hope not too far.’ The smile was still there, but slightly strained now, the grey eyes so like her son’s petitioning. ‘I’d give a great deal to see my grandchild before I die.’
‘Of course.’ Caryn could think of nothing else to say. She and Logan weren’t even married yet. If they were to grant his mother’s wish, they would have to move fast. She felt disconcerted by the request, even while she could appreciate the motives behind it. Everything was moving too fast.
She was relieved when Logan came back into the room. He had exchanged the jodhpurs for linen trousers and a fine cotton shirt in a pale green that enhanced his tan. Her heart jolted at the very sight of him. It just didn’t seem possible that he was to be her husband.
‘Ready?’ he said. ‘Let’s go and get it over with.’
For the first time Caryn allowed herself to consider the shock they were about to drop on her parents. How on earth did she make them understand?
‘It’s too soon,’ she heard herself saying apprehensively. ‘They never even met you before!’
‘They’ll adjust,’ Logan declared firmly. ‘They’ll have to adjust.’
‘Logan will take care of it,’ his mother assured her.
Caryn came to her feet with reluctance. Logan might, but she would still have to face her family after he had gone. They were going to be devastated, disbelieving. How could they be anything else in the circumstances?
‘I’ll see you again soon,’ said Mrs Bannister. She looked tired, her face pale. ‘Very soon.’
They were in the Mercedes and heading down the drive before Caryn found her tongue. ‘I think I’m going to wake up and find this is all a dream,’ she said, unsurprised to hear the quiver in her voice.
Logan looked amused. ‘Would you like me to pinch you to prove you’re awake? It’s real enough, I can assure you.’
She glanced at him sideways as he brought the car to a halt before turning out on to the road, viewing the clean-cut profile with an undeniable thrill of excitement. He moved the car out from the drive, and accelerated away, hands firm on the wheel. Good hands, thought Caryn, watching their movement; long and lean and knowledgeable, the nails neatly trimmed and cleanrimmed. If he was nervous, he certainly wasn’t revealing it. He looked totally at ease.
Sensing her scrutiny, he glanced her way with a brief smile. ‘Don’t worry about it. I’ll do the talking.’
It wasn’t a long journey. Caryn knew a wave of sheer panic when Logan brought the car to a halt at the front gate. She fought it down, but could feel herself trembling inside when she got out of the vehicle.
‘Bear up,’ said Logan softly, closing the door. He slid an arm about her shoulders and drew her close for a moment, his lips warm against her temple. ‘It will be all right, you’ll see.’
Eventually, perhaps, she thought, but it was the here and now that had to be got through first.
The front door was unlocked, the way it usually was during the day despite all the warnings. Susan Gregory came out from the living-room as Caryn closed the door again.
‘You’ve been a long…’ she began, breaking off abruptly on taking in Logan’s presence. Surprise gave way to confusion as her gaze moved from his face back to her daughter’s, then her natural good manners took over. ‘Mr Bannister, isn’t it? From Whitegates?’
‘That’s right,’ he returned easily. ‘And the name is Logan. I’m sorry to spring things on you this way, but better sooner than later.’
The confusion grew. ‘I don’t understand. What things?’
He indicated the room from which she had just emerged. ‘I think you and your husband should hear it together.’
Throat dry as a bone, Caryn felt his hand at her centre back ushering her ahead of him into the room in her mother’s wake. Her father looked at the newcomer in surprise, then questioningly at Caryn.
‘Is there something wrong?’ he asked.
Face registering little, Logan reached out an arm and drew Caryn to his side in a gesture unmistakably possessive. ‘Before anything else, we should tell you that we’re going to be married.’
The silence following that forthright announcement seemed to Caryn to stretch interminably. The two stunned faces gazing back at them looked to be carved from stone. John Gregory was the first to recover his power of speech.
‘Isn’t this a bit sudden?’ he asked on an amazingly mild note. ‘I know who you are, but I wasn’t aware that you and Caryn knew each other. Didn’t you just get back from Australia or somewhere?’
‘That’s right,’ Logan said again. ‘Only yesterday. I’ve waited two years. I wasn’t prepared to wait any longer. It would be nice to have your blessing.’
Nice, but by no means essential, his tone suggested— to Caryn at least. She kept her eyes fixed on her father’s face, neither caring nor daring to glance in her mother’s direction.
‘I know it has to be a shock for you both,’ she said huskily, thinking that that had to be the understatement of the year. ‘It was for me too. But it’s what I want. More than anything in the world!’
‘I don’t understand,’ said her mother blankly. ‘It doesn’t make any sense! You were just a schoolgirl two years ago!’
‘Which is why I went away when I did,’ put in Logan smoothly. ‘To give her time to grow up. Even if you’d been willing to grant approval then, which I very much doubt, I couldn’t have traded on a sixteen-year-old’s feelings. Fortunately, Caryn still feels the same way. We want to be together.’
‘Are you saying you were seeing each other while she was still in school?’ demanded Susan on a shocked note. ‘You must be nearly old enough to be her father!’
The dark head inclined, mouth wryly slanted. ‘Possible, if unlikely. Caryn was a very mature schoolgirl in a lot of ways. We shared a lot of interests.’
‘Michael Sinclair introduced us at a family party,’ said Caryn swiftly. ‘You remember Michael?’
‘Of course I remember Michael. You brought him to meet us.’ Susan’s voice had sharpened. ‘This is quite ridiculous!’
‘I think the two of you had better sit down,’ said John Gregory. ‘You too, Susan,’ he added to his wife. ‘We have to discuss this.’
‘There’s nothing very much to discuss,’ Logan returned. ‘Apart from wedding arrangements perhaps. It would probably be easier all round if we made it the register office rather than a church ceremony. Easier and quicker. Before the end of the month for preference.’
‘Now just wait a minute!’ Relatively calm up to now, the older man was beginning to sound agitated. ‘Everything else aside, what’s the rush? You haven’t been back five minutes!’
‘There’s a good reason,’ said Caryn, deciding it was time she put in a word. She glanced at Logan, taking his nod as recognition and approval of what she was about to impart. ‘Mrs Bannister doesn’t have long to live,’ she went on, trying to sound as matter-of-fact about it as the woman herself had been earlier. ‘She naturally wants to see Logan settled before she goes. The longer we wait, the weaker she’s going to become.’ She paused, looking from one parent to the other in an appeal for understanding. ‘I don’t want to wait either.’
‘I’m sorry about your mother,’ said Susan Gregory to Logan on a subdued note. ‘I heard she’d been ill, but I had no idea it was so bad.’
‘She’s accepted it,’ he returned levelly. ‘But you can appreciate that I’d want her to be as happy as possible while she’s still with us, and this will help.’
‘Does