that surprise was quickly masked as he looked down at her with mocking enquiry. ‘Changed your mind about our dinner date?’ he drawled dryly.
Her eyes flashed a warning. ‘I’ve changed my mind about nothing concerning you, Mr Golding,’ she snapped. ‘Absolutely nothing!’ she repeated as she pushed past him into the sitting-room of the hotel suite, turning to glare at him when she reached the centre of the room.
He slowly closed the door before strolling in to join her. ‘You seem a little—agitated?’ he prompted lightly.
Agitated? She was blazing! In fact, she was in such a heated temper that she really didn’t need the added warmth of her blue anorak, or the gloves and scarf she had earlier pulled on with it.
‘Did you have to tell my sisters that the two of us had already met?’ she challenged accusingly. ‘Yes, of course you did,’ she scathingly answered her own question before he even had chance to do so. ‘It was all part of the plan, wasn’t it?’ she said disgustedly. ‘All part of that—’
‘Stop right there, January,’ he cut in softly—although one glance at the grimness of his features was enough to tell January that his tone was deceptive, that he was now actually as angry as she was, he just showed it in a different way! ‘You appear to be—upset,’ he allowed evenly. ‘And I’m sorry for that. But, at the same time, I also think you are becoming slightly paranoid about this situation—’
‘Paranoid!’ January echoed disbelievingly. ‘Is it “paranoid” when my sisters are absolutely stunned that I somehow forgot to mention that I had already met the lawyer Max Golding? That I was actually supposed to be going out on a date with the man this evening!’ she added disgustedly.
She didn’t add that he was also the man she had allowed to kiss her so passionately yesterday evening. Or that he was also the man she had been falling in love with!
May and March had been far from happy when January had finally arrived home—minus the car; it really was stuck fast in the ditch. Because somewhere, during the course of their conversation with Max this afternoon, he had let drop the fact that he and January had already met!
To say her sisters had demanded an explanation for January’s previous oversight would be putting it mildly. The fact that they had both calmed down once she’d told them exactly what had happened, that they were now just as suspicious of Max’s motives as she was, didn’t alter the fact that Max had deliberately put her in that defensive position in the first place.
Max gave a shake of his head. ‘January, so far I’m not having such a good day myself, so do you think we could just sit down and talk about this like two reasonable adults?’ he prompted hardly.
‘That may be a little difficult—when only one of us is reasonable!’ she came back scathingly.
She would never forget the way her sisters had looked at her on her return this afternoon, could still see that uncertainty in their expressions as they’d waited for her explanation. Oh, she didn’t doubt for a moment that they had both believed her explanation, that she was completely innocent in the whole matter, it was only when she’d gone up to her room to change out of her damp clothing that she had decided not to waste another minute before telling Max Golding just how underhand and devious she thought him to be.
He shrugged. ‘I’m not even going to ask which one of us you consider that to be,’ he returned dryly. ‘Although,’ he continued firmly as she would have snapped a reply, ‘I think the fact that you’ve driven out here, in the middle of yet another snowstorm, rather negates your being eligible for the description!’ he added hardly, blue gaze disapproving.
January opened her mouth a second time to give him that sharp reply, and then changed her mind as her gaze drifted past him to the window, where the snow could be seen falling heavier than ever.
To be honest, she hadn’t really noticed the snow falling as she’d driven to the hotel, had been so angry, so consumed with all the things she was going to say to Max, going over and over inside her head the conversation that she intended having with him, that she had driven to the hotel on automatic. So much so she hadn’t been aware of the snow!
‘January, could you come down off your high horse long enough for us to talk?’ Max cajoled softly. ‘I’ll order us a pot of coffee, and you can drink a warming cup of it while we talk. How about that?’
She wanted to say no, to tell him what he could do with his cup of warm coffee, but now that she was no longer as consumed by burning anger she was able to feel the chill that went all the way through to her bones.
That still wasn’t a good enough reason to have coffee with the enemy, a little voice chastened inside her head.
No, it wasn’t, she accepted heavily. The truth of the matter was, now that she was here with Max, her anger spent for the most part, she was once again becoming aware of the attraction she felt towards him—still felt towards him, in spite of everything!
Fool, she admonished herself disgustedly. Idiot, she added for good measure.
‘January?’ Max prompted huskily.
She gave a weary sigh. ‘Order your pot of coffee, Max,’ she conceded. ‘But nothing you have to say is going to change my mind about you. Or the Marshall Corporation,’ she added hardly.
He gave an abrupt inclination of his head, moving to the telephone to call Room Service and order the coffee.
January was glad of the few moments’ respite from his probing blue gaze, moving away to take off her scarf and gloves before shaking her hair loose from the collar of her jacket.
What was she doing here? Really doing here? Because she had already done what she’d come here to do—and now she was staying to have coffee with the man.
She bit her lip, knowing exactly why she was still here. She couldn’t believe—part of her didn’t want to believe!—Max was actually guilty of the things she had accused him of!
Not that she had any intention of letting Max see that particular weakness; that wouldn’t do at all. She just wanted to see—needed to see—some sort of redeeming feature in his character that told her she was justified to feel about him the way that she really did.
‘It’s on its way.’ Max spoke softly behind her.
Too close behind her, she discovered when she spun round sharply, stepping back as she found Max standing only inches away from her.
He looked at her quizzically. ‘You were miles away.’
‘Wishing myself…’ she came back tautly.
He gave a pained wince. ‘Then that makes two of us,’ he murmured huskily. ‘I was wishing the same thing a short time ago,’ he explained at her questioning look.
January’s breath caught in her throat at the burning intensity of his gaze. ‘And now?’
‘Now?’ he echoed with a self-derisive grimace. ‘Now I wish it would just keep snowing. Snowing. And snowing. I wish, January—’ he took a step closer to her ‘—that the rest of the world would just go away, that the two of us could get marooned alone together in here. For a week. A month!’ he concluded heavily.
She looked up at him uncertainly, her breath now coming in short, shallow gasps. ‘Can you get snowed in in a hotel room?’ she breathed huskily.
‘Probably not,’ he conceded ruefully. ‘But—’ He broke off as a knock sounded on the door. ‘That will be the coffee,’ he acknowledged disgustedly.
‘So much for being marooned alone together,’ January pointed out softly.
He gave a derisive inclination of his head. ‘Maybe that wasn’t such a good idea, after all,’ he rasped before moving abruptly away to open the door and admit the maid with their tray of coffee.
He seemed different this evening, January acknowledged frowningly. Apart from that brief lapse just now, he was more