‘You’re not cooking for me, are you?’ Nicholas asked, coming up behind her in the kitchen part of the open-plan living area. ‘I’m leaving for Paris almost immediately. The taxi will be here in a minute.’
‘I know, I heard you ringing for it, and I’m not cooking, just heating up some canned soup. How long will you be away?’
‘A couple of days. Did Mel Biaggio get in touch with you?’
Jade stirred the soup and gave a small sigh. ‘Yes, while you were in Belgium. No go, I’m afraid. After looking at my financial statements he said I couldn’t afford him.’ She didn’t tell him the content of the rest of their talk because Nicholas, being the sweetie he was, would show such concern that she’d be in tears before she knew it.
‘Arrogant swine.’
‘He has a point,’ Jade said defensively. ‘I’d have to mortgage this apartment to afford his fees.’
‘Don’t even think about it. I’ll advance you the money.’
Jade turned to him, grinned and tweaked his chin. ‘Your wedding money? Trisha would have a fit. She only tolerates you living here because I don’t charge you rent and you can save quicker. Thanks for the offer, though; you’re an angel. But it isn’t the answer. I’m going to have to swallow my pride and—’
‘Bargain with him?’ Nicholas suggested with a thin smile.
‘No way,’ Jade retorted, and then sighed heavily. ‘I’m going to have to tell Daddy. Hopefully he’ll inject some money into the company and I’ll struggle on.’
Nicholas took the wooden spoon from her, placed it on the counter, and put his hands on her shoulders. He was serious, worried about her. ‘You said you couldn’t bear the thought of facing him, and you know that isn’t the answer anyway, Jade. In another year you’d be back in the same position and beholden to your father again. The company needs restructuring and you need financial advice too, and Mel Biaggio is the only one who can help.’
‘Can’t you help?’ Jade pleaded softly, her limpid brown eyes wide and appealing. ‘You could look over the books and—’
‘I would have offered help before now if I thought I could be of service, but it isn’t my field, Jade,’ Nicholas insisted. ‘Biaggio has the expertise. I wish I knew him personally; I’d have a word with him—’
The door buzzer went and Nicholas shrugged and let her go. ‘That’s the cab. I have to dash. Chin up, sweetheart. We’ll talk about it when I get back.’
‘Have a good trip,’ she murmured as he went out of the door.
‘I’m lonely,’ she muttered to the soup. ‘Resorting to talking to a pan of soup because there’s no one special in my life. But once there was…’
Mel groaned as he gathered her lovingly into his arms, nuzzling her warm hair as they lay sprawled in the corn-field. A perfect day, a perfect picnic; everything was perfect.
‘I hate parties, ‘ he moaned. ‘It’ll mean I’ll have to share you. Can’t we just swish away on a magic carpet to somewhere romantic for your birthday? Paris would be perfect. The city of lovers.’
Jade giggled and twined his hair around her fingers. ‘Daddy would never forgive you for whisking his baby away on her twenty-first. Besides,’ she added, her voice low, seductive and teasing, ‘you want to meet him, don’t you? Haven’t you something special you want to discuss with him?’
‘Like his daughter’s hand in marriage?’
He looked down at her, his eyes so full of love and adoration that her heart squeezed. He lowered his head and gently pulled at her lower lip with his teeth, mur-muring, ‘Do people still do that these days?’
‘Not before they’ve made their intention quite clear to the lady in question,’ she laughed.
He grinned down at her. ‘Was that ever in dispute, my pocket-sized princess? I adored you from the moment I first set eyes on you queuing for bagels in Harrods food hall.’
‘Doughnuts,’ she corrected him and they both started to laugh, remembering how corny their first meeting had been. Jade had dropped her purse and her money had scattered; everyone had helped to gather it up and then, in the confusion, she had tried to pay with pesetas, not pounds, because she’d just come back from Spain. People had grown impatient and Mel had stepped in, paying for her and then gently taking her by the elbow and steering her out of the food hall and into his life.
‘What ever happened to those doughnuts?’ he murmured now as his mouth closed over hers in a kiss so deep and moving it was a perfect demonstration of how they felt about each other. Theirs was a wonderful, wonderful love, and they had a perfect future to look forward to.
She had every intention of introducing Nicholas to Mel at her twenty-first birthday party. They had been so wrapped up in themselves these past weeks that she hadn’t considered her friends. Her father had organised a lavish party at their Kent home, Bankton House, as usual going over the top to compensate for Jade not having a mother. Her mother had left when she was a small child, not able to live with John Ritchie’s overbearing temperament a minute longer. Her father organised everyone’s life. He did it the night of her party with disastrous results.
When Mel arrived she greeted him happily, but before she had a chance to whirl him around to meet her father and Nicholas another crowd of guests arrived.
He brushed a kiss across her hair. ‘See what I mean? I’m having to share you. Come back soon, princess,’ he teased, and then, with an understanding smile, he moved across the hall to the drawing-room buffet and bar. And that was where he was standing when John Ritchie got to his feet to make a speech Jade had known nothing about in advance. Her father opened his mouth and sent Jade’s world crashing.
She caught the look of horror on Mel’s face, but before she could reach him Nicholas clutched at her arm. He saw it as some sort of joke.
‘Us, engaged to be married? Your father’s drunk, surely?’ He laughed.
Jade supposed Mel had witnessed Nicholas grasping her arm and laughing and assumed they were indeed a happy couple. Then, to make it worse, people surrounded her and Nicholas, offering congratulations and good wishes. Nicholas was laughing and spluttering, thinking it all a hoot, and by the time Jade could tear herself away Mel had disappeared. She found him getting into his Jaguar on the floodlit gravel drive, tearing his bow tie from the collar of his evening shirt.
‘Mel!’
He turned, face gaunt and pale, eyes as hard as steel.
‘Mel, you don’t understand—’
‘I understand you hadn’t the courage to tell me to my face. You callous—’
‘Please don’t, Mel. You must listen. Nicholas and I-’
‘Are engaged. Yes, I just heard. What sort of games are you playing, Jade?’ He gave her no chance to answer before blazing on, ‘God, what a fool you’ve made of me and what a character misjudgement I’ve made. You’re nothing but a rich, spoilt child with no thought for people’s feelings. You…’
The chicken soup frothed over the side of the pan and Jade grasped it and hurled it into the sink. Tears streamed down her face just as they had the night she’d pleaded with Mel to listen to reason. She’d blurted that she and Nicholas were just good friends but even as she’d