His After-Hours Mistress(19)

'Why? What have you done?' she asked suspiciously.

Roarke straightened up. 'Why do you always assume I've done something?'

'Because you're a rogue,' Caroline observed simply.

Unsure how long this sibling badinage was likely to go on for, Ginny  cleared her throat to attract their attention. Caroline was instantly  contrite.

'Now look what we've done. We're upsetting your … friend.' The fractional hesitation was glossed over by a friendly smile.

'Ginny is more than a friend,' Roarke amended, and his sister glared at him.

'I was trying to be polite,' she hissed through her teeth.

'There's no need to worry,' Ginny interrupted. 'I'm used to your brother's shortcomings,' she added sweetly.

Caroline frowned. 'I don't understand.'

'No, but you will,' her brother declared, leading her by the arm to a  nearby chair and urging her to sit. 'We want to talk to you about Sir  Martin.'

The other woman couldn't have been more surprised. 'Sir Martin? What about him?'

'For one thing, Ginny is his daughter,' Roarke said without preamble, and his sister blinked.

'His daughter? But I thought … ' The sentence tailed off as she looked steadily at Ginny.

'He only had one?' Ginny finished for her, taking the spare seat.  'That's because he disowned me many years ago. I was shown the door and  told never to darken it again, because I chose to follow my own path. I  took my mother's maiden name, Harte.'

Caroline had been studying her closely. 'Yes, now that you mention it, I can see the likeness between you and Lucy.'

'Please don't think I'm here to try and talk you out of a marriage,  because I'm not. Your brother asked me to tell you something about the  family you're marrying into, that's all. You see, the Brigadier,  my … father, is a very … forceful man.'

Caroline looked from her brother to Ginny, and just the faintest of  smiles curled at the outer edges of her lips. 'I've always thought of  him as a bully,' she remarked, taking the wind right out of their sails.

'You do?' Ginny gasped in amazement.

'I never thought of calling him the Brigadier, but it's a good name for  him,' Caroline added with a wry laugh, before looking at Ginny. 'It was  good of you to come, but you didn't have to. I've known for a long time  just the sort of man Sir Martin is. Your brother James is a decent man,  but whenever he comes into contact with his father, he changes. He's  intimidated and he knows it, so he becomes angry and aggressive. He  isn't the man his father would have him be, and he has anxiety attacks  because of it. Yet when he's with me he's a different person, softer,  calmer. James is a talented man. He's a brilliant watercolourist, did  you know?'

Ginny shook her head. 'No, I didn't. What my father deemed as "sissy subjects" were banned in our house.'

A determined look settled on Caroline's face. 'Maybe in his house, but  not in mine. I love James, and I fully intend to get him away from your  father's influence just as soon as we are married.'

The unexpected declaration, said with such determination, brought a lump  to Ginny's throat. She stared at her soon to be sister-in-law with  growing respect. 'So you do love him.'

Caroline frowned a little. 'I wouldn't be marrying him if I didn't. Does that surprise you?'

'No,' Ginny denied hastily. 'It was suggested to me that you might be  marrying him to get away from your mother,' she added, with a pointed  look at Roarke.

'You'll pay for that,' he promised, and Ginny raised her eyebrows.

'Oh? And just how do you propose to do that?'
                       
       
           



       
'I'll think of something.'

Following the exchange with interest, Caroline laughed. 'Roarke has this  thing about love and marriage. One doesn't exist and the other doesn't  last.' She looked at her brother fondly. 'I wasn't too sure myself at  one time, but I am now. Love exists, and marriages don't have to fail if  you work at them. Our parents find it easier to flit from one to the  other, because it's easier than making a proper commitment. They fail,  but I don't intend to. You'll find you think the same yourself one day,  Roarke.'

Her brother was quick to shake his head. 'I'm not looking for love,' he pronounced, which only made her smile broadly.

'Good, because that's just the time when you'll trip right over it. I  wish I could be there to see the moment when you realise that old magic  has got you too!'

Roarke laughed along with her. 'Never going to happen, darling,' he  insisted, taking her hand and pulling her to her feet. 'We'd better be  off. Time's getting on and you've got to get ready.' Taking her in his  arms, he gave her a powerful hug. 'Be happy.'

'I intend to,' she responded in a watery voice when he released her.

On impulse, Ginny hugged her too. 'James is very lucky,' she said  gruffly, knowing that her brother might just have found salvation.

'I'm the lucky one,' Caroline corrected. 'You must come and see us. I'll have Roarke give you our address.'

Ginny stepped back with a wince. 'You might want to check that out with  James first, but thanks for the invitation. It was a kind thought.'

Looking troubled by Ginny's response, Caroline took her hands. 'I can't  imagine what it must have been like to be cut off from your family. I  know it would hurt me, so I'm sure it must have hurt you. But that's  over now. Trust me, James will want to see you.'

Ginny didn't believe it, but she wouldn't spoil Caroline's day by saying so. 'Maybe you can work miracles.'

They were interrupted by a knock on the door.

'That will be my bridesmaids come to help me dress. Mother will be descending on me too, soon.'

'Which is our cue to leave,' Roarke said with heavy irony. 'See you in church, Caro.'

They left Caroline in the capable hands of her four bridesmaids and headed back the way they had come.

'I have to hand it to my little sister. She surprised me with that one,' Roarke commented.

'That's because she isn't a little sister any more. She grew up. Like  Lucy. We think we know them, but we don't really. Do you think she could  be right about James?'

'After this morning, it wouldn't surprise me. Have faith in Caro. If anyone can help your brother, she can.'

'Mmm, I liked her. In fact, the more I see of your family the more I  like them. You're even likeable yourself when you're not being  obnoxious,' Ginny admitted reluctantly.

'Ditto,' Roarke returned promptly, and their eyes met. Not for the first  time sexual awareness ignited between them, and the air began to  thicken. Ginny found it hard to look away, and when she did she still  felt as if she had run a race.

They hadn't touched or anything like that. All they had done was look at  each other, and that chemical reaction started all over again. It was  getting ridiculous.

'Let's get some breakfast,' she suggested tersely, not because she was  hungry but because right now she would rather not be alone with him. So  far as she was concerned, the sooner this weekend was over the better.





CHAPTER SEVEN




THE wedding service was beautiful. The bride was radiant and the groom  looked nervous, but that was how it should be. She and Roarke were  seated on the bride's side of the church. If she glanced to her right  she could see her parents and Lucy in the front pew but, so far as she  could tell, nobody had looked her way. Doubtless her father had laid  down the law again.

The church was packed with relatives and other well-wishers, which was  why Ginny found herself pressed up close to Roarke's side. She had tried  to make more room for herself, but that had only had the effect of  brushing her thigh against his. A manoeuvre which had caused him to look  at her mockingly and she had desisted. However, the warmth coming from  him was impossible to ignore, as was the far too intoxicating scent of  his cologne.

Just being close to him was turning her on, and she had known how it  would be. That reckless side of her nature, which she had relentlessly  suppressed for so long, was coming to the fore again. Her sensuality had  come out of her self-imposed deep freeze and was being bombarded by  signals it didn't want to ignore.                       
       
           



       

She was doing her best, though, but it didn't help that she still had a  role to play. When the service was over, and they all rose to follow the  bride and groom out of the church for the taking of photographs, she  would have preferred to walk alone, but she became aware of Jenna  watching them, and was forced to take Roarke's arm, holding on to it far  more tightly than was comfortable.

Roarke glanced at her, brows raised questioningly, and she sighed,  knowing he wanted to know why she was holding him when she had been the  one to insist on no touching. 'We're being watched,' she explained in an  undertone, and he nodded, placing his hand atop hers to add to the  illusion, unwittingly sending her temperature rising.

They wandered outside with the rest, but there was scant relief for  Ginny. To her dismay Roarke insisted she joined in all the family group  photos.