From Mistresses To Wives?: Mistress to a Bachelor / His Mistress by Marriage / Accidental Mistress

Chapter Five

LEONIE laughed. ‘That certainly would be a shock! Do you have any other jokes stored up?’

Actions, Jessica decided, spoke louder than words. She held out her left hand, seeing astonishment leap in her cousin’s eyes.

‘I don’t believe it!’ Leonie exclaimed. ‘You and Zac? It’s only a few days since you said you’d blown him out of the water!’

Jessica fought the temptation to blurt out the whole story. ‘I lied,’ she said, thinking that much at least was the truth. ‘I didn’t know how to tell you.’

‘Tell me what? That the two of you had fallen for each other on sight?’

‘Something like that, I suppose.’

‘Well, I’ll be dammed! Zac Prescott, of all people!’ Leonie shook her head, apparently more taken aback than upset by the news. ‘Just goes to show the age of miracles isn’t yet past!’

‘You don’t mind then?’ Jessica ventured.

‘Mind? Oh, you mean because I had him first?’ She shook her head. ‘I won’t pretend I’ll not miss our occasional encounters, but we were neither of us under any illusions. You’ve more reason to resent me, in fact.’

‘I don’t,’ Jessica assured her, not entirely certain that that was the complete truth either. ‘As Zac said, anything that happened between the two of you was before he met me.’

‘Right enough. This is certainly going to be one in the eye for Paul! Not that he obviously means a thing to you any more.’

‘No.’ Jessica could say that much with total honesty. ‘I haven’t even thought about him in days.’

‘Hardly surprising. There’s absolutely no comparison between what you had with him and what you’ll have with Zac.’

‘It isn’t about material things!’

Leonie gave a sly grin. ‘A secondary consideration, I’ll grant you, but hardly to be sniffed at.’

‘Did you never meet with Zac here in London?’ Jessica asked after a moment.

‘No. We preferred to stick to the occasional fling out there. What can’t be altered must be endured,’ Leonie added candidly. ‘You’re the one he asked to marry him. The only one, by all accounts.’

Claiming that she had no feelings whatsoever about their past relationship would not only be a waste of breath but a further bending of the truth too, Jessica admitted. Leonie was one on her own in that respect. One on her own in most respects, in fact.

Her cousin proved that by refraining from any in-depth probing over the evening, prepared, it seemed, to take the situation at face value. Asked her opinion of the island where she’d spent the past week, Jessica was glad to be able to return a totally truthful answer for once.

‘I can understand why you bought there,’ she concluded. ‘It’s the perfect place to switch off after a hard week.’

Relaxed on a sofa, Leonie inclined her head. ‘Isn’t it just. Nice to get away from everything on occasion—including men! Zac excluded, of course,’ she tagged on blandly.

Jessica pulled a face at her, aware of being teased. The thought still reckoned, but she could handle it. She was going to be handling a whole lot more.

Leonie was out of the room when the phone rang at nine. Jessica answered it, heart leaping when she heard Zac’s voice. He wasted little time on greetings.

‘There was a message on the answering machine when I got in this morning,’ he said. ‘Grandfather wants to have the wedding down there. He’s already contacted the vicar. Apparently, it can be managed on Saturday.’

Head whirling, Jessica blurted out the first thing that came to mind. ‘I thought you said it took months to organise a church wedding? What about banns and such?’

‘With a common licence, and another from the bishop, it’s possible to do without banns being read. I’ve got everything in hand.’

‘But the time!’ she protested. ‘It simply can’t be done!’

‘No reason why not,’ came the measured response. ‘We can travel down on Friday. That gives you two clear days to do what you have to do. Time enough to contact your parents.’

Jessica made an effort to pull herself together. This week or next? What difference did it make?

‘You’ve obviously no objections yourself,’ she said.

‘No,’ he confirmed. ‘We can take a few days somewhere along the coast afterwards.’

To be on hand should the need arise, Jessica assumed. Understandable in the circumstances, of course.

‘Whatever you think,’ she said restrainedly.

His laugh was a reassurance in itself. ‘Practising subservience already?’

‘One swallow doth not a summer make,’ she responded.

‘Now who’s indulging in clichés?’ There was a pause, a change of tone. ‘How did Leonie take the news?’

The intimation that her cousin’s reactions were of any importance to him stirred an emotion becoming all too familiar.

‘Why don’t you ask her?’ she said. She held out the phone to her cousin, who had just returned to the room. ‘Zac would like a word.’

Leonie took the handset from her without comment. Her tone was easy as she addressed the man on the other end of the line. ‘I believe congratulations are in order.’

She listened for a moment to what Zac had to say, her expression giving little way. ‘Kismet, obviously. Well, sure. No reason at all. Saturday?’ Her brows lifted a fraction, her eyes seeking Jessica’s. ‘Can’t be done, I’m afraid. I’ll be away on business. My very best wishes to you both, anyway.’

She handed the instrument back, returning to her reclining position on the sofa. Jessica hoped she sounded as natural as she took up the call again.

‘So, when shall I see you?’

‘I’ll fetch you over here in the morning,’ Zac said. ‘You’ll be more central for shopping. Long or short, make it white, will you? Grandfather’s a traditionalist, as you might have gathered.’

‘He’s hardly likely to approve our cohabiting before the wedding then.’

‘He doesn’t have to know.’ There was a slight edge to his voice. ‘I take it you’ve no objection to premarital relations yourself?’

The irony stung. ‘Obviously not,’ she returned tartly.

His sigh was clearly audible. ‘Sorry, that was uncalled for. We’re both of us under pressure. I’ll see you in the morning.’

He cut the call before she could respond. She replaced the receiver in its rest feeling decidedly downbeat.

‘I get the feeling there’s rather more to this than meets the eye,’ Leonie observed. ‘Want to talk about it?’

Jessica’s hesitation was brief. Much as she needed to unload, she was too aware of how it would look. To marry in the throes of overpowering love was one thing, to do it for the reasons she and Zac were doing it was quite another. ‘Hardly likely to last very long’ would be the least of Leonie’s comments.

‘There’s nothing to talk about,’ she denied. ‘If I seem a bit distracted, it’s just that everything seems to be happening so fast! Zac’s grandfather wants us to get married from his home down in Dorset.’

‘So he said.’ It was obvious that Leonie wasn’t totally deceived. ‘Nice of him to indulge the old man. Afraid I won’t be able to make the wedding myself. I’m working in Frankfurt over the weekend.’

Jessica made the appropriate noises, scarcely knowing whether to be glad or sorry. There was every chance that it would finish up with just the four of them, anyway, because she very much doubted if either of her parents would attend. They both had their own very separate lives to lead.

Leonie made no further mention of Zac at all until she was leaving for work the following morning.

‘I’m not doing any more prying,’ she said. ‘I just hope you know what you’re doing.’

‘I do.’ Jessica wished she could convince herself of it. ‘Everything is absolutely fine!’

The doubts didn’t wholly disappear on sight of Zac shortly afterwards, but they became immaterial in his embrace. When he kissed her like this, with every evidence of having missed her as much as she had missed him last night, she could think of nothing else.

The morning traffic was heavy. It took them almost an hour to make it to Chelsea. Jessica’s spirits were dampened again when Zac departed almost immediately for the office, although she could understand his need to be there after several days away, and more to come. In the meantime, she was hardly short of things to do.

She began by unpacking. She’d brought nothing but her clothes and a few personal items away from the rented flat she had shared with Paul, so her whole life was contained in the two suitcases.

There was a wall of wardrobes in the master bedroom. She fingered through the suits and casual clothing already stored there, visualising the well-honed male body they were made for. Tonight they would share a bed again. Every night from now on, in fact. She knew a sudden swelling resolve. They were going to make a go of this. They couldn’t fail to make a go of it!

The unpacking completed, she considered her options. It was midday already, but she still had the afternoon and the whole of tomorrow to do what she had to do. White, Zac had said, so white it would be. Anything to make his grandfather happy in his declining days.

One thing she certainly didn’t need to do was set about any housework. Zac hadn’t mentioned any domestic help, but he must employ someone to keep everything so pristine. She had no quarrel with that. The thought of spending her days dusting and polishing held little appeal. Although willing to indulge Henry Prescott’s ideals up to a point, she had no intention of remaining a stay-at-home wife either. Zac could surely find her a job with the company.

She had just finished a light lunch when the domestic help arrived. The woman who let herself into the house with a key was in her mid-thirties; her tailored overall bore a logo Jessica recognised as that of a well known agency. From the newcomer’s lack of surprise on seeing her, she deduced that this wasn’t the first time overnight visitors had been found lingering.

‘Sorry to disturb you,’ the woman proffered with more than a hint of irony. ‘I’m here to do the cleaning.’

Jessica gave a smile. ‘I’m Jessica Saunders. Mr Prescott’s fiancée.’

That did gain a reaction. ‘Fiancée!’

‘That’s right.’ Jessica kept the smile going. ‘And you are?’

‘Barbara Manners. I’ve been cleaning for Zac for the last twelve months.’

Jessica wasn’t slow to note the slight emphasis on her use of Zac’s first name. Typical of him not to stand on ceremony, though she wouldn’t have thought the two of them met up very often if this was the hour Barbara usually arrived.

‘Well, just do what you normally do,’ she said lamely.

She took herself to task as the other went on through to the kitchen. So Barbara was an attractive woman, not all that much older than Zac himself. Was she going to suspect him of bedding every attractive female he came into contact with?

Somehow reluctant to leave her alone in the house, she rescheduled the shopping trip for the following day, and took it on herself to sort out laundry from the basket in the main bedroom, although there wasn’t a great deal. The small utility off the kitchen held a combined washer-dryer. Barbara came into the room as she loaded it.

‘I always do that on a Friday,’ she said. ‘The ironing too. Zac’s very particular about his shirts.’

Jessica said mildly, ‘I’ll leave you to it in future, then. I was going to make coffee. Would you like a cup?’

She made the coffee, and took it through on a tray to the sitting room where Barbara was running a quite unnecessary vacuum over the carpet.

‘Sit down for a few minutes,’ she invited.

The other woman perched on the arm of a chair, her gaze speculative as she took the cup Jessica handed her.

‘It’s a bit of a shock, I must say,’ she remarked. ‘I had Zac down as a sworn bachelor! Known him long, have you?’

Jessica kept her tone light. ‘Long enough.’

‘Well, I can’t blame you for snapping him up. Not that I envy you the job you’re going to have. I know what it’s like being married to a man used to variety. Vows don’t mean a great deal when the sap rises.’

‘There are exceptions to every rule,’ Jessica returned, determined not to let the cynicism get to her.

Barbara gave a short laugh. ‘So they say.’ She drained the cup, and got back to her feet. ‘Must get on. I’ve another job to go to after this.’

She left at three, having first stacked the dried laundry in a basket ready for Friday. Knowing it was sheer perversity on her part, Jessica set up the ironing board and spent the next half hour on a job that had never held any great appeal for her at the best of times. What she did like to do was cook on occasion, but the refrigerator held little to inspire her. Zac, she guessed, would more often than not eat out.

That particular problem was solved when Zac rang to say Leonie had contacted him to invite the two of them over for dinner that evening.

‘She’d have phoned you,’ he said, ‘only she didn’t have the number. I’m ex-directory,’ he added, anticipating the question that leapt to Jessica’s mind. ‘Anyway, I’ll make sure I’m home early enough to make it back across town for eight.’

She could hardly keep the two of them apart indefinitely, Jessica acknowledged, struggling to overcome her reluctance to see them together. She would just have to put a rein on her imagination.

Zac got in at six-thirty, surprised to see the freshly ironed shirts Jessica had hung to air on the wardrobe door before putting them away.

‘There was no need for this,’ he said mildly. ‘Barbara does the laundry on a Friday. I completely forgot to tell you about her. Must have had other things on my mind,’ he added with a smile that slowly changed character as he viewed her appearance in the silky black trousers and pale cream top. ‘Speaking of which—’

‘We don’t have time,’ Jessica interjected with reluctance. ‘You still have to shower and change.’

His shrug made light of the moment. ‘I guess it will keep.’

He exchanged the suit in which he’d spent the day for a pair of cord trousers and a designer T-shirt, shrugging on a beige suede jacket that sat on his frame the way only bespoke tailoring could. Looking at him, Jessica still found it difficult to consider it was only a matter of days since they’d first met. Most couples getting married had at least been together long enough to have some understanding. Apart from the obvious, they knew so little of one another.

With traffic at its heaviest, it was gone eight by the time they made it to St John’s Wood. Neither Leonie nor Zac showed any awkwardness in their greeting. Jessica did her best to act naturally herself. Leonie had invited a friend to make up a foursome. Around the same age as Zac, he proved to be very good company. He was something big in information technology from what Jessica could gather.

‘Any chance of a lasting relationship?’ she asked her cousin when they had a few minutes on their own in the kitchen.

‘With Greg?’ Leonie laughed, shaking her head. ‘He’d run a mile if I showed any sign of getting serious! Same here.’

‘Do you plan on staying single all your life?’ Jessica said curiously.

‘Depends on whether I ever meet a man I could contemplate spending my life with. You already cornered the best of the bunch.’ She turned a glance when Jessica failed to answer, her smile brief. ‘Just teasing again. You should know me by now. Anyway, how’s it going so far?’

Jessica made an effort to infuse enthusiasm. ‘Fine! He has a mews cottage in Chelsea. It’s absolutely gorgeous!’

‘Not quite what I’d have imagined him to choose,’ Leonie commented. ‘Though I can see the advantages. Getting the car off the road, for one.’ She paused, her regard too shrewd for comfort. ‘I don’t see you going in for domesticity wholesale.’

‘I’ve no intention,’ Jessica acknowledged. ‘I’ll be looking for a job.’

‘With Prescotts?’

‘Hopefully.’

‘You’ve discussed it with Zac?’