Rags To Riches Collection. Rebecca Winters

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СКАЧАТЬ all hormones and any excuse, right? ‘But I’d care.’

      ‘No, Nicola, you’re wrong. I’d resent being used like that.’

      ‘The other thing is, I don’t want to go falling for you on the rebound. My emotions are all over the place at the moment and I don’t trust them. I’m not ready for anything serious and I can say that till I’m blue in the face, but...’

      ‘But sometimes it’s impossible to keep things emotion-free and uncomplicated.’

      ‘Neither one of us needs complicated right now.’ The blood burned in rebellion in her veins. She swallowed and told herself she was doing the right thing. ‘Besides,’ she croaked, ‘you have the girls to consider.’

      ‘I do.’

      ‘And I don’t much trust the whole notion of romantic love any more. I think it’s a bubble that eventually gets burst. Down the track, hopefully, I’ll meet someone and get married because I want children, but I mean to go into the marriage with wide eyes and a clear head. My head at the moment isn’t clear.’

      They eyed each other warily. ‘I’m sorry,’ she offered, because it felt as if she should apologise.

      He gave an emphatic shake of his head. ‘The first lesson in PD101 is to never apologise for something that isn’t your fault. This isn’t anyone’s fault. Never apologise for being honest.’

      ‘PD?’

      ‘Personal Development.’

      That sounded much grander than a makeover plan. ‘Personal development,’ she murmured. ‘I like it.’ With that she started to edge away. She might have finally screwed her head on right, but it didn’t counter the effect of Cade’s continued proximity. Her body clamoured for the feel of him, the touch of his lips and hands—his hardness pressed tight against her softness. And rather than diminishing, it was starting to increase. ‘I’ll...um...say goodnight then.’

      ‘Nicola?’

      She turned at the question, adrift between him and the French windows to her bedroom. She clasped her hands together tightly.

      ‘When you said you wanted to go into marriage with a clear head, what did you mean?’

      She didn’t move back towards him. That would be foolish. With the moon behind him, and from this distance, she couldn’t see his face clearly. ‘From what I’ve seen of relationships, there are those who do the giving and those who do the taking. Until now I’ve been one of the givers. In the future I’m going to be a taker. I mean to get precisely what I want out of any marriage.’

      ‘Take the poor sod to the cleaners, so to speak?’ The air whistled between his teeth. ‘Thank God you called a halt to things just then. They could’ve gotten darn messy.’

      And just like that he’d made her laugh. ‘Don’t worry, Cade. You would never have made it into my sights.’ He was a lot of things, but a poor sod wasn’t one of them. ‘Given all you’ve been through, I doubt you’d ever want to dip your toe in matrimonial waters again.’

      ‘Damn right.’

      ‘So I wouldn’t have made the elementary mistake of thinking you were available.’

      He shifted. She still couldn’t see his face clearly. ‘It seems to me that if your main reason for marrying is to have children, you could dispense with the middleman and use IVF instead. No point in putting yourself in a miserable relationship with a man you would neither respect or trust.’

      She stilled. ‘You know, you’ve got a point there.’ She could dispense with the mess of romance for good. It was an intriguing idea. ‘Goodnight, Cade.’ She turned and headed for her room. This time he didn’t call her back.

      * * *

      Cade didn’t waste any time, he got to work on his side of the bargain the very next day. Nicola’s opinion of the human race was at an understandable low and he didn’t want to add to it. He wanted to prove to her that some people did keep their promises.

      While she was busy outside with all four children playing some game that involved a lot of running, a lot of freezing and a whole lot of laughing, he dragged his mother and Delia into the kitchen, where Harry was preparing lunch.

      Verity Hindmarsh glanced out of the window, attracted by the laughter of the children, and smiled. ‘Nicola is a gem.’

      ‘That she is,’ Harry huffed.

      ‘Awfully quiet, though,’ Delia mused. ‘But wonderful with Jamie and Simon.’

      Jamie and Simon had recently turned five and had the kind of energy that could make Cade dizzy just watching them. Dee was enjoying the advantage of having another person to help out with them. Not that Cade blamed her or begrudged her, but he meant to make sure Nicola didn’t get lumped with more than her fair share of the work.

      ‘Nicola is what I want to talk to you about.’ As one they turned to survey him. He did his best not to fidget. ‘I found out recently that it’s not just the Outback she’s never experienced, but a big family Christmas. It’s just her and her mother who is rather over-critical, from what I can make out.’

      Harry stopped chopping salad vegetables to glance out of the window. ‘Well, now, that makes sense. Probably why she’s got such a bee in her bonnet about exercising and losing weight.’

      At the words ‘losing weight’, Harry instantly had the other two women’s attention.

      ‘She tried jogging around the property in the early morning, but...’ she flicked a glance at Cade ‘...but that didn’t work out so well. So Cade set her up in Fran’s old home gym.’

      He didn’t know why, when all three women turned to look at him, he wanted to roll his shoulders and back out of the room. ‘Someone may as well use it,’ he mumbled. ‘She’s no gym junkie, though.’

      Harry sliced through a lettuce with evident satisfaction. ‘So when he found out she’d always wanted to learn to ride, he set her up with Jack for lessons each morning.’

      ‘That was a lovely thing to do,’ his mother said. While he was no longer a seven-year-old, he found himself momentarily basking in the warmth of her approval. The kind of approval it seemed that Nicola had never received. ‘But why aren’t you teaching her yourself?’

      That wasn’t something he was prepared to get into. ‘She and Jack have hit it off. He’s enjoying it.’

      ‘And Jack’s not getting any younger,’ Harry observed.

      ‘He’s still more than capable of putting in a full day’s work.’

      ‘Darling—’ his mother laid a hand on his arm, her eyes warm with a mixture of relief and delight ‘—I thought we’d lost you for ever after everything Fran did, but I can see now that’s not the case. I can’t tell you how happy I am to see you being your old self again.’

      Fran’s betrayal had left a mark that would never go away. It had killed something inside him. But for Ella and Holly’s sake, he’d had to pull himself together. It occurred to him now just how much he’d put these three СКАЧАТЬ