The Mistress of His Manor by Catherine George Page A

as he stared at her in surprise. ‘If you like, I’ll tell you my little tale over lunch.’
    ‘Oh, no. After hitting me so casually with that piece of news you expect me to wait?’ March took her hand. ‘Let’s go back to the solar. Lunch can hang on for a while. Unless you’re utterly famished?’
    ‘No. Now I’ve started I may as well get on with it.’
    Once they were back in the solar, March settled on the sofa beside Jo and took her hand. ‘Right then, Scheherezade. Start your tale.’
    ‘It’s Kate and Jack’s more than mine, which is why I asked permission.’ Jo gazed into the logs laid ready in the fireplace. ‘They fell madly in love when they were quite young. He was working in his father’s building and contracting business, and on fire to expand it. But Kate was equally on fire to work in London, and she took it for granted Jack would find work there when she went, so they could be together. He flatly refused to do that, she flatly refused to stay, so they broke up and off she went.’ Jo sighed. ‘In London Kate not only pined desperately for Jack, she eventually found she was pregnant. She rushed back to tell him, only to hear that he’d married someone else just the previous weekend.’
    March stared at her, dumbfounded. ‘Good God! How did that happen?’
    Jo flushed. ‘Jack had missed Kate just as badly after she went—not least, being a mere male, the bed part. When he was pestered by a lady who, according to Kate, was sex on legs, Jack eventually succumbed. And then, being Jack, paid the price of a wedding ring when told that the lady was expecting his child.’
    March swore softly. ‘Go on.’
    ‘Kate, utterly heartbroken at the news, went straight back toLondon without contacting Jack. So he never knew she was pregnant. And Kate never heard that he’d divorced the bride who’d miscarried too far along into pregnancy for the child to be his.’ Jo sighed, glad of his comforting grasp. ‘In the meantime, Kate’s married sister had begged to bring up the baby as hers, so I grew up in London thinking that my adored Kate was my aunt. Then when I was thirteen my adoptive parents—my real aunt and uncle—died on holiday in a car accident. I came to live with Kate in the house in Park Crescent and she met Jack again. Due to my resemblance to his mother, the truth came out.’ Jo turned to him with a wry smile. ‘The rest, as they say, is history.’
    March shook his head in wonder. ‘Small wonder your father feels protective, Joanna. He’s missed out on half your life.’
    ‘Far worse for Jack, he missed out on all those years with Kate,’ said Jo soberly.
    March slid an arm around her. ‘The revelations must have been a hell of a lot for you to take on board at that age.’
    ‘Oh, I was on cloud nine at first. I was a bridesmaid at their wedding; I’d gained a loving grandfather and a fabulous home. It was like a fairy tale, with Mill House the enchanted castle where we were all going to live happily ever after.’ Jo smiled wryly. ‘But all too soon the dreaded teenage hormones kicked in, and I began to change towards Jack. During school holidays at home he was so protective and strict with me I became resentful. Eventually I turned into a monster teenage rebel and even flung accusations at him, insisting that if he’d really loved Kate he would never have looked at another woman, let alone married one.’
    ‘How did he take that?’
    ‘Being Jack, he certainly didn’t take it lying down. Kate was utterly appalled with me and flew to his defence, but he took the wind out of my sails by freely admitting his sins where the sexy Dawn was concerned.’ Jo took in a deep breath. ‘Then helooked me in the eye in that daunting way of his and told me I was wrong about the rest. He had never stopped loving my mother during all those lost years, he still did and always would. At which point Kate told me to go to my room and stay there until I could behave like a civilised human