Make-Believe Family by Elizabeth Duke

Author:Elizabeth Duke [Elizabeth Duke]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781459277663
Publisher: Harlequin

CHAPTER SEVEN

SARAH kept herself busy the next morning, helping her mother round the house, trying not to think of Kane or whether her trip to Italy was on or off. Last night when they’d parted he had simply said, ‘I’ll call you tomorrow,’ not I’ll see you tomorrow. It seemed an ominous sign.

It was only as she was clearing away the lunch dishes that the phone rang at last. She dived for it, reaching it a second before her mother.

‘Hello.’ Her hand, she realised, was trembling.

‘Sarah, good day. Kane Brody.’

She took a deep breath. ‘Hello, Kane. How are you?’ She spoke carefully, expecting the worst.

‘Sarah, sorry I snapped your head off last night. I hope you haven’t changed your mind about coming with us tomorrow?’

She let her breath out in a sigh. He still wanted her to go with them! A frown followed the sigh. Because he needed her help—that was the only reason. She felt a mixed reaction, part-relief, part-hostility. Would he be apologising if he didn’t want something from her?

‘No, I haven’t changed my mind,’ she said, keeping her tone coolly impersonal. ‘I’m sorry too. I had no right to speak out the way I did. I promise you it won’t happen again.’

‘Sarah, I might not have liked what I heard, but it sank in. And made sense.’

It obviously wasn’t easy for him to admit it. Of course—her lip gave a wry twitch—he was only backing down because she was vital to his plans.

‘I stayed at home this morning with Bambi.’ His tone was as impassive as hers. ‘We talked. About her mother.’ Though he didn’t go into details, she sensed instinctively that it must have been torrid, even traumatic. For both of them.

‘Kane, I hope it didn’t…’ She couldn’t hardly put it into words. Had it made things better…or worse?

‘No, she’s fine. I’d say it’s helped, if anything.’ Cool, clipped statements, keeping any emotion under tight control.

‘I’m glad.’ She felt her tense muscles relaxing, her spirits lifting, his cautious admission bringing a lump to her throat.

‘You’re still coming over for dinner tonight?’ He shot the question at her. ‘It’ll be our last chance to get together before our flight tomorrow.’

‘All right. If you think—’

‘I do. Got a little black dress?’

‘I have, as it happens.’

‘Wear it tonight. We’ll put Bambi to bed early and have a special dinner, just the two of us. Come at six. We won’t make it a late night in case you want to do some last-minute packing.’

He wasn’t expecting any argument, and she gave him none.

‘I’ll be there,’ was all she said. This is a job, a business arrangement, she reminded herself. These evenings with Bambi, the mock engagement we’re planning, even this intimate dinner of Kane’s this evening—they’re just a necessary lead-up, a part of the job. So treat it like a job. Don’t start looking for anything deeper, more personal in all this. You won’t find it.

And it was for the best. Looking on it purely as a job would make it easier.

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