London Bound (Heart of the City #3)(4)

'Bloody hell, are you all right?'

And my mortifying answer?

I had burst into tears. Yes, Jack Baker had seen me cry, and it was a something I would always regret. The fact he had forgotten the most traumatising event of my London experience (well, apart from living with Nana) made me even angrier.

'You are unbelievable,' I said.

He rolled his eyes, actually rolled his eyes.

'You didn't even say you were sorry.'

'Me, sorry?' Jack pointed to his chest.

'Yes, it's what usually happens when you nearly hit someone with your car.'

I glanced at the offending vehicle, a beautiful James Bond-esque piece of machinery. I mean, if you're going to be taken out, being hit by an Aston Martin on the streets of South Kensington would at least sound impressive in the papers. It still struck me as odd that Jack was the owner of such a car; he couldn't be much older than me. Looking over him again, in his beautifully tailored shirt, Rolex flashing from his wrist, I figured he was born into money. You could tell by the way he held himself. He wouldn't be the kind to dream over Vogue, he would simply have ordered from it.

'Are you quite done?'

My attention snapped back up to his face. Oh shit, had I been staring?

'Just stop driving like a lunatic,' I said, spinning on my heel, happy to have the last word.

'Well, I'll stop driving like one if you stop acting like one.'

I froze, slowly turning to face him. 'Excuse me?'

Jack laughed. 'You heard me.'

'What are you, five?'

Jack's response was broken by the distant knocking that had the both of us turning to see  …

Oh God.

Nana Joy, tapping on the glass in annoyance, sitting in the window like something out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie.

'Are you being summoned?' he asked, so smug I could scream.

I wanted to die. Now I was the one who felt like a five-year-old. No doubt she had heard me screaming at Jack; oh God, had I dropped the F-bomb? This day was just going from bad to worse.

How I hated Jack Baker, hated him with such burning passion that even if I was returning to my stunningly decorated prison, at least I was getting away from him. Getting away from both Nana and Jack would be ideal, but that wasn't going to happen for me today.

'Night, Kate.'

I glared at him, his stupid smirk marking his face.

'Oh, piss off, Jack, why don't you go be a big hero and do some laps in Daddy's car.'

Jack laughed, so much so that I couldn't help but turn back to him.

'Daddy's car?' He shook his head. 'You know nothing about me.'

'And I don't want to,' I said indignantly, moving to push through the front door.

'Are you sure about that?' he called out.

I couldn't believe the gall of this man. There was only one possible answer to his question: I stepped inside and slammed the door behind me.





Chapter Two


'You could hear everything?'

Vera paused at the sink. 'Everything.'

I crunched on a biscuit, cringing at the thought. Now that the adrenaline had worn off I was regretting some of my churlish behaviour.

'Well, I hope you're happy,' came a voice from the doorway. Nana Joy shuffled into the kitchen with her walking stick, an air of superiority in her posture. Even when she was disgusted she carried herself with great dignity. 'God only knows what the neighbours must have thought,' she said, coming to stand near the kitchen table.



       
         
       
        

'I didn't think you much cared about the neighbours, Nana,' I quipped. I didn't have the patience for round two of the 'You stupid girl' routine, I had gotten enough of that the second I had come through the front door.

'And what have I told you about you walking the streets? If you were murdered, how on earth would I explain that to your mother?'

'Murdered. Jesus,' I said, rolling my eyes.

'Don't you roll your eyes at me, Katherine Elizabeth, the world is very different these days; there are sex fiends lurking in the bushes just waiting for a young woman such as yourself to walk down the street.'

I tried not to laugh because I knew it would be the death of me. 'I don't recall many bushes on Gloucester Road, Nana.'

Vera turned fully away, concentrating on scrubbing an old pot, but I could see the slight vibration of her shoulders as she muffled her laughing.

'Well, I don't want you leaving this house without a chaperone,' Nana Joy declared.

I straightened in my seat. 'A chaperone? It's not 1895.'

The men out there were going to be more Jack Baker than Jack the Ripper. I was seriously starting to wonder if Nana had a subscription to the Criminal Investigation channel or a copy of London's Grizzliest Murders on her nightstand. Maybe this was why my mother left home as soon as she was of age.

'I don't care, Katherine, as long as you live under my roof, you will do as I say. Vera, another pot of tea, please, I need to still my nerves,' she said, moving slowly back to the kitchen door and down the hall.