Caitlin reached for the phone. "Jared D'Olivera's residence, Caitlin speaking." She said formally expecting to hear her father's voice at the other end. Hopefully he was calling to tell her he'd reached home.
Jared smiled at her formality as with his back to her Jared returned the milk carton back to its shelf in the fridge. On his way back to the breakfast counter Jared picked up his mug and walked over to the breakfast counter and watched Caitlin's expression.
"You want me to talk to him?" He mouthed silently as he pulled out a stool and sat on it, facing her.
"If you hang on a second I'll pass you on to him." Caitlin said then handed the cordless phone over, "It's Lisa!" She announced flatly. Caitlin got to her feet, picked up her mug of tea and waltzed out of the room leaving him to deal with the telephone call. She heard him say.
"Lisa. Yes. She is."
Caitlin wondered whether she should phone her father and ask him to come and collect her. She walked back to the room she knew to be Jared's study. And he was literally on her heels when she entered the room.
"Short phone call." She said coolly. Then she looked at him, and said blithely, "I wouldn't worry, Lisa won't tell anyone I answered your phone. So you haven't been compromised." Caitlin told him, as she continued to study the room and decide where to sit while she finished her mug of tea and they had this conversation that he was so all fired keen to have. Then she was going home.
Jared nodded, studied her closely and wondered whether they had just gone back several steps. Another plan went up in smoke. She looked as if she was trying to appear nonchalant. She was perched on the edge of the armchair he had recently vacated so he took the armchair that faced her. He put his mug down on the side table and asked, "Will you mind if she tells people?"
"Me?" She glanced across at him and shrugged her shoulders. "Why will I mind? It makes no difference to me." With her mug on the side table beside her chair she shuffled back in the armchair. " But you'll have problems with it."
"Me? Why would I have problems with it?" Jared frowned.
"You don't want to be bullied or compromised into marrying me. Remember? No..."
Jared smiled slowly and corrected her softly, "You're forgetting that in six weeks we get married."
"I'm not."
He remembered what her father had said about his daughters not wanting to get married. "You don't want to get married, or you don't want to marry me?"
"When I get married it will be to a man who loves and respects me." She folded her arms and leaned back in the rather comfortable armchair, "and from what I recall, you don't. In fact, if I remember earlier, you told Lisa tonight ....."
"If you'd hung around, you'd have heard me say, I didn't think it was any of her business what my feelings were for you." He interrupted.
"Yeah. Right." Trying to keep the exasperation from her voice, she reached for her mug and took a sip.
"I thought persuading your father to help me was tough, but he's not pig stubborn!"
Caitlin ignored his pointed comment, "Fine. I'm here. So please let's just have this talk over and done with, and then you can call me a taxi and I'll get out of your hair." She put her mug back on the table.
He huffed out a loud breath, braced his arms on the armrests of his armchair and looked straight at her. She folded her arms and looked straight back.
Slowly he levered off the chair, then added dangerously, "That's it. Enough!" He headed straight for her. Caitlin jumped to her feet. "Enough!" He bent at the waist, leaned closer and then tossed her over his shoulder. All thoughts of drinking their recently made mugs of tea disappeared from his mind. He was going to make sure that this woman understood once and for all that they were getting married.
Surprised by that action Caitlin all but squeaked, "What the..."
Jared straightened and headed for the door. "Hold tight." One arm banded across the backs of her legs, the other stretched out to push the door open.
"Will you..."
"No." He replied without waiting for her to complete her statement. "I've had enough of talking. Time for action."
"Action?" She mumbled, as she dangled down his back.
"Yes." He strode down the hallway. "I'm going to show you."
"Show me? What?"
"I've told you. The woman I plan to marry is someone I love, respect and want." He pushed past the nextdoor and then headed for the stairs. "And given the fact that I have asked you to marry me, and you are smart, I'd have thought you'd have put two and two together. But oh, no. Not you." He shifted her slightly so that he could see the steps and began to head upstairs, "I arranged for Lisa to phone this evening!" He muttered. "I want people to know we are together!" Caitlin stopped squirming. The stairs looked tricky and his words were baffling. " But, no, you don't take that route either. I'm marrying you." He reached the top of the stairs, turned and headed for his room. "I respect you. What you do, who you are, you." He all but yelled, "I respect you."
"Well..."
"I love you." Jared added quietly. "And want you." He pushed open his bedroom door, "I've demonstrated the respect." He shucked off his shoes. "Now I'm going to demonstrate love and want." He tumbled her onto the bed. Then as she lay sprawled on the bed he undid the cuffs of his shirt.
Caitlin just stared at him in complete confusion. Before she could get to her feet, he pulled his shirt over his head, having loosened a few buttons. Without caring where the shirt landed he let it drop to the floor. Caitlin looked at him, trying to figure out what had changed, why, and when?
She swung her feet off the bed, and ended up sitting on the edge of the bed. But before she could get to her feet, Jared planted his palms on either side of her hips and then he simply leaned forward, lowered his head and kissed her. Caitlin's arms lifted as her hands grabbed hold of his shoulders and she hung on. Slowly Jared straightened, his hands at her waist as he lifted her to her feet. Her arms wrapped around his neck as all thinking fled. Her eyes drifted shut. Her mouth opened. Their tongues touched. The kiss deepened. Their blood roared. His arms banded around her, dragging her to press flush against him, her toes barely touching the ground.
They were both breathless when he stopped kissing her. He waited for her to open her eyes.
"We need to talk." He said hoarsely, though every cell in his body was telling him this was not the time for talking. But this was important, his heart and head reminded him. Sex was never going to be an issue for them. They merely had to touch to go up in flames. What was an issue was talking honestly about how they felt instead of leaving each other to reach conclusions.
Then still wearing his trousers and with her in her evening dress he held her at arms length.
"Please, Caitlin. We need to talk." He did not want to look at her lips, for he knew that would mean all talk being forgotten.
Caitlin sank to sit onto the bed and nodded. A few moments ago she was his for the taking. She knew that. She would have gone all the way with him. She was pretty sure he wanted the same thing. So to find him putting the brakes on suggested this chat was going to be really important. Jared joined her on the bed. He sat alongside, his hip a few inches from hers. He propped his head on his hand, his elbow digging into his thighs, as he leaned forward and turned his head to the side to look at her.
Caitlin's heart was racing. Her chest was rising and falling with increasing frequency as she looked into his eyes and hope began to take hold. She licked nervously at her lips. His eyes tracked that movement. His gut tightened. He was tempted to resume that kiss. But there was so much at stake here. "Don't do that." He grunted.
"What?"
"Lick your lips like that!" He was out of his depth.
"Oh. Sorry." She wasn't sure whether to be flattered or annoyed. He was tempted to kiss her, she could see that in his eyes. But he was determined not to! He'd never told anyone he loved them until today.
"I love you Caitlin. I don't know how to convince you of that fact. But I love you." He looked straight ahead and said softly, "The question is do you want to be with me?"
Caitlin's breath caught. Then she nodded. Of course she did. She had dreamed about being with him. Woken up, with the sheets tangled, and her pulse racing. But never had she imagined ever having the opportunity. Men like him would see her as too straight. Too tame. Too boring.
"The thing is, I'm not offering a one night stand. I want forever. With you." He sat up straighter and looked at her as he asked softly, "Will you marry me?"
Caitlin's breath hitched again. "Don't you think we should get to know each other?" She wanted him to be absolutely sure about taking this step. Because for her it would be forever.
"You need time?" He looked surprised. Why did she want time?
"No I don't. I want you to be sure. Really sure that you want to marry me." She looked straight at him. "I know I love you." She told him. She said she loved him. That's what registered with Jared. She saw the reaction to her words in his eyes and in that moment Caitlin wanted to throw herself into his arms. She smiled slowly as she clarified, "I just want you to be sure you want to marry me, and not some image..."
"Image?"
"Is it me, or is it the woman you want me to be because you have a view about my background?"
He looked exasperated. "Caitlin! I'm bloody sure I'm in love with you, you maddening woman! If I wanted some bloody fictional image it wouldn't be an intractable one!"
Caitlin giggled. "Well that's telling me!"
Jared huffed. "Ok. Fine. Fine." Then he shook his head when she just continued to giggle. "In six weeks we get married!" He said firmly.
That stopped the giggles. "Six weeks. Are you serious?"
"Never been more serious in my entire life. I am marrying you. You Caitlin Fonseca. You." He took a breath. "The question is, will you marry me?"
Their eyes locked. He waited. She nodded. Her eyes spoke the words before she actually said them. "Yes." She looked at him, "I will marry you. As long as you know it will be forever. You marry me, and that's it. We are together forever!"
"I love you. Have done for a long time." He closed his eyes for a second then opened them and continued. "I just never thought someone like you would be interested in a guy like me."
Caitlin's eyes went wide. Then she frowned. "Someone like me?" She turned slightly side, and mirrored his sitting position. "What does that mean? Someone like me?"
"You're beautiful. Classy. Refined. Sweet. Smart." He said. "Your family is a tight unit."
"So?"
"So I'm not sure who my father is and my mother's role in the community was somewhat different to the role your father has in the community. He is respected. I know you and your sister and your father moved to Hamilton soon after the tragedy that saw your mother taken away from you." Caitlin took a deep breath. "And your father said you and your sister practically brought each other up. But I'm pretty sure he's underselling his role. We do have some similarities, Doug and I looked out for each other and his younger brother and my half-sister because our fathers weren't around and our mothers were otherwise engaged! Later on we had his grandmother looking after us. That was a huge turning point in our lives. But before then, life was best described as ugly." Caitlin knew what he was talking about. She had heard some of the rumours. "So the chances of someone with your background wanting anything to do with me was, I thought, pretty unrealistic." He murmured quietly. "To be honest, it never occurred to me that you would be interested, not until I heard that rumour that you had me on a list!"
"I never had you on a list!" She corrected flatly even as she smiled.
He nodded. "I know. I know." He drew in another lungful of air. "I also knew within seconds of talking to you, that it was just unfounded gossip. You weren't interested in me. It confirmed what I have believed for years. Doug and I, we've clawed our way out of the pits, professionally we are on a level playing field. Personally, we hadn't moved at all. Not where it counted. With my background why would you have anything to do with me?" She heard the sadness in his voice and reached for his hand. She linked her fingers with his. "I was gutted. Decided to score my points first. Convince myself that it was no great loss! Hadn't anticipated being overheard!"