‘I’m not expecting to be asked to stay,’ she told him shortly. ‘I just need to see him and once I have I’ll come back again.’Hopefully with Hugo, she thought but she didn’t say it aloud. ‘You do have his address, don’t you?’ she hedged.
‘Well, yes, yes I do.’ Jasper had stayed with Hugo at his grandparents’ home in France many times during the summer holidays when they had attended school together, but he was reluctant to part with it. He had a pretty good idea why his cousin wished to see him and knew that Hugo wouldn’t thank him for it. But what choice did he have? Abi clearly wasn’t going to take no for an answer. She was like a dog with a bone.
‘Get me a piece of paper and I’ll write it down for you,’ he eventually told her reluctantly. ‘But take my advice and write to him rather than visit. It’s a long way to go only to have to come all the way back again.’
Abi stood impatiently tapping her foot as he quickly jotted down the address, then snatching it up, she nodded at him. ‘Thank you, and when are you planning on going home?’
Now it was he who looked glum. ‘This weekend. I’ve had the royal summons from my father saying the holiday is well and truly over and I’ve got to go back and buckle down to work. If I don’t, he’s going to stop my allowance. That was one reason I called in this evening – to say goodbye. For now at least.’
‘I’m sure it won’t be as bad as you’re expecting,’ Abi told him with a sigh. She couldn’t imagine Jasper settling down to anything.
‘Hm! It means I won’t see nearly as much of Emmy .?.?. or you, of course,’ he hurried on when he saw Abi raise an enquiring eyebrow. Abi was aware that he had been visiting Emmy and their aunt regularly and just for a moment she could have sworn he was talking of leaving a lover when he mentioned her sister, but surely she was imagining it, she told herself. But then Lilly was at her elbow looking none too pleased, so after quickly saying her goodbyes Abi hurried away to entertain one of the elderly gentlemen that had just arrived, safe in the knowledge that she now at least knew where Hugo was.
Chapter Thirty
‘Your cousin Jasper is ’ere to see you, miss,’ Aggie told Emmy one morning and Emmy scowled. It was very early; she hadn’t even had time to help her aunt get dressed yet.
‘What does he want, Aggie?’ She couldn’t keep the note of annoyance from her voice as she carried her aunt’s breakfast tray out on to the landing and handed it to the maid. ‘He was only here the day before yesterday.’ Smoothing her skirt and patting her hair she sighed as she descended the stairs to find Jasper in the hallway clutching his hat in his hands.
‘Ah, Emmy, there you are.’
Emmy frowned, wondering where else he had thought she might be at that time of day. ‘Of course I am. As it happens, I was just about to help Aunt Imogen get dressed, so whatever it is you want you shall have to make it sharpish,’ she answered shortly, then felt guilty when she saw his face fall.
She led him into the drawing room where he told her, ‘I’ve come to say goodbye .?.?. for now at least. Father wants me home before the weekend, I’m afraid.’
‘Oh, is that all?’ She smiled. ‘I thought there might be something wrong.’
‘Itiswrong,’ he snapped sulkily. ‘I’m to start work learning how to manage the farm apparently, even though he knows that’s not what I want to do with my life.’
‘I see.’ He reminded Emmy of a large, petulant child and suddenly her patience was done with him. ‘So perhaps it would help if you told him what youdowant to do?’ she suggested caustically. ‘You’ve been in London for months and life can’t be one long holiday.’
The conversation wasn’t going at all as he had hoped it would and he frowned. ‘I’d like to find some sort of a job here in London .?.?. so that I could be close to you,’ he said, his heart sinking as he saw the look of shock on her face.
‘B-but why would you want to be close to me?’ She was confused now and a little afraid as she remembered back to what Imogen had said. Hadn’t she hinted that she thought Jasper had romantic intentions towards her? Well, if that was the case, he’d better get over them fairly quickly. They were cousins; surely he knew that even if she returned his affection, which she most certainly did not, nothing could come of it?
Before she could stop him, he stepped forward and took her hand in his and her heart missed a beat as he stared earnestly into her eyes. ‘Why do you think? You must have guessed how I feel about you? Why do you think I’ve stayed in London all this time? It was just so that I could be close to you.’
Emmy snatched her hand away as if had been burnt and hot colour rose in her cheeks. ‘Don’t be so silly,’ she told him firmly. ‘You must realise there could never be anything between us because we are so closely related.’
‘I don’tcareabout that,’ he said doggedly. ‘I only know that I love you and it doesn’t matter that we’re related. It’s not wrong to feel like I do, you know. We could go somewhere away from our family. I can’t help how I feel, after all.’
Emmy’s mouth gaped open in shocked surprise as she saw that he was in earnest. ‘If we did, Uncle Bernard would cut you off, so what do you suppose we’d live on? And that’s assuming that I have feelings for you, which I don’t!’
‘We could get jobs,’ he said desperately. ‘And we’d manage somehow.’ He stepped forward again but she backed away from him as if he had the plague.
‘Go home, Jasper,’ she told him firmly. ‘I think you’ve developed a rather silly crush on me but once you’re back at home I think you’ll see how ridiculous it is. You’re a good-looking young man and I’m sure you’ll be able to have your pick of girls back in Nuneaton.’
‘Haven’t you listened to a word I’ve said?’ His voice was rising now. ‘I don’t want any other girl – I wantyou!’
Emmy turned so suddenly that her skirts swirled about her. ‘I think you should leave now and for both our sakes we should forget this conversation ever took place. If Aunt Imogen asks why you came, I’ll tell her it was to say goodbye to her. Now please leave, Jasper, and if you come to London again, I’d prefer it if you only came to visit our aunt.’
His face was an ugly mottled red but he wasn’t finished yet and leaning towards her he ground out, ‘This isn’t the end, Emmy! When I want something, I usually get it and I wantyouso get used to the idea because as God is my witness, I’m telling you that if I can’t have you no one else will!’ And with that he rammed his hat on, barged past her and left the house, slamming the door so loudly behind him that it danced on its hinges.
‘Lordy, what were that tantrum all about?’ Aggie asked as she appeared from the kitchen.
Flustered, Emmy shook her head. ‘Oh .?.?. it’s, er .?.?. nothing to worry about. Jasper’s just upset because my uncle has told him it’s time to go home and get to work.’ Then lifting her skirts she fled up to her room to compose herself. After all, wasn’t she as bad as Jasper for having feelings for someone she shouldn’t have them for? As a picture of Jake’s face swam in front of her eyes, a tear slid down her cheek and she couldn’t deny how she felt about him any longer. The slightest touch of his hand could send shivers up her spine. A smile from him could make the day brighter and the more time she spent with him the more her feelings grew. And yet she knew that it was hopeless, they could never come together and she felt as if her heart was breaking. She stood for a while, trying to pull herself together before going in to see her aunt.
‘What was all the commotion downstairs about?’ Imogen asked when Emmy entered her room some minutes later. ‘I could hear the door slam from up here. I’m surprised it didn’t come off its hinges!’
