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‘Ravenous,’ he admitted, then shot her a deliberately lazy smile. ‘Something must have given me an appetite...’
Triss felt her cheeks burn and closed her eyes in horror. It was hard to imagine now what had taken place this afternoon within minutes of their meeting.
And did he have to remind her of it? There she had been, just seconds earlier, foolishly vowing to be nice to him, when clearly he had no compunction about embarrassing her.
‘Why mention that?’ she cried. ‘And why now?’
‘Why not?’ he challenged. ‘We’ve been studiously avoiding the subject ever since it happened. Is that something else which is to be brushed underneath the carpet, Triss? Ignored as though it never happened?’
‘It shouldn’t have happened!’
‘Maybe not,’ he admitted, and Triss felt her face crumple at his easy agreement. She took another huge slug of wine so that he wouldn’t see.
‘But it did happen,’ he continued, and went to open the refrigerator door and peered inside. ‘So maybe we need to ask ourselves why.’
‘Why?’ Triss echoed.
‘Mmm.’ His blue eyes were very candid as he turned to look at her over his shoulder. ‘Why, after everything that’s happened between us, did we still fall into bed with each other today?’
‘I would have thought that was fairly obvio
us,’ answered Triss repressively. ‘It’s one of the baser human instincts and it’s known as lust.’
He didn’t answer her, just pulled out a plastic box and began to take various lumps of cheese out. ‘Oh, go and sit down, Triss,’ he told her impatiently. ‘I’ll bring this in when I’m ready.’
She topped up her glass and took it into the sitting room and lit the lamps, so that the room looked warm and peachy and inviting. It was cold enough for a fire, too...
Minutes later, she had the beginnings of a blaze crackling in the grate. She sat down in one of the armchairs and must have dozed off, for when she opened her eyes again it was to find Cormack towering over her, a tray in his hands with a bowl of something steaming on it.
She sat up. ‘That smells good. What is it?’
‘Soup. I found a carton in the fridge. And there’s a melted-cheese sandwich too.’
‘My favourite,’ she said automatically, pleased in spite of everything, and yet acutely aware that she was straying into dangerous emotional waters here.
‘I know,’ he said abruptly. ‘I’ll go and get mine.’
They ate their supper in silence, and when they had finished Cormack took the plates out. She could hear him stacking the dishwasher.
She had forgotten his scrupulous fairness about the allocation of household chores, and yet he managed to knock up a simple meal without losing one scrap of the blatant masculinity which was so much part of his appeal.
When he returned, he sat down on the rug in front of the fire and looked at her. ‘You say you don’t want an explanation about that night—’
‘I don’t!’ she put in quickly.
‘Is that because you are determined to think the worst of me?’ he probed quietly. ‘Does it make you feel better to imagine that I behaved like some brainless stud?’
‘Not really.’ And that’s a lie, Triss Alexander, said the voice of her conscience.
‘I think it does,’ he disagreed perceptively. ‘Believing the worst of me enables you to keep your hatred of me alive, doesn’t it, Triss?’
‘No.’
‘Yes!‘ His voice sounded angry now, and his blue eyes were spitting fire. ‘Don’t you think that after everything we shared together you at least owe me the courtesy of listening to an explanation?’
‘I’m listening.’
He seemed to be choosing his words very carefully, for it took him several moments to continue. ‘I met Helga a long time after we split up—’
