Читать книгу What Belongs to Her - Rachel Brimble - Страница 16

CHAPTER SIX

SASHA SWIPED THE tears of laughter from her eyes and pushed to her feet. Marian was one thing, but leaving John to cope with Inspector Garrett and Marian was too much to expect of any man, animal or superhero. She’d begun the day with plans to make John’s welcome as uncomfortable as possible, but her fiasco on the Mixer and him making her laugh meant unnecessary cruelty was no longer part of the deal.

She stepped away from the table to stand at his side. She smiled. “Inspector Garrett. Nice to see you.”

The inspector dragged her steady gaze from John’s and smiled. “Hi, Sasha. Marian seems keen to introduce me to your friend.”

A sudden and inexplicable need to defend John stole through Sasha. She didn’t want to leave him to the wolves. Something about him intrigued her, interested her to the point she didn’t want that tiny, unnamable facet of his personality quashed on his second day in the Cove.

Her sympathy was unnerving and she swallowed hard against its implication. She waved her hand in what she hoped was a gesture of indifference. “John’s...um... John’s...”

“Why don’t I help you out?” Marian placed their coffees none too gently on the table. “This, Inspector Garrett, is John Jordon—Kyle Jordon’s son and heir.”

Sasha grimaced. The entire bakery descended into silence, barely broken by the clatter of crockery and the occasional cough or snigger. Marian’s booming voice was her trademark, the reason people warmed to her and loved her—but in that moment, Sasha understood why others dreaded her undivided attention. The queue of people turned toward the show, and Sasha’s cheeks burned.

John, on the other hand, appeared nonplussed as he extended his hand to Inspector Garrett. “Nice to meet you, Inspector.”

With her usual cool air, the inspector closed her hand around his. “Are you planning to stay long, Mr. Jordon? Or is this a flying visit?”

He raised his eyebrows. “Does it matter?”

Sasha whipped her gaze from one to the other. It was crystal clear as John stood unmoving in front of DI Garrett, his cool gaze locked with hers, he was Kyle’s son. He was no more concerned by the inspector’s perusal of him than Kyle would’ve been.

The inspector stared straight back, her intelligent gaze scrutinizing him. Sasha shifted from one foot to the other. Confrontation was never a good thing for her, regardless of the “don’t mess with me” reputation she liked to project. Her persona had been forced upon her and maybe even branded her—but she also accepted, acknowledged and embraced it as if it were a powerful and protective coat of armor. Nothing and no one made her inferior to anyone or anything else.

Pulling back her shoulders, she shook off the vivid memories that never went away and stepped forward. She cupped her hand around John’s elbow. “We just came in for morning coffee, Inspector. Maybe you’d like to join us?”

Inspector Garrett continued to look at John. “Your father was a known figure around here, Mr. Jordon. Known for the wrong reasons. I hope you’re not going to give me any concerns while you’re here.”

“Am I being tarred with the same brush already? Just because Kyle and I share a name?”

The hairs on Sasha’s neck quivered. The cool tone of his voice and stiff set of his shoulders screamed of Kyle, yet John’s smooth, upper-class accent and undeterred self-confidence showed someone else entirely. Kyle was easily provoked, his temper a tangible and undeniable aspect of his feared potential for violence. Whereas John’s relaxed, immovable stance showed an equitable man, open to reason and discussion. It drew Sasha to him with a force she neither liked nor wanted.

The inspector tilted her chin. “I’m not the kind of cop who jumps to conclusions, Mr. Jordon. That doesn’t mean the rest of the town won’t.”

He glanced over her head toward the spectators, then at Marian and finally at Sasha. She met his gaze and silently pleaded with him to back down. She didn’t want him to fight the inspector but instead, sit with her and prove himself completely unlike Kyle. He briefly closed his eyes and dropped his shoulders. Sasha’s heart picked up speed as she waited.

He faced the inspector and raised his hands in surrender. “Why don’t you join us? Ask me anything you’d like to know. I’ve nothing to hide.”

Marian sniffed. “Hmm.”

Inspector Garrett shook her head. “I’ve no wish to harangue you, Mr. Jordon. Enjoy your coffee. Now I know you’re in town, I hope I’ve no reason to be anything other than civil should we bump into each other.” She turned to Marian and raised an eyebrow. “I hope the same goes for everyone else, too.”

Marian opened her mouth, her cheeks flame-red with indignation. “But—”

“Because the people of Templeton Cove are good people.” The inspector stared at Marian. “We don’t judge without reason.”

Sasha released her held breath. “Thank you, Inspector. I’ll be working with John at the fair. Feel free to drop by anytime.”

Inspector Garrett drew her gaze slowly over John’s face once more. “Thank you, Sasha. I might just do that. Nice to meet you, Mr. Jordon.” She offered her hand.

John shook it with a curt nod. “You, too.”

When Inspector Garrett gripped Marian’s elbow and steered her toward the counter, Sasha mirrored the action by steering John to their table. She only released him once he sat. She slid into the chair opposite him. “Well, there you go.”

He stared at her, his blue eyes dark with irritation. “What?”

“That’s the reaction you’re going to get around Templeton. Surely you didn’t expect any different when you planned this little tour this morning?”

“How often did my father show his face here? Around town?”

His tone was cold, his eyes somber. The question hadn’t been the first she’d expected. Didn’t he want to know where Marian got off treating him like a second-class citizen? Didn’t he want to know about Inspector Garrett? She lifted her shoulders. “Not much. He was either at Funland or off in his car somewhere.”

“What about his business associates?”

Sasha felt a sudden disquiet and glanced toward the inspector, who stood at the counter waiting for her coffee. Marian shot Sasha another glare and she snapped her gaze to John’s. “I don’t know.”

“You must know something.”

“I don’t.”

Silence descended and the tension escalated. After a long moment and no sign of their coffees, Sasha pushed to her feet. “Let’s go. I don’t feel comfortable talking about Kyle here.”

She made for the door, heedless of the stares of Inspector Garrett, Marian and the other pairs of eyes burning holes in her back. She shouldered past the queue of people filing into the bakery, her emotions torn. Why did she have to care about people so damn much? Why did everything come down to wanting people to be happy and enjoying themselves? When would she reach the jaded age of adulthood when she wouldn’t give a crap about anyone but herself?

She shouldn’t have backed up John—he was big enough to handle himself and from what she’d witnessed so far, nothing shook his cool exterior. She’d never know if he fought daily demons as she did, and for that she was grateful. She liked him, and because of that she prayed that once she had gotten the fair from him, he’d disappear as quickly as he had come. He tugged on something she’d thought stolen from her years ago. He tugged on her need for a man to care about her.

Swallowing hard, Sasha drew in a strengthening breath, drawing her protective cloak around her. The warm July sunshine hit her face as she stepped from beneath the shade of the bakery awning and leaned on the hood of John’s Mercedes. Maybe the sight of her butt on his fancy, expensive car might break his cool. He emerged from the bakery and approached her. He didn’t so much as blink to see her leaning on the hood of his car and instead stepped off the curb. He stood directly in front of her and the parked car behind him.

“Why did you leave like that? It would’ve been beneficial for us to face them out in there. Show it’s us running the fair now, not Kyle.”

She stiffened. “Us, John? Is that what you really think?”

“Don’t you?”

His gaze bored into hers. Sasha’s heart beat wildly, and her hands turned clammy. In all the time Kyle had run her and her granddad’s lives, not once had he indicated they were on the same team, in even the smallest of ways. Funland was Kyle’s, from the dirt on the ground to every lightbulb on every ride. Her heart twisted and she looked away. “Don’t say things like that. You and I both know you couldn’t possibly believe it.”

“Why not? Hey...” He touched his finger to her chin, gently turning her face. “Why not?”

Heat assaulted her cheeks as a bolt of God knew what shot through her body on such intimate and gentle contact. What the hell was he doing? Why was he playing her like this? She pushed away from the hood and marched to the passenger side. More important, why the hell was she letting him? She fisted her hands on her hips. “Open the car. I want to get out of here.”

She glanced past him toward the bakery window. She could practically feel the heat coming through the glass as Marian self-combusted inside.

He stared at her for a moment longer before pulling his keys from his pocket. The locks shunted open, and Sasha yanked the door and got inside. She pulled on her seat belt, her hands shaking. He slid in beside her, and the scent of musk and man rose between them, only to be torn away by the gathering breeze.

He turned the ignition. “We need to talk. Properly.”

“We will.” She stared ahead. “Right now I want to work. Funland needs me, John. The sooner you get that, the better.”

* * *

THE FOLLOWING NIGHT, Sasha entered the Coast Inn and approached the bar. It was Saturday night and the place was busy with patrons, but not so busy that she felt the need to turn around and leave. As desperate as she was to talk with her best friend alone, Sasha also wanted the cover of human bodies should John or Freddy decide they needed a drink as much as she did. This way she and Leah could make a dive for the back door with a better chance of escaping unnoticed.

“What can I get you?”

She plastered on a smile as the bar’s owner came to stand in front of her. “Hi, Dave. Can I get a glass of pinot gris for me and a merlot for Leah?”

“Sure.” He turned to get the bottle of white out of the fridge. “Haven’t seen you here in a while. You okay?” He filled her glass and placed it on a coaster.

Am I okay? Now, there’s a question. She took a sip of her drink. “I’m great. Busy as always.”

He eyed her carefully as he unscrewed the cap of the merlot. “Are you sure about that? I heard Kyle Jordon’s son turned up.”

She met his eyes for a moment before feigning interest in the black-and-white prints of Templeton Cove adorning the wall to the side of her. “Yep.”

“And?”

She faced him. “We’re working it out. I’m getting to know him and he’s getting to know me.”

He placed Leah’s drink on a second coaster and lifted an eyebrow. “Marian said he’s a good-looking chap and she’s watching him. Do I need to watch him, too?”

Sasha smiled and slumped her shoulders. “No. I’ve got it under control. You can simmer down and tell Marian to do the same the next time you see her, okay?”

Dave winked. “You know we’re only looking out for you.”

“I know.” She lifted the drinks from the bar. “It’s appreciated, but John’s all right...considering.”

“Considering what?”

“Considering I’m still giving him the benefit of the doubt.” She smiled. “If at any point I think the guy needs reminding I’ve got the whole of Templeton looking out for me, I’ll let you know.”

He laughed. “I’m always here. You know that.”

She lifted her glass in a salute before turning and heading purposefully to a table as far away as possible from the small dance floor in one corner and the pool table and dart nook in the other. Despite her bravado with Dave, Sasha’s heart hammered with nerves. John Jordon was far from “all right” as far as her body was concerned.

The man was a walking, talking magnet to her libido and that meant trouble whichever way she looked at it.

She was used to mental and emotional knock backs, used to people pulling her from her intended path, but John Jordon was a different challenge than any she’d faced before. His cool blue stare and bright, sudden smile jolted her. Made her waver, doubt and feel. She cursed. Even now, she wanted to smile because she thought of him.

He was...interesting. That was it. Interesting...and phenomenal to look at.

She sat down and stared into the golden depths of her glass, twirling the stem back and forth with her fingers as the past twenty-four hours played through her mind. Once they’d return to work after leaving Marian’s, it became very clear, very quickly, both she and John had individually made the decision to keep their distance. It had been almost comical how they avoided each other, barely sharing more than a sentence or two for the rest of yesterday and all of today.

Freddy brooded and snorted his way around the fair, casting glares at her, John or anyone else in his line of sight. The atmosphere was stretched to breaking with the three of them biding their time to see who would cut the first inch and let some of the pressure escape.

Well, it won’t be me. Not yet. I want to know what both of my opponents have in mind before I decide what to do next. One wrong move and everything I have planned will crash and burn.

The bar door swung open and Sasha lifted her gaze. Leah, her best friend of the past ten years, came striding toward her, seemingly in time with the drumbeat of the soft rock ballad blasting from the speakers. Her blond, short-cropped hair and dark-rimmed glasses belied her friend’s soft nature. At five-three, new patients could’ve made the mistake of thinking Nurse Dixon a pushover...until she showed them who was boss with a syringe inserted into their bare ass cheek.

On a personal level, Leah was more cocker spaniel than rottweiler, but nobody would know that at Templeton A&E.

Her friend collapsed into the chair opposite Sasha, her brow furrowed and her cheeks flushed pink. “Wine. Fabulous.”

Sasha raised her eyebrow as Leah downed a hefty gulp and set the glass down with a satisfied smile. “Ahh, better. Much better.”

“Good day?” Sasha grinned.

Leah pinned Sasha with a glare, her huge hazel eyes glinting with a trace of potential violence. “Just peachy. I had to sew up a kid whose father decided he didn’t like the way his son was taking up so much of his mother’s time. He thumped him and split his eyebrow wide open to prove his point.”

Sasha’s smile dissolved and she gritted her teeth. “You deserve a medal working in the E.R. I’d be more likely to inflict further injury than fix them up.”

“Yeah, well, they train us to fight the urge to exact justice.” Leah took another gulp of wine. “So, what’s up? I love that we get to have a drink on a Saturday night.” She smiled and shifted forward on her seat. “It’s great you’re actually doing something with your night off rather than working.”

Sasha laughed. “You’re not really the person to tell me off for the hours I work.”

Leah grimaced. “Fair enough. So? What’s going on?”

“On? Or wrong?”

“Ah.”

Sasha inhaled a shaky breath and released it. “I’ve got a new boss.”

“What are you talking about?” Leah frowned. “I thought you were going to give Kyle your offer this week. What happened?”

“His son turned up.”

Leah’s eyes widened. “You’re kidding me.”

“I wish I was.”

“Kyle has a son?”

“Yep.”

“Well, what’s he like? Kyle in a younger, uglier form? If that’s possible.”

Sasha sighed. “I wish.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning, he’s the handsomest man I’ve ever seen. All dark hair, blue eyes, built like a freaking model and about seven feet tall. He makes me feel...” Sasha shook her head. “Like a girl.”

Leah’s glass halted at her lips and she slowly returned it to the table. “Uh-oh.”

Sasha closed her eyes, her shoulders slumping under the impending doom of any man stripping her off her tough, tomboy persona. “Exactly.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know.” She opened her eyes. “He’s barely said a word to me since yesterday morning and I’ve no idea what his intentions are. I was so close. So damn close to at least getting Kyle’s attention back on my offer for the fair. Now this happens.”

“What’s his son’s name? Have you told him about the offer?”

Sasha lifted her wine and took a sip. “John. And he knows about the offer. I told him. He also knows Mum hates the place and that I want it.” She stared at her friend. “He asked me why Funland means so much to me. He said it can’t be all about family if Mum wants nothing to do with it.”

Leah’s intense gaze softened with concern. “Your reasons are none of his damn business. All he should be asking about is the money.”

“I know that.”

Leah eased her hand across the table and grasped Sasha’s. She squeezed her fingers. “He doesn’t need to know what happened to you there. Your reasons for wanting Funland have nothing to do with anyone else. You’ve never felt you could even trust your mother to understand what happened and why you want to make it yours, let alone some bloke who’s clearly shaken you up.”

Sasha squeezed Leah’s fingers in return before removing her hand to brush the hair from her face. “Do you think I’m mad?”

“Mad?”

“For wanting Funland. For wanting to make it good again. I know it’s probably completely irrational but, for me, it’s the only way to erase him for good.”

“Hey...” Leah leaned across the table, her gaze intense and full of conviction. “That, my girl, is all that matters. If you owning Funland is the only way for you to deal with what happened to you, so be it. Don’t let anyone tell you you’re wrong. The animal who hurt you was one individual. One bastard who got away with hurting kids and then disappeared off the face of the earth. I believe you can make Funland an amazing place again. Don’t give up, okay?”

Sasha smiled as relief she wasn’t insane shuddered through her. “I’m so glad I’ve got you on my side, you know.”

Leah grinned. “And I’m glad I’ve got you on mine. Between us, we’ve got enough baggage to fill an airport lost-property department, but who cares as long as we’ve got each other’s backs, right?”

“Cheers to that.” Sasha clinked her glass to Leah’s and they each took a sip. She lowered her glass to the table and sighed. “It’s weird. He almost frightens me.”

She frowned. “Who? This John guy?”

Sasha nodded.

“You don’t think he’s dangerous, do you?” Leah’s gaze darkened. “I don’t want you working there if for one minute you think—”

“No. Not in the way you mean. I’ve never...” She swallowed. “I’ve never felt such an instant pull to someone in my life. You know what I’m like with men, what I’ve made myself like with them. He’s...different.” She smiled softly. “I kind of like him.”

Leah raised her eyebrows and leaned back. “Wow.”

“I know. No idea why I should.” Sasha shook her head. “He should be on my hit list, for crying out loud, but there’s something about him. I don’t think he likes Kyle any more than I do. I think he’s hurting, Leah. Really hurting...like me.”

“You mean...”

“I’m not saying he’s been sexually abused. I’m saying he knows hurt, real hurt. He’s got that...thing. That anger, that open wound, and it comes off him in waves.”

For a long moment, Leah said nothing, and Sasha tried not to squirm under her friend’s scrutiny. Eventually, Leah smiled. “I think this guy is here for a reason, but be careful. Just because he stirs something inside you, doesn’t mean he’s not his father.”

Sasha released her held breath as unease quivered up her spine. “I know.” She drained her glass. “Drink up. Tonight we’ll have some fun and come Monday morning, I’ll feel better. I’ll be back to normal and ready to find out for sure what John Jordon’s plans are.”