A Man To Marry

It was true. But then, apart from suggesting that one of them went to bed with him every time they saw him, Toby was harmless enough. And that was one accusation, she was sure, that could never be levelled at Caleb Reynolds!

‘Talking about Toby—’ Kate grimaced ‘—he called round earlier. I told him to come back later and have dinner with us. Kitty will enjoy that,’ she added before Cat could make any comment about Toby being here for a meal yet again.

Kate had used the right argument to silence Cat; Kitty would enjoy having Toby here this evening. Kitty found Toby amusing, enjoyed his company very much, and as he had no idea who she was—or had been!—it meant that Cat and Kate could relax when he was around.

It hadn’t been an easy decision to make when it came to buying this particular house to open their playschool. Kitty had lived in it many years ago, and some of the locals still remembered that—including Lilley at the post office, although she, like the other villagers, never told ‘outsiders’ that Kitty, Kate’s grandmother, and Katherine Maitland were one and the same person.

But Clive House had been on the market at the time they were looking for premises for their playschool, and Kitty had been delighted at the idea of returning to the house where she had lived during her married life, where she had brought up her children. To give the villagers their due, once the initial interest had worn off, they had rallied round Kitty in a protective way that didn’t allow outsiders into the fact that they had a celebrity—albeit a retired one—living amongst them! For twenty-five years Kitty had stayed out of the public eye, deliberately so; the family tragedy that Caleb had referred to yesterday had given her every reason never to open herself up to that sort of interest ever again.

When Kitty had first made her decision never to sing in public again, she had been hounded for months by newspapers anxious to buy her story. Over the years that intense interest had faded, but the media was always conscious that it could as quickly be revived. But Kitty didn’t need that; she enjoyed the calm and tranquillity she had been able to find in the village amongst old friends.

So the buying of Clive House had proved a good decision for all of them, the playschool a great success, and, best of all, Kitty was happy.

But Cat couldn’t help her nagging feeling that Caleb’s presence here was somehow going to change all that…

‘Okay.’ She stood up decisively, doing her best to shake off those feelings of gloom; Kate was right, she shouldn’t confuse dislike with distrust. Besides, she didn’t exactly dislike Caleb… ‘What can I do to help prepare this evening’s culinary delight?’ she offered, determined not to even think of Caleb again tonight.

Kate raised blonde brows. ‘But it’s my turn to get the meal tonight. And I thought you hated cooking?’ she added teasingly as she got vegetables from the rack.

‘I do,’ Cat acknowledged just as lightly, taking over the peeling of the carrots. ‘If it weren’t for you and Kitty, I would just live out of tins!’

Kate nodded smilingly. ‘As Kitty is fond of saying, pity the poor man you marry!’

It was a standing joke between the three of them that if Cat ever married it would have to be to someone who knew how to cook himself—or else he would starve!

‘And break up this happy trio?’ Cat grinned without ran-cour. ‘No way!’

The two of them worked together in companionable silence, this the time of day when Kitty, if she wasn’t helping with the preparation, usually took her rest. But she would be bright and sparkling this evening for dinner, had lost none of her charm, or the ‘electricity’, as Caleb had called it, that had endeared her to audiences all over the world at the height of her career.

Damn, Cat had just thought of Caleb again! Why did she keep doing that? What—?

‘Good evening, ladies—we were just driving past, and Adam insisted we stop to say hello,’ Caleb announced apologetically as Cat had dropped the knife noisily into the sink at the first sound of his voice.

Cat was amazed at his familiarity; he and his son had just walked around to the side door and into the kitchen! Although, to give Caleb his due, he did look a little uncomfortable at the obvious intrusion; it was Adam, silently chuckling as he stood at his father’s side, who looked pleased with himself.

‘I did ring the front doorbell,’ Caleb pleaded as their surprised silence continued. ‘But it doesn’t seem to be working…’

‘Toby mentioned something about it earlier.’ Kate grimaced in apology, drying her hands on the towel. ‘It must be broken again,’ she told Cat.

Cat was still staring at Caleb, so tall and dark and dominating, broodingly attractive in a black shirt and black denims. So much for not even thinking of him again this evening—she didn’t need to; he was becoming as regular a visitor as Toby. Albeit this time at Adam’s bidding…

‘I could take a look at it for you, if you like,’ Caleb offered.

‘Er—Cat usually sees to those sort of things,’ Kate excused, giving Cat a slightly wary glance.

But she needn’t have worried about Cat being offended by the offer. If the doorbell had broken yet again, Cat accepted that obviously she wasn’t any better at maintaining the electrical appliances in this house than she was at cooking! Besides, this man, with all those letters he had after his name, should be able to fix a doorbell.

‘Be my guest,’ she invited. ‘I’ll get you the appropriate screwdriver and leave you to it. Then I’ll be free to take Adam outside to the swings,’ she added gleefully to the little boy, the widening of his grin enough to tell her he found this plan to his satisfaction. ‘There you go.’ She barely glanced at Caleb as she handed him the earthed screwdriver, reaching out for Adam’s hand. ‘To the swings!’ she told the child excitedly, and they ran out of the house together and round to where the swings and slides were situated.

‘Hello there, you two.’ Kitty looked up from where she sat reading her book, her hair glowing golden in the early evening sunlight, blue eyes glowing with pleasure as she looked at Adam. ‘A friend of yours, Cat?’ she asked gently as he instantly hid behind Cat’s legs.

‘He certainly is.’ Cat went down on her haunches beside the suddenly shy little boy, reminded of the nervous child she had met that first day. She hadn’t realised that Kitty was outside in the garden—would have been even more annoyed at Caleb’s familiarity if she had!—but as Kitty loved young children, and they usually took to her too, she was sure it wasn’t going to be a problem. Besides, she and Kate had talked to Kitty about Adam, had known that she would understand…

‘This is my new friend, Adam,’ Cat introduced softly. ‘Adam, this is another friend of mine. Her name is Kitty.’

‘Have you met our cat yet, Adam?’ Kitty enquired as their ginger tabby rubbed against her ankles. ‘Her name is Madam Butterfly, but we call her Maddie for short.’ She smiled encouragingly at the little boy as she leant down and carefully picked up the cat and cradled her in her arms. ‘Maddie is going to have some baby kittens of her own very soon,’ she added fondly.

This would be Maddie’s second set of kittens in a year, but as they had had no trouble finding homes for her last litter they didn’t envisage a problem with the next either. ‘You’ll have to come back and see them once they’re born,’ Cat told Adam, aware that time was passing. The last thing she wanted was for Caleb to come out into the garden in search of them. Toby might be completely ignorant when it came to opera, and particularly so when it came to Kitty’s past fame, but Caleb had already shown that he wasn’t…

Adam’s face lit up at the thought of the kittens, making it easier for Cat to gently direct him away to the swings. He really was the most adorable child, she decided as she pushed him on the swing; his eyes were alight with pleasure and there were dimples in his thin cheeks as he smiled widely.

How sad that he had already known such unhappiness in his young life. He and Kitty had so much in common, she realised. Two kindred spirits…

‘Penny for them?’ Caleb murmured softly.

Cat gave a start, turning to him with annoyance; she had been so concentrated on Adam, so deep in thought, she hadn’t even been aware of Caleb’s approach across the garden.

She glanced quickly across to the rose garden where Kitty had been sitting. Kitty had, as was usual when there were people around that she didn’t know, quietly disappeared back into her own suite of rooms inside the house.

Cat turned back to Caleb, smiling brightly now—probably more than was warranted if the way Caleb’s eyes had narrowed was anything to go by! ‘Sometimes it’s nice to put your brain in neutral and just coast along for a while,’ she said breezily.

He nodded. ‘Your doorbell is working again,’ he informed her, taking over pushing Adam on the swing.

‘Thank you.’ She now felt a little shamefaced at the way she had just left him to it.

Caleb shrugged. ‘I’m glad I was able to be of help. I was wondering…’

‘Yes?’ she prompted abruptly, instantly on the defensive, wondering if he could have seen Kitty after all.

He looked at her steadily. ‘I was wondering if you would have dinner with me this evening.’

Cat couldn’t have been more taken aback if he had suggested she take off all her clothes and dance naked around the lawn!

‘Me?’ she squeaked, at once realising how ridiculous the question sounded. And unsophisticated. As if men didn’t very often invite her out to dinner. But then, that was true…

To make matters worse, Caleb laughed at her obvious surprise! Admittedly that laugh greatly improved his looks, dispelling the arctic chill from his eyes, and his teeth very white and even, dimples very similar to Adam’s now visible beside his mouth. Although on a man in his late thirties they were probably called laughter lines, Cat conceded wryly.

‘Sorry.’ He sobered slowly, lips still quirked with humour. ‘It just wasn’t the usual reaction I get to a dinner invitation!’

She could well imagine that it wasn’t! But, considering he had been a married man until six months ago, how many of these sort of invitations had he made lately?

‘I’m just surprised I’m the person you’re asking out to dinner,’ she told him with her usual blunt honesty.

He raised one dark brow, lifting Adam down from the swing, the three of them walking back to the house now. ‘As opposed to…?’

‘Anyone!’ She grimaced; they had seemed to antagonise each other from the word go!

Caleb chuckled softly. ‘I like your honesty, Cat. One thing I can’t stand in a woman is pretence,’ he explained, a touch of bitterness in his voice now.