Forbidden Night with the Duke
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Annie Claydon
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18,5K
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18
Chapter One
IN THE SCHEME of things it wasn’t so much of a catastrophe. The building was still in one piece, no one had died, and the sun was still shining outside. But as everyday disasters went, this one was about the worst that Megan Wheeler could imagine. She’d really wanted this job, and now it seemed an impossibility.
It had all been going so well. The interviews had been tough but constructive, and her confidence had been vindicated when a job offer had arrived in the post. There would be a four-day induction workshop in Gloucestershire, hosted by the charity she would be working for, which would be attended by delegates from a number of different charities.
She’d packed her suitcase carefully, allowing for an outfit to meet every eventuality, and an early start meant that she’d been able to make the drive to Holte Hall in good time, stopping off for a cup of tea to make sure that she didn’t arrive embarrassingly early, or mortifyingly late.
Excitement thrilled through her as she followed the signs which led from the elaborate gates up to the hall. The massive house rose on the horizon, all ornate stonework and grand windows, and as she drove towards the group of cars in the curving driveway, two teenaged boys waved her into a parking space and then directed her towards the impressive, canopied entrance.
John Ferris, the chief executive of the charity she was to work for, was standing in the cavernous hallway, ready to greet everyone. He expressed his pleasure at seeing her again, and passed her over to another teenager, who showed her to her room.
There was scarcely time to appreciate the elegant bedroom, with its modern, gleaming en suite bathroom, before she was summoned back downstairs again. Twenty or so people were chatting over coffee and pastries, and by the time the group was ushered towards the chairs that were set out at the far end of the room, Megan had exchanged nervous smiles with a number of her fellow delegates.
John Ferris had stood up to say a few words. All of the four different charities represented here would be holding sessions designed to equip the new recruits for the jobs that awaited them. He’d leave it to their host, the owner of Holte Hall, and chairman of the board of trustees of his own charity, to give them an idea of what the next four days had in store.
He gave a grinning shrug, running his hand across the bald patch on the top of his head. ‘When we can find him, that is...’
It was clearly not unusual for their opening speaker to go missing. Someone opened the door a couple of inches and called along the hallway, and a thrill of nervous laughter ran around the room. Then the bottom of Megan’s world suddenly dropped out, leaving her suspended in a mixture of horror and disbelief.
Jaye Perera.
Jaye had always known how to make an entrance, and this time it was no different. Fairy-tale handsome, with long-lashed brown eyes, which gave a touch of softness to an otherwise wholly masculine face. Dark hair that curled around the collar of his open-necked shirt. It was as if he’d been designed with the express purpose of making the female heart beat a little faster.
His dress and demeanour implied approachability, but his immaculate grooming indicated that he could be as smart as the next man if he put his mind to it. Megan heard the young woman sitting next to her catch her breath.
Most people did that. When she’d first seen him five years ago, sweeping through the hospital ward, deep in conversation with one of the senior doctors, Megan had done it. The dark good looks of his Sri Lankan father, along with the title he’d inherited from his mother’s family, tended to make an impression. And when Jaye apologised for not being where he was supposed to be at the appointed time, his regret seemed heartfelt.
But Jaye Perera had a history of not being where he was supposed to be. He hadn’t even turned up at his own wedding.
‘Welcome, everyone.’ His smile swept the room, and even Megan couldn’t help the involuntary response, feeling herself smile back at him. ‘This is a new venture for us. We’ve got together with three other charities to provide this induction course for doctors and nurses wishing to work abroad. We have session leaders here from each of the four charities, who’ll be sharing their experience and giving you a taste of the realities of what you’ve signed up for.’
He was a good speaker, Megan had to give him that. In just a few moments he’d got his willing audience in the palm of his hand, everyone believing that he was speaking to them alone.
‘Working abroad for a charity is something that many medical professionals aspire to, but the truth of it can be a little different from the theory. You’ll be faced with hard work, challenging conditions, frustration and more than a little heartbreak. It won’t matter that the pay’s not what you could hope to earn in other fields, because you probably won’t get much of a chance to spend it.’
A ripple of laughter flowed around the room. If Jaye was trying to change anyone’s mind, he wasn’t making much of a start. But then he knew that. This was all a PR manoeuvre, a deftly arranged exercise in making everyone think that he knew what working abroad was really like. Megan doubted he’d ever really got his hands dirty.
‘Okay. So who has a significant other...?’ His gaze ran around the room, seeming to pause for a moment on Megan, who was one of the few who hadn’t raised her hand.
Jaye nodded. ‘Well it’s not rocket science to say that working abroad does affect family relationships, and we’re interested in your thoughts about how you’re going to deal with that...’
Megan felt herself flush. Jaye Perera had the out and out gall to talk about other people’s relationships? When he’d walked out on his pregnant fiancée three days before their wedding?
She could hardly hear what Jaye was saying through a blur of misery. She’d really wanted this job, but working for a man like him? Being expected to follow his lead, when she knew that he had no sense of integrity? It was impossible, and she had to let it go now.
* * *
She sat through Jaye’s talk, feeling her dreams slip away. There was going to be a buffet lunch at one o’clock, which was obviously intended to be a chance for everyone to start getting to know each other, and that would be Megan’s chance to leave inconspicuously.
Easier said than done. When everyone rose from their seats, the knot of people surrounding her kept her waiting for a way out of the room. Jaye, on the other hand, had clearly acquired the knack of making his way through the obstacle course of empty chairs and groups of people who were intent only on talking, his way opening up before him in response to his dazzling smile.
‘Lord Marlowe.’ Megan might not be able to run, but she could hide behind the formality of his title.
‘Nurse Wheeler.’ He somehow made it sound as if he thought her title actually meant something, more than his maybe. That was a sham, too. On the occasions that he’d come into contact with her at work, he’d seemed only to see and hear the senior staff, as if the other people busying themselves around him didn’t exist.
‘I’m surprised you remember me.’ The paper badge on the lapel of her jacket gave only her first name. The nurse part might be a lucky guess, but Wheeler couldn’t possibly be.
‘It’s not difficult to notice someone who does her job well.’ The comment was clearly designed as a compliment, but Megan knew it had no substance. Maybe he’d just studied the applications carefully and had a good memory.
‘As you’ve already spent some time working abroad, we’re hoping you’ll be able to share some of your experience with the others,’ Jaye continued smoothly, as if he already knew what he wanted to say, and her replies didn’t make much difference to him.
She could play along, and then disappear quietly. Or she could show him that she had a good memory, too.
‘How’s Sonia? We didn’t hear from her after she left the hospital.’ There was no particular reason why Megan should have heard from Sonia, they hadn’t been close. But what had happened two weeks after Sonia had left her job, the cancelled wedding and the missing groom, had been a talking point for months.
The smile slid from Jaye’s face for a moment. ‘I haven’t been in contact with Sonia since then, either.’
Which meant he hadn’t been in contact with his child, either. Megan knew exactly what it was like to be the unwanted child of a rich and influential man, who had no scruples about rewriting history whenever it suited him. Maybe that was why she wanted to slap Jaye now. Not for Sonia, but for the child.
‘I heard she had a baby.’
A pulse beat at the side of his temple. ‘That’s what I heard, too.’
A baby who had no place here. If Jay hadn’t turned suddenly, in response to his name being called, Megan thought she might have slapped him. There was no excuse now. He knew he was a father, and clearly he’d decided that was a technicality that he could afford to overlook.
‘I’m sorry...’ When he turned back his face was impassive. ‘I have to go, it seems that lunch is ready. I hope we’ll be able to speak more later.’
Then he was gone, helping John Ferris to chivvy everyone through to the next room for lunch. Megan waited for the press of people to thin a little and slipped out of the room, turning left instead of right, and making her way back to the great entrance hall and up the stairs.
* * *
Jaye had remembered Megan as soon as he’d seen her application form. The nurse who could always coax a smile from her patients. Her enthusiasm for the work of his charity had shone through her answers to the carefully worded questions on the application form, and after he’d interviewed her, John Ferris had agreed that Megan was the one candidate who stood out from all the rest.
He’d wondered whether Megan would remember him, and, despite the awkwardness of the situation, rather hoped she would. When Megan had replied within the hour to the email inviting her here, he’d supposed that either she was inclined to overlook the most damning and humiliating episode in his life, or that he’d made much less of an impression on her than she’d had on him.
Wrong. On both counts. When he’d scanned the room for her, his heart beating a little faster at the remembered warmth of her blue eyes, he’d found only ice. And her pointed remark about Sonia told him that she remembered him all too well, and that she was inclined to overlook nothing.
There was time. Four days was more than enough time to gauge her feelings, and talk about it. Jaye’s gaze rested on the empty seat at the dining table. It was possible that Megan had taken some time out from the group to decide what to throw at him next, but he doubted it. When he’d seen her working on the wards, he’d been impressed with the way that she sized up a situation, took decisions and then acted on them.
‘Have you seen Megan Wheeler?’ He buttonholed one of the teenagers from the village, who’d been co-opted to help show everyone to their rooms. ‘Blue jacket. White top with a...’ He waved his hand to indicate the soft folds of Megan’s blouse.
Emma smirked. ‘That’s called a cowl neckline.’
‘I thought you’d be the one to ask about that. Have you seen her?’
‘No.’
Jaye turned, hurrying from the room, a sudden anger biting at his heart. If Megan wanted to walk out, that was her decision. But he was damned if she was going to make it on the basis of what she’d heard about him and Sonia, because that was almost certainly a lie.
* * *
The retractable handle of her case wasn’t pushed down far enough, and Megan was struggling to get it into the boot of her car. She turned as she heard the scrunch of gravel under Jaye’s feet.
‘Leaving so soon?’ He decided to confine his opening salvo to the obvious facts.
‘Yes.’
‘This course isn’t an optional extra. We’re expecting all of our new employees to complete it.’
‘I understand that. I’ve made my decision.’ He thought he saw scorn in Megan’s eyes. Such beautiful eyes, blue and clear, and apparently unable to hide her feelings. He liked that.
‘And...clearly I’m a factor in that decision.’
‘Yes.’ Her lip curled, and Jaye suppressed the impulse to smile. In a world where people tended to tell him what they thought he wanted to hear, this was almost refreshing.
‘I don’t suppose you’d care to elaborate on that?’
She pulled the case out of the open boot and pushed the handle down. Jaye resisted the impulse to help her as she heaved the case back into the boot and slammed it shut. Then she turned to face him.
‘I’m looking for an employer who I can trust. That’s non-negotiable.’
‘It’s non-negotiable for us, too. I think we should talk about this, Megan.’
‘There’s nothing to talk about. Actions speak louder than words.’
Jaye was blocking her path to the driver’s door and she walked round him, getting into the car. He jumped as she wrenched the door shut, slamming it hard, as if to demonstrate her point.
A frisson of How dare she? melted into the irrational impulse to beg, if that was what it would take to make Megan stop. Jaye walked around to the front of the car, planting his hands on the bonnet. Megan glared at him, and he wondered for a moment whether he’d made a mistake and she was capable of driving straight over him.
‘Is it going to hurt you so much to listen? Because if it does, you’ve made a good decision.’
Here, outside the public part of the house, it was impossible that someone wasn’t watching, and now that he had to raise his voice to make himself heard, they were probably listening, too. But however much it dug at his pride to be seen blocking her path to prevent her from leaving, he couldn’t give up now.
‘We want medical professionals who can listen to other people—’ Megan cut him short by suddenly winding down the window and leaning out.
‘I think you should know that appealing to my professional pride isn’t going to work.’
It seemed to be working. Megan was no longer scrunching her face up in a scowl, which was a distinct improvement. The feeble winter sunshine tangled in the gold of her hair, making him feel as if he were looking at an angry angel.
‘Noted. Let’s make it personal, then. I’ll get on my knees if that’s what you want...’ That would provide a talking point for whoever was watching.
The ghost of a smile flitted across her face. ‘That would be embarrassing for both of us.’
If Megan was the woman he thought she was, there was no risk in what he was about to do. All the same, Jaye felt a slight tremor in his chest. He’d been wrong before, and he didn’t relish the idea of explaining how he’d let one of the best candidates the charity had seen in years slip through their fingers, without putting up more of a fight.
‘All right, then. If you can face the idea that you might be wrong, we’ll go inside and talk. If not, have a nice life.’
He turned, making for the path that led around the side of the house. Jaye felt his heart clench with inappropriate joy as he heard the car door open and then close again, and Megan’s footsteps behind him.
Walking down the stone steps that led to the semi-basement kitchen, Jaye opened the door for Megan and she walked inside. Now that lunch had been served the place was deserted, but there were still enough cups left in the dresser to throw a few if Megan got the urge. He motioned her towards the large kitchen table and she sat down.
‘Coffee?’ Something hot, to break the ice.
‘Yes. Thank you.’
He made the coffee, aware of her gaze on his back. The silence was killing him. It gave Jaye time to want things, to consider telling Megan everything. How he’d loved Sonia, but it had turned out that the thing she’d really loved had been the idea of being a duchess, and all that brought. How diminished he felt, every time someone looked straight through him and found only his title.
He put the mugs on the table and sat down opposite her. Despite the warmth in there, Megan was still wrapped in her coat, as if she was leaving herself prepared for a quick exit. But her gaze never moved from his face. Frank, blue eyes which would have made confiding in her easy, if only he had the nerve to do it.
She took a sip of her coffee. ‘I’m listening.’
