Jared grinned in relief and admitted, "A couple should be equal in strength and passion. With Caitlin I know I've met my match!" Then he shook Jacinto's hand in a firm handshake and said , "Not the best of starts. I agree. But I can turn things around. I just need to talk to her! Alone! Without half the world listening in!"
"I might be able to help with that." Jacinto responded and his eyes softened as he considered how his next statement would be received. "I'll drop her round at your house this evening." He was taking a risk, but intuitively he knew that this man would not harm his daughter.
"My house?" Jared looked astonished.
Jacinto nodded much to Jared's amazement. "I'll need your address." He retrieved his mobile phone and handed it to Jared. "And include your phone number."
Jared took the phone, looked at Caitlin's father and said with obvious sincerity, "Thank you." He knew that Jacinto was placing his trust in him. "For trusting me."
Jacinto nodded to acknowledge that and waited while Jared entered his phone number into his contacts list.
So it was some two hours later when Jacinto drove up the driveway and pulled up outside a large sprawling home under the pretext of having to drop something off that he'd forgotten to do earlier! As the car came to a halt, Jacinto reached into his pocket and retrieved a folded piece of paper. He gave Caitlin the folded piece of paper and smiling genially asked her to hop out of the car and drop it off while Jacinto turned the car round.
Caitlin pulled her jacket closer to her and walked briskly toward the front door. The lights were on, so her father's friend was obviously home. When she reached the front door, she looked for a letter box, and found none! Was she supposed to ring the bell? She looked over her shoulder, saw that her father was reversing the car and decided that she'd best just ring the bell.
So it came as a hell of a shock when the door opened and she came face to face with Jared. Stunned Caitlin stood on his doorstep, blinking in confusion.
It was only when Jared looked past her shoulder and raised his hand to wave at Caitlin's father that she remembered where she was. Caitlin looked over her shoulder, and was just in time to see her father drive off down the driveway! Her mouth dropped open. What the hell was going on? She spun back to face Jared.
"Come in." He stood to one side.
"I'm not coming in!" She looked at the fading rear lights of her father's car. "I can't believe he's done that!" She muttered. "Dad..."
"Has gone home?" Jared completed her statement. "I told him we needed to talk." Jared told her. She was still just standing at his front door. She hadn't taken a step in. She looked utterly bemused. "He agreed to help me."
"He wouldn't!" She growled under her breath. She couldn't believe her father would bring her here and then drive off!
"He did!" Jared said softly. Though in the back of his mind Jared was sure her father had not gone far. He might trust Jared with his daughter, but he was not about to leave his daughter without any options.
Caitlin looked over her shoulder at the now empty driveway. "He's just driven away?" Caitlin shook her head as if she just couldn't believe it. But unknown to her, her father had only driven out of sight, and parked up in the curve of the driveway. He intended to wait, make sure Caitlin was ok. He was going to give Jared ten minutes and then return to collect her.
"You know I went to see you and ended up seeing him?" Jared glanced at her, the light from the open doorway illuminated her profile.
"Who? Dad?" She turned to him, and he saw the shock was still in her eyes.
Jared nodded, then he gestured to his home. "Look, come in. It's warmer inside than standing and having this conversation on the doorstep."
Caitlin once again looked down the drive. He'd actually just driven away. That did not strike her as something he would do unless he felt comfortable doing it, and if he was convinced she would be safe. She trusted her father's gut instinct. But still it was quite a shock. He'd just left her here!
"Please. Caitlin. Come in. We need to talk." Jared said quietly.
Caitlin exhaled slowly. Then she nodded. "Ok. But I'm calling a taxi!"
"I'll drive you home. After we talk." He told her and closed the door behind her when she stepped into the hallway. Then he gestured toward his landline phone, "And call your father."
"What?" Why?"
Jared knew that Caitlin's father might trust him but he was not going to leave his daughter with no options. "Because I imagine he is probably going to sit in his car out in the cold night air, ..."
"What?"
"Caitlin, your father is not gong to abandon you here, is he?" Jared asked with a rueful smile. Jared figured that Jacinto was probably going to give Jared five minutes to present his case, and then Jared figured Jacinto would be back to collect his daughter.
Caitlin knew Jared was right. Her father would not abandon her. "True." But instead of heading for his phone, she reached for her mobile in her handbag. "I'll call him."
"Come through once you're done." Jared told her, and gestured to a room just down the corridor.
Caitlin nodded and then pressed a button on speed dial. "Dad!" He heard her say when the call was answered at the other end. "Yes. I'm fine! You on the other hand, you are in big trouble when I see you!" Jared smiled as he listened in from the other room. With the study door open it was easy to overhear her side of the conversation. "Yes. So he said." Caitlin huffed and Jared could just imagine the ire in her eyes. "I can't believe you brought me here!" She huffed again. "Yes. That's why I'm calling. Jared said he'll drive me home." She looked toward the open door, knowing that Jared was probably over hearing the conversation. "Yes. I do." That was in response to her father asking her if she trusted him to keep his word. She sighed. "Go home dad. I'll speak to you in the morning!"
Jared thought that sounded more like a threat!
A few seconds later Caitlin stepped into Jared's study. "He said he was going to give you ten minutes! Before he rang your door bell!"
Jared smiled. Ten minutes. That was longer than he had anticipated. Jared got to his feet. She looked nervous. He knew he was nervous! So much hinged on what happened here this night. He knew that talking, honestly, was the key.
Now that she was here she wasn't sure what she was meant to say or do. "I told Dad you'd call me a taxi! I also told him to go home. He'll freeze sitting out there. And I doubt you want him listening in to our conversation which is what would happen if you asked him to come here now!" Now she figured Jared ought to take the lead.
"Can I take your jacket? Get you something to drink?" Jared asked. He was pleased she trusted him enough to send her father home!
"Tea?" She asked. She could probably do with something stronger. Caitlin shrugged off her jacket and smoothed her clammy hands down the sides of her dress. She felt a bit over dressed, given as she was still wearing what she'd worn to the Easter dance. "Yes. Tea would be nice."
Jared gestured toward the door and waited for her to exit before him. They walked side by side down the large hallway. They walked passed several doors before he palmed open a door and it revealed a large kitchen. He held the door open and waited for her to enter the room.
He had discarded his jacket and had rolled up his shirt sleeves but was still wearing his formal black trousers. "Grab a seat." He gestured. Caitlin considered sitting at the table, or at the large breakfast counter. She opted for the breakfast counter. She made an obvious study of the room. It was huge. And very tidy. She doubted that was down to him. He probably had a housekeeper. Well, he'd certainly come a long way from his roots. She remembered he'd said he did not think his background was anywhere near hers. Given the price bracket of his home he was several stratospheres above her league and her background. The Fonseca's lived a comfortable life. But there was comfortable and then there was comfortable! Jared's lifestyle was a whole different tax bracket. So why did the man think he was worse off than her?
Jared put the kettle on, then reached for a couple of huge china mugs. He looked over his shoulder, "So has Mr Fonseca gone home?"
Caitlin nodded. "He was parked up, just round the curve in your driveway! I said I'd get a taxi and he said he would go home." She smiled.
"And you think he will?" Jared wasn't so sure.
She nodded. "Yes. Though to be fair, he'll probably wait up until I get home. But at least he'll be warm. And he can make himself a nice hot toddy or something while he waits!"
Jared smiled. "He told me I didn't deserve you, and I should keep well away." He opened a cupboard, retrieved the tea canister and then closed the cupboard.
She smothered a yawn as tiredness and emotional exhaustion crept in. "And that's why he dropped me off at your doorstep!" She'd been too distracted to take note of the direction her father had taken, for her mind was on what had happened at the dance. In any case all she would have noted was that they were not heading home. She would never have imagined her father would drive her to Jared's home! "Good old dad!" She shook her head in exasperation, then looked at him and challenged, "And clearly you took his advice."
"We need to talk." He replied. "I didn't want to do it with an audience present, which seems to be our common form! And I know from previous experience that you can be bloody stubborn!"
"Thanks!" She replied drolly. But she knew he had a point.
"Nigel phoned me. Said you were going to the dance and would probably cop a bit of flak."
"Ah, so that's why you came." She smoothed out the non-existent creases in her silk skirt. "Well, I guess that tells me a lot." She mumbled.
He glanced at her, sensing they were about to hit another snag, "I doubt it." He muttered then returned his focus to the kettle that had just boiled. "I came because I wanted to."
She murmured softly, "Yes, of course." Caitlin stifled another yawn.
He wished he could step toward her, but they needed to talk, and if he stepped closer he would end up kissing her. "I wanted to be there to support you." He reached for the mugs, put a tea bag in each and then poured in hot water, "But watching that steady stream of guys ask you to dance was not my idea of fun."
Caitlin looked at him, but he had his back to her, so she wasn't sure whether to take his last sentence seriously. She wanted to. Really wanted to. Then her defences kicked in. She shrugged, too tired to argue, too drained to hear what he was telling her. "I'm not in the mood to be soft soaped."
He looked across at her and shook his head, before he said in exasperation, "I'm not..."
"Yes, you are." She glanced at him, then added more forcefully. "And I don't need it."
"I'm not..."
"So, if that's going to be the substance of this conversation then let's just have this tea, and then you can drop me off home, and from now on we go our separate ways." She flicked him a look, then turned to stare at the large floor to ceiling window at the other side of the room.
"No." He said quietly, sensing her firm resolve. He put the kettle down, "We have this tea and we talk." He looked over at her, "Milk?" He knew she did not take sugar.
"Please."
He retrieved the milk carton from the fridge. "How long do you want your tea stewed?" He nearly smiled. Here he was intending to marry this woman and he didn't know how she took her tea! Minor, inconsequential details!
"As it comes." She said. So he fished the tea bag out and then added some milk before he handed her a mug of tea.
"Thanks." She murmured.
He was walking toward the waste disposal unit when the landline started ringing. Jared quirked a brow at her, "That's probably your father!" He said and kept his eyes averted. "I gave him my landline." He nodded toward the phone. "Can you get it!" He binned the teabags.