Daddy's Little Girl (A Homespun Romance) (7 page)

Jason's jaw clenched.  "I have no problem with ordinary people, Sara.  Tell them they can start right away."

"Don't you want to meet them, decide for yourself?"

"No Sara.  I trust your judgment."

"Why?"  Her gaze searched his face for an answer.

"Because in the last two years, I've never thought of Kelsey needing love and stories.  I've just hired someone who would take care of her.  You've shown me what's really important."

Sara blushed, then looked as if she was going to cry.  With a muttered `Excuse me', she dashed from the room.  Jason wondered what he'd said to upset her now.  Kelsey patted his head and he said, "Hold on now.  Daddy's ready to go."

His version of a gallop through the dining area and kitchen had Kelsey in splits of laughter that warmed him all the way through.

"I had something in my eye," Sara said, when he came back to the living room. 

Sure, and he was the next heir to the throne.  Jason decided to let it pass for the time being.  He had something else on his mind right now.  Sitting down, he let Kelsey tumble off his shoulders onto the couch.  "One of my business colleagues and his wife have invited us out for dinner any day you feel like it."

"I can't leave Kelsey." 

She didn't want to go to any parties with him.  She was too afraid of letting him down.  The way he'd acted about her underthings told Sara her black skirt and pink blouse wouldn't do for these occasions.

"Kelsey won't be alone.  The Bintys will be here.  You can even put her to bed before we leave."

Sara bit her lip and stared into the fire.  Nervousness mingled with the fear that circled her heart.  She couldn't do it.

"What's the matter, Sara?  Do you need a new dress for the occasion or something?"  Diana had always made a fuss about not having a thing to wear.

"Of course not," Sara said quickly.  Did he think she was hinting he buy her more clothes?  "I'm just not sure I'll fit in with your friends.  I don't want to embarrass you.  Why don't you go by yourself?"

Jason shook his head.  "I hired you as my fiancé.  Now the only way to give the situation credibility is for you to act like one.  You did great with Dee Dee, so I don't see what the problem is here.  Just think of it as another acting lesson, or whatever."

Her face flamed at the memory of the kiss they'd exchanged.  Were there going to have to act the part of a couple madly in love in front of his friends? 

Jason didn't want her to think he was deliberately embarrassing her by referring to the day Dee Dee had visited Kelsey.  "This is important Sara.  If necessary, the Wiltons will testify on our behalf that we are engaged, but I don't want my friends to have to lie for me."

"But all this is a lie."

"Only if you want to quit," Jason said.  "My offer of marriage is still open."

Sara turned her face to the fire.  She had no intention of accepting Jason's offer.  Marriage was a bond between two people who loved each other. 

"I'll come to the Wiltons with you a week after the Bintys have been here," she said quietly.  "That should give Kelsey time to adjust."

"Fair enough."

"It's very, very strange, father."  Mrs. Binty said as she rinsed a plate.

"What is?"  Binty looked up from the dish he was drying.

"Himself and Miss Sara, that's what."

Mr. Binty sighed.  They'd arrived here Sunday night.  It was Tuesday morning.  He knew from past experience that it was long enough for the snap judgments his wife made.

"It's not our business," he tried to remind her, though the statement had never had any affect on her.

"They act very cool for an engaged couple.  No hugs or kisses, no time alone without the little one, and none of that other stuff we see on the telly, either."

"Now Mother, that's none of our business.  They're both nice."

"That they are," Mrs. Binty agreed.  "It's a relief to know they're nothing like that terrible couple we worked for last summer.  Sara asked me to tell you she wants us both to stop calling her `miss'.  She and the little one are real easy to take care of.  I don't know much about Himself yet."

It was a relief to know she was off the subject.  "Where's Miss Sara now?"

"Reading the book she bought yesterday.  It took some persuading to get her to go downstairs and look around the shops, while the little one napped."

"Kind of shy, isn't she?"  Mr.Binty said.

"That she is.  Know what she got?"

"No."

"A book on etiquette.  The serious way she'd reading it, is strange.  Makes me wonder if she's afraid of displeasing him." 

"Why would she be afraid?"  Binty asked in exasperation.

"That's what I'd like to know."

Sara's new routine surprised Jason.  He knew she'd been to the stores downstairs because Mrs. Binty had mentioned it, but other than that she'd done nothing else.

What on earth could she possibly find to do in her room?   There was no television set in there and when he went past her door, she didn't even have music on. 

The Bintys were a wonderful couple and Kelsey had taken to them quicker than she'd made friends with anyone except Sara.  There was no need for Sara to stick around the flat, but she did.

Jason wanted to know what had made her the way she was.  It was close to three weeks since they'd met and he barely knew her.  Her smiles and laughs were for Kelsey.  With him, she was reserved and quiet.  It was four days since the Bintys had come.  Four days in which the only words Sara had said to him were, `Good morning' and `Good night'.

It was time he had a talk with her.  He had to tell her they were dining with Peter and Meera Wilton on Saturday, which wouldn't be difficult.  He also had to bring up the subject of what she would wear to the dinner, which from past experience he knew would be difficult.  Very difficult.

Jason came home on Thursday for lunch, and on impulse mentioned he'd decided to take the afternoon off.

"It's a fine day for a walk in the Park, or shopping," Mrs. Binty suggested as she served them tomato soup and roast beef sandwiches.  "Kelsey's going down for her nap, and then Mr. Binty and I are going to take her to feed the ducks."

It would give him the chance to talk to Sara.  "Would you like to come for a walk with me, Sara?"

She looked surprised.  Lifting the napkin from her lap she wiped her mouth.  "For a walk?"

You'd think he'd suggested they go skinny dipping in the Thames in the middle of the day.  "Yes."

Color shot into her face.  She looked around the kitchen as if she wanted a bolthole.  Her gaze flicked from Mrs. Binty who stood by the table taking a personal interest in the conversation, to him. 

"A walk in the Park will get the color in your cheeks”, said Mrs. Binty.  “I won't have it said as 'ow you came to England, and grew plain and thin."

"I'm just naturally pale."  Sara looked at Jason and said, "Couldn't we wait till Kelsey's awake, and then all three of us go to the Park?"

Half a loaf was better than nothing.  "All right.  Call me when she's up and ready.  I've got a few things to do till then."

Sara felt a light breeze stir her hair as they walked across the park.  It was a beautiful day, and she loved the feel of the sun on her face and arms.  Kelsey held on to both their hands till they got to the pond in the park.  Sara sat down close to the water with Kelsey beside her.  The greedy, pampered ducks sensed a food line and swam up to them.

"The Wiltons suggested Saturday night for the dinner if that's all right with you." 

Jason liked the way the afternoon sun filtered through the weeping willow, casting a pattern of light and shade on Sara's delicate face.

"That's fine." 

Sara bit her lip nervously.  Was there a patron saint of eating out who would watch over her so that she used the right fork every time and committed no other social blunders?

"Penny for them?"

"Excuse me?"  She turned her face to Jason who'd sat down on a bench, three feet away.

"I'm willing to pay a penny for your thoughts."

"They're not worth that."  She stood and wiped her hands down the side of her pants.  "I was just thinking of Claire."

Jason's brows snapped together.  "Are you homesick?"

"Not really.  I just miss some things."

Here it comes, he thought.  The long list of complaints.

"Like?"

"Like nachos smothered in cheese sauce and jalapenos, being able to drive myself places and...."

"You want a car of your own?"

She looked surprised.  "Of course not.  What would I do with a car here?  I don't know how to drive on the wrong side of the road.  It's just that at home I took it for granted that I could go anywhere, anytime I wanted.  Here, it seems like going out needs so much planning, I don't want to do it. I don't like the feeling that my own fears might keep me inside."

"It's only because it's all so new for you.  Let me see if I can come up with an idea that might help."

She looked startled.  "It's not your problem.  I wasn't complaining.  I'm really happy here.  You've given me so much, and I feel I haven't done anything to earn the salary you pay me."

Her distress sounded  loud and clear.  "I know you're not complaining Sara, but a good salary hardly insures happiness."

"It does for me.  I'm fine, really I am."

Had Sara had so little that she felt a job represented happiness.  Jason stood up and went and sat beside Sara and Kelsey.  Why did the money he was paying her represent so much to her?

Taking the bread his daughter handed him he broke it into pieces and threw it to the ducks.  "Sara, did your uncle pay you for all you did for him?"

The color drained from her face.  "He gave us a roof over our heads and food to eat and clothes to wear."

"Did he love you?" 

Sara looked at him.  "My mother loved me," was all she said.

"I asked about your uncle, Sara."  

A wisp of hair blew against her trembling lips.  "Uncle Samuel didn't love anybody."

The words came out loaded with the pain of emptiness.  Jason got to his feet.  This wasn't the time to pursue the topic.

Sara stared at a troop of yellow ducklings.  Had she sounded whiny?  Jason Graham was always catching her at unguarded moments.  She stole a glance at him.  He'd become very quiet.  Was he thinking about Kelsey and the custody case again?  She saw the worry creep into his eyes sometimes as he looked at his daughter.  If only there was something more she could do to help him.

Kelsey tugged at her arm, and Sara held Kelsey's hand, taking her closer to the edge so she could dip her fingers in the water. 

Jason watched them.  He trusted Sara with Kelsey in a way he hadn't trusted anyone before.  Quiet, unassuming, without even trying she'd made more of an impression on him than any woman he'd met.  She'd used the word ordinary about herself, once.  He wished the world held more ordinary people like Sara.  People who believed in absolute integrity, who didn't say one thing and mean another, who did their best because it was their way, not because they had to.  Sara had given ordinary a whole new meaning.  There had to be something he could do for her...something special. 

Sara looked up and their gazes tangled.  For a minute there was a new message in her eyes...the kind of message a woman sent a man when their relationship edged out of the area of just knowing each other into a new field.

I like you.

Jason tensed.  Had the thought really arced between them, or was the fresh air and sunshine affecting his imagination?

"It's time we were getting back."

Nothing in Sara's voice as she stood up and brushed the crumbs from her skirt indicated anything unusual had happened.  Jason reached for Kelsey who was holding her arms up.  He hadn't gotten around to the second thing he'd wanted to tell Sara.

The box was waiting at the flat when they got back.

"There's something here for you," Mrs. Binty announced, putting the black and gold box in Sara's hands.

"For me?"  Sara stared at the name Rudolfo's on the cover.  Hadn't she seen that name somewhere recently?

"Open it."

Sara did, wondering what was going on.  Her hands shook as she moved the tissue paper and picked up the purple outfit.  The pants were silk, the short jacket covered with sequins. 

"Do you like it?"

Sara spun around.  Jason was leaning against the door.

"It's for the dinner with the Wiltons.  Do you like it?"

Sara opened her mouth, then closed it.  It was all part of the job...only a dummy would have to be told over and over again.  The warm feeling that she'd carried back with her melted away.  Jason was spending a great deal of money on her.  She had to make sure she didn't mess up. 

Aware that Mrs. Binty was staring at her curiously Sara said, "It's very pretty.  Thank you, Jason."