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  Of course, there had been mitigating circumstances. She had only moments before suffered the humiliating punishment of Jake’s first embrace, if it could be called that. The shock of his return, the intimate scene he had witnessed, and his cold-blooded assault had all combined to wear down her defensive barrier. Rationally she could see how her guard had slipped when freedom from his touch seemed imminent.

  Now that Tanya realized how susceptible she really was to, evidently, any man’s caress, she convinced herself that she was better able to cope with it. Jake Lassiter was a dangerous man, more so now than he had ever been because there seemed to be a ruthless determination about him. His actions quite plainly said that he would take what he wanted, his years in some of the primitive regions of Africa stripping away the veneer of civilization.

  In those last few moments during which she had an opportunity to mull over the sudden turn of events, a degree of composure was restored to Tanya. The quaking anger had receded, allowing her hand to pick up the hairbrush from the dressing-table without trembling. A few quick strokes through her streaked tawny hair put its long length back to its usual state of order, although her scalp still tingled at the back where Jake had so roughly tugged at it.

  The bathroom off her bedroom had a connecting door into John’s room. Tanya used it, quietly entering the room to spy the boy sound asleep, the light still on beside the bed, but the television was off. An unquenchable love brought a warm smile to her lips as she tiptoed over to draw the bedcovers around the pyjama-clad figure. She lingered for several minutes before brushing a light kiss on the smooth forehead and whispering ’good night’. She flicked the lamp off as she left the room.

  One step inside her own room Tanya froze, staring at the long, lean form stretched out on her bed. An overhead light fully illuminated the room and the lazy, mocking expression on the face Jake turned towards her, his-head resting comfortably on his hands. The rich blue of her satin quilted bedspread emphasized the white of his shirt opened at the throat, tapering from the wide shoulders to the dark brown trousers over the slim hips. Potent, masculine virility struck out at her with the force of a body blow.

  ‘Aren’t you going to order me off your bed?’ he taunted softly.

  Tanya bit back the angry words that would have done just that. Instead, she chose to take a calmer attitude. ‘Why should I?’ she shrugged indifferently, walking over to the mirror to flip the ends of her hair needlessly with a comb.

  ‘You didn’t expect me to come back, did you?’ Jake lithely swung his legs over the edge of the bed to sit on the side, at the same time joining his reflection in the mirror with Tanya’s.

  ‘No, I didn’t,’ she said, coolly meeting the mockery in his eyes.

  ‘I don’t know why you didn’t. I practically heard a trumpet fanfare when I received your letter,’ a sneering, droll sarcasm in his voice.

  ‘You make it sound as though you never heard from me,’ Tanya snapped. ‘I wrote you a letter every week, which is more than could be said for you.’

  ‘A letter? Is that what you called those impersonal pieces of paper I received?’ Jake laughed in his throat, the chill of his blue gaze contemptously holding hers. ‘“I took John to the dentist today. John enjoyed his first day of school. John is learning to swim.” Never once was there a “How are you” or “What have you been doing”, just short and bitter-sweet messages to fulfil your duty. What was I supposed to write back? The bulldozer broke down today? I stopped off and had a beer with the boys last night?’

  ‘Perhaps if you had, John wouldn’t have got this ridiculous notion that he didn’t have a father!’ Her temper flared in spite of her determination to keep it under control.

  ‘You would have liked that, wouldn’t you? It would have suited you just fine if I never returned,’ he jeered. ‘How it must have grated to write that last letter to me reminding me of my duties as a father!’

  Tanya didn’t trust herself to speak. The venom on the tip of her tongue would only make an intolerable situation worse. The yellow flame in her eyes watched Jake uncoil and walk over to tower behind her.

  ‘If I wanted to shirk my responsibility as a father, I would never have married you!’ His vicious statement stripped away the colour in her cheeks. ‘Or did you forget that in your attempt to keep me as black as your memory paints me?’

  Their eyes clashed in the smooth glass of the mirror. ‘I never suggested that you take that post in Africa,’ Tanya answered calmly. ‘Nor did I ever tell you to stay.’

  ‘Why did you marry me, Tanya?’ His eyes narrowed into thin slits of ice-blue contempt. ‘From the first there was nothing but loathing in your eyes when you looked at me, and a silent wish for my early demise. You never gave our marriage an opportunity to work. Why should I have stayed? John was a baby. He needed his mother, but not me. And you made it clear every time you looked at me how much you despised me.’

  ‘I never asked you to marry me,’ she reminded him acidly, ’only to acknowledge John as your son.’

  ‘The instant you had my money you would have run away to the remotest place, taking my son with you so I could never see him again.’ His perception brought a quick rush of colour to her cheeks. ‘The reason I married you is the same reason that I’ll never divorce you. I want my son, even if it means putting up with you.’

  It was Tanya’s turn to emit a sarcastic laugh. ‘Your son is seven years old. He doesn’t even know what his father looks like, nor is he even sure he has one. How do you reconcile that with this great paternal love you profess to have?’

  The sudden tightening of his jaw told her that her arrows had found the target. Then one corner of his mouth curled upwards. ‘Seven years we’ve been married,’ Jake said dryly. ‘To quote an old joke, it seems like only yesterday, and you know what a lousy day yesterday was. Time has a way of slipping past, I admit I didn’t intend to stay away so long, but John is only now reaching the age when he needs both parents, as you pointed out in your letter. You’ve come of age too, Tanya.’ His hands spread around her waist, their scorching touch turning her to face him. ‘Those curves I felt against me tonight belonged to a fully grown female.’

  She stared down at his arms, slowly raising her eyes to his face so he could see her distaste of his touch even while her heart thumped wildly against her ribs. ‘There’s no point to this discussion,’ she declared in a frost-tipped voice. ‘It’s time I was returning to the party.’

  His hold tightened fractionally when she started to move away. ‘Has Patrick Raines become your lover?’ The metallic hardness of his gaze belied his drawling voice.

  ‘No!’ The explosive denial came too quickly, accompanied by an uncomfortable rush of warmth to her face. ‘Tonight was the first time —’ she bit back the rest of the words, suddenly angry that Jake had drawn any kind of an explanation from her.

  A wide, triumphant smile split his fade, his eyes gleaming with amusement as he released her waist. ‘Then I did come home in time!’

  ‘You came back because of John,’ she asserted sharply.

  ‘I’m not about to forget the reason I’m here,’ he agreed smoothly. He picked up the jacket he had tossed on a chair, slipped it on, and turned with a mocking bow towards Tanya. ‘Shall we join the party?’

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  Chapter Three

  JULIA CAUGHT SIGHT of them before anyone else as Jake and Tanya walked through the sliding glass doors. She hurried over to them, her hand reaching out for her son’s arm while her gaze rushed lovingly to his face.

  ‘Did you look in on Johnny?’

  ‘Actually John was asleep,’ Tanya began, only to have Jake lightly touch her arm to stop her.

  ‘I looked in when I first arrived,’ he said, sliding a mocking glance at Tanya’s surprised expression. ‘He’d fallen asleep before the bugler sounded the charge that brought the cavalry to the rescue in the movie he was watching.’

  ‘Isn’t he a beautiful child?’ Julia declared, ignori
ng Tanya’s sudden silence. ‘He looks just like Jamie when he was a boy. There’s no mistaking that little Johnny is a Lassiter.’

  ‘None at all,’ Jake agreed. There was no amusement in the expression he turned to Tanya. ‘He looks like a fine boy.’

  Was he praising her? she wondered, finding the ensuing rush of pleasure at the thought to be quite unsettling. But at that moment, Jake’s presence was noticed by some of the other guests and Tanya’s attention was distracted from that disturbing discovery.

  All the other men wore suits and ties, which made Jake stand out all the more with his informal open-necked shirt. Yet Tanya was forced to acknowledge that even in evening attire he would be conspicuous. There was an aura of power and self-possession about him that rejected the restrictions of convention.

  His hand rested on the curve of her hip, keeping her at his side as he renewed old acquaintances and made new ones. It was a gentle and unnecessary reminder that she was his wife and one that she resented while parrying the comments of the guests on Jake’s unexpected arrival.

  Mrs. Osgood had just declared, ‘You must be terribly happy to have, your husband home after all this time,’ when Tanya spied Patrick walking towards them with his sister.

  ‘Not half as happy as John will be,’ she qualified, forcing her gaze away from the rigid line of Patrick’s face to the woman standing in front of her.

  ‘That’s your little boy, isn’t it? Does he know his daddy is home?’

  ‘He was sleeping when Jake arrived.’

  Tanya started to edge away from the light hold, not wanting Patrick to see the possessive touch, but her movement was stopped by Sheila’s airy voice. She managed a passing nod in the direction of the departing Mrs. Osgood while turning to stare at the brunette bestowing a more than affectionate kiss on Jake’s cheek.

  ‘You’re full of surprises, Jake,’ Sheila scolded provocatively. ‘You could have mentioned that you were going to be flying home. I would have kept your little secret.’

  ‘I hadn’t made my decision then,’ Jake replied, amused and even pleased at the intimate look the dark-haired girl was giving him. ‘And I hadn’t realized how many reasons I had to come back.’

  To Tanya’s knowledge, Jake and Sheila had never met. Sheila would have only been fifteen when Jake had married Tanya and it was inconceivable that he had met her on his only other trip home four years ago.

  Sheila cast a sideways glance at Tanya, her dark eyes amused by the confusion written in her expression. ‘Didn’t Patrick tell you?’ Sheila asked with mock innocence. ‘I went along with him on his overseas junket a month ago. That’s when I met Jake.’

  Tanya darted a quick glance at Jake’s unrevealing profile before looking to Patrick for confirmation, noting the hint of exasperation around his brown eyes. ‘I thought it was a company trip,’ addressing her half statement, half question to Patrick.

  ‘It was,’ he asserted.

  ‘I persuaded him to take his little sister along for a little vacation,’ Sheila spared an overly affectionate glance at her brother. ‘Of course, he was so busy flying back and forth between Europe and Africa that I finally stopped trying to keep up with him and stayed in Africa. I would have been bored to tears if Jake hadn’t been able to take a few days off.’

  A slow boil was seething through Tanya at the implication behind Sheila’s words. ‘No, Patrick didn’t mention that.’ The undertone in her voice added that her husband hadn’t either, which placed a smug smile on Sheila’s artfully bowed lips. ‘How fortunate for you that Jake was able to get free.’

  ‘I imagine Sheila would have been able to keep herself amused if I hadn’t been there,’ Jake smiled lazily, his eyes roaming familiarly over the girl’s face. ‘But, since I did have some slack time, I thought it was only right to keep an eye on the sister of the firm’s acting manager.’

  ‘Is that what you were doing?’ Sheila murmured seductively. ’Keeping an eye on me?’

  Jake must have felt Tanya breathe in deeply to control her temper at the sly innuendoes Sheila was making because there was a fractional tightening of his fingers on her waist. She arched him a speaking look. He couldn’t possibly think she cared one way or another whether he had had an affair with Patrick’s sister. She merely found the thinly veiled insinuations disgusting.

  ‘I’m glad you found my husband’s company so diverting,’ Tanya declared with cloying sweetness. ‘It would have been terrible if you’d been marooned in a strange country with no one to show you the sights.’

  ‘We didn’t do much sightseeing.’ Sheila flashed a coy look at Jake before returning her demure countenance to Tanya. ‘Although I did want to tour the construction project Jake was working on. But he explained to me that some of the crew hadn’t seen a woman in weeks and there was no reason for them to be needlessly aroused when the job was so near completion and they would all be returning home to their wives and families soon. I’m glad Jake didn’t think it was necessary to impose those restrictions on himself. Of course, he didn’t decide to return home until after I left. Did I act as a catalyst for your decision?’

  ‘Let’s say you reminded me of some of the compensations there would be to returning home.’

  White-hot anger seared through Tanya at Jake’s complacent drawling voice. She was denied the privilege of freeing herself from his suffocating hold on her waist by his own movement to light a cigarette. The haughty expression in her tawny eyes taunted him with the knowledge that his supposed concern for his son wasn’t the only thing that had brought Jake back. It was obvious Sheila had been a contributing factor. Behind the gauzy cloud of exhaled smoke, his arrogant features mocked her indignant air.

  ‘How long will you be staying, Jake?’ Patrick inquired with the same deceptive softness he had used earlier.

  ‘Are you asking me as an interested bystander or as an executive of the firm?’ There was a knife-edged challenge in the look Jake threw at him.

  ‘A bit of both.’

  There was the barest tightening of Patrick’s square jaw as the two men silently took each other’s measure. Then Jake let his gaze slide over to Tanya, curving the sensuous line of his mouth into a smile that didn’t approach the hardness in his eyes.

  ‘Danvers has more than enough experience to handle the road project, so you need have no fears, Raines, that I left an untidy mess behind me.’ He took a long drag on his cigarette, then studied the fiery tip through narrowed eyes. ‘There’s every probability that I’ll be staying here a very long time.’

  Each word of his statement was slowly and carefully enunciated so there could be no mistake about what he was saying.

  Tanya stared at him helplessly, trying to fathom the unreadable expression in his face as Jake displayed interest in his cigarette while the impact of his announcement made its mark. Not an hour ago he had told his mother he didn’t know how long he would be staying. Had Sheila’s presence influenced his decision? It seemed obvious, and yet was it? Tanya had no doubt that Sheila was a factor, but not the deciding one. It was clear that Jake didn’t intend to enlighten them as to the cause.

  ‘I believe that calls for a drink,’ Tanya announced, finding herself in need of a medicinal dosage of alcohol to restore her shaken composure. ‘Excuse me.’

  ‘I’ll help you,’ offered Patrick, moving quickly to her side.

  ‘Make mine something festive and bubbly,’ Sheila ordered gaily. Her words only confirmed what Tanya already knew — that she found Jake’s announcement something to be celebrated.

  Patrick stepped behind the portable bar to mix the drinks as if sensing that her hands weren’t steady enough for the task. She gripped the padded edge of the bar fiercely, turning her knuckles white in the process.

  ‘Why didn’t you mention that Sheila went with you on your trip?’ lowering her voice so that her question was for Patrick’s ears alone.

  ‘She is my sister, in spite of the gap in our ages. It was a case of Sheila wanting to take a trip as I was leavi
ng on one.’ His dark gaze raised to dwell thoughtfully on Tanya’s face. ‘Or are you really asking why I didn’t mention that she had become acquainted, shall we say, with Jake?’ The slightly piercing quality made it difficult for Tanya to meet his look squarely. ‘Frankly,’ he continued when it became obvious that she wasn’t going to reply, ‘I had the impression that you didn’t care what your husband did as long as he stayed away. I’m beginning to think I need to revise that opinion.’

  ‘He means nothing to me!’ she denied quickly. ‘I just felt so idiotic standing there with everybody knowing what was going on but me.’

  ‘Tonight — when I all but told him to get lost — why did you go to him when he called? Why did you leave me standing there like a fool while you rushed to his side?’ Patrick demanded.

  ‘It was shock.’ Tanya ran a nervous hand over her tawny hair. ’A nightmare. I couldn’t believe he was really there. I never thought he would come back. Not even when I wrote —’

  The muttered expletive from Patrick stopped the tumbling torrent of words. ‘You asked him to come back?’ he ground out harshly.

  ‘I had to.’ Her eyes begged for his understanding. ‘Not for myself — for John. He had this crazy notion that Jake was dead or in prison, and insisted on writing a letter asking his father to come home. What else could I do?’ she ended with a resigned shake of her head. ‘You’d mentioned how busy Jake was. I hoped … I thought he wouldn’t be able to get away.’

  ‘Yes, I remember,’ Patrick sighed, running a hand wearily through his dark hair. ‘It’s just when I think about you being alone with him later on tonight, I —’