Read Online Sarah's Secret by Catherine George - Free Book Online

linen on the wide bed all in the same uniform cream. A fitted carpet in tawny wool added a note of warmth, but, not counting the built-in cupboards which housed Jake’s clothes, the only piece of furniture was a solitary bedside table with a bronze lamp. The effect should have been spartan in such a large room. But when she thought of her own room at Campden Road, with her desk and computer crammed in with the bedroom furniture brought from her family home, she envied Jake the space and tranquillity. Envied him the entire flat, she thought with a sigh, as he opened a door on the far side of the room so she could take a quick look at the shower housed in bronze glass.
    ‘So. What’s the verdict?’ he asked as they went back to the kitchen.
    ‘I’m green with envy,’ she said frankly.
    Jake looked pleased as he hooked a leather-topped kitchen stool over to the window. ‘Gaze at sunset on the river for a while—I shan’t be long.’
    ‘Can’t I help?’
    ‘No. Just sit there looking decorative while I work.’ Jake took the cork from a bottle of wine. ‘Shall I throw a salad together?’
    Sarah shook her head, smiling. ‘Not for me. I eat so much of it lately I’ll pass on that for once, Jake, thanks. But some bread would be good.’
    ‘My mother gave me a loaf baked with her own fair hand. So in a minute we’ll take all this into the other room and picnic. Because, as you may have noticed, I don’t possess a dining room.’
    ‘Would you use one much if you did?’ she asked.
    ‘Probably not. There was a dining room originally, but the Roman bath tenant did away with it to make one big living space. Right,’ he added, as the timer went off, ‘if you’ll take the wine and the glasses, I’ll bring the tray. Then I’ll come back for our cannelloni.’
    When Jake handed her a steaming, savoury plateful Sarah received it doubtfully. ‘Shouldn’t we eat this out on the balcony? I’d hate to mark this upholstery.’
    ‘It won’t matter if you do. The suede is man-made and guaranteed, I was assured, to repel stains. So far it’s keeping its word.’
    They sat together on the sofa, which Jake pulled nearer the window to watch the sunset. And though the cannelloni was delicious, and Sarah possessed more appetite for it than she’d expected, she knew perfectly well that, just like the evening at the Trout Inn, it was Jake’s company that made the meal special.
    ‘That was wonderful,’ she said at last, as she mopped up sauce with her bread. ‘Your mother’s a great cook.’
    ‘I thought of trying to impress you by pretending I’d made the cannelloni myself,’ Jake confessed, grinning. ‘But I stuck with the truth.’ He refilled her glass, then got up to take their plates. When he came back he settled beside her with a sigh of content. ‘So what do you usually do after you’ve taken Davy back on Sunday evenings?’
    ‘Mope a lot and go to bed early with a book.’ Sarah smiled at him. ‘This is a great improvement.’
    ‘Thank you.’ Jake moved nearer and slid an arm round her shoulders. ‘It’s a big improvement on my Sunday evenings, too.’
    ‘What do you normally do?’ she asked, resisting an urge to lay her head on his shoulder.
    ‘Nothing much. After family lunch I talk shop with my father, then I come back here and get stuck into some paperwork.’
    Sarah turned her head to look up at him. ‘Every Sunday?’
    The thick lashes descended like shutters. ‘Lately, yes. Before that I spent my weekends in London for a while. Not that many, as it turned out.’
    ‘Why not?’
    ‘As I told you, she met someone else,’ he said shortly.
    Something in his tone made Sarah uneasy. ‘I really must be going,’ she said, getting to her feet. ‘Thank you for supper.’
    He leapt up, frowning in surprise. ‘Don’t go yet. I didn’t mean to snap.’ He put a hand on hers. ‘Look. I said I wasn’t bringing any baggage to our relationship, Sarah, and I meant it.’
    She gave him a look as