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‘I walk away from one kiss. Tell you one snippet about my life and you think you know me. You don’t know the first thing about me.’
Well, that was a challenge if ever he heard one.
‘I know something,’ he said, maintaining their eye contact. He held it—another challenge—but she dropped her eyes and looked away.
‘Look, I’m sorr
y about the mince pies,’ she said, getting up and making a pot of tea, bustling and never meeting his gaze. She poured them both a cup, grabbed the plate of mince pies and headed for the door to the great hall.
He walked through a few moments later, finding Jess on the sofa closest to the fire, her legs curled under her and her hands clasped around her mug. He came and sat opposite her, and took the mince pie from the plate that she nudged towards him.
‘I’m sorry,’ they both said at once, and he smiled, saw the expression reflected on Jess’s face.
‘Can we start again?’ he asked. ‘Your mince pies are delicious.’
She laughed. ‘That sounds like a very dodgy euphemism.’
‘I’m offended. I never joke about mince pies.’
She snorted, contemplating the thick, uneven pastry. ‘It was really kind of you to help me bake.’
‘I enjoyed it,’ he said honestly.
‘Oh, my goodness,’ Jess exclaimed suddenly, ‘the pictures! We didn’t get a single one before I dropped them.’ She rolled her eyes and groaned.
‘It’s fine. We can make more tomorrow. What did you want to do with the rest of the day? I’ll find something for lunch soon.’
‘How about I beat you at a couple of games of Scrabble in between reading and Christmas movies?’
‘That sounds like a challenge.’
‘Oh, it absolutely is.’
She was scrupulously well-behaved while they played, even passing up the chance of a triple word score on an absolutely filthy word that she knew would make Rufus blush. Because they were being scrupulously well-behaved. They were resisting the temptation that had led them to nearly kissing earlier, because it was the sensible thing to do.
And that was why she was packing herself off to bed at little after nine in the evening when she didn’t have work, or anything at all, to do the next day. Because her self-control could only stretch so far, and Rufus was testing the limits with every passing minute.
CHAPTER FIVE
WAS JESS AVOIDING him or had she slept in? This house was big, but not that big, and he’d know if she’d left her room. But it was nearly ten and there had been no sign of her since she had retreated to her room ridiculously early last night. That had to be on purpose.
Thank goodness she was being responsible and showing a level of self-control that he wasn’t sure that he would be able to match if the tables were turned. Because everything in him was telling him to go and seek her out. Not to do anything, but just to hang out. He was probably just lonely. The electricity was out again, which meant no Wi-Fi and no connection to the outside world. She was literally the only person he could talk to.
And he knew that that fact had absolutely nothing to do with why he wanted to see her. He just wanted to.
Eventually, just when he thought he might actually lose his mind, she wandered into the kitchen as he was making a coffee, pulling a tray of mince pies from the Aga.
‘Hey,’ he said, trying to keep his voice neutral. ‘Remind me not to leave you alone with these.’
‘Oh, hi,’ Jess said, faltering in the doorway, a trace of a smile on her face. ‘You made more mince pies.’
‘You said it wasn’t Christmas without them.’
They stood without saying another word while the kettle boiled to a whistle.
‘Coffee?’ Rufus managed to say. And then, ‘What are your plans for today?’ As if he were a regular person who could string a sentence together in front of the woman that he fancied, rather than a tongue-tied teenager.
Jess faked a weak laugh, and he stopped what he was doing to narrow his eyes at her. ‘What?’ he asked.
