Will He Ask Her to be His Bride?: The Millionaire's Convenient Bride / The Millionaire's Proposal / Texas Ranger Takes a Bride

CHAPTER FIVE

LOWRI was so enraptured with the idea of a holiday which included Hester, she talked non-stop over the breakfast her father shared with her at the kitchen table for once to tell her that his friend, Jay Anderson, was happy for them to stay at his villa in Tuscany, not just for a fortnight but for a whole month. Four whole weeks, thought Hester.

‘Can Hester take me shopping again before we go, Daddy?’ Lowri demanded, after a pause to draw breath.

He smiled and ruffled her hair. ‘You didn’t buy enough clothes last time?’

‘Hester didn’t buy me a new swimming costume!’

‘How remiss of you, Hester,’ said Connah dryly. ‘In that case, you two can raid the shops again today with Sam while I take a trip to Bryn Derwen to tell my mother what’s happening.’

Lowri looked worried. ‘Shouldn’t I go too?’

‘Not this time. We’ll visit her when we get back.’

‘Hester too, so I can take her to see Alice and Owen.’

Connah ruffled his daughter’s hair. ‘After a holiday chasing after you in Tuscany. Hester will be glad of a break. Besides,’ he added, ‘she’ll want to visit her own mother as soon as she gets back from Italy.’

Which could mean that he didn’t want her to visit his, thought Hester, trying not to feel hurt. ‘Then when you get back from Grandma’s, Lowri,’ she said briskly, ‘we’ll be busy getting you ready for school before I leave.’

Lowri’s face fell. ‘Then I suppose you’ll be someone else’s housekeeper.’

Hester avoided Connah’s eyes. ‘I have another job to go to, yes.’

‘Where is your next post, Hester?’ asked Connah.

‘Yorkshire.’

Lowri’s mouth drooped. ‘Is that too far to come home on your day off?’

‘I’m afraid so,’ said Hester with regret.

Lowri brightened. ‘But when you come home to see your mother and Robert, couldn’t you do it at half-term? Then you could see me too.’

‘You’ll be spending next half-term with your grandma,’ Hester reminded her.

‘True,’ said Connah, and got up. ‘But you’re welcome to visit Lowri there any time you fancy a trip into Wales during the school holiday, Hester.’

She thanked him politely, sure that this was merely a courtesy to soothe his disconsolate daughter. ‘I’ll just clear away, then we’ll get ready to go shopping, Lowri.’

‘And I,’ said Connah, pulling his daughter to her feet to hug her, ‘must be off on my travels to get to Bryn Derwen in time for lunch.’

‘Are you coming home again today?’ demanded Lowri.

‘Yes,’ he assured her, ‘but not before your bedtime. If you’re asleep, I’ll see you in the morning. Now, give me a kiss, then you run upstairs and tidy your room while Hester finishes down here.’

‘OK. Give Grandma a big kiss for me.’

When the child had gone, Connah gave Hester a wry smile. ‘She’s grown very attached to you.’

‘It’s mutual,’ admitted Hester, shutting the dishwasher. ‘This is the hardest part of my job. It’s so painful to say goodbye to the children I care for.’

He watched her in silence for a while as she moved round the room, putting things away. ‘Have you never thought of having children of your own?’ he asked at last.

She shot him a startled look. ‘Of course, but only in the abstract.’

His eyes glinted. ‘By which I take it you’ve never met someone you consider suitable to father these children?’

Hester’s chin tilted. ‘That’s a very cold way to look at it.’

‘Ah! You mean you’d have to be in love with the prospective father first.’

‘He would have to be someone I cared for, certainly,’ she said stiffly. ‘And vice versa. It makes for security for the child. You should understand that. You’re a very loving father.’

He sobered. ‘The loving part is easy, but I have to function as both parents to Lowri, which is difficult sometimes. So tell me, Hester, do I shape up to the other fathers you’ve met in your line of work?’

‘Admirably.’ Hester gave the counters an unnecessary sponge-down. Something about Connah in his present mood was unsettling.

‘You’ve never asked me about Lowri’s mother.’ Connah’s eyes took on an absent look, as though he was gazing far back into the past. ‘When she died I felt as though half of me had died with her and I never want to feel that way again.’

Hester stared at him, aghast, shocked that he should tell her something so intensely private.

He looked at his watch, suddenly very much back in the present. ‘I’m late. I’ll call in on Sam on the way down to the garage and tell him to shape up for another shopping session with Lowri. He has the Bryn Derwen number if you need to contact me.’

Why couldn’t she be trusted with the number herself? Hester smiled politely. ‘Have a good trip. I hope you find your mother better.’

‘Thank you. By the way, since this holiday is entirely my idea, please use some of the money I gave you for yourself.’

She shook her head. ‘That’s very kind of you, but I already have everything I need.’

‘What an independent soul you are, Hester.’ He gave her a mocking smile. ‘See you tonight.’

Hester went upstairs to Lowri after Connah had gone, her mind still reeling—not only from shock about the revelation itself, but the fact that he’d confided something so personal to her. She wished he hadn’t. The unexpected glimpse into Connah Carey Jones’s private life left her with severe qualms about their next encounter.

Lowri’s mood improved enormously once they were back at the shopping mall, though she was disappointed when Hester refused to buy a new swimsuit.

‘I don’t need one, Lowri. Honestly. Let’s concentrate on you.’

‘And this time,’ said Sam firmly, ‘I come in every last shop with you.’

‘I hope you can keep up, then,’ said Lowri, giving him a cheeky grin.

After a couple of hours of intensive shopping Sam took charge of the bags Lowri and Hester loaded on to him but, instead of taking them up to the car park, stayed with them when they went to look for lunch.

‘Daddy told you to stick to us every minute, I suppose,’ sighed Lowri, as she studied a menu in the café they chose.

‘That’s right,’ agreed Sam cheerfully. ‘Now, what shall we eat?’

‘I’ll order a salad, then pop into the pharmacy over there while you choose yours,’ said Hester. ‘I forgot to buy more sunblock.’

‘We’ll stay put then, Lowri,’ said Sam, and gave Hester a straight look. ‘Don’t be long.’

Leaving her companions wrangling about their choices, Hester walked swiftly across the mall to make her purchases. When she hurried from the shop afterwards she collided with a man who apologised profusely as he picked up the packages she’d dropped.

‘Did I hurt you?’ he demanded.

‘Not in the least,’ she said firmly, taking her parcels.

‘Let me buy you a cup of coffee to make amends.’

‘No, thank you. I have someone waiting for me.’

‘Of course you have,’ he said with regret and, when she pointedly waited for him to go, he gave her a wry little salute and walked away.

Hester gazed after him with narrowed eyes. She wished she could have taken him up on his offer so Sam could vet him. Because she was pretty sure he was the man who’d asked for directions in Albany Square, and therefore possibly the man in the park as well. But she couldn’t risk letting him anywhere near Lowri. She hurried back to the café to find Sam and Lowri making inroads into their lunch.

‘A good thing you ordered a salad,’ said Sam. ‘We wondered where you were.’

‘Sorry, folks. The shop was busy. Is your pizza good, Miss Jones?’

Lowri nodded with enthusiasm. ‘It’s yummy! Sam said it was all right to start or it would get cold.’

‘Of course. I’m ready for mine too.’

When they got back to the house, Hester sent Lowri up to her room with some of the bags and told Sam about the incident, which was assuming alarming proportions in retrospect.

‘I thought something was up when you took so long,’ he said grimly. ‘You’d recognise him again, then?’

‘Yes.’ Hester frowned. ‘Odd thing—there’s something familiar about him.’

‘Bound to be if you saw him last night.’

‘No. Other than that. Yet I’m sure I’ve never met him before.’

‘Could he be the guy in the park?’

‘Possibly. But I wouldn’t swear to it.’ She grimaced. ‘Shall I tell Connah or will you?’

‘Your shout, Hester. You actually saw him, so you can give him a proper description.’

‘Or the entire thing could be a coincidence.’

Sam looked her in the eye. ‘I don’t believe in coincidences.’

‘Neither does Connah,’ she said glumly, and picked up the rest of the shopping. ‘You’ll be glad when we’re safely on our way. Are you going somewhere exciting?’

Sam laughed. ‘My mother used to say that her idea of a holiday was for my dad and me to go away and leave her in peace for a week, and now I see what she means. So when you three go I’ll stay put, Hester, to make sure nothing goes amiss with this place. I’ll have a nice little holiday with nothing to do but answer the door, keep my phone charged and take down any messages. A few DVDs, a good book or two and a list of numbers to phone for whatever cuisine takes my fancy—what more can a man ask?’

‘Company?’

‘The occasional pint down the pub will take care of that.’ He patted her hand. ‘You enjoy yourself in Italy with Lowri and the boss. I’ll be fine.’

Hester’s worries about feeling awkward with Connah were unnecessary. He arrived home earlier than expected, his manner matter-of-fact as he announced that he was so hot after the long drive he fancied eating supper outside on the patio.

‘It’s a beautiful evening. Can you do something cold, Hester? Or I could get a meal sent in—’

‘I’ve got the makings for a Caesar salad, if you’d like that.’

‘Sounds good to me.’

‘How was your mother?’

‘She’s not recuperating nearly as rapidly as I’d like,’ he said, frowning. ‘It’s going to take time and patience before she’s back to normal. Where’s Lowri?’

‘She was a bit tired and hot after our shopping trip, so she had a bath and said she fancied watching television in the study. As of five minutes ago, she was still doing that.’

‘I’ll go and see her, then take off for a shower.’ Connah smiled at her. ‘What an efficient creature you are, Hester. Nothing seems to throw you off balance.’

He was wrong there, she thought grimly. He’d done that very effectively just this morning. And the incident with the stranger in the shopping mall had made it twice in one day. But Connah could learn about that later, when Lowri was asleep.

The treat of supper in the garden was welcomed with great enthusiasm by Lowri.

‘It’s just like a picnic,’ she said happily, when her father sent her down to the kitchen, ‘only we’ve got a proper meal instead of sandwiches. I’ll help you carry things while Daddy’s in the shower, Hester.’

‘Thank you. If you’ll ring down for Sam, he can come to collect his meal before we take the salads out.’

When Sam arrived he put the supper Hester had ready for him in the refrigerator. ‘Before I eat I’ll take whatever you want out to the patio.’

With Sam and Lowri helping it was a simple matter for Hester to get a meal ready in minutes on the marble table under the vines. The only task left for Connah, when he appeared a few minutes after Sam went downstairs with his own meal, was to open the bottle of white wine keeping cool in an ice bucket in the shade.

Connah removed the cork, filled two glasses, poured lemonade for his daughter and sank down with a sigh of pleasure at the table. ‘This is just what I need. We’ll be able to eat outside all the time at Casa Girasole.’

‘Even breakfast?’ said Lowri, eyes shining.

‘Even breakfast,’ Connah agreed. ‘But I hope you bought plenty of sun cream today. There’ll be no venturing outside without it once we get there, young lady.’

‘Hester bought extra while Sam and I were waiting for our lunch,’ Lowri informed him.

‘Of course she did,’ said Connah, smiling at Hester, and helped himself to the salad. ‘So how many bathing suits did you buy, Lowri?’

‘Only three, Daddy. A plain blue one, and a really cool yellow bikini, and a sort of top with little matching shorts.’

‘You must show them to me later. How about you, Hester?’ added Connah. ‘Was sun cream your only purchase?’

‘No, indeed. I also bought a floppy white hat, two paperback novels and topped up my first aid box.’

‘So we are now prepared for all eventualities,’ he said, smiling at her. ‘Excellent salad, by the way. Just the thing for an evening like this.’

‘Thank you.’ She put some on her plate. ‘After supper I’d like to visit my mother, if that’s all right with you. I need to collect some things from my flat.’

‘Of course.’

‘Can I come?’ said Lowri eagerly, then sighed mutinously when her father shook his head.

‘Let Hester have a quiet hour with her mother.’

‘I’ll take you there when we come back,’ promised Hester. ‘Then you can tell my mother and Robert all about your Italian holiday. They went there for their honeymoon four years ago, so they’ll enjoy that.’

‘Only four years ago?’ said Lowri, diverted. ‘I thought they’d been married for ages.’ She thought about it. ‘Do older people have honeymoons when they get married, then?’

‘Certainly,’ said Connah. ‘Alice did when she married Mal Griffiths, remember.’

Lowri nodded. ‘They went to Paris on the Eurostar. Alice bought me a silver Eiffel Tower charm for my bracelet.’

Hester smiled at her. ‘Robert took my mother off to Italy for a month.’

‘If they were away that long you must have missed them an awful lot,’ said Lowri with sympathy.

‘Not really, because I was working. Though I had time off for their wedding, of course, which was a lovely, happy occasion. I was their bridesmaid.’

The blue eyes widened. ‘Really? Did you have one of those puffy dresses with a big skirt?’

‘Afraid not,’ said Hester apologetically. ‘Mine was short and quite plain, but it was silk.’

‘Have you got pictures?’

‘Of course. I’ll bring some back with me tonight.’

‘Talking of which,’ said Connah, ‘leave all this, Hester. Give Sam a buzz. He can drive you to your parents’ home.’

‘No need. It’s a lovely evening. I can walk—’

‘No, Hester,’ he said with finality. ‘Sam will give you a lift. He can fetch you again later.’

And much as she wanted to protest, Hester gave in rather than upset Lowri by arguing.

‘Though this wasn’t necessary,’ she told Sam on the short journey.

‘If this joker’s on the watch for you, it might be,’ he reminded her. ‘And, although it could be just your big blue eyes that draw him, Hester, if he’s the man in the park it’s likely he sees you as a way of getting to Lowri.’

Hester eyed him with horror. ‘To kidnap her?’

‘Or he could just be a paedophile attracted to her big blue eyes. Either way, it’s not going to happen if I can help it. So I’ll drop you at the garden gate, then come back an hour later. In the meantime, I’ll clear your supper things from the patio.’

‘Sam, you’re a star!’

‘I know.’ He gave her a sidelong grin. ‘Don’t worry. Connah pays me well.’

Hester eyed his profile thoughtfully as they reached the house, wondering what regiment he’d been in. ‘Thank you, Sam. See you in an hour, then.’

Hester found Moira and Robert sitting at the table in the garden with glasses of wine. They were delighted to see her, but surprised when Hester told them she was off to Italy with Lowri and her father for a whole month.

‘This is a bit sudden, darling,’ said her mother.

‘Connah’s idea. I could have rung you, but I thought it better to come and see you instead.’

‘Much better,’ said Robert. ‘Have a drink. We opened a very nice red for dinner.’

‘Yes, please. Will you shudder if I ask for lemonade in it?’

‘You can have whatever you want,’ said Robert, and went into the house to fetch it.

‘Are you looking forward to the trip?’ said Moira, eyeing her thoughtfully.

Hester nodded. ‘Of course. I took Lowri shopping for bathing suits today. She’s very excited.’

‘She’s a delightful little girl. Our Mr Jones has done very well with her.’

‘True, but he’s had his mother’s invaluable help until recently. She’s taking a long time to recover from heart surgery, poor lady. Which, of course, is why I’m looking after Lowri. And a trip to Tuscany’s not to be sneezed at. I’ll be able to send you postcards from some of the places you visited.’ She grinned at Robert as he came back with the lemonade. ‘Lowri was surprised to hear you and Mother had a honeymoon, by the way.’

He chuckled. ‘Thought we were too old, of course,’ he said, and kissed his wife’s hand.

‘I promised to take her the wedding pictures,’ said Hester. ‘Could you dig them out while I round up my holiday gear from the flat?’

‘Drink your wine first,’ said Moira. ‘Relax for a while and let us enjoy your company, darling, while we can.’

Hester smiled and sat back. ‘Right. So tell me what you’ve both been up to lately.’

‘Gardening,’ they said in laughing unison.

The time flew by as Hester sat, relaxed, in the cool of the evening. In the end it was an effort to heave herself out of her chair to go up to her flat to collect the clothes bought for the French holiday that never was. When she was carrying her suitcase down the steps from the flat later, she stopped dead as she heard a new male voice. Connah, not Sam, had come to drive her back to Albany Square. And it was pointless to deny that she was utterly delighted about it.

CHAPTER SIX

CONNAH crossed the lawn to take Hester’s suitcase. ‘Sam is playing chess with Lowri,’ he informed her, smiling. ‘So, because I’m spiriting you out of the country, I came to renew my acquaintance with your mother and introduce myself to your stepfather at the same time.’

‘Come and sit down, Hester,’ said Moira. ‘Connah’s having a drink before driving you back.’

‘Tonic only,’ he assured her.

Hester sat down and let Robert refill her glass, knocked off her stride for the third time that day. ‘This is a surprise,’ she remarked.

‘I came to assure your parents that I’ll take good care of you in Italy,’ he said smoothly.

‘And we’re very pleased you did.’ Moira smiled warmly at Connah. ‘I’m so glad to see you again. I thought about you such a lot after your stay with us.’

‘I’ve never forgotten how kind you were,’ he said sombrely, then changed the subject and turned to Robert. ‘Is this garden all your work, sir?’

‘No, indeed. My lady wife works as hard as I do.’

‘And I’ve got the hands to prove it,’ said Moira, holding them up. ‘You have a delightful daughter, by the way, Mr—I mean Connah.’ She smiled wryly. ‘I confess I still tend to think of you as our mysterious Mr Jones.’

He grinned and glanced at Hester. ‘You, too?’

‘At first, but I grew out of it,’ she lied, flushing. ‘By the way, Mother, Lowri would like to visit you and Robert again when we come back, to tell you about her travels.’

‘We’ll look forward to that,’ said Robert, and patted his wife’s hand. ‘Just give Moira a couple of hours’ notice to make cakes.’

‘My daughter never stops talking about the wonderful time she had here,’ said Connah. ‘She keeps telling me she’s set her heart on a flat of her own like Hester’s one day.’

‘I know,’ said Moira, laughing. ‘She wanted you to come and see it. So now you’re here you may as well. Robert’s rather proud of it because he did the decorating himself.’

‘In that case I can hardly leave without taking a look,’ said Connah promptly. ‘With your permission, of course, Hester.’

‘Come this way,’ she said, resigned, and led the way across the garden and up the steps. ‘As I told you, there’s not much to see.’

Connah followed her into the long, uncluttered space, filling it, just as she’d feared, with his dominant male presence. ‘I can see why you feel at home in your room in Albany Square,’ he commented after a while. ‘This is remarkably similar.’

‘I’m very lucky to have it,’ Hester assured him, annoyed because she sounded breathless. ‘I chose the paint and the furniture while I was here for a weekend, and next time I came home, here it was, beautifully decorated by Robert and ready for occupation. Mother put up a couple of watercolours from my old room at home, and insisted on buying a few cushions to make this one look less spartan, but otherwise it’s all my own taste.’

‘I can see why Lowri likes it so much.’ Connah smiled wryly. ‘On the other hand, if you’d gone for carpet and wallpaper awash with cabbage roses she’d probably feel the same, just because it’s yours, Hester. She thinks the world of you.’

‘And I of her.’ Which was worrying, because in a few weeks’ time they’d have to part.

‘You can always come back and visit her in the future,’ he said softly, reading her mind, and held her eyes. ‘Your welcome would be warm, I promise.’

Hester controlled the urge to back away. ‘Thank you. But now I’d better get back to put Lowri to bed.’

The drive home was achieved in silence which neither broke until Connah turned into the private road behind the house in Albany Square.

‘You thought I was intruding tonight, Hester?’ he asked abruptly.

‘Of course not. Mother was delighted to meet you again.’

‘I had the feeling you were not.’

‘I was surprised,’ she said sedately, as the car glided into place beside Sam’s in the garage. ‘I was expecting Sam.’

‘Would you have preferred that?’ he questioned hastily.

Hester eyed him in surprise as she got out of the car. ‘Not particularly.’ Her eyes narrowed. ‘You disapprove of fraternisation among the hired help?’

Connah threw back his head and laughed. ‘So there is some fire inside that cool shell. Come off it, Hester. You don’t look on yourself and Sam as hired help any more than I do. To me, Sam is both friend and employee, while you—’ he paused, thinking it over ‘—I’m not sure how to categorise you, exactly. I find it difficult to think of you as either nanny or housekeeper.’

She eyed him in alarm. ‘You mean my work isn’t satisfactory?’

‘God, no, quite the reverse.’ Connah leaned on the roof of his car, eyeing her across it. ‘You take good care of my child, you cook well and you’re not only easy to look at, I’m very comfortable in your company. The hard part is thinking of you as an employee.’

‘Nevertheless, I am,’ she said matter-of-factly, ‘and right now I must do what you pay me for and put your daughter to bed.’ She turned as he followed her up the stairs to Sam’s level. ‘Once she’s settled for the night, I need to talk to you.’

‘Why do I get worried when you say that, Hester?’ he said, sighing. ‘All right. Do what you have to do, then come down and have a drink. And this time don’t say no. Serious discussion goes better over a glass of wine.’

Lowri’s reception was so warm that Connah laughed as he reminded the child she’d been parted from Hester for only hours, not weeks.