The Unexpected Baby(47)
It was more of the same the next day. Not until they were in the hire car leaving Jerez airport did a hint of a thaw creep in.
They had the windows down, and she was sure she could smell the sherry on the hot air, the scent so evocative of this wealthy, productive corner of Andalucia. She watched Jed fill his lungs, certain he was beginning to look more approachable, and asked, ‘Do you mind if we detour through Cadiz?’
‘Sure.’ He eased the car into the traffic and headed south. ‘We’re going to need provisions, I guess. I don’t suppose you got around to getting in touch with Pilar to let her know we were coming?’
She hadn’t even thought of it. All her mental energies had been focused on him. But his mention of the provisions she had overlooked handed her the excuse she’d been racking her tired brain to find.
‘I’ll need to go to the bank for cash, and then I thought we could stop by the market.’ She clutched at the excuse he had given her gratefully. ‘We could either eat out—early-supper-cum-late-lunch—or head straight back to Las Rocas.’
‘Head back,’ he said. ‘I fancy a quiet night in the mountains.’ He stamped on the brakes as a yellow Seat, covered in the white dust of the local Albariza soil, cut across them with long, strident blasts of its horn. Jed grinned, his teeth very white against his sundarkened skin. ‘Spanish maniac! Still, I could get used to it!’
She left him parking the car while she went into the Banco de Andalucia. She couldn’t have felt more guilty if she’d been wearing a stocking on her head and carrying a sawn-off shotgun. She felt sneaky and devious, doing this behind Jed’s back.
But he would have refused to allow her to give in to blackmail demands, and then he would have had to suffer the hateful consequences, she knew that, so even though she felt awful about it she was doing this for his sake, because she loved him. For herself, Liam could have gone ahead and done his worst.
Thankfully, because she was a valued customer and well known at this branch, the transaction was completed swiftly. And she walked out onto the hot pave- . ment with the pay-off for Liam stuffed at the bottom of her handbag and the bunch of pesetas for household expenses innocently folded in her purse.
Jed was strolling towards her, the breeze from the ocean ruffling his soft dark hair. Her heart flipped. He was so special, so very much loved.
She waited for him, watching the way he moved. She loved his grace, his elegant strength. It made her heart hurt; it always had and always would. And the way his eyes lit with warmth when he saw her made her give him a lilting smile. Perhaps she could let herself believe that he’d done his thinking and their time here together would be special and important, a time of coming to terms with what had happened, accepting it and going on together.
And Liam, hopefully, completely out of the frame.
‘I should have thought to ask you to wait.’ His eyes went to the open doors of the bank. ‘I could have changed a few traveller’s cheques. Want to come back in with me while I do it?’
Stopping him from going into the bank with her had been precisely why she’d asked him to drop her off while he found somewhere to park. ‘No need,’ she told him blithely. ‘Let’s hit the market! I withdrew plenty.’ And wasn’t that the truth!
‘OK. Shopping, if you say so—I’ll just try to get used to being a kept man. I keep forgetting I’m married to a wealthy woman!’
His relaxed smile gave her the courage to tuck her arm through his, just companionably, nothing to make him think she was about to repeat the flaunty, flirty behaviour she’d so misguidedly produced when they’d spent the day here with Catherine.
Born out of pain, a primitive need to hurt him back, it hadn’t been one of her better ideas.
She was aiming for friendly, not flirty. Friends exploring the busy, colourful market, heads together as they examined the piles of fresh produce for the best bargains, having mild arguments over the choice of swordfish steaks, giant prawns or clams, amicably resolving the difficulty by buying some of each.
When they were overburdened with bags almost bursting with irresistible fruit and vegetables they looked at each other and grinned.
‘Whose army are we aiming to feed?’ Jed’s eyes were warm, soft silver, his sexy mouth relaxed, smiling for her, and Elena felt herself sliding effortlessly back into the safe haven of his love.
At least, that was what she felt here and now, in the bustle and noise of the exotic outdoor market, with the Spanish sun beating down, and she was going to hang onto the feeling and hope nothing happened to take it away.
‘I guess we should make tracks for home and start chomping our way through it.’ Aquamarine eyes sparkled for him. ‘But how about grabbing an orange juice first?’