The Diamond Bride Read online

  ‘Horses and cars,’ Rufus said dryly. ‘You don’t have a lot of luck, do you?’

  Especially where men were concerned, she inwardly groaned. And they were conducting this conversation in the bathroom, of all places!

  ‘Not a lot,’ she acknowledged weakly, sidestepping out of the room.

  Rufus followed her out into the hallway. ‘Do you remember the way to your bedroom? I didn’t know if you had a geographical problem, too,’ he added at her puzzled expression.

  Annie sensed that he was laughing at her, although she could tell nothing from his expression as he met her gaze with that left brow raised enigmatically. That was enough in itself to tell her he was indeed mocking her.

  ‘No, only horses and cars,’ she snapped. ‘I’ll feel better in the morning.’ She would make sure that she did! A severe self-talking-to was what she needed. And it was what she was going to get, too! ‘If you’ll excuse me…?’ She turned in the direction of the bedroom she would be occupying during her stay here.

  ‘Annie?’

  She stopped as Rufus softly called her name, turning reluctantly to look at him. ‘Yes?’ she said warily.

  He looked so handsome standing there, still wearing the black shirt and blue denims he had worn for the drive down here—he hadn’t had time to change before eating, after concluding his telephone call. To Margaret…

  He grinned that heart-stopping grin. ‘Goodnight,’ he said.

  ‘Goodnight,’ she returned abruptly, turning quickly now and making good her escape before he could delay her any further.

  She checked on Jessica before going to bed herself. The little girl was fast asleep, curled up into a ball in the bed, a half-smile of contentment on her lips. The sleep of the innocent…

  Well, she, Annie, was still an innocent too, she decided once she reached the privacy of her bedroom. She should have realised Rufus’s concern over Margaret’s departure had been too extreme to be about the simple leaving of an employee. Even Anthony, completely self-centred as he was, had questioned Rufus’s interest in it.

  Rufus and the unknown Margaret…

  Oh, she had realised that Rufus would have been involved with other women since his wife died; he was too virile a man for it to be any other way. Especially if, as Anthony had implied, he and Joanne hadn’t been particularly happy together. But Annie just hadn’t realised Jessica’s previous nanny had been one of those women. And from the way Rufus was still pursuing Margaret it was far from over as far as he was concerned!

  The laughter, the banter, the kisses that they had shared—all meant nothing. Not to Rufus, anyway…

  As far as her own feelings were concerned, the sooner Rufus disappeared on another assignment the better!

  If he wasn’t around, a constant reminder of the feelings she had for him, then surely, with time, she would get over him?

  She certainly hoped so! In fact, she was determined that she would. From tomorrow morning onwards she would make sure their relationship stayed strictly within the boundaries of employer and employee.

  That decision made, she fell asleep. Maybe not as innocently and trouble-free as Jessica, but she was so tired that she did sleep.

  She had overslept!

  The clock face on the bedside radio alarm read nine-fifteen! She couldn’t remember the last time she had slept as late as this. What on earth was Rufus going to think of her tardiness? At this rate she was going to be sacked!

  She dressed hurriedly in denims and a burnt-orange-coloured jumper, the latter making her hair appear an even deeper red than usual. There was no time for any make-up, and she only ran her brush quickly through her hair before hurrying out to the kitchen. Jessica would be wanting her breakfast, Rufus too, if last night’s description of his culinary skills was anything to go by. They would—

  The large piece of paper attached by a magnet to the front of the refrigerator door read, ‘I’ve taken Jessica to the park. Help yourself to breakfast. Hope you slept well.’ It was signed ‘Rufus’.

  Annie sat down abruptly at the kitchen table; all her haste had been unnecessary. Jessica wasn’t even here to be looked after. Annie wasn’t altogether sure that last remark on Rufus’s note, about sleeping well, wasn’t sarcastic…

  She found herself looking down at the piece of paper, which she had taken down from the fridge door. It was the first time she had seen Rufus’s handwriting, and she found herself studying it. It was large and strong, the R at the beginning of Rufus written with a flourish. It was rather like the man himself, big and slightly overwhelming, larger than life.

  The apartment seemed very empty without him in it. And Jessica too, of course. But it was Rufus she really missed. He had only gone to the park and she missed him. And last night she had decided the sooner he went away the better!

  She groaned, burying her face in her hands. She was in love with Rufus!

  What she had felt towards Anthony was nothing compared to the emotions surging through her for Rufus. And he was just as out of reach as Anthony had been, also had another woman in his life—

  She almost fell off the chair in surprise as the telephone on the kitchen wall began to ring!

  She simply looked at it for several seconds; should she answer it or not? It was Rufus’s telephone, and the call would obviously be for him. But it could be an emergency. It could even be Rufus himself, telephoning because something had happened to Jessica.

  She had to answer it!

  ‘Rufus Diamond’s residence.’ She spoke stiltedly into the mouthpiece, tightly gripping the receiver to her ear.

  There was silence on the other end of the line for several awkward seconds, telling Annie that the caller was as stunned to hear a female voice on the line as Annie had been reluctant to answer the call at all!

  ‘Could I talk to Rufus, please?’ The accent was Irish, the voice slightly husky—and definitely female.

  Which only increased Annie’s nervousness. Surely this wasn’t another one? Rufus gave such an impression of being relaxed with himself and confident, but surely he couldn’t be that relaxed or confident if there were a number of different women in his life? What if they all decided to turn up at his apartment at the same time? What if, like now, one of those women answered a call from one of the others…?

  ‘Er—not at the moment,’ Annie answered evasively, not at all comfortable with this conversation. ‘He’s taken Jessica to the park.’ Surely it was all right to mention Rufus’s daughter? Although, from the way he usually lived here alone, a lot of people probably didn’t even know he had a daughter. Maybe this woman didn’t know—

  ‘How is she?’ The woman’s voice softened affectionately as she spoke of the little girl.

  Not only did this woman know of Jessica, she had obviously met her!

  ‘Very well,’ Annie answered sharply—she registered the slightly possessive note in her own voice. But she couldn’t help the way she felt, both Jessica and Rufus having become so very important to her.

  ‘That’s good,’ the woman returned just as briskly. ‘And would you be the housekeeper?’

  Annie bristled. ‘No, I wouldn’t be the housekeeper,’ she answered quickly, at the same time having no intention of saying who she was. ‘Can I take a message?’ she offered abruptly.

  ‘If you wouldn’t mind,’ the woman accepted mildly, telling Annie her resentment had been felt—and reacted to.

  She sighed. ‘No, I wouldn’t mind.’

  ‘Would you tell Rufus that Margaret called? That I’ll be at home for the rest of the day if he would like to call me back when he gets in?’

  Annie barely heard the last bit of the message; the name Margaret was the only thing that had really registered. This was Jessica’s ex-nanny, the woman Rufus had tried so desperately to talk to the evening before?

  She swallowed hard. ‘I’ll tell him.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Margaret returned gratefully. ‘And say hello to Jessica for me, and give her my love,’ she added before ringing off.<
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  Annie sat down again. She didn’t want to give Rufus the message. And she didn’t want to pass on Margaret’s love to Jessica, either!

  Which was ridiculous. If she didn’t tell Rufus about the call, so that he couldn’t return it, then Margaret was sure to telephone again. And then Annie would look a complete fool for not telling him Margaret had called this morning while he was out! But she wasn’t even sure she could say the words, thought they might possibly choke her!

  She could always write it down, and just hand the message to Rufus… The piece of paper on which he had written his note to her was still on the kitchen table…

  Coward, she admonished herself as she hastily scribbled Margaret’s message down. But she couldn’t help that; with her own newly recognised feelings for Rufus, to tell him of another woman’s telephone call would hurt her deeply.

  After writing down the message she busied herself unstacking the dishwasher, filled with crockery from dinner last night, had almost finished putting the things away in the cupboards when she heard Rufus’s key in the door followed by Jessica’s happy chatter.

  ‘You’re up, Annie.’ Rufus seemed surprised to see her in the kitchen.

  Her mouth twisted wryly. ‘It is after ten o’clock. I’m sorry I overslept.’ Even as she made the apology she was helping Jessica off with her coat. ‘I don’t usually. I can’t remember the last time I—’

  ‘I wasn’t criticising,’ Rufus cut in gently. ‘Merely making an observation. We had a great time at the park, didn’t we, Tuppence?’ He ruffled Jessica’s already windblown hair.

  Without Annie. She was starting to feel superfluous. And not a little sorry for herself too, she acknowledged painfully. She loved this man, and his daughter, so much, and one day she would have to leave both of them. Sooner rather than later, if Rufus’s determination where Margaret was concerned was anything to go by!

  ‘We had fun.’ Jessica grinned in agreement, her cheeks flushed with the exercise.

  ‘You’re probably both cold.’ Annie was aware that she sounded a little stilted, but she couldn’t help that, either, she suddenly felt very uncomfortable in Rufus’s company. ‘Would you like a hot drink? I promise to only put three teabags in the pot,’ she added as an attempt at a joke.

  Rufus sat on the stool next to Jessica at the breakfast-bar. ‘What about the “one for the pot”?’ he teased, seeming to be looking at her rather intently.

  Which was probably just her imagination; it only felt as if she had the words ‘I love Rufus Diamond’ emblazoned across her forehead, it wasn’t actually a fact! Rufus couldn’t possibly know how she felt about him. And it was up to her to make sure he never did.

  ‘I’m not having a cup of tea.’ she answered him dismissively. ‘I thought I would just tidy the bedrooms while the two of you drank yours,’ she explained. She had left her bedroom so hurriedly this morning she hadn’t even taken the time to make her bed! Now seemed as good a time as any to go and do that.

  Rufus was still watching her, his eyes narrowed darkly. ‘The bedrooms can wait,’ he said slowly. ‘Anyway, Jess and I have already done ours. Sit down and have a cup of tea with us.’ He leant over and dropped another teabag into the pot she was in the process of filling with boiling water.

  She didn’t want to sit down and drink a cup of tea with him! Actually, being in his presence at the moment just made her more jittery than she had been earlier when she’d realised how she felt about him. She needed time alone to pull herself together…

  She shook her head. ‘I really would like to go and tidy my bedroom.’ She couldn’t quite meet Rufus’s gaze; it might be the undoing of her fragile control if she did! ‘The tea is in the pot ready to be poured, and—’

  ‘We don’t want twins, do we?’ Rufus told her.

  She frowned across at him. ‘Twins?’ she echoed in a puzzled voice.

  He nodded. ‘I was always told that the person who made the tea should also be the one to pour it, otherwise one of the two people will have twins!’ He met her eyes innocently. ‘It’s an old wives’ tale.’

  ‘I think it’s just an excuse for Daddy not to have to pour the tea!’ Jessica exclaimed knowingly.

  ‘So do I,’ Annie agreed. ‘And I don’t know any old wives, so I’ve never heard that particular tale, either,’ she told Rufus sceptically.

  His mouth twisted ruefully. ‘Does that mean I get to pour the tea?’

  ‘I think so,’ Annie nodded. ‘And I wouldn’t leave it too much longer before you do it, either, otherwise it will be stewed.’ She walked to the door. ‘Oh, by the way…’ She turned casually back to Rufus—as casually as she was able to on legs that suddenly seemed to be shaking. ‘There’s a telephone message for you on the table.’ She deliberately made her voice light.

  ‘There is?’ He frowned, hurriedly moving to pick up the piece of paper, quickly scanning the message Annie had written there—so quickly that Annie hadn’t even had time to make good her escape when he looked up again! ‘When did she call?’ he demanded.

  Annie swallowed hard. ‘About half an hour ago.’

  ‘Damn!’ He crumpled the piece of paper savagely in his hand. ‘I have to go out soon, so could you two girls amuse yourselves for a while?’ It was a statement rather than a question, his thoughts already elsewhere.

  To see Margaret, Annie guessed heavily. Because she had no doubt that was where he was going. He wasn’t going to return the other woman’s telephone call at all, but was going to see her in person!

  ‘There’s plenty of food in the fridge for lunch,’ he assured them.

  ‘I’m sure we’ll manage,’ Annie told him distantly.

  Rufus looked up at her sharply, obviously sensing her coolness. ‘What, exactly, did she say?’ he asked shrewdly.

  Annie deliberately kept her face expressionless. ‘Once she realised that you weren’t at home, exactly what I’ve written down there.’ She didn’t mention, as he hadn’t, who ‘she’ was, sensing that he didn’t want to talk of Margaret in front of Jessica. She had no idea why not, unless he just didn’t want a lot of questions from his daughter concerning her previous nanny, but it suited Annie not to mention the other woman too. She was starting to hate Margaret even though she had never even met her!

  He nodded, his expression distracted once again. ‘Off you go to your room and do whatever it is you need to do while Jess and I drink our tea, and then I’ll go out.’

  He could hardly wait to be gone, Annie acknowledged miserably as she went slowly to her bedroom. Or, at least, he couldn’t wait to see Margaret again…

  Annie sat down on the bed once she had made it, battling with feelings of jealousy that she had never known before. She hadn’t even been jealous of Davina once she’d realised she was Anthony’s fiancée, just disappointed that Anthony seemed to be trapped in an engagement he hadn’t the courage to get out of. But she had learnt the real truth of that when Anthony had offered her the role of mistress in his life! Now she pitied Davina more than anything else.

  Margaret, however, was a different matter. She had actually sounded nice on the telephone, which made disliking her all the more difficult. And yet Annie was so jealous of Rufus’s obvious desire to see the other woman again that she was having trouble breathing.

  But she certainly couldn’t hide out here in her bedroom indefinitely, would have to go back to the kitchen and take care of Jessica while her father went out. To see Margaret…

  Oh, God! She buried her face in her hands as she cried; surely loving someone wasn’t supposed to be as painful as this? Laughter and pain… She had never thought of the two emotions in the same context before, but Rufus made her laugh, and at the same time the pain of loving him, when he didn’t return the emotion, was unbearable!

  What was she going to do?

  What could she do? She didn’t want to leave Jessica. And in all honesty, even though her love wasn’t returned, she didn’t want to leave Rufus either! But if Margaret came back into Rufus’s life, po
ssibly took over the care of Jessica again as well, then Annie might not have any choice in the matter. But until that time—

  ‘Annie?’ Rufus knocked on the bedroom door as he called her name.

  She stood up, wiping all sign of tears from her cheeks as she moved to open the bedroom door. ‘Yes?’ she replied. ‘Do you want to go now?’

  ‘As soon as I’ve changed,’ he said, studying her closely. ‘Are you feeling any better than you did last night? Because, to be honest, you don’t look better,’ he told her before she could answer him.

  ‘Thanks!’ she returned tartly. ‘You really know how to make a woman feel good!’ She really had to start behaving more naturally around him, and the best way to do that, she decided, was to return his banter. Margaret wasn’t back in this life yet, and until she was… All was fair in love and war, wasn’t it…?

  ‘I certainly hope so!’ He grinned unabashedly and her cheeks reddened as he neatly turned the comment back to her.

  Annie’s mouth twisted wryly. ‘Don’t worry about Jessica and me,’ she told him lightly. ‘I’m sure we’ll be just fine while you’re out.’

  He sobered and nodded grimly. ‘I shouldn’t be long.’

  On the surface Annie found she was fine as she and Jessica decided to bake some cakes to pass the time. It was only inside where she let her thoughts wander to wonder how Rufus was doing with the other woman…

  There weren’t half the ingredients they needed to make the cakes, and the finished products looked far from appetising, but the two of them had had a lot of fun making them, which was really the whole point of the exercise.

  ‘The real test is in the tasting,’ Annie pressed the young girl.

  ‘Go on, then.’ Jessica giggled, looking at the flat, slightly burnt cakes. ‘I dare you!’

  ‘You’re the youngest,’ Annie reminded her, also pulling a face at the unappealing cakes.

  ‘All the more reason why I shouldn’t be the one to try them,’ Jessica asserted. ‘I still have all of my life in front of me!’