The Perfect Father Read online

  ‘I think she’d like to and I know that Caspar would—

  PENNY JORDAN

  79

  his work allows him to have more time to spend with them than Livvy’s does but, to be honest, I suspect it’s rather a sensitive issue between them at the moment. They were due to go on holiday this year to visit Caspar’s family in the States, but it had to be cancelled because Livvy is just so busy.

  ‘Haslewich has become rather a mini boom town. The extended motorway system has meant that several international industries have moved into the area and, of course, that means extra jobs, which means increased property development. Property prices have risen and on the outskirts of the town they’re currently just about to open one of these specialised shopping villages, all designer outlets and very, very smart.

  ‘Not that that was without problems—you ask James.

  He’s just won a very involved case for one of his clients against one of the contractors on the development.’

  ‘I can’t imagine James prosecuting. He always seems so gentle and compassionate. Although...’

  ‘Although what?’ Bobbie questioned interestedly as she slowed down for the motorway exit to Haslewich.

  ‘Well, we called on his parents on the way back from the airport and there was a girl there—Rosemary. I’ve never seen James react so antagonistically to anyone...mind you, her attitude towards him was extremely...’

  ‘...provocative?’ Bobbie suggested.

  Samantha looked at her. ‘Aggressive, I was about to say... Do you know her, Bobbie?’

  ‘I’ve met her. She was visiting Luke and James’ parents last Christmas and I had gone to see them with Francesca.

  Francesca wasn’t very well and Rosemary was absolutely sweet with her. She’s just recently qualified as a doctor, you know, and Pat was telling me that she is hoping to 80

  THE PERFECT FATHER

  specialise in the area of paediatrics within the surgery complex. She certainly has a wonderful way with children.’

  ‘You liked her, then,’ Samantha stated.

  ‘Well...yes, I did, but I know what you mean about her and James, they certainly strike sparks off one another.

  Apparently she spent several months living with Henry and Pat whilst she was a teenager. Her parents were working abroad at the time, Luke wasn’t living at home then, but James was, and the two of them just didn’t hit it off together.’

  ‘Mmm... Oh, isn’t this the most beautiful scenery,’

  Samantha enthused as she glanced out of the car window to look appreciatively at the gently rolling Cheshire countryside.

  ‘Very,’ Bobbie agreed.

  ‘It’s so peaceful,’ Samantha stressed.

  Bobbie laughed. ‘It might be now, wait until you get to Livvy’s!’

  Olivia and Caspar’s home was outside the town of Haslewich, a pretty, long low collection of buildings surrounded by a large garden and fields.

  As Bobbie brought the car to a halt on the driveway, Olivia was opening the front door and coming hurrying to meet them.

  Slim and energetic, her bobbed hair gleamed in the sunshine and a swift smile curled her mouth as she welcomed them.

  ‘Bobbie... Sam...’ She hugged each of them in turn and then gestured towards the house.

  ‘I thought we’d have lunch in the garden, it’s such a lovely day. I nearly had to cancel,’ Olivia confessed as she led the way through the house to the doors which opened out onto the pretty brick patio.

  PENNY JORDAN

  81

  ‘I was due in court with one of my clients last week and the case was put back originally until today, but the case currently being heard is still ongoing—fortunately.’

  ‘Do you do much court work?’ Samantha asked Olivia as they settled themselves in comfortable chairs and Olivia poured them all some coffee.

  ‘An awful lot. I didn’t used to but increasingly these days, yes. I’m afraid that it’s becoming rather a bone of contention between me and Caspar, primarily because it means I can’t always structure my working life to fit in with his.’

  ‘Mmm...and I guess you daren’t hire another live-in nanny just in case she runs off with another of your sexy cousins,’ Bobbie said teasingly.

  All three of them laughed, remembering that Bobbie had worked for a time for Olivia and Caspar when she had first arrived in Haslewich.

  ‘Mmm...well there is always that, but although I’ve had help from time to time, Caspar and I both feel that we want to bring the children up ourselves. The trouble is that, right now, Caspar is doing rather more of the parenting than I am and that leads to problems between us.

  I get jealous,’ she admitted ruefully. ‘I know it sounds silly and it’s certainly very unmodern of me, but I could cry when the children run to Caspar with their scraped knees and their tears instead of to me.’

  ‘Couldn’t you lessen the number of hours you work?’

  Samantha suggested practically.

  Olivia rolled her eyes expressively. ‘I wish... As it is I’m conscious of how often Jon takes home my workload to allow me to have extra time off. No, we both know that the only real answer is to take on at least one and maybe two qualified solicitors, but the problem is that anyone we take on of the calibre we need would auto-82

  THE PERFECT FATHER

  matically want to become a partner somewhere down the line and, whilst Ben’s alive, well even if he wasn’t, I guess that both Jon and I are Crighton enough not to want to dilute the partnership.

  ‘Of course we could turn down work but...’ She pulled a face. ‘ That goes so much against the grain. No, at the moment we’re in a strictly no win situation and no matter how many junior assistants we might take on, when it comes down to it, Jon and I are the only senior members of staff. However, today I am having a day off...

  ‘How are your family?’ she asked Samantha, changing the subject.

  ‘They’re fine. Mom and Dad are looking forward to Dad’s retirement later in the year and to their vacation over here, of course.’

  ‘Mmm... We’re all looking forward to seeing them, especially Aunt Ruth of course. How is the divine Liam, by the way.’

  Sam’s eyebrows rose at this description of her currently least favourite person. Not even to Bobbie had she confided her reaction to that unprecedented and totally unexpected kiss Liam had given her before she had left home.

  ‘He’s fine. He’ll shortly be running for State Governor.’

  ‘Governor. He’ll be the sexiest one the union has ever had.’ Olivia rolled her eyes again. She had, of course, met Liam at Bobbie and Luke’s wedding—renewing their ac-quaintanceship when she and Caspar had visited the States some years ago.

  ‘Sexy! Liam!’ Sam started to expostulate and then stopped quickly veiling her eyes to conceal her expression. She didn’t think Liam was sexy, of course she didn’t, but the memory of that unprovoked kiss was still lingering disturbingly not just in her mind but on her senses as well.

  *

  *

  *

  PENNY JORDAN

  83

  The telephone was ringing when they walked into the house on their return from their visit to Olivia. Bobbie picked up the receiver and then pulled a face, holding it out to Samantha.

  ‘It’s for you,’ she told her dryly, eyebrows raised. ‘It’s James.’

  ‘James,’ Samantha exclaimed in a pleased voice as she took the receiver from her twin and deliberately turned her back towards her.

  ‘Tonight...yes...I’d love to...’ she agreed. ‘What time?

  Yes, I guess eight will be fine.

  ‘James is taking me out for dinner tonight,’ she told her twin after she had concluded her call. ‘He says there’s a new restaurant opened on the river which is very highly acclaimed.’

  Bobbie opened her mouth as though she was about to say something and then closed it again as she surveyed her sister’s flushed face and happy eyes.

  James and Samantha?
r />   Well, her twin would certainly never find a more easygoing nor indulgent partner than James, and Sam would certainly benefit from someone in her life who would ground her a little, but was James strong enough to match Samantha? Samantha could sometimes get a little carried away with her ideas and plans and didn’t always think them through properly from a practical point of view, as Bobbie well knew. She was inclined to be impulsive and idealistic and she was also extremely strong-willed. She needed a man who would not just understand and love her but who would share and match the deeply passionate and intense side of her nature, as well. A pretty tall order, Bobbie knew, but to her mind Sam deserved the best.

  James was a darling and nothing would make Bobbie happier than to see him settled and married. He had al-84

  THE PERFECT FATHER

  ready suffered disappointments in love and if anyone deserved to be loved, then it was certainly James. But was Samantha the right one for him? James liked order and calm; he liked routine and neatness, as a Virgo he tended to be almost even a little bit overfussy on occasions. His desk, his office, and his home were models of orderliness and pristine neatness.

  Sam, on the other hand, could cheerfully live in the kind of chaos that made other people either stare in envy or grit their teeth in despair, depending on their own natures.

  She was headstrong, vital, vibrant, swinging from one extreme to another in the space of a handful of minutes.

  She possessed a joie de vivre that other people either adored or loathed, there were no half measures with Samantha, whereas James epitomised the spirit of compromise. Still, they did say that opposites attract.

  ‘If you’re going near the river I’d take a warm jacket with you,’ Bobbie warned her. ‘It can be quite cool near the water in the evening.’

  Predictably Samantha was still upstairs getting ready when James arrived to collect her.

  Bobbie let him in and hugged and kissed him lovingly.

  ‘Sam won’t be long,’ she assured him.

  James gave her a small smile.

  ‘Good, I’ve booked the table for eight-thirty which just leaves us time to drive there and order a drink at the bar before we eat.’

  Rather ruefully Bobbie looked away, relieved to hear her twin’s feet on the stairs as Samantha came hurrying down.

  She had certainly dressed for the occasion, Bobbie reflected as she studied her sister.

  PENNY JORDAN

  85

  The pretty linen wrap skirt emphasised the female shape of Sam’s body and the toning effect of cream on cream with the softly draped top she was wearing created an image of soft delicacy whilst Sam’s freshly washed tousled curls gave her an appealing youthful air.

  ‘Where’s your jacket?’ Bobbie asked her as Sam passed her in the hall.

  ‘If I get cold I’ll have to borrow James’,’ Samantha told her sotto voce, smiling mischievously as she saw her twin’s expression.

  ‘You’ll need a jacket,’ James warned her, unconsciously echoing Bobbie’s comment to her earlier.

  Samantha hesitated, torn between protesting that she wasn’t a child and that if she chose not to wear a jacket then it was her choice and allowing herself to bask in the unfamiliarity of James’ male concern.

  In the end the latter won out and she hurried back upstairs, returning with a soft cashmere wraparound knitted jacket draped around her shoulders.

  ‘Very nice,’ Bobbie approved.

  ‘You look lovely,’ James told her quietly and sincerely, smiling tenderly at her as he reached out and gently straightened the ruffled edge of her knit so that both sides were equally matched.

  Samantha’s eyebrows rose but she didn’t make any comment.

  ‘We’d better go,’ James was informing her. ‘We don’t want to be late for our table.’

  Bobbie, who knew that her twin had raised being late to an art form, forbore to make any comment, but instead mentally crossed her fingers as she wished the pair of them a pleasant evening.

  ‘ Sam and James? ’ Luke exclaimed later when Bobbie was telling him what had happened. His eyebrows rose 86

  THE PERFECT FATHER

  and he gave her a droll look. ‘You have to be joking.

  James knows to the last pair exactly how many socks he has and where they are. I would be astonished if your sister could find a single item in her wardrobe in less than a week!’

  ‘Mmm...you could have a point,’ Bobbie allowed. ‘Except that Sam would be more likely to have most of her clothes lying in a heap on her bedroom chair or floor,’

  Bobbie admitted with a grin.

  ‘I rest my case,’ Luke told her mock solemnly.

  ‘Yes, but opposites do attract,’ Bobbie reminded him hopefully.

  ‘Mmm...they also have some of the most spectacularly messy and acrimonious divorce cases that ever come to court. Take it from me, I’ve seen them.’

  ‘Mmm...well, James seems pretty keen...’

  ‘Maybe now he does, wait until Sam has dropped ice cream on his suit, lost her purse and locked him out of his own car,’ Luke suggested.

  Since her twin had on the occasion of her last visit committed all three of those crimes against Luke, Bobbie felt unable to say very much in defence of her sister.

  ‘James would drive Sam mad,’ Luke told her more seriously. ‘She’d end up resenting or even loathing him.’

  ‘But if they fell in love,’ Bobbie protested.

  ‘With the idea of being in love, yes, but with each other—no!’

  In the soft shadows of the restaurant’s private walled garden Samantha started to put her plan into action. The romantic venue James had chosen for their meal was certainly a good start and she was enjoying having James fuss round her, checking that she was warm enough, that PENNY JORDAN

  87

  her chair was comfortable, that the menu was to her liking. It felt wonderful to be so thoroughly pampered.

  ‘James, you’re spoiling me,’ she told him softly as she leaned across the table to cover his hand with her own just fleetingly enough to be subtly intimate without lingering too long or being too obvious.

  It would be quite in order for her to kiss James goodnight as a thank you for her evening out she decided judiciously as the waiter took their order—and when she did...!

  A naughty little smile curled her mouth.

  ‘You know, you frighten me a little when you look like that,’ James told her ruefully.

  ‘Me—frighten you!’ Sam rolled her eyes wickedly.

  CHAPTER SIX

  ‘SO, IN your opinion, Toni, your professional opinion that is...’ Liam stressed, ‘I’m not going to win the governorship unless I have a wife.’

  They were seated opposite one another in the privacy of Liam’s apartment since Toni Davis had insisted that the subject she wanted to discuss with him was far too vital to the success of his campaign for them to risk anyone else overhearing it.

  He watched as she arched an eyebrow and gave him the benefit of her perfect profile whilst making a slightly depreciative moue.

  ‘I couldn’t say that, but there is no doubt that amongst a certain section of the voters a Governor who has the right kind of wife is considered to be preferable to one who doesn’t.’

  ‘The right kind of wife?’ Liam asked her, his own eyebrows lifting. Toni gave him a small intimate look.

  ‘Liam, I’ve worked in PR a good while and in Washington, we both know that to be successful, a politician needs to have the right kind of partnership support.

  I’m sure we’ve both seen very able politicians failing to make the grade because of...problems in their domestic lives...

  ‘Your voters feel that a married Governor will be more in tune with their own lives and needs. You and I both know that it takes a very special kind of woman to fully understand the stresses and pressures that go with high office.

  88

  PENNY JORDAN

  89

  ‘In my view,’ Toni Davis continued, ‘th
e very best kind of successful political marriages are those where both partners are working together for a common goal and where both partners understand their roles and one another. For a man in high office it is vitally important that his wife is totally committed to his success and to him.’

  ‘Isn’t that a rather old-fashioned point of view?’ Liam checked her.

  ‘Old-fashioned it may be, but it works,’ Toni told him firmly.

  ‘So you believe that a politician should marry for ex-pediency rather than for love?’ Liam challenged her.

  ‘Romantic love seldom lasts and can cause far too many problems. A successful politician doesn’t have time to waste on emotion,’ Toni told him calmly. ‘You’re a very sensible man, Liam, and an ambitious man, I know, so I’m sure you understand what I’m saying.’

  Liam gave her a thoughtful look.

  Oh, he understood what she was saying right enough.

  From the moment he had picked her up from the airport Toni had made it clear that it wasn’t just her professional expertise in public relations she was prepared to put at Liam’s disposal. She might not have come right out and said that she would like to be the Governor’s wife, but she had certainly made it plenty clear in a number of other ways.

  Stephen Miller had told Liam privately that he had heard from a source in Washington that Toni had, for several years, been having an affair with a very high-ranking Congressman.

  ‘He was a lot older than her and his wife was terminally ill. Word is that she was prepared to sit it out and wait to become his second wife but that when, instead of asking her to marry him, he upped and married someone else she 90

  THE PERFECT FATHER

  vowed that she would find a way of getting even with him.’

  ‘And did she...’

  ‘Well, he isn’t a Congressman anymore...’

  ‘Mmm...nice lady!’

  ‘She certainly knows what she wants,’ Stephen Miller had agreed.

  As Liam watched her gravely whilst she warmed to her theme and started to list the many advantages to the kind of marriage she was proposing, he reflected that there was, in all honesty, something to be said for what she was suggesting and that she would most definitely make an admirable wife for an ambitious politician.