The Ultimate PlayboyThe Seduction SchemeThe Playboy's MistressThe Prospective Wife by Kim Lawrence

Author:Kim Lawrence
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mills & Boon By Request
Published: 2014-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

DURING the afternoon there had been several flurries of snow, and by the time Darcy got back home complete with the Christmas tree and a slightly guilty conscience a little of the powdery whiteness had begun to stick to the damp ground.

She stamped her feet to loosen the snow on her boots and lifted the old-fashioned iron latch on the kitchen door, hoping as she did so that there was nobody about; it wasn’t that she intended to be furtive, exactly. ‘Furtive’ implied she had something to hide or be ashamed of, and, whilst Darcy acknowledged she was deeply confused and wildly exhilarated by what had happened to her, shame didn’t feature at all. It was just that there were some things you couldn’t share with your family, no matter how close you were, and Darcy didn’t see much point in drawing unnecessary attention to her extended absence.

‘Where have you been?’

So much for subterfuge.

Her entire family minus only one important member were seated around the long farmhouse table, but that absence brought an aching lump to her throat—if there was ever a time she’d needed her mum it was now. Darcy swallowed; she didn’t need this, not when her mind was still full of the passionate coupling which had just taken place next door. She felt as if the evidence of her abandoned behaviour was written all over her face.

‘Clare, you’re home.’ If Clare noticed her half-sister’s greeting was lacking a certain warmth she didn’t show it.

‘Finally,’ Nick contributed drily. ‘Had trouble choosing the right tree, did you?’ he wondered guilelessly.

Unexpectedly it was Clare who came to her rescue. ‘Never mind about that, Nick.’

I’ll second that, Darcy thought, pulling off her mittens. ‘Good journey, Clare?’

‘In case you hadn’t noticed, it’s snowing.’ Clare’s expression suggested that Darcy was in some way to blame for this.

I didn’t notice because I’ve spent the afternoon making wild, passionate love to a gorgeous man. How, Darcy wondered, would that explanation go down…?

Clare shook back her rippling waist-length mane of hair and looked impatient. Like her half-sister, she was blonde and blue-eyed, but that was where the resemblance ended.

‘I arrive to find that my mother…’ she choked tearfully.

‘She’s ours too.’

‘Shut up, Harry! Why didn’t anyone tell me what was happening?’

‘We didn’t want to upset you, darling,’ Jack soothed.

Nobody, Darcy reflected, feeling a twitch of resentment, ever wanted to upset Clare.

‘Well, I’m upset now.’ Clare sniffed.

‘Did you remember to pick up the order from the farm, Nick?’ Darcy asked, shaking her hair free of a few stray snowflakes, which were rapidly melting in the warm room. She hung her damp coat on the peg behind the door.

‘How can you act as if nothing has happened?’ Clare tearfully accused Darcy.

The implication that she didn’t give a damn made Darcy turn angrily on her sister. ‘What do you expect me to do, Clare?’ she snapped. ‘Mum’s a grown woman; we can’t bring her back against her will. We just have to wait.’ Patience never had been one of

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