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‘It’s not generous and I don’t want to “buy her silence”! I want her to have half of everything. Half is certainly far more than I ever expected to get, and I’m fairly certain she won’t begrudge me it.’
Was she?
‘Where does the snuffbox come in?’
She hauled in a deep breath. ‘During the middle of the night Barbara removed the jewellery from the safe. As it’s all hers she had every right to remove it.’
He straightened. ‘Except the snuffbox went missing at the same time?’
She nodded. ‘When I asked her about it she claimed to not have seen it.’
‘But you don’t believe her?’
Her fingers started to twist that bangle again. ‘She was upset yesterday—understandably. She wasn’t thinking clearly. I know she wouldn’t do anything to deliberately hurt me, but my father has treated her so very shabbily and I suspect she panicked. I fear she’s painted herself into a corner and now doesn’t know how to return the snuffbox while still maintaining face.’
‘And you want me to recover said snuffbox without her being aware of it?’
‘Yes, please.’
It should be a piece of cake. ‘What happens if the snuffbox isn’t restored to Richardson’s?’
‘I’ll lose my job.’ She let out a long, slow breath. ‘I’ll never work in the industry again.’
He suddenly saw what she meant by revenge. Her job had been more important to her than starting a family with him. Now he had the potential to help destroy all the credibility she’d worked so hard to gain in one fell swoop. The irony!
‘Worse than that, though...’
He lifted a disbelieving eyebrow. ‘Worse than you losing your job?’
Her gaze didn’t waver. ‘Richardson’s prides itself on its honesty and transparency. If I don’t return that snuffbox there will be a police investigation.’
‘The scandal would be shocking,’ he agreed.
‘For heaven’s sake, Jack—who cares about the scandal?’ She shot to her feet, hands on hips. ‘Barbara does not deserve to go to jail for this. And Paul doesn’t deserve to get into trouble either.’
They were both thieves!
‘This mess is of my father’s making. He forces people into impossible situations and makes them desperate. I won’t let that happen this time around. I won’t!’ She pulled in a breath and met his gaze squarely. ‘I mean to make this right, Jack. Will you help me?’
He stared at her. This woman had dashed all his most tightly held dreams. Five years ago she’d ground them underfoot as if they hadn’t mattered one iota. The remembered pain could still make him wake up in a lather of sweat in the middle of the night.
He opened his mouth.
His shoulders slumped.
‘Yes.’
Since when had he ever been able to say no to this woman?
* * *
Caro tiptoed past the disused pantry, and the butler’s and housekeeper’s offices—both of which had been vacant for as long as she could remember. The kitchen stretched all along the other side of these old rooms, with the small sitting room Paul used as his office on the other side of the kitchen. She’d chosen this route so as to not disturb him, but she tiptoed just the same. The man had bat-like hearing.
Lifting the latch on the back door, she stepped out into the darkness of the garden, just as she’d promised Jack she would. She glanced around, wondering in what corner he lurked and watched her from. Feigning indifference, she lifted her head and gazed up at the night sky, but if there were any stars to be seen they were currently obscured by low cloud.
She knew from past experience, though, that one rarely saw stars here—the city lights kept the stars at bay and, as her father had always told her, star-gazing never got anybody anywhere in life.
‘Tell that to astronomers and astronauts,’ she murmured under her breath.
‘Miss Caroline?’
Paul appeared in the kitchen doorway. Caro wiped suddenly damp palms down her skirt. No one was supposed to see her out here.
‘Dinner will be ready in ten minutes.’
She turned towards him. ‘Are you sure there isn’t anything I can help you with?’
‘Certainly not.’
In his youth, Paul had trained as a chef. With the help of an army of maids, who came in twice a week, Paul had kept this house running single-handed for nearly thirty years. Although, as her father had rarely entertained, the position hadn’t been a demanding one.
When she was a child she’d spent most of the year away at boarding school. So for nearly fifteen years—before her father had married Barbara—it had just been her father and Paul rattling around together in this big old house.
Some sixth sense—a hyper-awareness that flashed an odd tingling warmth across her skin—informed her that Jack stood in the shadows of a large rhododendron bush to her left. It took all her strength not to turn towards it. She’d wanted to let Paul in on their plan—his help would have been invaluable, and for a start she wouldn’t be tiptoeing through the house in the dark, unlatching doors—but Jack had sworn her to secrecy.
And as he happened to be the surveillance expert...
She reached Paul’s side and drew him to the right, away from Jack, pointing up at the steepled roofline. ‘Did you know that one night, when I was ten, I walked all the way along that roofline?’
Paul glanced up and pressed a hand to his chest. ‘Good grief!’
‘I’d read a book about a cat burglar who’d made his way across London by jumping from roof to roof.’
‘Tell me you didn’t?’ Paul groaned.
She laughed. From the corner of her eye she saw a shadow slip through the door. ‘Mrs Thomas-Fraser’s Alsatian dog started up such a racket that I hightailed it back to my room before the alarm could be raised.’
‘You could’ve fallen! If I’d know about that back then it would have taken ten years off my life.’
Caro shook her head. ‘I can hardly believe now that I ever dared such a thing. Seriously, Paul, who’d have children?’
He chuckled and patted her shoulder. ‘You were a delight.’
To Paul, perhaps, but never to her father.
‘Come along.’ He drew her into the house. ‘You’ll catch a chill if you’re not careful.’
She wanted to laugh. A chill? It was summer! He was such a fusspot.
‘I don’t suppose I could talk you into joining Barbara and I for dinner?’
‘You suppose right. It wouldn’t be seemly.’
Seriously—he belonged in an England of a bygone age. ‘Oh, I should go and lock the other door.’
‘I’ll take care of it.’
To insist would raise his suspicions. ‘Paul, do we have any headache tablets?’
He pointed to a cupboard.
When he’d gone, she popped two tablets and unlatched the kitchen door—just in case. This sneaking around business was not for the faint-hearted.
* * *
Barbara sliced into her fillet of sole. ‘Caroline, do I need to remind you that if your father had wanted me to inherit any portion of his estate, he’d have named me in his will?’
Caro swallowed. ‘You only call me Caroline when you’re cross with me.’
Barbara’s gaze lifted.
‘I didn’t know he was going to do this, Barbara. I swear. I wish he’d left it all to you.’
Her stepmother’s gaze lowered. She fiddled with the napkin in her lap.
‘And if he had left it all to you,’ Caro continued, ‘I know you’d have made sure that I received a portion of it.’
‘Of course—but that’s different.’
‘How?’
‘This money has been in your family for generations. It’s your birthright.’
Twaddle. ‘I mean to give Paul a generous legacy too. He’ll need a pension to see him through retirement.’
‘That man’s a rogue. I wouldn’t be surprised if he hasn’t weaselled enough bonuses out of your father over the years to see him through two retirements.’
‘Even if he has, he’ll have earned every penny.’
The other woman’s gaze narrowed. ‘You and your father—you never could find any common ground. You didn’t understand each other. You never brought out the best in him. And—you’ll have to forgive me for saying this, Caro, darling—you were never at your best when you were around him either.’
Caro opened her mouth to dispute that, then shot her stepmother a half smile. How could Barbara still defend him after he’d treated her so shabbily? ‘Okay, I’ll concede that point.’
Where was Jack at this very moment? Was he in Barbara’s room, scanning its every hiding place? Had he found the snuffbox yet?
The thought of Jack prowling about upstairs filled her with the oddest adrenaline rush—similar to the one she’d had as a ten-year-old, when she’d inched across the mansion’s roof. It made her realise how boring her life had become.
Not boring! Predictable.
She stuck out her chin. She liked predictable.
‘Caro?’
She snapped her attention back to Barbara.
‘You had the oddest look on your face.’
Jack had always had that effect on her. ‘Just trying to work out the morass that was my father’s mind. And yours.’
‘Mine?’ Barbara set her fork down. ‘Whatever do you mean?’
‘If our situations were reversed you’d be happy to share my father’s money with me. Why aren’t you happy for me to share it with you?’
Barbara picked up her clutch purse and rose. ‘I find my appetite has quite fled. I really don’t wish to discuss this any further.’
Caro nearly choked on her sole. Jack! If Barbara should happen to find him in her room...
‘Please don’t go! I—’ She took a hasty sip of water. ‘I’m tired of feeling lonely in this house.’
Barbara’s face softened. She lowered herself back to her chair. ‘Very well—but no more talk about your father and his money.’
‘Deal.’ Caro did her best to eat her new potatoes and green beans when all the while her stomach churned.
Please be careful, Jack.
She glanced over at her stepmother. ‘Paul tells me you’ve barely been out of the house lately? Don’t you think you should get out more? Being cooped up like this can’t be good for you.’
Barbara sent her a tiny smile. ‘On that subject we happen to be in complete agreement, darling. Lady Sedgewick has invited me down to their place in Kent this very weekend. She’s having a house party. I thought I might accept her invitation.’
‘Oh, yes, you should! The Sedgewicks are a lovely family. I was at school with Olivia. Do go. You’ll have a lovely time.’
It was beyond time that Barbara started enjoying herself again.
* * *
Caro tiptoed into her room ninety minutes later. ‘Jack?’ she whispered into the darkness, before clicking on the light.
Her room was empty. She tried to crush the kernel of disappointment that lodged in her chest. He hadn’t said that he’d wait for her in her room. She’d just assumed he would. She checked her phone for a text.
Nothing.
Maybe he’d sent her an email?
She was about to retrieve her laptop when a shadow on the far side of the wardrobe fluttered and Jack detached himself from the darkness. Her mouth went dry and her heart pounded. She tried to tell herself it was because he’d startled her, but she had a feeling her reaction was even more primal than fear.
Dressed in close-fitting jeans and a black turtleneck sweater, Jack looked dark, dangerous and disreputable.
Delicious, some part of her mind pronounced.
She wanted to tell herself to stop being ridiculous, but ‘delicious’ described him perfectly. What was ridiculous was the fact that every atom of her being should swell towards him now, with a hunger that robbed her of breath.
But why was it ridiculous—even after five years? It had always been this way between them.
Yes, but five years ago he’d broken her heart. That should make a difference.
She lifted her chin. It did. It made a huge difference. Obviously just not to her body’s reaction, that was all.
She pulled in a breath. ‘Well...?’
She held that breath as she waited for him to produce the snuffbox. She’d get her snuffbox and he’d get his divorce, and then he could marry this new woman of his and they’d all be happy.
He lifted a finger to his lips and cocked his head, as if listening to something.
Actually, she had serious doubts on the happiness aspect. She had serious doubts that Jack was in love.
Not your business.
Jack moved in close, leaned towards her, and for a moment she thought he meant to kiss her. Her heart surged to the left and then to the right, but he merely whispered in her ear.
‘Go and check the corridor.’
His warm breath caressed her ear, making her recall the way he’d used to graze it gently with his teeth...and how it had driven her wild. The breath jammed in her chest. She turned her head a fraction, until their lips were so close their breaths mingled. She ached for him to kiss her. She ached to feel his arms about her, curving her body to his. She ached to move with him in a union that had always brought her bliss.
His lips twisted and a sardonic light burned in the backs of his eyes. ‘Caro, I didn’t come up here to play.’
His warm breath trailing across her lips made her nipples peak before the import of his words hit her. From somewhere she found the strength to step back, humiliation burning her cheeks.
‘You should be so lucky,’ she murmured, going to the door and checking the corridor outside, doing all she could to hide how rubbery her legs had become. ‘All clear,’ she said in a low voice, turning back and closing the door behind her. ‘What did you hear?’
He merely shrugged. ‘It’s better to be safe than sorry.’
She did her best not to notice the breadth of his shoulders in that body-hugging turtleneck or the depth of his chest. ‘Do you also have a balaclava?’
He pulled one from the waistband of his jeans.
She rolled her eyes and shook her head, as if having him here in her bedroom didn’t faze her in the least.
‘Did you get it?’ She kept her voice low, even though Barbara’s room was at the other end of the house and Paul’s was another floor up, and he used the back stairs to get to it anyway. Nobody would be passing her door unless they’d come deliberately looking for her.
‘No.’
‘No?’ She moved in closer to whisper, ‘What do you mean, no?’ She had to move away again fast—his familiar scent was threatening to overwhelm her.
‘If it’d been in that room I would’ve found it.’
She didn’t doubt him—not when he used that tone of voice. Damn! Damn! Damn!
She strode to the window, hands clenched. ‘Where can it be?’
‘Did she have a handbag or a purse with her at dinner?’
Caro swung around. ‘A little clutch purse.’ In hindsight, that had been odd. She hadn’t had any plans to go out this evening, so why bring a purse to dinner in her own house?
‘It’s in there, then.’
‘So...what now? You can’t creep into her room with her in it.’
‘It wouldn’t be ideal,’ he agreed, moving to the window and raising it. In one lithe movement he slid outside.
‘So?’
‘So now I go home and ponder for a while.’
She should have known it wouldn’t be that easy. She planted her hands on her hips. ‘Jack, you can use the front door. Everyone else is in bed. No one will see you.’
‘But you’ve made me eager to try out your cat burglar method.’
So he’d heard her conversation with Paul about that...
She leaned out to peer at him. ‘Be careful.’
He moved so quickly that she wouldn’t have been able to retreat even if the gleam in his eyes hadn’t held her captive. His lips brushed her hair, his breath tickling her ear again. She froze, heart pounding, as she waited for him to murmur some final instruction to her.
Instead his teeth grazed her ear, making her gasp and sparking her every nerve ending to life.
CHAPTER THREE
‘I KNEW THAT was what you were remembering earlier. And your remembering made me remember.’
Jack’s voice was so full of heat and desire it made Caro sway. ‘So...’ Her voice hitched. ‘That’s my fault too, is it?’
Jack, it seemed, considered everything to be her fault.
He ignored that to lean in closer again and inhale deeply. ‘You smell as good as you ever did, Caro.’
She loathed herself for not being able to step away.
He glanced down at her and laughed—but it wasn’t a pretty sound, full of anger and scorn as it was. She sensed, though, that the anger and scorn were directed as much at himself as they were at her.
He trailed a lazy finger along the vee of her blouse. Her skin goosepimpled and puckered, burning at his touch with a ferocity that made her knees wobble.
‘If I had a mind to,’ he murmured, ‘I think I could convince you to invite me to stay.’
And the moment she did would he laugh at her and leave?
The old Jack would never have enjoyed humiliating her. And yet that finger continued trailing a tantalising path in the small vee of bare flesh at her throat. Heat gathered under her skin to burn fiercely at the centre of her.
She made herself swallow. ‘If I had my heart set on you staying, Jack, you’d stay.’
That finger stopped. He gripped her chin, forcing her gaze to meet the cold light in his. ‘Are you sure of that?’
She stared into those eyes and spoke with an honesty that frightened her. ‘Utterly convinced.’
Air whistled between his teeth.
‘You want me as much as you ever did,’ she said. And, God help her, the knowledge made her stomach swoop and twirl.
‘And you want me.’ The words ground out of him from behind a tight jaw.
‘But that wasn’t enough the last time around,’ she forced herself to say. ‘And I see no evidence to the contrary that it’d be any different for us now either.’
She found herself abruptly released.
Jack straightened. ‘Right—Barbara. Now I’ve had time to think.’
He’d what? All this time his mind had been working? It was all she’d been able to do to remain upright!
‘If she’s keeping that trinket so close then she obviously has plans for it.’
‘Or is she looking for the first available opportunity to throw it into the Thames and get rid of incriminating evidence?’
He shook his head. ‘Barbara is a woman with an eye on the main chance.’
She found herself itching to slap him. ‘You don’t even know her. You’re wrong. She’s—’
‘I’ve come across women like her before.’
Did he class Caro as one of those women?
‘And I’m the expert here. You’ve hired me to do a job and we’ll do it my way—understand?’
She lifted her hands in surrender. ‘Right. Fine.’
‘Can you get us an invitation to this country party of Lady Sedgewick’s?’
She blinked. ‘You heard that?’
‘I thoroughly searched Barbara’s room and your father’s study, as well as checking the safe.’
She stared at him. ‘You opened the safe?’
He nodded.
‘But you don’t know the combination.’
He waved that away as if it were of no consequence. ‘And on my way to the study I eavesdropped on what might prove to be a key piece of information. By the way, it’s a nice touch to keep letting Barbara think you mean to give her half of the estate. Hopefully it’ll prevent her from feeling too desperate and doing something stupid—like trying to sell something that doesn’t belong to her.’
Caro’s fingers dug into the window frame. ‘It’s not a ploy! I fully intend to give her half.’
‘Lady Sedgewick?’
She blew out a breath and tried to rein in her temper. ‘I can certainly ensure that I get an invitation.’
‘And me?’
‘On what pretext?’ She folded her arms. ‘Oh, and by the way, Lady S, my soon-to-be ex-husband is in town—may I bring him along? That won’t fly.’
He pursed his lips, his eyes suddenly unreadable. ‘What if you told her we were attempting a reconciliation?’
A great lump of resistance rose through her.
‘Think about it, Caro. Your snuffbox goes missing and then the very next weekend Barbara—who’s apparently hardly left the house in months—makes plans to attend a country house party. Ten to one she has a prospective buyer lined up and is planning to do the deal this weekend.’
Hell, blast and damnation!
‘This is becoming so much more complicated than it was supposed to.’
‘If you don’t like that plan there are two other strategies we can fall back on.’
She leaned towards him eagerly. ‘And they are...?’
‘We storm into Barbara’s room now, seize her purse and take the snuffbox back by force.’
Her heart sank. Very slowly she shook her head. ‘If we do that she’ll hate me forever.’
‘And that’s a problem because...?’
‘I know you won’t understand, but she’s family.’
He was silent for a moment. ‘That was a low blow.’
His eyes had turned dark and his face had turned to stone. Her heart started to burn. ‘I didn’t mean that the way you’ve taken it.’
‘No?’
Jack had grown up in Australia’s foster care system. It hadn’t been a brutal childhood, but from what she could tell it had been a lonely one.
She glanced down at her hand, shaking her head. ‘But you won’t believe me and I’m too tired to justify myself. Let’s just say that confronting Barbara like that is a last-ditch plan.’ Exhaustion stretched through her. ‘Jack, shouldn’t we be having this conversation inside?’ Him falling off the roof would top off a truly terrible day.
‘I’m perfectly comfortable where I am.’
Which was as far away from her and her world as he could get at this current moment. ‘Fine. And this second alternative of yours?’
‘You go to your employer in the morning and explain that the snuffbox is missing.’
And lose her job? Lose her professional reputation and the respect of everyone in her industry? Through no fault of her own? No, thank you! Besides, if the police investigation—and she had no doubt that there would be one—traced the snuffbox back to Barbara...
She shuddered and abruptly cut off that thought.
‘I can see you’re even less enthused about that option.’
She hated the tone of voice he used. She hated his irksome sense of superiority. She hated the opinion he had of her.
That last thought made her blink.
‘So, will you get us an invitation to the Sedgewicks’?’
She gave a stiff nod. ‘Yes.’
‘Good girl.’
‘Don’t patronise me.’
‘And it’ll be best,’ he continued, as if she hadn’t spoken, ‘if Barbara doesn’t find out that we’re planning to be there.’
‘Hmm...awkward...’
He raised an eyebrow.
‘But doable,’ she mumbled. She folded her arms and glared at him. ‘You do know we’ll have to share a room at Lady Sedgewick’s?’
Everyone would take it for granted that they were sleeping together.
He gave a low laugh. ‘Afraid you won’t be able to resist me, Caro?’
Yes! ‘Don’t be ridiculous.’
‘Or are you afraid I won’t be able to control myself?’
‘If you can’t,’ she returned tartly, ‘then I suggest you rethink your plans to remarry.’
‘Never.’
A black pit opened up in her chest. The sooner Jack was out of her life for good, the better.
She flinched when he ran a finger down her cheek. ‘Never fear, sweet pea. While your charms are many and manifold, they were never worth the price I paid.’
She flinched again at his words, and when she next looked up he was gone.
‘Right. A weekend in the country. Very jolly.’
She closed the window and locked it. And then, for the first time ever, she drew the curtains.
* * *
‘Was it difficult to swing the invitation?’
‘Not at all.’
It was early Saturday morning and she was sitting beside Jack in his hired luxury saloon car. It all felt so right and normal she had to keep reminding herself that it was neither of those things. Far from it. She still didn’t know how they were going to negotiate sharing a bedroom. She kept pushing the thought from her mind—there was no point endlessly worrying about it—but it kept popping back again.