Wine & Roses (3 page)

Besides, since his fractured engagement a year and a half ago, he wasn’t interested in getting involved with anyone. And Abby Wells was the sort of woman he could see himself wanting to spend a lot of time with.

* * *

Abby accepted a half-glass of dark, rich Cabernet Franc, though her head was already beginning to reel from consuming the two previous half-glasses of wine in quick succession. She was enjoying herself too much to want to stop, delighting in both the wine and the company much more than she’d expected to.

“So you say Colin supported your writing career, and you were in love when you married,” Jason asked, steering the conversation back to the gloomy topic of her marriage. “What went wrong, if I may be so bold as to ask?”

Abby swallowed some wine before replying, reminding herself that she should be savouring the spicy overtones. “I suppose I didn’t know him all that well when we married. We only dated a few months. When we were dating he showered me with attention, but once the chase was over I suppose the fun was gone, and he didn’t have much time to spare for me. He was really quite arrogant and self-centred. Well, I suppose you know that. Eventually we were living mainly separate lives.”

“But you never left?” Jason eyed her with interest. “Many couples stay together for the sake of the children, and that I can understand on a certain level. But you didn’t have any children, did you?”

Abby didn’t answer at first. She glanced away, feeling some of the coziness of their conversation drain away as her stomach dipped uncomfortably.

“No, we didn’t,” she replied at last. When she looked back at Jason, leaning his elbow casually on the bar-top, she found his dark gaze fixed on hers. “I’m not really sure why I stayed so long. At first I suppose I was focused on establishing my writing career and told myself we could work on the marriage later. But things never got better. Over time I suppose I lost the nerve to leave.”

She took a last swallow of her Cabernet. Though the wine had chased away some of her discretion, she stopped herself from spilling the rest of her story.

She didn’t tell him that throughout her thirties she’d tried to conceive a child, but never succeeded. After running extensive tests, her doctor had assured her there was nothing wrong with her, and suggested Colin be tested as well. But Colin refused, insisting he could not be to blame. Forced to accept that, Abby’s pleas to adopt were met by hostility. By the time she reached her late thirties she gave up, both on motherhood and on finding happiness in marriage. Though she could have left Colin, and probably should have, it seemed too late to start over, and she resigned herself to remaining married but emotionally alone.

When Colin’s fatal heart attack left her suddenly single, Abby grieved for him in her own way, his absence bringing an abrupt end to the life she’d grown accustomed to. Although free to meet someone else, she shied away from the idea. After all, Colin’s assertion over the years that she was an unsatisfactory lover had left her petrified of disastrous results if she did find herself in another man’s bed. Besides, having lived so long in a passionless marriage, she hardly knew where to begin with a new relationship.

No, these were not things she wished to discuss with Jason Brinleigh, now or ever.

“Was he faithful to you?” Jason asked after a pause, his forthright question surprising Abby. But she supposed, having asked him about his broken engagement, she owed him an honest response.

“I suspected he wasn’t, but I could never prove anything.” To a certain extent she had blamed his need to find fulfillment outside of the marriage on her inability to satisfy him. Thinking of it now made her shudder with dejection, and she tried gamely to push those feelings aside.

“I have to wonder whether the notion of happily-ever-after belongs in fairy tales and not in our expectations of marriage,” Jason remarked.

Though taken aback by the bleakness of the sentiment, Abby could hardly disagree with it. Two years ago when she met Jason, she’d encountered a vibrant young man already running a successful winery and about to be married, and she had envied him. That promise in her life, she’d thought, had been squandered, too late to be recaptured. Though she’d found professional fulfillment as a novelist, she would never have the children she craved or enjoy a true, loving bond with her husband. To learn now that Jason’s life was tinged with its own pain made her see him differently, and curious to know more about him.

Straightening on her stool, Abby forced a grin to her face. “Quite right. Relationships are more trouble than they’re worth, so I say we should enjoy being free and single and not tied to anyone.”

The edges of his soft mouth curved upward. “Agreed. A toast?”

“Indeed.”

“For this, the Pinot noir. Delicate, soft, and utterly delightful. Not unlike my company this evening.” As he filled their glasses with the fourth wine selection, Jason’s eyes swept briefly over Abby, his lips quirking into a roguish smile that made her heart trip as it picked up its pace.

Raising her glass, she touched it to his with a soft
clink
. “To the single life.”

“May it serve us well.” The sympathy in Jason’s eyes buoyed Abby’s spirits; she suspected he understood the awful muddle of emotions she’d endured.

As he drank, his dark gaze settled on hers, lingering and intent, and sudden heat suffused her cheeks. She felt the same warm stirring of awareness that she had the night they met—only then they’d been in a room full of people, and she’d enjoyed the illicitness of their attraction while knowing there was no real danger of succumbing to temptation. Now they were alone, and both single.

Suddenly restless, Abby slid off her bar stool and wandered toward a set of French doors leading to a balcony. Her legs wobbled slightly as the room tilted around her, and she realized a bit of fresh air might do her good.

She turned to Jason, who followed a few paces behind her. “May I?”

“Be my guest.”

Opening one of the doors, she stepped out onto the balcony, the muggy night air enveloping her. Below, just beyond the manicured courtyard, the vineyard sprawled outward, row upon row of neatly trellised grapevines set aglow in the golden evening light. She could see the meticulous care that went into tending the plants, their perfect shape duplicated one to the next along each pristine row.

“The wine you’re drinking now came from the grapes grown over here.” Stepping beside her, Jason spread his hand to indicate the vines to the right.

“Could we go down there?” Abby asked on impulse. “I could use a walk, and it’s so pretty at twilight.”

Settling his hands in his pockets, Jason smiled softly. “Of course. Follow me.”

They left the building by the back entrance, passing the courtyard where Abby’s birthday party had been held. The flagstone terrace was empty and quiet now, but that night it had accommodated dozens of guests, along with a string quartet, a bar, and tables filled with delectable finger food.

“This is where we met,” she reminded Jason as they stepped off the terrace, heading down a path that wound between the winery and the vineyard. “In all the excitement I didn’t even notice the vineyard so close by.”

“I remember it well. You looked stunning that night.” Glancing at her, he offered an evocative smile, his brows inching upward. “As you do now.”

Abby smiled up at him, breathing deeply as the warm breeze lifted her hair off her shoulders. The effect of the wine was beginning to wear off, but the giddy thrill of being appreciated by this gorgeous man took its place. She’d had her doubts about coming here, but she was glad she’d ignored them; she couldn’t think of any other place she’d rather be this evening, or anyone she’d rather spend it with.

“Jason, you’re doing wonders for my ego tonight.” Sliding her hand under his arm, she hooked it around his elbow as they walked; her nerves jumped with delight when his larger, warm hand curled over hers. “A little more flattery and you can have my inn and my first-born child along with it.”

Feeling him stiffen beside her, Abby instantly wished she could take back her words. She’d almost forgotten the reason for their re-acquaintance, and perhaps he had, too.

Never mind the painful fact that she never would have a child, first-born or otherwise.

“Thank you for inviting me here,” she added quickly, hoping her new sentiment would replace the previous one in his mind. “This is lovely. I only wish it wasn’t so muggy.”

Jason turned to her, lifting one brow. “I have an idea. My house is just down the road. I wouldn’t normally suggest something like this, but it’s such a beautiful night. Why don’t we walk down and take a dip in my pool?”

From under her lashes she glanced up at him, a soft smile curving her lips, and—following a habit she seemed to have adopted since Jason Brinleigh walked into The Roses that afternoon—accepted his offer purely on impulse. “Sounds like fun. Lead the way.”

Chapter Three

“I didn’t bring a bathing suit.” This little hitch in the plan struck Abby for the first time as she stared down at the glassy surface of the water. The kidney-shaped pool was a modest size, tucked into an alcove behind Jason’s rather large ranch-style house. Lights set into the pool walls gave its cobalt depths an inviting glow.

Standing next to Jason on the cedar deck, it occurred to Abby that this meeting no longer had anything to do with business—if it had from the beginning.

“Didn’t think of that, and I’m afraid I don’t have one you can borrow.” Disappointment tinged his voice. “Another time, then.”

“Wait.” She turned to him with a sly smile. “I can wear my slip.”

His brows lifted in surprise, while the edges of his mouth curved up slowly. “As you wish. The changeroom is just behind.”

Abby hurried to the small hut at the far end of the deck and shut herself inside. Quickly she slid out of her dress, feeling giddy with anticipation. What was she doing? She hadn’t done anything so impetuous in years—maybe decades. Unhooking her bra, she realized that she’d have to leave her panties on, and they’d get soaked. No matter; she wasn’t about to let that stop her. No matter how impulsive her actions, the adrenaline coursing through her veins was simply too powerful to resist.

Emerging from the changeroom, she saw Jason standing across the deck, wearing only his swimming trunks. At once a fraction of her enthusiasm melted away. He looked amazing, his athletic build boasting a taut abdomen, and a broad chest and shoulders ridged with lean muscle under smooth, golden skin. As his eyes roamed over her flimsy slip, Abby felt suddenly, self-consciously aware of her age. She still had a trim figure, but it was no longer as firm as it had been in her youth, and she hadn’t maintained it well enough to keep certain areas from shifting or sagging in subtle ways. Her few strands of gray hair were easy to colour, but other imperfections she simply kept covered with clothing under normal circumstances.

“All set?” Jason’s mouth tilted into an appreciative smile as he surveyed her, buoying her confidence.

“Ready when you are.”

Appearing to sense her lingering unease, he stepped into the pool first, descending the stairs into the shallow end and then lunging forward into a front crawl. Slicing through the water with elegant ease, he emerged in the middle of the pool, smoothing the water from his face with his hand. Abby let her gaze linger a moment on the swell of powerful forearms just beneath the water’s surface as he treaded water.

“You can swim, can’t you?” he asked.

“Of course,” Abby replied mildly, realizing she was still standing paralyzed on the deck with her arms folded around her waist.

“What are you waiting for?”

“Just one moment.” Remembering her glasses, she slid them off and set them on a nearby table. Looking up, she could see clearly as far as the edge of the pool, but Jason had become merely a dark shape in the centre of a blurry patch of blue.

Silently cursing her poor vision, she edged her way to the stairs and stepped down slowly, finding the water pleasantly warm around her calves. Once she was chest-deep in the shallow end, she ducked lower so the water’s surface encircled her shoulders.

“It’s really nice,” she said, lifting her feet from the bottom to breaststroke her way toward Jason.

“It’s perfect,” she heard him remark as she swam closer. “I noticed before that you had pretty eyes, Abby, but now that I can see them without your lenses in the way, I have to say, they are uncommonly beautiful.”

Taken aback, she slowed to a stop and treaded water, wishing she could see
his
face clearly. “I’ll bet you say that to all the half-blind girls who take off their glasses to swim in your pool.”

Gliding smoothly through the water, Jason moved a little closer to her. “You doubt my sincerity?”

“I suppose I’m not very good at taking compliments graciously,” Abby admitted. “Thank you.” Glancing down, she noticed her slip billowing out around her waist. At the same time she became aware of how transparent the garment became when wet, the dark circles of her nipples clearly visible through the fabric.

When she looked up, Jason was close enough for her to see his smoky gaze sweeping over her, lingering on her bare shoulders. The depths of his eyes glowed with a dangerous heat that ignited a warm, sweet sensation in her belly—followed by a bolt of alarm. Until now their flirting had been titillating but safely chaste. Now he was mere feet from her, both of them barely covered, with his gaze all but consuming her.