The Loving Gift

She would get through tonight because she had already accepted Penny and Simon's invitation long before David Kendrick's arrival, but after that she was determined to stay away from the Kendrick family for the duration of David's visit.

‘You remind me of someone, you know,’ he suddenly said into the darkness, startling Jade out of the hypnotic dream she had fallen into as she watched the snow gently falling against the windscreen.

It was perhaps as well that he couldn't see how pale she had become in the darkness. No one had recognised her since she had come to this quiet little village, her role as a local teacher deflecting questions about her personal life to a certain degree. And now this man, a man who had done nothing but disturb and upset her from the first, claimed to know her.

‘She gave me a black eye at our first meeting, too,’ he continued musingly.

Jade had guiltily noticed that slight discoloration about his eye on his arrival, but had been too embarrassed—and angry!—about the whole incident to bring attention to it.

She gave an irritated frown now, still disturbed by his claim of recognising her. ‘Who did?’ she asked distractedly.

She didn't want to move on from this job until she had to; she loved the school and the pupils. And yet David Kendrick could leave her with no choice.

He gave her an indulgent smile before his attention returned to the road in front of them, that brief glance not seeming to have revealed the paleness of her cheeks to him. ‘The lovely lady you remind me of,’ he answered shruggingly.

Jade's frown deepened, and then her expression cleared with some relief as the significance of his words struck her. ‘You have someone specific in mind?’ she realised slowly.

‘Oh, yes.’ He grinned his satisfaction at having her undivided attention now. ‘As I said, she slapped my face at our first meeting, too.’ He shot her a triumphant smile. ‘And a week later I married her!'

CHAPTER THREE (#u8c3da91a-0abe-5b24-a77d-92a3eb2b51f8)

JADE gaped at him, couldn't do anything else in the circumstances. If he had married this other woman, then what—– God, he was deranged, and once this other woman had realised that she had obviously opted out of the situation. And who could blame her?

‘All that proves,’ she snapped waspishly, ‘is that you're a consistently annoying man!'

He chuckled softly. ‘Sara often thought so. But she always forgave me.’ He quirked his brows questioningly. ‘Are you going to do the same?'

She looked at him uncertainly.

He gave a rueful smile. ‘You were right about my behaviour earlier—it was outrageous, and I am ashamed of myself.'

Jade sighed. ‘That's something, at least,’ she said tartly.

He nodded. ‘Of course, it doesn't change the fact that I do want to marry you,’ he told her lightly.

‘Wouldn't Sara have something to say about that?’ Her sarcasm was unmistakable.

‘Sara's dead,’ he explained softly. ‘She has been for a number of years. And please don't apologise,’ he drawled. ‘It really was years ago.'

Jade's cheeks still burnt from the gaffe, burning anew at his mocking acknowledgement of it. How could she have even guessed that his wife had died, especially as she must have been relatively young? Oh, hell, she should have at least thought of the possibility. Now she really did feel as if she should apologise, which was exactly the disadvantage David Kendrick wanted to put her at, she felt sure. Not that his regret over his wife's death wasn't genuine, she felt certain it was; he was just mischievous enough to enjoy her discomfort, whatever the reason.

‘That's how I knew the slap was a sign,’ David Kendrick continued with satisfaction. ‘Especially when the second one resulted in this.’ He ran triumphant fingertips over the slight bruising at his eye.

Jade frowned, wishing the journey over so that at least Penny and Simon could act as a buffer between her and this strange man. ‘A sign?’ she repeated warily.

‘That Sara knew and approved of the instantaneous attraction I felt towards you,’ he nodded. ‘That she understood the time had come for that “other door to open” in my life, that she even accepted you.'

Understood and accepted—–? Dead women didn't give their husbands ‘signs’ like that! Besides, she didn't like the idea of possibly being instrumental in that ‘sign'—it made her feel uncomfortable, to say the least. The very least!

‘There's only one problem with that notion,’ she bit out sharply. ‘I have no wish to be in your life.'

He grimaced. ‘After the stunt I pulled earlier by not instantly correcting you over the mistaken identity, I'm not surprised, but—'

‘What were you doing playing Father Christmas instead of Simon?’ Curiosity got the better of her.

‘Surprising Penny,’ he explained ruefully.

Remembering how pale the other woman had gone when she had instantly realised the man behind the Father Christmas suit wasn't her husband but his younger brother, she would say he had succeeded very well in achieving that!

He sighed, undeterred by Jade's silence. ‘You see, we haven't seen each other for—a number of years. My fault, I'm afraid,’ he admitted heavily. ‘But when the two people you love most in the world remind you too painfully of the one person you ever loved more than them, the easiest—and probably the hardest, too!—thing to do is put them out of your life at the same time as you block out the pain of losing that special someone you loved.'

Jade felt as if she were being privileged with an insight into this man very few people were ever honoured with. And she, of all people, didn't want it, drew back from the intimacy of the confidence.

‘That's understandable,’ she dismissed stiffly, once again wishing the journey over.

David's mouth twisted. ‘Fortunately Penny and Simon feel the same way about it that you do—otherwise my surprise could have ruined more than one Christmas.'

And instead only her own plans for the festive season seemed to have been affected. The Kendricks had invited her to spend several pre-Christmas celebrations with them during the next few days, but with David Kendrick obviously now in on those invitations too… She would rather go back to her original plan of spending a quiet few weeks with Wellington than deliberately thrusting herself into this man's company.

‘We all used to spend so much time together,’ David murmured absently, obviously deeply lost in thought. ‘Penny and Simon, Sara and me.’ He gave a wistful sigh. ‘Penny and Sara were more like sisters.'

‘I was at college with Penny's younger sister,’ Jade blurted out as a change of subject, knowing she hadn't quite succeeded when David smiled his satisfaction.

‘Penny somehow seems to have a natural affinity with the women I'm going to marry,’ he said with satisfaction.

‘How many of us were there at the last count?’ she felt stung into retorting.

David gave her a reproving look. ‘Do I look like the sort of man who's had a string of wives?'

He looked like the sort of man who had never given marriage a thought, the perennial bachelor, in fact. But that could be because, by his own admission, his marriage to Sara had been so long ago.

Jade sighed. ‘You look like the sort of man who has had a string of women in his life,’ she taunted challengingly.

His expression became completely serious, those deep blue eyes looking almost black in the darkness. ‘A few,’ he admitted thoughtfully. ‘Although not necessarily in the way you mean.’ He smiled, as if he couldn't help himself. ‘Ask me to introduce you to Dizzy and Christi some time. They are the only two women who have been in my life for some time.'