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‘You can—you can shower first, if you like,’ she said, her back to him.
‘Hannah? What’s the matter?’
‘Nothing’s the matter. I told you, it’s late, and——’
He was behind her in an instant, his hands closing on her shoulders as he spun her towards him.
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ he said tightly. ‘Something’s wrong, and I want to know what it is.’
‘I—just said——’
‘I know what you said. It’s late. Estrella will be wondering why we haven’t shown our faces. You want coffee.’
‘That’s right.’
His eyes searched hers. ‘Now try giving me the real reason.’
Because I love you, she thought, because if you make love to me again I’ll stay with you until you tire of me, and leaving you then will only break my heart more than it’s breaking now.
‘Well?’
She took a deep breath. ‘I—I have something to tell you, Grant.’
Some of the tension eased from his face. He smiled a little, clasped her face and lifted it to his.
‘Good. Because I have something to tell you, too.’
‘Grant, please, you have to listen.’
‘Don’t you want to know what I have to say, Hannah?’
She sighed. ‘All right. What is it?’
‘Remember what we talked about last night? About going to Chichén Itzá?’ He pressed a kiss to her temple. ‘Well, I’ve a better idea. Let’s not go there after all. Instead, let’s fly to——’
‘I don’t want to go to Chichén Itzá or anywhere else,’ she said sharply. ‘That’s what I’m trying to tell you.’ Hannah drew a breath. ‘I want to go home now. Today.’
‘Go home?’ His brows drew together. ‘Back to San Francisco, you mean?’ She nodded. ‘But I thought you liked this house.’
‘I do. I mean, the house is——’ She looked into his puzzled face. ‘It has nothing to do with the house, Grant. I just—I want to get back to my life.’
Uncertainty replaced puzzlement in his eyes. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘It means exactly what I said.’ Hannah flicked the tip of her tongue along her dry lips. ‘This has been—it’s been nice, but——’
‘Nice?’
She could hear the sudden change in his voice, see the uncertainty in his eyes being supplanted by a smouldering anger.
‘Nice?’ he said again. His mouth twisted. ‘Is that the best you can say about last night?’
She thought of what she longed to say—that it had been a night she would never forget—and knowing how close she was to making that impossible admission gave her the strength she needed to see this unhappy scene through to the end.
‘Look, I know you probably thought we could—we could go on this way for a while, but——’
‘But you’re not interested.’ The words were flat and cold. ‘Come on, come on, spit it out; if that’s what you’re going to say, say it.’
‘I’m not interested in having an affair with you, Grant. That’s what I’m trying to say.’
His eyes locked on hers. ‘I see.’ There was a silence, and then a quick smile flashed across his face. ‘Would you like to tell me why?’
‘What do you mean, why? I just don’t want to.’
Grant nodded. ‘So you said.’ His voice was low, very soft and steady. ‘But I’d like to hear the reasons.’
Hannah stared at him. ‘I don’t have to explain myself to——’
‘Yes.’ She gasped as his hands tightened on her. ‘Yes, you damned well do.’ His mouth narrowed. ‘You were incredible in my arms last night. And if you think I’m going to——’
Colour flooded her face. ‘If you think I’m going to stand here and—and listen to a graphic description of—of my performance in your bed…’
She fell silent and stared at him, her face flushed, her breathing swift. He was impossible. Impossible! Here she was, her heart breaking at the thought of leaving him, and he was showing her that under the caring, gentle, passionate man he had been last night lay the heart of an egocentric, arrogant bastard, unwilling to let her out of his life until he was damned good and ready.
What she had to do was keep calm. Turning this into a confrontation wasn’t going to make it any easier.
‘Grant,’ she said carefully, ‘you’re making more of this than it deserves. Just because I don’t want to continue this arrangement——’
‘And when did you reach that conclusion?’
This morning, she thought, as soon as I realised that staying with you even another day would only break my heart.
‘I don’t know, exactly.’
‘You don’t know, exactly.’ His tone was ominously calm. ‘Come on, Hannah, you can do better than that. Was it last night, when you came into my arms in the garden? Or at dawn, when you woke me by——’
She spun away from him. ‘Stop it!’
‘Why should I?’ Grant grasped hold of her and forced her to face him. ‘You wake up and announce you’ve had enough of this “arrangement” and that’s that? You expect me to salute and say, terrific, Hannah, just let me find out what time the next plane leaves for home and——’
‘My God!’ Her flushed face turned up to his. ‘Are you so damned used to getting things your own way that you can’t handle having a woman think for herself?’
‘Is that what this is? A blow for female liberation?’
‘It’s whatever you want to think it is. I’ve no intention of defending my decision.’
‘And I told you, you’d damned well better!’
Their glared at each other, the only sound in the room the rasp of their breath, and suddenly Hannah felt as if the walls were closing in around her. She had to get out of this place with its faint scent of their lovemaking, had to have somewhere else to look besides Grant’s angry face and the rumpled b
ed behind him.
Her throat worked as she swallowed. ‘I’d rather continue this discussion over breakfast.’
His jaw tightened. ‘That’s the first intelligent thing you’ve said this morning.’ He let go of her, turned, and strode into the bathroom door. ‘I’m going to take a shower.’
The door slammed after him, hard enough to rattle the walls. Hannah threw off her robe as soon as she heard the water running and pulled on jeans and a cotton blouse, her fingers flying over the closures. Damn the man anyway! He was impossible.
And she was just as bad for still loving him.
She went still, took a breath, and looked into the mirror above the dresser.
Actually, he was making it easier for her. As long as he kept saying things to make her angry, she could leave him. But if he took her in his arms, whispered how much he wanted her…
She shuddered, walked quickly to the door, flung it open, and stepped into the bright morning light of the atrium.
The housekeeper had set a silver coffee-service on a small poolside table. Hannah poured herself a cup and drained off half of it. The coffee would clear her head. She refilled her cup, then sank into a chair. The thing to do was not let him put her on the defensive.
She looked up at the sound of his brisk footsteps. He looked at ease in faded denims and a navy shirt, but she knew immediately that his relaxed appearance was covering up a smouldering anger.
Her heart skipped a beat. She had to be strong.
‘Now.’ His words were clipped as he pulled out a chair, turned it around, and straddled it. ‘What the hell is all this crap about not wanting to have an affair with me?’
She wanted to laugh. So much for worrying that he might try and kiss her into submission. Well, he had always been blunt. It was probably just as well he’d decided to be that way now.
‘It’s how I feel,’ she said quietly. ‘I’m sorry If I misled you into thinking anything else.’
His mouth hardened. ‘Are you.’
It was not a question, but she accepted it as such.
‘Yes. Last night, when you talked about staying on——’
‘Did it amuse you? My planning the future, while you were planning your escape?’
