The Rumours Collection

He surveyed her features for a moment. ‘It was kind of you to stay and make me dinner. I wasn’t sure you would.’

Kat gave a shrug. ‘There’s nothing to making an omelette.’

His thumb found her pulse and stroked over its frantic beat as his eyes held hers in a mesmerising lock. ‘It’s a pity we met the way we did. Perhaps if we’d met under different circumstances you wouldn’t be sitting there but lying in here beside me.’

Kat felt a ripple of lust between her legs but disguised it by casting him a resentful glare. ‘You cost me my job in that café.’

He gave a little grimace of remorse. ‘I know. But I was lucky I didn’t get burnt when you poured that coffee in my lap.’

She chewed at her lip when she recalled that day. Having Flynn show up at the café the day after her mother’s funeral with that cheque from Richard Ravensdale had been like coarse salt rubbed into a festering wound. The thought of being paid to keep silent about something that should never have been a secret in the first place was an insult. So too was the fact that her father had sent his lawyer instead of coming to see her in person.

That hurt.

It shouldn’t but it did. If her father wanted to have a relationship with her—a proper relationship—then why send someone else to set it up for him?

But, no, Richard had paid someone to pay her to keep her mouth shut about his dirty little affair with a hotel housemaid. Now Richard wanted to be a father to her. Why? To boost his popularity? To keep his fans happy? It certainly wasn’t because he cared about her.

But Flynn had a point. If she and Flynn had met some other way she might well have considered getting involved with him. He was the most interesting man she had ever met. His looks made her go weak at the knees, but he was so much more than a good-looking man. She found his razor-sharp intelligence the biggest turn on. He was funny and charming, and yet there were layers to him, depths he kept hidden. Enigmatic depths that made her want to get as close as she possibly dared.

‘I’m sorry about the coffee but it was all too much,’ Kat said. ‘I’d only just got back from Glasgow from the funeral. I didn’t even know how anyone had found out about his affair with my mother. It was a shock to find it splashed all over the papers.’

‘Apparently one of your mother’s former workmates let something slip to a journalist,’ Flynn said. ‘The rest, as they say, is history.’

‘Sometimes I wish I hadn’t agreed to that paternity test. But I wanted to know for sure.’

‘At least you know who your father is. Lots of people never find out.’

Kat looked at him again. There was a slight frown pulling at his brow, as if he was thinking about something that pained him. Twice now she had tried to draw him out about his birth parents but he had shut off the conversation. Why was he being so stubborn about it? Lots of relinquished children managed to conduct loving relationships with their biological parents once contact was made. ‘If your biological parents ever came looking for you would you want to meet them?’

His eyes didn’t meet hers. ‘I can’t see it happening now. Not after thirty-four years.’

‘It’s never too late to give up hope.’

He gave her a movement of his lips that was almost a smile. ‘That’s exactly what your father keeps saying.’

Kat didn’t want to think about the father she didn’t want, and Flynn’s father, whom he might never meet. In her mind the two situations were completely different. ‘Is your foot troubling you?’

‘Not much.’

She rose from the bed. ‘I should let you have your food and go back to sleep.’

He captured her hand again, giving it a light squeeze that was perfectly timed with his on-off smile. ‘Thanks.’

Kat bit her lip again as she looked at their joined hands. His skin was deeply tanned, as if he had been somewhere warm recently. She could see the paler band where his watch usually rested. His fingers were almost twice the thickness of hers, making her feel more feminine than she had in years. If she could just grow her nails instead of biting them back to the elbow she would feel even more feminine. ‘I’m really sorry about your foot.’

But, when she looked back at him to see why he hadn’t said anything, she saw he was soundly asleep.

Flynn swore as he came out of the shower the next morning. Not only had he overslept, which was going to make him late for his first client, the plastic bag he had wrapped around his foot hadn’t done the job of keeping his bandage dry. And his foot was hurting. Badly. He limped out of the en suite to his bedroom with a towel around his hips to find Kat at his bedside collecting his tray from the night before.

She swung around and then quickly averted her gaze. ‘Sorry. I thought you were still in the shower. I knocked but—’

‘It’s fine.’ He reached for a pair of boxers and a shirt. ‘I’m going to be late for work. Has Cricket been out yet?’

She kept her back turned to him as she straightened his bed, smoothing down the covers with meticulous precision, as if she did it for a living. ‘Yes, I took him out first thing.’

‘Why didn’t you wake me?’

‘I wasn’t aware being an alarm clock was on my list of duties,’ she said in a crisp tone.

‘I got my bandage wet.’

She turned to look at him, her eyes giving a little flash. ‘Poor baby.’

He clipped on his watch, snapping the catch in place. ‘I haven’t got time for breakfast. I have to brief a client before court. Can you hand me those trousers?’

‘These?’

‘No, the grey ones.’

‘Here you go.’

Flynn winked at her. ‘You’d make a great wife.’

She gave him an artic look. ‘I have other ambitions.’

He slipped his belt through the lugs on his trousers whilst balancing on one crutch. ‘You don’t want to get married and have kids some day?’

‘I want to establish my career first,’ she said. ‘Husbands have a way of getting in the way of career aspirations; kids even more so.’

Flynn wondered if she was being completely truthful. He had only met a handful of women who didn’t want the whole package. He had wanted it himself until having it snatched away had made him reassess. But after he had come back to London on Christmas night after the usual palaver with his family—having rescued Cricket from being ignominiously dumped at the nearest dog shelter for almost certain euthanasia—the Carstairs family had invited him in for supper.

The difference in households had been nothing short of stunning. There was none of the stiffness and formality of his family, pretending to be comfortable with him when clearly they weren’t. The Carstairses’ kids, Josh and Bella, had run up to him and hugged him around his legs, grinning from ear to ear, excited beyond bounds he had come to join them. To see such unabated joy on their little faces had sent a rush of unexpected emotion to his throat, making him feel like he was choking on a pineapple. He had watched in silent envy as Neil and Anna had exchanged loving glances over the tops of the heads of their children who were miniature replicas of them.

It was fine now, being single and free to do what he liked, but what about in a few years’ time? Would he still feel the same? Or would he feel a deep cavern of emptiness inside him where the love of a wife and family should have been? He was already tired of the dating scene. The thought of coming home to someone who wanted to be with him because they loved him, not because he was rich or well-connected, was something he couldn’t stop thinking about lately.

It was like a door inside his mind he had thought he had closed and bolted had been prised open. A crack of light was shining through, illuminating the possibilities. Possibilities like kids to go with the dog he already had. He loved coming home to Cricket. Seeing that funny little face beaming with excitement at seeing him had shifted something inside him. It made him see what an alternative life could be like. A life where not just a scruffy little dog would bolt up the hallway to greet him but a couple of grubby-faced kids like Josh and Bella. Kids who looked like him. Who carried the same DNA. Family was something he had seen as something other people had, not him. He was alone. Unattached. Without a blood bond.

But what if he made one?

He dismissed the thought, pushing it back behind the door in his mind, leaning his resolve against it to make sure it was closed.

‘Can you choose me a tie?’ Flynn said.

Kat went back to his wardrobe and selected a tie. ‘Will this one do?’

‘Perfect. Can you put it on for me?’

Her lips pursed. ‘Why do I get the feeling you’re making the most of this situation?’

He smiled as her hands looped the tie around his neck. This close he could smell her winter flowers fragrance as it danced and flirted with his senses. The temptation to press his mouth to hers was like a tug of war inside his body; every organ strained at the effort of keeping his willpower under control. ‘Why do I get the feeling you’d like to strangle me?’

Her gaze went to his mouth. Her fingers worked on his tie but he could feel them tremble as they inadvertently touched the skin of his neck. His blood leapt at the contact, pulsing through his veins like rocket fuel. She took her bottom lip between her teeth in concentration—or was it because she was fighting an urge, the same urge he could feel barrelling through his body? She completed his tie and gave his chest a quick pat. ‘There.’ She gave him the briefest flash of a smile. ‘All done.’

His gaze locked on hers, watching as the dark ink of her pupils in that sea of bewitching green widened. Watching too as the tip of her tongue came out and darted over the surface of her lips, the top first and then the bottom, leaving them moist, shining and tempting. His blood headed south, his groin swelling and tingling with the promise of contact. Any contact. He couldn’t think of a time when he had wanted a woman more than her. But he wanted her to make the first move. She was oscillating; he could tell. The same battle he was fighting in his body was being played out over her features. Her gaze slipped again to his mouth. Her tongue did another circuit of her lips. Her breathing hitched just loud enough for him to hear it. He saw the rise and fall of her slender throat. He ached to press his lips to the thrumming pulse he could see hammering there. ‘What have you got riding on this celibacy pact?’ he asked.

She swallowed again. Audibly. ‘Wh-why do you want to know?’

‘Just wondering what’s keeping your self-control in check.’

Her chin came up, her mouth pulled tight again. ‘You think you’re so damn irresistible, don’t you?’

Flynn smiled at her. ‘You want me so bad.’

Her eyes fired a round of ire at him. ‘I. Do. Not. Want. You.’

‘How many times do you reckon you’ll have to say that to believe it?’

Her breath came out like a small explosion. ‘You’re unbelievable. You think just because every other woman you’ve ever smiled at fell at your feet that I will too. Well, guess what? I won’t.’

‘That’s what the silly little celibacy pact is all about, isn’t it?’ Flynn said. ‘You knew from the moment we met that we would end up in bed together so you thought of a plan to prevent it from happening. Cute plan, but it’s doomed to fail.’

She laughed but it didn’t sound authentic, more like someone acting as though they were amused when deep down they were anything but. ‘No wonder those bones broke in your foot. They were probably weakened from carrying around your ego.’

‘Speaking of my broken foot,’ Flynn said. ‘Can you carry my briefcase downstairs?’

She gave him a mutinous look, but then her gaze went to his crutches and she gave a tiny swallow. ‘How will you get to work? You can’t drive, can you?’

‘Unfortunately, no.’

She bit her lower lip and glanced at his bandaged foot again. ‘I could drive you if you—?’

‘No.’

She gave him a steely glare. ‘There’s no need to be so emphatic about it.’

‘I’ll take my chances with a cab,’ Flynn said. ‘But don’t worry—I’ll keep the receipts for you.’

CHAPTER SIX

FLYNN WASN’T HOME when Kat arrived later that day to take Cricket out for his evening walk. She refused to acknowledge the little slump in her spirits. What did she care if he wasn’t home? It was better if she didn’t see him, especially after seeing him all but naked this morning. Every time she thought of coming across him in his bedroom in nothing but a towel hitched around those lean hips her stomach somersaulted. His body was as attractive as his mind. Toned and tanned with muscles in all the right places. And his sexy frame was sprinkled with just enough masculine hair for her hormones to start fanning themselves.

But, when she walked back from the park with a panting Cricket at her side, she noticed more lights on in Flynn’s house than she had left on when she had let herself in earlier. The front door opened before she could use the key Flynn had given her but it wasn’t him standing there—it was Miranda Ravensdale. Gulp. Her half-sister. Kat knew it was Miranda as she had seen numerous photos of her and her brothers when the news of her existence had broken.

Miranda smiled shyly. ‘Hi. I’m Miranda. I hope you don’t mind us dropping in like this but when we heard Flynn broke his foot Jaz and I thought we’d better drop off a casserole or something. We won’t stay long. We’re just going, aren’t we, Jaz?’

Before Kat could think of anything to say, another young woman appeared. ‘Hiya.’ Jasmine Connolly gave a beaming smile. ‘So, we finally meet. Hey, Cricket.’ She bent down and cuddled the dog, who was in a paroxysm of delight. ‘What do you think of your new neighbour, huh? Isn’t she a sweetheart to take you out for walkies?’

Why had Jaz made it sound as if Kat had taken the dog out as a Good Samaritan favour? Kat couldn’t stop looking at Miranda, searching the young woman’s elfin features for any likeness to her own. Her half-sister. A relative. Someone to belong to. Family. ‘Erm...nice to meet you.’

Miranda bit her lower lip. ‘Is it too awkward for you? I mean, we can leave now, can’t we, Jaz?’

‘But I thought we were going to stay and have dinner with Flynn?’ Jaz said.

Kat saw the two exchange glances. ‘I’m just dropping off Cricket,’ she said into the little silence.

‘Oh, won’t you stay and have dinner with us?’ Miranda’s gaze was a wide, enthusiastic, welcome-to-the-family one. ‘We made enough to feed an army. Two armies, the navy and the air force, actually. Julius and Jake aren’t here, if that’s what’s worrying you. Julius and Holly are in Argentina just now and Jake’s out with Leandro, my fiancé, at a work thing.’

Kat knew it would look churlish of her to refuse. But meeting her half-sister without warning had thrown her completely. No doubt Flynn was behind this impromptu meeting. Her fury at him boiled in her blood like caustic soda until her veins felt like they were going to bust. How dared he engineer a meeting she didn’t want? Wasn’t emotionally ready for? What if he’d invited her father? The whole freaking family? ‘Where is Flynn?’ she said.

‘In the sitting room with his foot up,’ Miranda said. ‘I insisted he rest it. It’s awfully bruised and swollen. I think he’s been putting weight on it against doctor’s orders. Some men make terrible patients.’

Kat peeled off her gloves, studying both girls with a watchful gaze. ‘Did he tell you how he broke it?’

‘He said he tripped down the stairs,’ Jaz said. ‘Not like him to be so clumsy, is it, Miranda?’

‘No.’ Miranda laughed self-deprecatingly. ‘That’s the sort of thing I would do, not Flynn.’

Kat opened and closed her mouth, stuck for something to say. Why hadn’t he told the girls the truth? Why hadn’t he exploited the situation? Why tell them he’d tripped when he could have told them she was responsible?

Jaz’s grey-blue eyes began to dance. ‘So, how long have you two been seeing each other?’

Kat straightened her shoulders. ‘I’m not. We’re not. I’m just—’

‘House-sitting next door—yeah, yeah, yeah,’ Jaz said, still grinning. ‘Kind of convenient, huh?’

Kat elevated her chin, her mouth set in a prim Sunday school teacher line. ‘Mr Carlyon recommended me to the Carstairs family next door. That is and will remain the only connection I have with him.’

Jaz was undaunted and gave Miranda a little elbow-nudge. ‘Mr Carlyon? That’s cute. And does he call you “Miss Winwood”?’

Kat glanced at Miranda, who was looking at her with big, soulful Bambi eyes. It occurred to her then that this meeting must be as tricky for Miranda as it was for her.

She was the interloper. The new half-breed sister. The shameful secret that had come to light after twenty-three years of silence. How awful must it be for Miranda to have to face the living and breathing evidence of her father’s betrayal of his marriage vows? Miranda was no longer the baby sister, the youngest child. Kat had taken that position from her. The press had even gone as far to say Kat was the more beautiful of the sisters. Before that Miranda had always been compared to her glamorous mother and found lacking, and now she had a half-sister to be compared to. How did Miranda feel about that? Was she angry? Upset? Did she project that negative emotion on Kat?

Not so far as Kat could see. If anything, Miranda looked like she wanted to make a good impression. She looked like she was keen to establish a bond with her but was uncertain about how she would be received.

‘What does a guy have to do to get a drink around here?’ Flynn’s deep voice called out from the sitting room.

Jaz turned on her heel and marched off to the sitting room. ‘You’re not supposed to drink when you’re taking prescription painkillers,’ she said.

Miranda looked at Kat with a shy grimace. ‘I know this must be just awful for you...meeting me like this... I know you’ve not wanted any contact. I understand that. I really do. The whole situation is just ghastly for you but I do want us to be friends if at all possible. None of this is your fault. None of us blame you for it—well, apart from Mum, but let’s not even go there.’

‘Thanks.’ Kat forced a smile. ‘It’s kind of weird but not awful. I’ve just needed some time to get my head around it all.’

Miranda’s features relaxed ever so slightly. ‘Please don’t be offended by Jaz’s teasing just now. She just wants everyone to be as happy as she is, now she and Jake have got engaged. You’re the last Ravensdale to be single... I mean, not that you probably think of yourself as a Ravensdale or anything, but...’ She bit down on her lip again and blushed. ‘I’m sorry. I’m making such a dreadful hash of this. I always talk too much when I’m nervous.’

‘I go quiet when I’m nervous,’ Kat said.

Miranda’s eyes bulged. ‘Really? That’s exactly like Julius. I can’t wait until you meet the boys. They’re awesome big brothers. They’re really looking forward to meeting you. But only if you want to, of course. You mustn’t feel pressured to meet Dad. He can be a bit overpowering.’ She gave a little eye-roll. ‘Not to mention Mum—but don’t get me started.’

Kat felt her smile relax. ‘She’s actually one of my favourite theatre actors.’

‘Really?’

‘She’s amazing onstage,’ Kat said. ‘She’s spellbinding to watch live. I could watch her all day.’

Miranda did that lip-chewing thing again and a small frown pulled at her smooth forehead. ‘I’ve always found my mother’s fame a bit of a burden. I know she’s supertalented and all that but sometimes I just wanted her to be a mum. A normal one, you know?’

Kat gave her a wry look. ‘What’s normal? My mum certainly wasn’t a soccer mum.’

Miranda touched Kat’s arm, those big brown eyes warm and compassionate as they held hers. ‘I’m really sorry about your loss. You must miss her dreadfully.’

Kat was a little ashamed to realise she didn’t miss her mother. Not in the way one should miss a parent. It was almost a relief not to have to deal with her mum’s issues. The drinking. The depression. The never knowing what she would find at the end of the phone when she called. Morose moods. Mania. Mayhem. ‘Thanks,’ she said.

Cricket came bolting back out, did a couple of crazy spins and yapped three times at Kat. Miranda gave a light laugh. ‘Looks like he’s taken a bit of a shine to you.’

Kat smiled back. ‘It’s mutual.’

Miranda went off to join Jaz in getting dinner organised, so Kat took the opportunity to speak to Flynn in private. As soon as she entered the sitting room, his gaze met hers from where he was sitting on one of the plush sofas. ‘So, you’ve met half of the family.’

She sliced him a glare. ‘Feeling pretty proud of yourself, are you?’

He gave her a lazy smile. ‘It had to happen sooner or later. Miranda and Jaz are like sisters to me. I’ve known them since they were in pigtails.’

Kat folded her arms. ‘I suppose you’ll have Richard just drop in next. If he does, I’m out of here. I don’t care how rudely I come across.’

He studied her for a beat. ‘I didn’t know the girls were going to show up. I was speaking to Jake about a legal matter and I mentioned I’d broken my foot. He must’ve told Jaz and she told Miranda. They arrived just as I was getting out of the cab.’

Kat kept her gaze trained on his. ‘Why did you tell them you tripped down the stairs?’

He gave a light shrug. ‘I didn’t want to make things awkward for you.’

‘I thought the whole point of this exercise was to make things as awkward for me as possible.’

‘The girls are keen to have an amicable relationship with you. Why would I go and tell them you maimed me? They might never speak to you again.’

‘Maimed you?’ It’s three tiny little bones, for God’s sake. Talk about a drama queen.’

‘It hurts like the very devil.’

She went over and whipped the glass of Scotch out of his hand. ‘That is not allowed. You heard what Jaz said. You shouldn’t mix alcohol with prescription drugs.’

His lazy smile made the base of her spine shiver. ‘I’m having a hot fantasy of you dressed in a nurse’s uniform. Ever played one?’

‘Will you stop it? The girls will hear.’

His dark eyes glinted. ‘We can’t have the girls thinking anything untoward is going on between us, now can we, Miss Winwood?’

She gave him a look that would have withered marble. ‘As if I would stoop so low.’

Jaz came breezing in with a tray loaded with nibbles. She looked at Kat’s glowering expression and then at Flynn, who was smiling like a cat with an empty bowl and whiskers dripping with cream.

Jaz gave him a cheeky grin. ‘That Carlyon charm not quite hitting the mark, eh, Flynn?’

‘You know me,’ he said. ‘The harder I have to work for something the more I enjoy the victory.’

‘Looks like you might’ve met your match,’ Jaz said. ‘I haven’t seen you so hooked on anyone since Claire.’

The atmosphere changed as if an unpinned grenade had been dropped.

Flynn’s expression turned to stone, his eyes to flint and the atmosphere to freezing. Kat glanced at Jaz but if Jaz was put off by Flynn’s demeanour she showed no sign of it.

Miranda came in at that point and gauged the stiff little tableau with a worried flicker of her gaze. ‘What’s going on?’

‘I mentioned the C word.’ Jaz took one of the nibbles and crunched into it loudly. Defiantly loudly. He-should-get-over-himself loudly.

Flynn reached for his crutches. ‘Excuse me, but I’m going to give dinner a miss.’

Kat stood back as he limped past without once glancing her way. But she didn’t have to see his face to know it was as tense as the muscles in his back and shoulders. Interesting. She waited until he was well out of earshot. ‘Who is Claire?’

Jaz handed her a platter of nibbles. ‘His ex-fiancée. Eleven years ago, to be precise. He’s been gun-shy about commitment ever since.’