Tangled Hearts

She stood up decisively as Jason came back into the room, eyeing them both suspiciously. ‘Don’t look so worried, Jason,’ she said lightly. ‘All we’ve decided is to leave a message at the hotel for your father telling him where you are.’

She made no comment as he mumbled the name of one of the most prestigious hotels in London; where else would Garrett Kingham stay, the famous film director, son and brother to Washington senators!

As soon as she got through to the hotel and asked to leave a message for Mr Kingham there was a strange clicking noise on the line and then a very short ring before the receiver was picked up the other end. ‘Hello, I—–’

‘Who is this?’ demanded a gravelly voice that was definitely American-accented.

But not Garrett’s voice, thank goodness! ‘I wanted to leave a message for Mr Kingham,’ she said awkwardly, completely disconcerted, having expected to speak to the receptionist. ‘But there seems to have been some sort of confusion, because the operator—–’

‘What’s the message?’ that gravelly voice demanded again, and Sarah instantly formed an image of a six-and-a-half-foot giant with the build of Arnold Schwarzenegger—but without the intelligence that man had displayed when she had seen him on a chat show several months ago!

‘If you gave me a chance to finish speaking I would tell you,’ she said in her sternest schoolteacher voice, receiving silent attention for her effort. ‘Could you please tell Mr Kingham that Sarah rang, and that—–’

‘Sarah who?’

This conversation wasn’t going at all as smoothly as she had hoped, and she was glad she was out in the hallway and didn’t have an audience to her embarrassment. The man on the other end of the telephone line had the finesse of a bulldozer! Although he probably had a point: Garrett Kingham probably knew a hundred women named Sarah—all of them intimately.

‘Sarah—–’ She hesitated. If she said Sarah Croft then Garrett probably wouldn’t realise who she was; she doubted he had troubled himself to learn that his once-sister-in-law had been married and divorced since they had last met. ‘Sarah Harvey,’ she decided firmly. ‘Could you tell him Jason is with us, and that—–’

‘You’ve got the kid?’ The gravelly voice was instantly alert, making Sarah wonder if she could possibly have underestimated his intelligence just because she didn’t like the sound of his voice.

She bristled indignantly. ‘His name is Jason. And yes, he’s with us. I wanted to—–’

‘What do you want?’ the man growled.

Sarah gave a start at the aggression. ‘If you would just let me finish speaking instead of—–’

‘I think I should warn you that you aren’t being clever, that the kid’s old man is angry, very angry, so if you—–’

‘No more angry than I am, let me assure you,’ she snapped furiously. ‘Now would you kindly tell Mr Kingham that Jason is with us, and that if he wants him he’s going to have to come here and get him!’ She slammed the receiver down, glaring at it indignantly, as if it were its fault she had just been spoken to so rudely. She was shaking because she was so angry, had never been spoken to in that aggressively rude way before.

Jason looked up at her searchingly as she went back into the lounge with controlled violence, pacing the room, still too angry to sit down. ‘What happened?’ he finally asked wearily.

Her eyes blazed with fiery blue sparks as she turned to face him. ‘I’ve just spoken to the rudest man—–’

‘Dad?’ He looked anxious. ‘But he isn’t supposed to be back—–’

‘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

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.

Garrett drew in a harsh breath, his expression contemptuous. ‘On the basis of a few hours’ acquaintance with Jason you have decided that I’m a totally unfit father who at best ignores him, and at worst browbeats him?’

‘No, of course not—–’

‘It certainly sounds like it to me!’

‘It wasn’t just that—–’

‘No, I forgot,’ he rasped. ‘There’s also the fact that you already disliked me intensely and would gladly believe anything anyone said against me!’

It had never been difficult to hate this man, it was true, to hate the way he had preferred Amanda not to visit her family after they were married, the pain he had caused Amanda during their marriage, until it became so impossible for her to live with a man who didn’t love her that she had finally left him and come home, only to be killed in a motorway pile-up the day after her arrival back in England. Garrett Kingham had arrived in time for Amanda’s funeral, and after the service he had told them he was taking Jason back to the States with him. The five-year-old boy was all they had left of Amanda, and Sarah could see how it was breaking her father’s heart to part with him too. But Garrett was immune to their pleadings, until finally, impatiently, Sarah had flown at him, screaming and kicking as she told him how much she hated him.

She had been sixteen then, her body mature but her emotions still those of a child, and all she had been able to think of was that he had hurt her sister and that he was taking Jason away from them too. She was a woman now, but she still hated him.

She looked at him coldly. ‘Maybe that’s because it’s always so easy to believe!’

He sighed. ‘Sarah, it’s late, I’ve had a long journey to get here, and I’m in no mood to argue with you.’

She stood firm in spite of the lines of tiredness she could now see beside his eyes and mouth. She didn’t want to think of this man as vulnerable, because that would make him human, and she knew that was something he wasn’t. ‘I told you, Jason is asleep, and, unlike the last time you dragged Jason out of his bed and away from us, I am now all grown-up and more than capable of handling you without resorting to violence!’

She wished she had never issued the challenge as his narrowed gaze moved over her insolently in a totally male assessment, making her instantly aware of her own inadequacies. She didn’t need Garrett Kingham’s contempt to tell her that although she was slender enough her body certainly wasn’t of the shape to drive a man wild with desire, just as she also didn’t need him to tell her that, although she and Amanda had a surface similarity, Amanda was the one that had sparkled and charmed, while she just quietly glowed.

Garrett’s mouth quirked in the semblance of a smile. ‘You don’t look any different to me now than you did at sixteen,’ he taunted. ‘Or any more capable of “handling” me.’

‘No?’ she flared at his condescension. ‘Then perhaps you would like to try and take Jason away again?’

His eyes narrowed to icy emerald slits. ‘I don’t like being threatened, Sarah.’

‘Really?’ she challenged, her head back. ‘Well, neither do I!’

They continued to glare at each other for several tension-filled minutes, Sarah determined not to be the one who backed down—mainly because she had no idea how to stop him taking Jason away now if he wanted to do so, despite her claim to the contrary. All she knew was that Jason was no longer a child to be dragged away when he didn’t want to go, and that it would break her father’s heart a second time if by some miracle Garrett persuaded Jason to go with him now. Her mother had died twelve years go, Amanda ten years ago, and she and Jason were all her father had left. She would keep Jason here, if only until tomorrow when he could say goodbye to them properly.

Finally Garrett was the one to drop his gaze, sighing as he folded his length down into one of the fireside armchairs. ‘Do you still make a delicious cup of coffee?’ he asked wearily.

She blinked. ‘I still make the same coffee.’ She wasn’t even prepared to take a compliment about such a trivial thing from this man!

He nodded. ‘Strong, just the way I like it. Black, please.’

She wanted to tell him that it was after twelve o’clock at night, that she was tired too, and certainly not in the mood to make coffee for anyone. But despite herself she could see that he really was tired, looking all of his thirty-nine years as he relaxed back in the chair. And with that realisation came the knowledge that he must have been worried out of his mind about Jason before receiving her call, that whatever else she thought about him, he did seem to love his son.

On the few occasions she had allowed herself to dwell on the past, Garrett had always seemed ageless to her, but now she could see that the years hadn’t dealt kindly with him, that his hair wasn’t blond at his temples but grey, giving it a salt-and-pepper look, the deep lines of cynicism beside his mouth long ago having banished any claim he might have had to youth. If he had made those around him unhappy he certainly hadn’t fared any better himself.

‘Very well, Mr Kingham,’ she sighed. ‘Then I would suggest you—–’

‘My name is Garrett, Sarah, as you very well know,’ he said drily. ‘Prove you aren’t still a child and use it.’

Her cheeks were burning as she moved about the kitchen preparing the coffee. She was a teacher, had been a married woman, and yet something about Garrett Kingham reduced her to the petulant child she had always been in his presence. How could Amanda have ever fallen in love with such a man, despite his surface attraction?

Amanda had been beautiful all her life, could have had her pick of any of the local young men who always seemed to be at the cottage to see her, and yet she had wanted to go to America to become an actress, so sure that she would be a success, despite her parents’ warning that every young girl who set out for Hollywood believed the same thing about herself, but few actually ever made it. Amanda had never actually appeared in a film, had become Garrett Kingham’s wife instead, and apparently the Kingham wives didn’t work. All Garrett required of her was that she be a mother to Jason and a beautiful hostess in his home. And Amanda had been good at both those things, had openly adored Jason, become the society hostess of Hollywood.

But even that success hadn’t been enough for the arrogant Garrett Kingham, and for the most part he had ignored the existence of his wife and son as he ruthlessly furthered his own career. He had made Amanda miserable, and he couldn’t be allowed to continue doing the same to Jason, Sarah decided determinedly.

Her expression was set aggressively as she marched back into the sitting-room with the coffee, only to have her determination completely deflated as she saw that Garrett Kingham had fallen asleep in the chair!

She put the tray down carefully, glaring at him frustratedly. He looked only slightly younger in sleep, as if even in that relaxed state he had to maintain a guard over his emotions. Or maybe it was as she had always suspected: he didn’t have any emotions that needed guarding!

No matter how tired he was he looked completely out of place in their comfortable sitting-room, dominating even in sleep. And he couldn’t continue to sleep there, he had to leave.

‘Garrett?’ She shook his shoulder gently. ‘Garrett, wake up!’

His answer was to fling her hand away from his shoulder, his eyes hostile as he glared up at her. ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ he grated harshly, straightening stiffly.

Sarah stuck her hand behind her back as if she had been burnt. ‘You fell asleep, and you can’t stay here,’ she told him abruptly. ‘I had no idea I wasn’t supposed to touch the great Garrett Kingham!’ she snapped scornfully.

Some of the tension left his body, determinedly so, it seemed, his mouth twisting wryly. ‘Believe me,’ he drawled, ‘I’m not usually averse to having a beautiful woman touch me; you just startled me, that’s all.’

She didn’t want to hear about the women in his life, or his relationship with them. He had been her sister’s husband, and as such she felt he should have kept his affairs to himself. ‘I can assure you I won’t do that again,’ she bit out stiffly. ‘I’ve brought your coffee. I suggest you drink it and then leave.’

He shook his head before drinking the black brew thirstily. ‘Not without Jason,’ he told her grimly.

Her cheeks were flushed. ‘Jason said you’re working in England at the moment; surely it isn’t going to hurt anyone if he stays with us for a few days?’ Her father had enjoyed being with his grandson so much this evening, and, while he knew Jason had to go back with his father some time, surely it didn’t have to be just yet?

Garrett’s expression was grim. ‘Maybe if he had spoken to me about it—–’

‘You wouldn’t have let him come here,’ Sarah snapped. ‘The same way you discouraged Amanda from visiting us once she was your wife.’

His eyes were narrowed, his expression cold. ‘I never stopped Amanda from coming home.’

‘I said discouraged,’ she said sturdily. ‘You made it pretty obvious you didn’t approve of her coming here.’

‘I—Sarah, let’s not rehash history that’s years old,’ he sighed wearily. ‘Jason knows better than to evade Dennis and just disappear the way that he did.’

It sounded very much as if he did, as if he had known exactly how much his actions would worry his father. ‘In my experience his behaviour sounds like a cry for your attention—–’

‘And just how much experience of parenthood have you had. Miss Harvey?’ he derided harshly.

Her cheeks were pale, her eyes stormy. ‘I only told Dennis that my name was Sarah Harvey so that you would realise who was calling; my surname is actually Croft now,’ she told him with dislike. ‘And although I may not have any children of my own I am in charge of several hundred pupils during a day!’

His eyes were narrowed as he ignored the latter, staring at the bareness of her left hand. ‘Are you telling me that you have a husband waiting for you upstairs?’

His incredulity angered her even further. ‘Not any more, but I did, yes!’

Garrett’s mouth twisted. ‘The Harvey girls seem to make a habit of “running home to Daddy” when things don’t go quite the way they want them to!’ he said with derision.

‘I didn’t have to “run home”, because David and I lived here with my father,’ she blazed. ‘And, for your information, David and I divorced amicably.’ If her six months’ marriage six years ago could be called that when it had been nothing but a disaster from start to finish!

‘Maybe if he had been man enough to demand that the two of you have your own home it wouldn’t have happened!’

She wasn’t about to tell this man that as a last resort she and David had even tried living on their own, that the marriage still hadn’t worked. ‘Don’t presume to judge my marriage when you made such a mess of your own,’ she scorned.

‘Maybe if you and Amanda hadn’t been spoilt by your parents all your lives you wouldn’t throw a tantrum every time your husband failed to spoil you too!’ he rasped harshly.

‘Oh you—you—–’

‘Yes?’ he mocked.

‘Biased idiot!’ she glared. ‘Amanda and I were loved, not spoilt. It’s obviously an emotion your family knows nothing about, you in particular!’

He rose slowly to his feet, instantly dwarfing her. ‘There are many kinds of loving, Sarah,’ he murmured softly. ‘Which type did you have in mind?’