Engrossed in her painful thoughts, she was manoeuvred through the door and out on to the patio before she realised what was happening.
As she tugged her arm away from his grip, her toes, exposed by her flimsy sandals, were caught painfully by the flaking edge of one of the bricks. She lost her balance slightly and would have stumbled if Jonas hadn’t caught her.
The moment his arms went round her she froze. It was happening again. The moment he touched her she could feel the rivulets of fire building up inside her.
‘I don’t know what it is about you,’ he teased against her ear, ‘but every time I get you in my arms…’
‘Let go of me…’ Her voice was husky and impassioned, her mind revolting against the thought that her body dared to feel such inappropriate desire.
‘How long has it been since the accident?’
The question caught her off guard, and she had replied before she could stop herself.
‘Eighteen months?’ Jonas released her, standing back a little from her so that he could look into her face. ‘And you’re still mourning him, aren’t you?’
His voice was unexpectedly gentle, filling her with a need to lash out at him. She didn’t want his sympathy.
‘I’ll always mourn him,’ she told him bitingly.
She heard him sigh, his face tightening slightly. He stepped back from her and crouched down on the patio, examining the flaking bricks.
‘This will have to come up before the winter, otherwise it will deteriorate even further.’
‘Come up?’ Sara was shocked. ‘No… I want it to stay. It’s lovely.’
‘It’s crumbling away and it’s dangerous. What would have happened if that had been Sam who stumbled just then?’
The logical force of his argument couldn’t be denied.
‘Nothing lasts for ever,’ he told her curtly, and Sara had the impression he wasn’t merely talking about the bricks. If he was trying to tell her that she couldn’t spend the rest of her life mourning for Rick, he was wrong. She could, and she fully intended to do so.
A sharp tap on the window startled her and she turned round to discover Vanessa beckoning them inside.
‘I think we’ve trespassed on your hospitality long enough for one evening,’ she said warmly to Sara as she and Jonas walked back in. ‘I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed the meal. All three of you must come and eat with us next time, although I can’t promise anything very exciting.’
It struck Sara quite forcibly that her discussion with Sam had totally eased away nearly all of Vanessa’s earlier uncertainty, and she looked thoughtfully across at her brother, who was smiling affectionately at their blonde visitor.
A sound from upstairs made Sara frown, ‘That’s Carly,’ she pronounced. ‘She isn’t completely used to her new surroundings yet, and she tends to wake up during the night. I’ll go up and check on her.’
‘I’d like to come with you, if I may. That’s if a strange face won’t frighten her?’
‘When it’s as pretty as yours?’ Sam teased. ‘Well, I certainly wouldn’t be frightened by waking up to it.’
The words held a subtle sexuality that made Vanessa’s fair skin flush. Automatically Sara glanced across the room to Jonas, who responded to her by lifting his eyebrows, his mouth curling slightly as though to say, ‘I told you so.’
‘No…come on up.’
Carly was sitting up in bed rubbing her eyes, her hair curling untidily round her head. She beamed a delighted smile at Sara as she opened the door, her eyes rounding slightly as she saw Vanessa.
‘My teddy fell off the bed, and I think he’s hurt his head,’ she announced, speaking to Sara but looking at Vanessa.
Trying to sound severe, Sara teased, ‘Fell off? I think you mean a certain little girl kicked him off in her sleep don’t you?’
Carly giggled and smiled at Vanessa.
‘You’ve got very pretty hair,’ she told her frankly. ‘It’s the same colour as my mummy’s was, isn’t it, Sara?’
Sara was never quite sure how much Carly remembered of her life before the accident, but she and Sam made it a rule to allow her to talk as freely about her mother as she wished, without encouraging her to do so in any way that was morbid.