Trust In Summer Madness

Maybe, as with her, he preferred to leave the current woman in his life at home, to forget about her while he found someone else to amuse him. And it looked as if that ‘someone else’ was going to be Bethany!’

Her sister had been sixteen when Sian had been dating Jarrett, and at the time he had treated Bethany like a troublesome child. That hadn’t been surprising. Bethany had always wanted to tag along with him, never left them alone for a minute when they were in the house, and at thirty-three Jarrett had already been highly sensual, his passion surpassing any other man’s she had ever known. Bethany had cramped his style, but now it seemed she was old enough to be at the receiving end of that fiery desire that had so unnerved Sian three years ago. In those days, when she was alone with Jarrett, she hadn’t been able to control her response to him, and she now feared that mindless obsession for Bethany.

Not that her sister looked as if it frightened her; she was clinging unashamedly to his arm, small and kittenish, unaware of the leashed danger in the man standing at her side, at the devastation he could wreak in a woman’s life before he walked away without so much as a backward glance.

As he had with her! Oh, she had loved him so much then, would have done anything for him. But her unreserved love hadn’t been enough for him.

‘Darling?’

She looked almost dazedly at Chris, seeing his puzzled frown. ‘Sorry?’ she said jerkily.

‘Mr King was offering us his congratulations.’

‘Really?’ She turned to look at Jarrett, unable to read his reaction now. His expression was deliberately bland, the fierce anger gone.

It was an anger he had had no right to feel in the first place! She had waited for him to come back to her, had waited a long slow lifetime for him to come back, but he never had. He had no right to feel anything about the fact that she was marrying another man.

‘But of course,’ he drawled now. ‘Why don’t you join Bethany and me and we can have a celebration dinner on your behalf?’

‘That’s very—’

‘No!’ Sian’s sharp denial interrupted Chris, and she flushed as Jarrett’s eyes narrowed to hard green pebbles, not even daring to look at Chris for his reaction to her outburst. Poor Chris must be wondering what on earth was going on! ‘We’ve already started our meal,’ she added more calmly, indicating the half-eaten melon on their plates.

Jarrett shrugged. ‘You could easily transfer to our table. It would be no trouble, I’m sure.’ He made it sound as if he would make sure it wasn’t!

‘Can’t you see that they would rather be alone, Jarrett?’ Bethany cooed up at him. ‘They probably have plans for the wedding to discuss.’

Green eyes narrowed at this suggestion, and once again Sian was given the impression that the idea of her marriage to Chris displeased him.

‘We do have the reception to talk about,’ she confirmed firmly, undaunted by that displeasure. ‘And we wouldn’t want to bore you with the details.’

‘I’m sure I wouldn’t be bored.’ Jarrett’s voice was hard, his eyes challenging as he once more met her gaze. ‘I’ve had some practice at it myself,’ he added softly.

Colour heightened her cheeks before quickly fading again. ‘It can be a tiring business,’ she told him stiltedly. ‘Especially if it turns out to be unnecessary.’

What reply Jarrett would have made to that deliberate taunt she never knew. ‘Our table is ready, Jarrett,’ came Bethany’s timely interruption.

His mouth tightened, then he gave a slow nod. ‘Very well,’ he said slowly. ‘It was good to see you again, Sian. Newman,’ he nodded abrupt dismissal of the other man.

Chris slowly sat down as the other couple moved to their table across the room, Bethany’s face animated as she spoke to the preoccupied man sitting across from her. ‘So that’s Jarrett King,’ he muttered.

Sian’s eyes widened at the open dislike in her fiancé’s voice. ‘Yes, that’s Jarrett,’ she said in a puzzled voice, wondering at Chris’s attitude. Apart from that curt departure Jarrett had been very polite. And yet Chris seemed to dislike him on sight, an unusual reaction for him. Chris seemed to get along with everyone usually. Obviously not Jarrett.

‘He isn’t what I expected at all,’ he mumbled, a frown to his dark blue eyes.

‘Expected?’ she echoed sharply.

He shrugged. ‘Everyone in Swannell has heard of the famous Jarrett King.’ He glanced over at the other couple. ‘I’m not sure Bethany should be with a man like him. I’ve heard things about Jarrett King that make him highly unsuitable as a companion for Bethany.’

Sian had stiffened now, for some reason resenting the same criticism she herself had directed at him mentally. ‘Really?’

‘She’s too young to handle a piranha like him—’

‘I think that’s going a little too far, Chris,’ she protested heatedly.

His eyes narrowed, his mouth tight. ‘Why are you defending the man?’

She shook her head. ‘I’m not defending him—’

‘No?’ he bit out angrily. ‘It sounds very much that way to me.’ He eyed her moodily.

She was very much aware of Bethany and Jarrett as they sat across the room from them, of Bethany’s sparkling charm and Jarrett’s lazy humour, almost as if Bethany’s efforts to charm him amused rather than attracted him.

Her mouth was tight as she turned back to Chris. ‘I agree with you that he is totally unsuitable for Bethany,’ her tone was abrupt, ‘but I don’t agree that he’s a piranha.’

His eyes flashed deeply. ‘Not even after the way he walked out on you?’ he rasped.

All the colour drained from Sian’s face, leaving her eyes looking huge and haunted. ‘What do you know about that?’ she choked, crumbling the bread roll on her plate to destruction.

Chris’s mouth twisted. ‘Only what the people in this town felt I should know when we became engaged.’

She swallowed hard, having no idea he had been told the gossip about her. ‘Then perhaps they told you wrong!’

‘He left with another woman, didn’t he?’ Chris scorned.

‘Yes.’ Her voice was pained at the truth of that.

‘Let’s eat, Sian,’ he muttered as their main course arrived. ‘This is hardly the place for this discussion.’

She didn’t think anywhere would be the right place for discussing what was basically a private matter between herself and Jarrett. He had left with Nina Marshall, yes, but only because he found more pleasure in being with her than with Sian.

All enjoyment in the meal had gone for her. All she was aware of was Chris’s brooding anger, and Jarrett and Bethany’s obvious enjoyment in each other’s company, the sound of Jarrett’s husky laughter beginning to grate on her nerves by the time they got to the coffee stage of their meal, and she refused any of the strong brew, as did Chris.

‘Shall we go?’ he asked tersely.

She had never seen Chris like this before; she was more used to his easy charm and gentleness. This side of him was completely new to her, and she wondered if jealousy of Jarrett could have prompted this reaction. She could have told him he had no reason to feel anything over Jarrett; any love she might have felt for him had died when Nina Marshall returned to Swannell, also dismissed from his life. In time she could have perhaps forgiven his loving the other woman more than her, but when Nina returned a couple of weeks later without him it became obvious that neither of them had meant that much to Jarrett.

As they walked past Jarrett’s table his hand came out to grasp Sian’s wrist. She looked down with a gasp; Chris had gone on ahead to pay the bill and so not witnessed this intimacy. But Bethany had, and her embarrassment was all the more acute because of her sister’s wide-eyed stare.

‘Let go of me,’ she ordered between gritted teeth, very conscious of her hip pressed against his arm, could feel the warmth of his body through his shirt.

He made no effort to release her, his thumb moving rhythmically against the delicate veins in her wrist. ‘I have to talk to you,’ he told her throatily, his eyes intent.

‘I’m sorry,’ she wrenched her arm out of his grasp. ‘If you’ll excuse me … ?’

‘No!’ He stood up, towering over her as he always had, as powerfully built as ever. ‘Sian, I need to talk to you.’ He clasped her forearms.

‘Why?’ she asked flatly. ‘Isn’t it a little late for talking between us? I thought we’d said it all three years ago.’