‘Meaning that you should be heading home?’
Jess felt her stomach sink. She didn’t want to leave him—didn’t want to go back to her empty life in Sandton. She wanted to stay at St Sylve... She had thought this through: if Luke asked her to stay she’d open another branch of Jess Sherwood Concepts in Cape Town, leaving Ally to run the Sandton branch.
She could have a remote office at St Sylve...what was the point of wonderful technology like video conferencing and e-mail if one didn’t use it?
She’d miss her family, but being with Luke was non-negotiable.
‘I don’t know how I am going to leave him, Clem. If he doesn’t ask me to stay it’s going to break my heart...’
Jess looked up as the door to the coffee shop chimed and a tall woman her own age walked through the door. The first of Luke’s family...she couldn’t wait to meet the rest.
‘I’ve got to go, Clemmie. Love you.’
‘Love you too. Call me if you need me.’
* * *
Good news, good news—she couldn’t wait to tell Luke. As she’d suspected, he had the very wrong end of the stick.
Jess flexed her hands on the wheel and eased up on the accelerator. As eager as she was to get home, she couldn’t risk speeding along these windy roads, slick with incessant rain. The skies had opened up just as she’d left Lambert’s Bay and the rain had followed her all the way to Paarl, and it obviously had no intention of stopping any time soon.
Jess drove her SUV through St Sylve’s imposing gates and noticed that a dark green Mercedes Benz was parked outside Luke’s front door. She wrinkled her nose. Luke had said that he’d be in meetings most of the day, and she hoped that his appointments hadn’t run over and that he’d be finished at a reasonable time.
She had plans for him this evening...
Jess grabbed the envelope and CD that lay on the passenger seat, tucked them into the folds of the newspaper she’d bought earlier and, deciding that her bag and files could wait, ducked out of the car and sprinted as best she could in her high-heeled boots. The door opened as she grabbed the handle and she stumbled into Luke’s hard chest.
‘Jess!’
Jess dropped the newspaper and on a laugh flung her arms around his neck and planted her mouth on his. ‘Oh, it’s so good to see you. I’ve missed you so much.’
He grinned down at her. ‘I saw you this morning, but that is nice to hear.’
Jess laughed into his bemused face, then caught a movement on the stairs. Her blood turned to ice as she saw Kelly drifting down the stairs, barefoot and wearing only Luke’s favourite rugby jersey—her favourite rugby jersey. Jess dropped her hands and stepped back. Kelly’s hair was tangled and her make-up was smudged. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that at some point in the afternoon Luke had removed Kelly’s clothes. As for anything more than that—she couldn’t go there... Jess felt as if someone had shoved a red-hot poker in her stomach.
Luke followed her horrified stare and his muttered oath barely penetrated the roaring in her head. ‘You’ve got to be kidding me!’
Then the red mist cleared from her mind and she shook her head. This is Luke, she told herself, the man who says he doesn’t cheat, ever. He wouldn’t do that to her. She trusted him.
Seeing Luke’s thunderous glare, directed right at her, she knew she had to rescue the situation as quickly as she could. So she took a step forward and met Kelly at the bottom of the stairs.
‘Hi—it’s Kelly, isn’t it? Did you get caught in the storm?’
Kelly, who’d been looking rather nervous, sent her a smile. ‘I did. I was here to buy some wine. Luke, Owen and I were walking back from the cellar and we got caught in the rain.’
‘Hey, Jess!’
Owen’s voice drifted from the lounge and Jess briefly closed her eyes. Thank God she’d hadn’t gone nuts and accused Luke of cheating...
‘Luke lent me a pair of your running shorts. I hope you don’t mind.’ Kelly lifted up the edge of the rugby shirt and Jess saw her own shorts.
She told Kelly she didn’t mind at all and watched as Kelly walked back into the lounge.
Jess started to follow her, but Luke’s hand on her arm kept her in place. ‘You thought that I slept with Kelly,’ he hissed.
She thought about denying it but Luke would see right through her. She met his hard eyes and sighed. He was ticked...and he had a right to be. An apology was needed. Why did she keep putting herself in these positions?
She held up her hands. ‘Habit reaction...’ His expression didn’t change and she sighed. ‘Come on, Luke. I reacted, I realised I was wrong and then I tried to correct it. I’m sorry I doubted you but it really was for only a second.’