The Marriage Deal. Sara Craven
the moment. I thought you might welcome a friendly call.’
‘Then you miscalculated,’ Ashley said bitingly. ‘I don’t need your interest in my affairs, business or personal. In future, kindly leave me alone.’
Jago gave her a meditative look, his eyes hooded. ‘That isn’t as easy as it sounds. I’d say we were bound to run into each other in a place this size. Don’t you think we should at least practise being civil to each other?’
Ashley tried to quell the inner dismay his words evoked. He seemed to be confirming that he would not, after all, be returning to the States, just as Henry had suggested.
‘It’s a small town indeed,’ she said.’ And rather limiting, I’d have thought, for someone of your ambition. I imagine you can’t wait to go back to America.’
‘Then your imagination is playing you tricks,’ he said pleasantly. ‘I’ll be happy to discuss my plans with you, Ashley, but now is not the time. I didn’t ask you to dance in order to have a serious talk.’
‘No? Then I can only assume you intended to annoy me.’ She shook her head. ‘I’m sorry, Jago. The most I can call on where you’re concerned is indifference. If anyone’s suffering from any kind of aggravation here tonight, then it’s probably your cousin Erica.’
‘Oh, I think Witham is managing to keep her entertained,’ he said casually. ‘Although he’s a bit of a dull stick.’
‘He’s a decent person,’ Ashley said levelly. ‘Although I suppose decency is a quality that couldn’t be expected to have much appeal for you.’
‘Or to you, my sweet vixen.’ His mouth curled. ‘But I asked you to dance, Ashley, to find out if the change in you is any more than skin deep.’ His hand at her back increased its pressure suddenly, forcing her towards him across the slight decorous distance that separated them. Bringing her body into intimate, objectionable contact with his.
Ashley gasped, her eyes flashing green fire at him, as she tried unavailingly to pull away. Her lips parted in a protest which was fated never to be uttered as Jago’s mouth came down on hers, warm, firm, and shamelessly sensual.
Her senses reeled under the suddenness of the onslaught. Her body seemed to be melting, her legs no longer able to support her properly, the blood in her veins moving slowly, thick and sweet as honey, as she fought for control.
The kiss seemed endless and she had to curb the instinct to yield, to respond, to explore his mouth as avidly as he was seeking the secrets of hers. It was a temptation that had to be resisted at all costs, and she knew it, even though her body was overwhelmed, trembling with the surge of unsatisfied longing within her.
But she had to remember that he cared no more for her now than he had three years ago, a small desperate voice in her head warned her. He was trying to score points, that was all. To let the eyes watching them know that the breach between them, once a nine-day wonder, was either healed or no longer important.
When at last he took his mouth from hers, it was with open reluctance. The music had stopped, and only a smattering of applause from the other dancers filled the amazed and questioning silence around them.
Still dazed, Ashley let Jago lead her back to the table, aware of the barrage of fascinated and curious looks and murmured remarks following them. She was aware too that the couple awaiting them at their table didn’t share that general fascination and curiosity. Martin looked bemused and sullen, and Erica was plainly furious, although she was smiling graciously enough.
Muttering an excuse, Ashley grabbed her bag, and made her way to the refuge of the powder room. Luckily it was deserted, and she sank down on one of the padded stools in front of the mirror and stared at herself. Her eyes looked twice their normal size, and she hadn’t a scrap of colour left. She touched the bare, swollen outline of her mouth with fingers that shook slightly.
Jago had made no concessions at all, either to the passage of time which had separated them, or to the fact they were in a public place. His behaviour, by any standard, was unforgivable. She opened her bag, fumbling a little as she retrieved her compact and lipstick and tried to repair some of the damage he had wrought, while shame and anger built up inside her.
How dare he behave like that! she raged inwardly. His arrogance was appalling. But so, honesty reminded her, had been her own reaction.
She couldn’t go back in the dining room, she thought restlessly, to face the stares and speculation, and Jago’s silent triumph. She would have to get a message to Martin, telling him she had a headache and wanted to go home.
But when she emerged, she found Martin waiting for her.
She pinned on a smile. ‘Ready to go?’
‘More than ready.’ His voice was pettish, and she smothered a sigh. His hand gripped her elbow almost painfully as they walked to the car park, but he said nothing more until they were in the car, and on their way.
Then, ‘What was that all about?’ he wanted to know restively.
‘Do we have to discuss it now?’ Ashley stared in front of her.
‘I’d say so. I don’t appreciate being made to look a fool in public.’
‘If it’s any consolation, I don’t think that was the main intention.’ Ashley bit her lip. ‘Jago was trying to—prove a point, and he chose a rather drastic way of doing it, that’s all.’
‘Old acquaintances, he said.’ Martin’s mouth turned down at the corners. ‘It seemed more than that to me.’
His tone demanded an explanation. Ashley hesitated for a moment, then said reluctantly, ‘As it happens, Jago Marrick was the man I was engaged to a couple of years ago.’
‘Good God!’ Martin, always the most careful of drivers, actually took her eyes off the road to gaze at her while he assimilated the information. ‘I hadn’t the slightest idea …’
Ashley sighed. ‘I thought someone would probably have mentioned it.’
‘I suppose everyone assumed you would have told me yourself.’ Martin sounded injured. ‘Didn’t you think I’d want to know you’d been—involved with one of our top clients?’
Ashley looked down at her interlaced fingers. ‘Frankly it was a period of my life I preferred to put out of my mind altogether. Jago was in America, and Giles Marrick could have lived for another thirty years, as far as I knew.’ She moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue. ‘But what does it matter, anyway? It’s over, and has been for a long time.’
After a long pause, Martin said carefully, ‘A casual observer tonight might query that.’
Ashley forced a smile. ‘I think tonight was a cross between Jago’s idea of a joke, and his wish to tell the world there’s no longer any bad feeling between us.’
‘And is that the case?’
She bent her head in affirmation, trying to push out of her mind the memory of that cynically passionate kiss, and her unsought reaction to it.
He said judiciously, ‘Well, it’s never easy to get over these things, as I know to my cost. Were you very much in love with him, darling?’
‘I’m not sure I even knew what love was,’ Ashley said tonelessly.
He seemed content with that, and to her relief, didn’t insist on accompanying her into the flat as she had half-feared. He accepted her excuse that she was still dog-tired after her flight, and went off, promising tenderly to phone her the next day.
Ashley fell into bed like an automaton, but still she couldn’t sleep. She lay for what seemed like hours, staring into the darkness. Didn’t she have enough problems? Jago’s re-entry into her life was a complication she didn’t need.
Or perhaps the trouble she felt brewing through him was simply a figment of her overcharged imagination. He had his own life and responsibilities