Chapter 78

JADE

With just two days until she began the next leg of her Australian adventure, Jade was no longer as eager to leave Kevin’s family farm as she had been.

Mark’s kiss had changed everything. Loyalty and common decency had initially kept them apart, but after giving in to their emotions that one time in the pool, they were now making up for lost time, stealing as many moments as they could when nobody was looking. Jade would accompany Mark to town to pick up supplies, holding his hand on the gearstick; their arms would brush up against each other’s at the dining table and she’d assist him herding the cows into the sheds before fixing them up to the milking machinery.

Every minute spent with Mark made Jade’s heart threaten to beat its way out of her chest.

He was an addiction she didn’t want to be free of. And the more she had of him, the more she craved.

As she packed her suitcase and prepared herself for her forthcoming solo journey around Australia, the need to be with him was the strongest it had ever been. She felt short of breath when she thought of what the next five weeks might feel like without him nearby, and an ever-growing part of her wanted to stay on the farm.

Then, on Jade’s final night, she decided their kisses, hand-holding and infrequent frissons were no longer enough. She slipped the silver band from her wedding finger and left it on her bedside table, then closed the door to the guesthouse and silently padded towards Mark’s bedroom in the main house. Her hands felt clammy as she reached for the handle and she prayed to God he wasn’t going to reject her advances. But his door was already ajar and, when she pushed it open, she found him lying awake facing her, as if he’d been expecting her to come.

He pulled the sheet to one side to invite her in.

‘Come with me tomorrow,’ Jade whispered afterwards, her body exhausted and her lungs close to breathless.

‘You know I can’t, it’s too complicated.’

‘Don’t you think I know that? I was the one who married your brother.’

‘And I’m the one who’s just screwed his wife.’

‘What did you just say?’ she asked, pushing herself away from him. ‘Is that all I am to you, a shag?’

‘I’m sorry, it’s not what I meant.’

‘It’s what you said, though. I’m not some cheap slapper who jumps into bed with any lad.’

‘I know, I know and I shouldn’t have said that.’ Mark reached out to hold her hand.

‘You and I know there’s something here that’s bigger than both of us.’

Mark nodded.

‘So come with me. It doesn’t have to be tomorrow, it could be in a week or a fortnight’s time. Just tell your parents you need to get away from here to clear your head. Give us some time together on our own to figure out what this is. You owe us this chance.’

‘Jade, I’m needed here.’

‘And I need you.’

‘I can’t do that to my family or to Kevin’s memory. How can I tell people … people who came to his funeral two weeks ago, that I’m in love with my sister-in-law?’

Mark’s use of the word ‘love’ made her blush and her body felt as if it was burning up. ‘But if I feel the same, how can it be so wrong?’

she asked.

Mark shook his head apologetically, and threw himself flat against the bed, staring up at the ceiling, as if waiting for divine intervention to tell him what to do. Jade suddenly felt awkward and very naked.

Rejected and frustrated, she slipped her T-shirt and underwear back on and opened the door to go back to her room.

‘I am worth more than this, Mark,’ she snapped. ‘And if that doesn’t sink into your head pretty bloody soon, it’s going to be too

late.’

As she turned back towards the door she was shocked to see Mark’s mother Susan glaring at them both from the corridor, her face a mixture of fury and disappointment.