Velvet’s cheeks were fiery red. Jerard’s implication was clear; she was the other ‘young lady’ who liked to play games in the bath—with him? God, what else could he have meant! The idea of it was—exhilarating!
She picked up her small case. ‘If you’ll tell me where my room is …?’
Jerard pushed the door open and went inside. ‘Step this way, Mrs Dale,’ he mocked. ‘And I’ll show it to you.’
Her eyes widened. ‘I—I can’t stay in there with you!’
‘Why not?’ his eyes were narrowed. ‘It is a suite, after all. With four bedrooms,’ he added tauntingly.
‘Yes, but I—’ her hand tightened on the handle of her case. ‘I’d rather have a room of my own.’
‘We can talk this out later,’ he looked pointedly at the listening Vicki. ‘Come inside for now.’
She went reluctantly. She couldn’t possibly stay the night here, even if it was a suite.
* * *
Jerard was right, she did get soaked helping Vicki with her bath, but she had a lot of fun too. Without her clothes Vicki was painfully thin, her hair secured on top of her head to keep it dry making her look even more so. And yet she was a robust child, with a healthy glow to her cheeks.
It felt strange to be bathing a child of this size; she was only used to the tiny squirming bundle that Tony usually was. But Vicki looked angelic with her face newly washed and shiny, her hair glossily clean, her pink cotton nightgown reaching down to her ankles.
She came out to the lounge to drink the warm milk her father had ordered for her, accepting demurely when he ordered her to bed once she had drunk it, evidence that she was tired, even though she wasn’t going to admit it.
‘I want you both to take me to bed,’ she requested shyly.
Jerard looked at Velvet. ‘All right,’ he agreed as he saw her nod. ‘Just this once.’
Vicki went quite happily into the bedroom, a hand in each of theirs, and climbed beneath the bedclothes. ‘Now you both have to tuck me in,’ she announced mischievously.
‘Vicki—’
‘Oh, please, Daddy,’ she pleaded. ‘Just for tonight!’
He shrugged. ‘Okay,’ he agreed indulgently.
‘Right. You sit here,’ she ordered him to sit on one side of the bed, ‘and you here,’ she ordered Velvet to the other side. ‘Now I want you both to kiss me goodnight.’
‘You seem to have a lot of “I wants” tonight,’ her father said sternly.
‘Daddy!’
He bent to kiss her on the forehead. ‘You’re very bossy tonight, young lady.’
‘I know,’ she grinned. ‘But it’s so nice having you both here, it’s almost like—’
‘Vicki, no!’ He moved back, standing up. ‘Behave yourself!’
‘But I was only going to say it’s almost like having a mummy and a daddy.’ Her arms came up lovingly about Velvet’s neck. ‘I was thinking—’
‘When you start thinking it usually means trouble,’ her father said grimly.
She looked appealingly at Velvet. ‘It’s just that your little boy doesn’t have a daddy, and I don’t have a mummy, and I wondered—’
‘Vicki, for God’s sake!’ her father exploded.
Her mouth set rebelliously, her arms tightening about Velvet’s neck. ‘Will you be my mummy, Velvet?’ she asked shyly.
CHAPTER FIVE
VELVET didn’t know what to do, what to say. The question had been so unexpected that she was just speechless. Looked at from Vicki’s point of view it would seem a perfectly natural request, even a logical one, so much so that Velvet didn’t have an answer to it.
‘It’s time you were asleep, Vicki,’ Jerard said briskly.
She pouted. ‘But Velvet hasn’t answered me.’
‘And she isn’t going to,’ he told her firmly. ‘I’ve warned you once today about asking questions like this, I’m not going to tell you again.’ He tucked the covers about her. ‘Now get to sleep,’ he switched off the main light, leaving the night-lamp on. ‘It’s going to be a long exciting day tomorrow.’ He took hold of Velvet’s arm and led her over to the door. “Night, darling,’ he said huskily to his daughter.
"Night, Daddy,’ she yawned. ‘Velvet, you—you aren’t cross with me, are you?’ she asked uncertainly.
Velvet came out of her stupor. ‘No, of course I’m not, Vicki,’ she said with forced brightness.
‘Good. Because I like you very, very much.’ She closed her eyes sleepily.
‘Hell!’ Jerard swore as soon as they were in the lounge and Vicki’s bedroom door was firmly closed. ‘Hell and damnation!’ He paced the room angrily.
Velvet pushed her tousled hair back from her face. ‘I heard you the first time,’ she said shakily.
He turned on her fiercely. ‘I warned you about this. I—’
‘Yes, you warned me!’ she snapped. ‘How like you to turn around and say “I told you so"!’
‘How would you know it was like me?’ his mouth twisted. ‘When you say you don’t even know me?’
‘I—’
‘I’ll tell you how well you know me,’ his fingers dug into her shoulders as he shook her. ‘You know me so well that you only used to say one word and I’d be in bed with you.’
‘Jerard—’
‘That’s the word!’ he said grimly, his mouth coming down forcefully on hers.
She hadn’t wanted him to kiss her, had been afraid that he would. She melted against him at the first touch of his lips, her body arching against the hard contours of his, her fingers entangled in the dark thickness of his hair.
Lips met lips, exploringly, Jerard’s body hardening to arousal against her, his hands moving feverishly across her back. He swung her up in his arms and carried her over to the sofa, his mouth not leaving hers as he lay down beside her, his lips continuing their exploration.
Jerard was the one to finally break the kiss, his eyes dark as he looked down at her, his breathing ragged. ‘Are you sure this is what you want, Velvet? he asked huskily.
‘Oh yes,’ her hands clung about his throat, ‘this is what I want.’ It was what her body cried out for, what she hungered for.
She had been too long denied this male warmth,
