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Eve turned away, hating the pity in his eyes. 'I I don't think 111 have any tea, thank you. I think I would rather
stay up here and rest.'
'Have I upset you again?' he asked softly, gently.
'No.' She still stood with her bade towards him. 'I I'm just tired.' Which was true, but she was emotionally, not
physically, tired.
Bart's hands came down gently on her shoulders. 'I'm sorry, Eve. I had no idea.'
She had to stop herself leaning back against the hardness of his body. 'Maisie will be expecting you for ypur tea,'
she said jerkily, knowing that if he didn't soon leave she was going to burst into tears. 'Apologise for me.'
'I will.' His hands fell away, although she could still feel the imprint of his fingers on her naked shoulders. 'Get
some sleep,' he advised abruptly. 'Everything will look different once you're rested.'
She just managed to wait until the door closed softly on his exit before the tears started to fall. Maybe some things
would look different when she woke up, but one tiling would never change. She was in love with Bart Jordan, and
he no longer wanted her.
CHAPTER SEVEN
THE room was in darkness when she woke up, and her watch told her it was after eight, which meant she had been
asleep over three hours. Bart would already have left for his dinner engagement, so at least she wouldn't have to
face him when she got downstairs. His sharp gaze wouldn't have missed the slight puffiness around her eyes. She
had cried herself to sleep, her face buried in the pillow so that no one should hear her sobs.
Bart knew more about her than Derek had managed to find out in the whole of the five years she had known him.
She seemed to tell Bart things without actually meaning to, seemed to want him to know all about her disastrous
past. At least this way he could never accuse her of holding anything back from him.
The door opened quietly and Maisie peeped inside the room. 'Ah, you're awake.' She came fully into the room, a
wide smile lighting up her features. 'I just thought I'd look in on you, make sure you're all right.'
'I'm fine.' Eve turned from taking a pair of denims and cotton shin-top out of the wardrobe she had unpacked them
into earlier, unembarrassed in the bra and briefs she had slept in. After all, they were both women. Now if it had
been Bart...!
'Bart's already gone out.' Maisie seemed to read her thoughts. 'He looked in on you before he went, but he said you
were still fast asleep then.'
Colour flooded her cheeks. So Bart had seen her in the bra and briefs after all!
'I suppose you're feeling a little hungry now,' Maisie continued to talk as Eve dressed.
'Ravenous,' she admitted with a smile, aware that she was overstating somewhat.
'I've got some homemade soup downstairs, a nice tender steak and green salad. Bart said I was to keep it light but
nutritious. There's strawberry shortcake for dessert.'
'It sounds lovely. I hope I'm not .putting you to too .much trouble having to cook for me like this.' Eve finished
buttoning her shirt. 1 could always get my own dinner,' she offered tentatively.
'I wouldn't hear of it!' Maisie looked affronted. 'Besides, I usually cook for Bart. He very rarely has these business
meetings in the evenings. It's just unfortunate that tonight should be one of those occasions.'
Eve frowned, tucking her shirt into her denims. 'But surely he Bart often stays in town overnight?' She tidied the
bed, now ready to go down and have that delicious-sounding dinner.
'Not that I recall,' Maisie shook her head. 'And I should know, I've looked after him here for the last four years,
since his parents died.'
'I didn't know his parents were dead.' So Bart didn't stay in town, and he didn't bring his women here either. So
when did he meet them?
'It was a boating accident.' The two women walked down the wide staircase together. 'On their second honeymoon,
ironically enough.'
'How tragic!' And she meant it. What an awful thing to happen when it was supposed to be such a happy occasion.
'My own parents are dead too,' she revealed huskily.
'Then you and Bart have a common bond. Of course Bart has a sister, but she lives in America now.'
'I didn't realise.' She was learning more about Bart in these few brief minutes than she had in the rest of the time she
had known him.
'She's lived there for about five years now. Bart misses the children, I know. They used to spend a lot of time here.
Many's the time I've caught one of them sliding down the banisters,' Maisie recalled with a chuckle.
'Darren, he's the oldest boy, he's a lot like Bart was as a boy. It's like going back twenty-five years to see Darren
here. Bart used to slide down the banisters too, amongst other things. He was a holy terror!'
It was. strange to hear Bart talked of as a boy. He was such a self-assured, self-sufficient man that it was hard to
believe he had ever suffered the awkwardness of being a teenager, the uncertainties of a first date, the first painful
love affair.
The smile instantly left her face as she remembered how Carl had been her first and only love affair. And now she
was in love with a man who could hurt her a hundred times more than Carl ever had.
'Bart usually eats in the small family dining-room,' Maisie told her. 'You go in and make yourself comfortable and
I'll bring your soup through to you.'
'I Could I possibly eat in the kitchen?' Eve looked pleadingly at the older woman. 'I don't feel like being alone at
the moment.' When she was alone she thought too much, and usually about Bart.
'You come along into the kitchen with me, dear,' the housekeeper said warmly. 'Although Adam may come in later,'
she warned.
Eve remembered the tall, dark-haired chauffeur, a man of about thirty, rather good-looking. 'You said he's your son,'
she said interestedly, following Maisie into the huge spotlessly clean kitchen.
'Actually Bart told you that.' Maisie set about warming the soup. 'No, you sit down, Eve,' she was told as she went
to lay the table. 'This won't take me a minute. Yes, Adam's my son.' She took a freshly baked loaf out of the
cupboard. 'When my husband died it seemed only natural that Adam should take over from him as chauffeur. He
and Bart grew up together. They're more like brothers than employer and employee.'
So the formality she had witnessed that first evening had been for her benefit. In private Adam probably called Bart
by his first name like his mother did. Bart was proving to be a constant surprise to her.
'Do you and Adam live in the house?' Eve asked as she ate the delicious soup. It was years since she had had
anything but the tinned variety, and this soup was a meal in itself. If all of Maisie's cooking was like this she
wouldn't have any trouble putting on the pounds she had lost.
'I do, Adam doesn't,' Maisie was watching over the steak as it grilled. 'I have a flat at the back of the house, Adam
has one over the garage.' She smiled. 'There are times when a man doesn't want his mother about.'
Eve laughed too. 'I suppose there are.'
'Bart said your aunt and uncle are in Egypt,' Maisie went on conversationally. 'It must be interesting work.'
Eve nodded. 'They like it.'
'Bart had terrible trouble trying to reach your uncle. I think he must have been disconnected half a dozen times.'
Her empty soup bowl was replaced by the steak and green salad. 'He's spoken to my uncle?' she asked dazedly.
Maisie frowned. 'Didn't you know? Bart must have forgotten to tell you. He's been so worried about you, and he's
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