‘The hospital?’
Nick lifted a dark brow and Jack explained helpfully, ‘Katie’s a doctor…a paediatrician. She came out here to get a taste of California life and she’s just settling into a new job.’
‘Oh, I see.’
The waitress arrived with the meals just then, and Katie realised that she was hungry, despite her rest less, slightly agitated frame of mind. Perhaps food would help to calm her down.
She tasted the thinly sliced beef. It was cooked to perfection, and the blend of tomatoes and cheese was sublime. She savoured the food, washing it down with a sip of red wine, and for a moment she was lost in a sweet oasis of serenity.
‘So what was it that prompted you to come out here just now?’ Nick asked. ‘I mean, I guess you must have decided to come and see your father, but what made you choose to do it at this particular point in time?’
The peaceful moment was shattered in an instant. ‘I. It just seemed to be the optimum moment,’ she murmured. ‘My contract back in Shropshire was coming to an end… and I’d heard that my father was ill. I wanted to see how he was doing.’
Nick studied her thoughtfully. ‘There must have been more to it than that, surely? After all, Jack has suffered from lung problems for a number of years, and yet you haven’t been over here to see him before this. Why now? Was it the job at the hospital that encouraged you to make the move?’
Katie frowned. Was that remark a faint dig at her because she hadn’t visited her father in the last few years? What business was it of his, and who was he to judge? What did he know of their lives, of the torment she’d been through?
She made an effort to calm down. Perhaps she was being oversensitive… after all, the emotional distance between herself and her father was upsetting. It was a sore point that had festered over the years, and no one could really be expected to understand her inner hurt. And Nick was just like her father, wasn’t he, probing into things she would sooner were left alone?
She said cautiously, ‘The job was a factor, of course, and I suppose the idea of getting to know more of a different country held a certain appeal.’
Nick frowned. ‘You could have taken a longish holiday, but instead you chose to come and live and work here. That must have been quite a big decision.’
Katie shrugged. ‘Not necessarily.’ She took a sip of her wine.
Jack shifted restlessly in his chair, as though he was impatient with the way the conversation was going. ‘The truth is, Nick, Katie had a nasty break-up with a fellow back home in the UK. They’d been together for quite some time. Turns out she discovered he wasn’t quite what he seemed, and she learned that he had a child by another woman. Katie still hasn’t managed to get over it.’
He speared a piece of steak and held his fork aloft. ‘So the long and the short of it is, she finished things with him, upped sticks and headed out here. Of course, he tried to stop her. He pleaded with her to stay with him, but she wasn’t having any of it. The child was the one obstacle they couldn’t overcome.’
He gave Nick a compelling stare, and Nick’s eyes widened a fraction. An odd look of comprehension passed between the two men, as though somehow in that brief moment they had cemented some kind of masculine bond of understanding with one another.
Katie drew in a shocked breath. She felt as though she’d had the wind knocked out of her. Why was her father tittle-tattling her private business, especially to a man she’d only just met? Could things possibly get any worse? She was beginning to feel slightly nauseous.
‘Well, that would certainly explain things.’ Nick rested his fork on his plate. He studied her curiously, a faintly puzzled but sympathetic expression creasing his brow. ‘I’m sorry. I imagine it must have come as a great shock to you,’ he murmured. ‘These things are very upsetting, of course, especially if it came out of the blue. He obviously meant a great deal to you, this man, if his fall from grace caused you to do something as drastic as to leave home and come out here. That must have been really difficult for you.’
He paused, looking at her, taking in the taut line of her jaw, and when Katie didn’t respond, he added gently, ‘But he was obviously very fond of you, too, and clearly he tried to explain his actions. I find it incredible that any man would do anything to cause you distress…but, in his defence, people do make mistakes, and I suppose all we can do is talk things through and try to understand how the situation came about.’
He hesitated once more, as though waiting for her to say something, but Katie stayed mute. She couldn’t speak. Inside, she was a cauldron of seething emotions.
Perhaps her continuing silence had thrown him off balance because he added cautiously, ‘It’s not necessarily such a bad thing, fathering a child out of the confines of marriage… these things do happen sometimes. It’s how people deal with the aftermath that probably matters most—they have to accept responsibility for their actions, and then perhaps we all need to take on board what’s happened and move on.’
Katie took a deep breath and finally found her voice. ‘So you’ve studied psychology along with wine production, have you, Mr Bellini?’ Her gaze was frosty. ‘I do appreciate you trying to help—I’m sure your theory has a good deal of merit, but, you know, I think I handled the situation the very best way I could.’
She stabbed at a slice of green pepper on her plate. ‘Since I’d been with my fiancé for some three and a half years and, bearing in mind that his child was just two years old, I wasn’t about to deal with his fall from grace lightly. I’m pretty sure we talked it through to the nth degree, and I have a very good idea of how the situation came about. I’m also in no doubt that James accepted full responsibility for his actions. For my part, I acknowledged totally what had happened… and I decided to move on.’ Her green glance locked with his. ‘That’s one of the reasons why I’m here now.’
Nick looked as though he’d been knocked for six. ‘It never occurred to me that any man would cheat on you,’ he said in a preoccupied tone. ‘I’d assumed the child was born before you met.’ He held up his hands in a gesture of capitulation. ‘Okay… I admit defeat. I was totally out of order. Clearly, it’s none of my business and I was wrong to try to intervene.’ He frowned. ‘And you must call me Nick. I insist.’
Katie gave a crooked semblance of a smile. ‘Perhaps it would be for the best if we change the subject?’ She glanced at her father. He had started all this, but he seemed altogether indifferent to the havoc he had caused. He simply picked up the wine bottle and began to refill her glass.
‘This is an excellent vintage,’ he said. ‘I’ll order another bottle.’
Katie took a sip of wine. ‘Tell me more about the vineyards,’ she said, shooting a glance towards Nick. ‘How much involvement do you have, if you’re in partnership with your father and brother? Do you each have separate roles?’
‘We do. I deal with the wine-making process rather than the growing side of things, whereas your father is more interested in aspects of cultivation. It’s intensely important to get it right, if we’re to produce a select variety of wines. You must let me show you the winery—I’m sure you would enjoy a visit. Maybe you could come along for a wine-tasting session?’
‘Maybe.’ She wasn’t about to agree to anything.
‘I’ll give you a call some time and see if we can arrange a date.’ Clearly, he wasn’t about to give up, but by now Katie was well and truly on her guard.
From then on, they kept the conversation light. The meal progressed, and Katie tried to damp down her feelings of antagonism towards this man who had cut in on her time with her father. What did her father care about her sensibilities, anyway? Perhaps she was wasting her time