Tangled Hearts

‘It certainly wasn’t your father,’ she snapped. ‘If it had been I would have known how to deal with him. This man sounded like an all-in-wrestler and heavy-weight boxer rolled into one—–’

‘Dennis,’ Jason said knowingly.

‘Dennis?’ she repeated incredulously, trying to see the owner of that voice answering to such a name—and failing. Killer, sounded more appropriate! But he must have been a baby once; how could his mother be expected to know he would grow up to resemble a gorilla?

‘What did he say to you?’ Jason’s eyes were narrowed questioningly.

She was about to launch into a word-for-word account of the conversation when she remembered what Dennis had said about Garrett being very angry concerning Jason’s disappearance. She had no idea when Garrett was going to come for his son, and she didn’t see why Jason should be in a state of apprehension until he did deign to do so.

‘I just didn’t like his manner,’ she avoided. ‘But he said he would let your father know you’re staying with us.’

Jason frowned. ‘He didn’t say anything else?’

She gave a rueful smile. ‘I’m afraid I didn’t give him chance to; I slammed the phone down!’

Jason raised amused brows. ‘I bet Dennis just loved that!’

‘I really couldn’t give a—care less about what Dennis loves,’ she dismissed. ‘Now, how about the two of you helping me get a meal ready, and then we can all sit down and have a chat?’

They had fun all crowded together in the kitchen, tripping over each other most of the time. Jason was a little uncertain what to do at first, which reminded Sarah that he probably didn’t do any of these things for himself at home, that Garrett Kingham probably had a houseful of servants to do things for them. Jason seemed to find it all the more fun because of that.

It was an enjoyable meal, her father in his element with his grandson there, the two of them managing to draw out more information about Jason’s life with his father without being too obvious about it. He certainly didn’t sound like an underprivileged child, but his visit here today meant he obviously felt something was missing from his life. Sarah only hoped Garrett Kingham realised that was his reason for coming here before venting his ‘anger’ on anyone.

If Jason found their cottage cramped after the spacious luxury he was used to he didn’t show it, and was already sleeping like a baby by the time Sarah checked on him on the way to her own bed. Her father had gone up to his room at the same time Jason had, mainly, Sarah was sure, because he didn’t want any more lectures on how irresponsible his behaviour had been concerning Jason. Jason had acted impetuously, but her father had known better than to agree without first consulting Garrett, and he knew it; Sarah considered she had said enough on the subject to make him realise that.

She smiled indulgently as she prepared for bed. Her father really was incorrigible! He—–She fastened her robe over her cotton pyjamas as she heard the sound of a car stopping outside; it was almost midnight!

It was a clear night, and silhouetted against the moonlight was the tall figure of a man with silver-blond hair. Garrett Kingham…

CHAPTER TWO (#ub75454b9-2b46-5771-86ab-035bd6b05fbf)

WELL, she had told Dennis to tell him that if he wanted Jason he was going to have to come and get him, Sarah thought ruefully as she hurried down the stairs to answer his thunderous knocking on the door before he woke her father and Jason up too; she just hadn’t expected him to get here this quickly!

She unlocked the door, barely having time to pull back the bolt at the top before the door was pushed open and Garrett Kingham strode inside without giving her so much as a second glance; the first one had been enough, ripping into her! He certainly hadn’t changed, she acknowledged as she closed the door behind him and followed him through to the sitting-room.

He was so tall he made the room seem smaller than ever, his silver-blond hair brushing against the ceiling, the width of his shoulders completely blocking her view of the painting that stood over the fireplace behind him. Green eyes narrowed as he looked at her coldly, his nostrils flared, his mouth tight. And it was still the most handsome face Sarah had ever seen, powerful and magnetic, his muscled body exuding the same power in the black shirt and black fitted denims.

As he silently continued to look at her Sarah began to shift uncomfortably. Her knee-length cotton robe matched the blue pyjamas she wore beneath it, her hair was soft and silky after its nightly brushing. She felt sixteen again, and she knew she probably looked it!

‘As instructed,’ he finally bit out. ‘I’ve come for my son.’

Like icy fragments his voice cut into her. She drew herself up to her full height of five feet two inches. ‘Jason is asleep upstairs,’ she informed him haughtily. ‘Maybe if you had arrived at a respectable time instead of—–’

‘I had to fly down from Scotland before coming the rest of the way by car,’ he rasped.

‘Oh yes,’ she taunted. ‘You left Jason alone in London while you went away on business.’

Garrett’s gaze didn’t falter, not a muscle moved in his face, and yet the anger emanating from him now seemed more intense. ‘Jason wasn’t alone,’ he told her coldly.

‘Oh no, of course he wasn’t, he had Dennis with him,’ she scorned. ‘He must be a delightful companion for a fifteen-year-old boy!’

‘Jason is hardly a boy any longer,’ Garrett bit out stiffly. ‘And Dennis isn’t supposed to be his companion!’

Looking at him now, Sarah could easily see how Amanda had initially fallen in love with this man. It also wasn’t difficult to see why he had made Amanda so unhappy after their marriage; he had the surface attraction to entice any woman, it was only on the inside that he was cold and empty, unable to love.

‘Nevertheless, you left Jason alone with him in a hotel in London—–’

‘Not that I have to explain my actions to you,’ Garrett looked at her coldly, ‘but I asked Jason to go up to Scotland with me, and he declined in favour of sightseeing in London.’

Sarah gave a perplexed frown. She doubted Garrett felt the need to lie about his motives to her, which meant that Jason had—–But no, he hadn’t actually said his father had left him in London either, only that he was sick of sitting in a hotel room; she had just assumed—–Maybe in future, with her dislike of Garrett so intense, it would be better if she didn’t assume anything about him.

‘I must have misunderstood him,’ she avoided awkwardly. ‘But that still doesn’t excuse the fact that you left him with that—–’

‘I left him with his bodyguard,’ Garrett cut in arrogantly. ‘As I always do when I’m unable to be with him myself.’

‘Bodyguard?’ Sarah repeated shakily, suddenly pale. ‘Why on earth would Jason need a bodyguard?’

Garrett’s mouth twisted. ‘Because he comes from a rich family—–’

‘A rich and powerful family,’ she amended flatly.

‘And powerful,’ he acknowledged with an inclination of his head. ‘And because kidnapping the children of the rich and powerful for ransom seems to be in fashion in the States at the moment.’

Sarah swallowed hard. ‘Then when I telephoned earlier Dennis must have thought, you must all have thought—–’

‘That Jason had been kidnapped and you were telephoning with the ransom demand, yes,’ Garrett confirmed grimly. ‘It was all I could do to prevent Dennis from coming here with me once he had relayed your message to me and I told him I knew where Jason was; he thought you were trying to lure me into a trap,’ he derided.

The thought of some six-and-a-half-foot muscle-man demanding entrance to her home made her feel ill.

‘But I assured him you were only my sister-in-law,’ Garrett taunted at her sickly pallor. ‘And that Jason had decided to pay you an unscheduled visit.’

Her eyes flashed angrily, a flush to her cheeks now. ‘How could a visit to us from Jason be anything but unscheduled?’

His mouth thinned. ‘Jason has never shown the slightest inclination before to visit you and your father.’

‘Well, obviously he now feels differently about that,’ she snapped, unable to subdue the antagonism she always felt around this man.

‘Without asking my permission,’ his father rasped harshly.

‘Does he have to ask your permission for everything he does?’ she challenged.

Green eyes ripped into her coldly. ‘Jason is still only fifteen years old, and I think taking off on a whim is a little more serious than asking to go to the damned bathroom!’

He was right, of course he was right, Jason should never have just left the way he had and worried everyone. But it was the way Garrett called Jason visiting her father and her a ‘whim’ that rankled! ‘I realise he shouldn’t have done this quite the way that he did, but I also—–’

‘How magnanimous of you,’ Garrett drawled.

She flashed him a look of intense dislike. ‘But maybe if he felt close enough to you to be able to talk to you he could have told you how curious he felt about us!’ she snapped.