After a stunned moment when neither of them moved, Roarke crossed the room and shut the door after her. Letting out his breath in a silent whistle, he ran a hand through his hair. 'Jenna always did know how to make an entrance and an exit. Let's hope we've seen the last of her,' he declared feelingly. 'I'm sorry for the way she spoke to you.'
Ginny smiled faintly. 'That's OK. I have broad shoulders.'
Roarke grimaced. 'You're going to need them. If the staff didn't know about us before, they know now.'
She pulled a similarly wry face. 'So much for secrecy, then.' By now the office grapevine would have spread the news far and wide. 'What brought her here?'
'The desire to hurt me. She thinks if she can break us up, justice will have been done,' Roarke explained with a shake of his head.
Ginny frowned. 'But there's nothing to break up. We aren't in love with each other,' she added, when he looked a query. 'We're just … '
He eyed her with curiosity, amusement dancing in his eyes. 'Just?'
She narrowed her eyes at him. 'You know what I mean. We don't have that kind of relationship.'
Roarke pursed his lips as he considered that. 'No, we don't. It's just good old-fashioned sex,' he agreed at last.
She nodded, although the description didn't sit well. However, there was no denying the truth. Put plainly, it was just sex. 'Anyway, I'm not expecting a proposal.'
'That's comforting,' he rejoined sardonically, and she frowned at him.
'I just wanted you to know … '
'That ours is not a love affair. I got the message.'
Ginny blinked at his odd behaviour. 'Are you feeling all right?'
He laughed wryly. 'To tell you the truth, I'm not quite sure. Look, I'm late for that meeting. Let's just forget about Jenna, OK?'
Blowing her a kiss, Roarke vanished back into his office and Ginny slumped into her seat, running over the last half-hour in her mind. Jenna's sudden appearance had certainly created a stir. The cat was out of the bag now, but she found she wasn't worried about that. What she did find uncomfortable was Roarke's description of their relationship.
True, they enjoyed great sex, but that wasn't all of it. She enjoyed being with him, and it was amazing how much they had in common. So it wasn't just sex. On the other hand, she didn't know what word to use to accurately describe it. It certainly wasn't love! She didn't love Roarke. She wanted him, but that wasn't love. So it had to be sex, and yet … It just didn't sit right, that was all.
With an irritable sigh, Ginny forced herself to forget about it. It was just words, after all. Semantics. It was what it was and that was that. There. Finished. She reached for the colour charts she had been studying before Jenna's arrival and gave them her total concentration. If her thoughts wandered from time to time, she dragged them back into line with grim determination.
Later that evening, Ginny sat beside Roarke in his car, her stomach churning with nerves. This dinner with Caroline and James was going to be very important and she hoped she didn't do or say anything to mess it up. She glanced across at Roarke, but he was concentrating on the road. He had been strangely quiet since he returned from his lunch appointment, almost introspective, and that added to her sense of disquiet. What was he thinking? It could be business, but generally he left that behind when they left the office. Tonight, however, his thoughts were elsewhere, and she couldn't help thinking it had something to do with Jenna's visit.
Having crossed the Thames, they were now driving through a leafy suburb, and Roarke turned into a road lined with large detached houses set back from the road. Eventually he steered the car through a pair of wrought-iron gates on to a driveway and parked the car before the house.
'Very nice,' he declared as he came round to open the door for her. 'At a guess, I would say it was a wedding present from our mother.'
'The Brigadier would have been impressed,' Ginny observed dryly. A sound behind them made them glance round, to see the gates gliding shut. She laughed. 'No uninvited guests. Good idea.' There could be a problem with crime here, but Ginny rather thought the gates would have been Caroline's idea.
Roarke smiled as they walked to the door. 'I told you Caroline was a determined woman.'
'Not only determined,' his sister declared from the door where she stood waiting, having anticipated them. 'But clever, too.' She stood back with a smile to allow them to step inside. 'I'm so happy to see you again, Ginny,' she said, giving Ginny a hug. 'Has Roarke been behaving himself?' she asked, kissing her brother fondly on the cheek.
'Mostly,' Ginny returned, handing her evening jacket to the waiting housekeeper.
'Good. I'm so glad the two of you are still together. Of course, I was pretty sure you would be,' she added, with a twinkle in her eye.
Ginny exchanged an amused look with Roarke, who raised his shoulders in a helpless shrug.
'Where's James?' she asked. The fact that he wasn't at the door didn't bode well.
Caroline's response surprised her. 'He's in the drawing room mixing Martinis. He's nervous.'
'He is?' That was a first! James had always seemed so sure of himself.
Roarke's sister shepherded them towards a doorway. 'He thinks you might be angry with him. He wasn't very nice to you at the wedding,' she explained.
'He wasn't, but that made me sad, not angry,' Ginny replied wistfully.
The drawing room was large and designed for comfort. James was standing at a sideboard pouring liquid from a mixer into four glasses. He glanced round as they walked in, set the mixer aside and visibly braced himself with a deep breath before coming to join his wife.
'Hello, Roarke.' He shook his brother-in-law's hand, then looked at his sister warily. 'Ginny.'
Ginny searched his eyes, seeing some unease there, but the nervous tension that had always been with him when their father was around had vanished. As Caroline had said all those weeks ago, getting him away from his father would do him a world of good, and Ginny could see that it had. Consequently, she smiled at him and held out her hand.
'Hello, James,' she said huskily, then held her breath as he hesitated. However, it was only for a moment, and then he was squeezing her hand tightly.
'Good of you to come,' James added gruffly, clearing his throat. 'I wasn't sure you would.'
His uncertainty brought moisture to her eyes, and she shook her head then laughed, overwhelmed by a mixture of emotions. 'You know me better than that. You're my brother and I love you.'
James's throat worked madly, and he shot a glance at his wife, who nodded encouragingly from the sidelines. 'I said some pretty rotten things to you.'
Ginny sighed, unable to deny it. 'Yes, you did. But I understood why, James. I've always understood. All I care about now is that I can see you and talk to you. You don't have to tell our father anything about it. Let's leave him and the past out of it and just be friends. Can you do that? Will you do that?'
'It's what I would like, if you can forgive me,' her brother responded stiffly, and without having to think about it Ginny slipped her arms about his neck and hugged him, feeling her heart swell as, after a short pause, he hugged her back.
'There's nothing to forgive. Nothing,' she told him, stepping back, and then Caroline stepped in and hugged them all, and the tears were replaced by laughter.
As she watched Caroline shoo James off to fetch the drinks, Ginny felt Roarke take her hand and squeeze it. She glanced up at him.
'OK?' he asked simply, and when she nodded he bent and pressed a swift kiss to her lips.
It seemed to Ginny, as she took the glass James handed her and they toasted each other, that life couldn't get any better.
From then on the evening buzzed with laughter. Ginny couldn't remember her brother ever being so relaxed, and she had quite forgotten that he had a wacky sense of humour. She couldn't have said what they ate for dinner, though it tasted wonderful. She was too busy watching and listening. The banter between Roarke and his sister showed them how family life should be, and Ginny was determined that that was how it would be once Lucy broke away.
She enjoyed watching James relax, and caught sight of the boy he had been, but mostly she watched Roarke. She sat back, fascinated by the play of emotions over his face as he said something serious or told a joke. Somehow, she just couldn't seem to take her eyes off him, and when he glanced her way and quirked a questioning eyebrow to check that she was all right, she smiled, feeling a warm sense of well-being swell up inside her. She was happy, and happiness had been in short supply all of her life. Which was why she hugged the feeling to her, for it was precious beyond words.