‘But—’

‘I’m tired, and I really think I’ve answered enough questions for one day.’

Even though he yearned to hear more, the expression on Sophia’s face was determined enough to make Jarrett conclude he shouldn’t push his luck—and neither should he forget that for a woman who had an obvious tendency to be reclusive she had at least let her guard down enough to allow him to spend time with her and her son.

T
ELLING
herself it would be rude not to offer Jarrett a cup of tea when he’d so thoughtfully taken her and Charlie to the beach for the afternoon, Sophia fought down her wariness at his curiosity about her and led the way into the lofty-ceilinged kitchen. With its dulled terracotta tiled floor and tall curtainless windows overlooking the currently wild and untended back garden, it was hardly inviting.

Seeing the daylight was fading fast, she flicked on the light switch. But the pool of dreary yellow light emanating weakly from the single bulb hovering above the scrubbed pine table in its nondescript cream shade hardly helped matters. It was hard for her not to feel painfully embarrassed that the room wasn’t more hospitable.

‘How do you take your tea?’ she asked her guest, almost flinching as his penetrating gaze interestedly examined his surroundings. There was no way they’d make a favourable comparison with his sister’s ultramodern fitted kitchen, she thought. Not unless his preference was for genteel old buildings in urgent need of a major makeover.

‘I like it strong, thanks … no sugar. What an incredible kitchen—great for a large family. Beautiful too.’

‘It certainly could be. Of course I plan to renovate it, along with the rest of the house, but I can’t afford to do it all straight away. It’s going to take an awful lot of money and time to do it justice. It’s clear that my aunt got rather frail towards the end of her life and couldn’t take care of the place like she used to. When I visited here as a child it always seemed so grand. It was like a palace, and the garden was a fairy princess’s magical kingdom.’

One corner of Jarrett’s lips hitched up into his cheek. ‘That’s a nice memory. You know, Sophia, some things are worth waiting for. With a house like this it makes good sense to take your time mulling over what you’d like to do room by room. Just do what you can when you can. One step at a time, would be my advice.’

‘Why don’t you sit down?’ Making a cursory nod towards one of the straight-backed chairs round the table, Sophia was a little taken aback by Jarrett’s measured comments, but she also felt reassured that he sympathised and understood.