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He glanced at the clock on the wall. Two o’clock. If he decided to go, he had an hour before he would have to leave. Question was, did that give him enough time to finesse Ruby into agreeing to another wild night when he got back? A slow grin lifted his lips. With her naked and in his bed, and given his superior powers of persuasion, the odds had to be in his favour.
Thrusting open the bedroom door, he came to an abrupt halt, the grin flat-lining. What was she doing out of bed, with her clothes mostly on, her hair damp and her shoulders twisted as if she were trying to contort herself into a pretzel?
Seeing him, she huffed and dropped her arms, then gathered the wet strands of hair into a bunch, flicked them over her shoulder. ‘Could you zip me up? I’d have to dislocate a shoulder to do it myself.’
‘You’re dressed,’ he said, dully. ‘And you’ve had a shower.’ He knew he was stating the obvious, but … What the hell was going on?
‘I’ve got to shoot off.’ Her voice was frigid, the sultry, sexy warmth of ten minutes before gone.
‘Since when?’ he asked, not liking the feeling of confusion—or the way his heart had kicked up a beat.
She bent to wiggle her toes into her shoes. ‘Since now.’ She dipped her head to her shoulder. ‘So could you please do the honours?’
He stayed where he was. He could hear irritation and frustration, but there was something else beneath it. He didn’t like that either.
‘Is there a problem here?’ he asked. ‘Because if there is I’d like to know what it is.’
‘The problem is I’m leaving and I can’t do it with my dress half off. So do you mind?’
He crossed to her, pulled her round to face him. ‘Yeah, actually I do. You’re pissed off. And I’d like to know why.’
Was she annoyed that he’d left her to go answer the call to his sister? The reaction seemed petty and childish and nothing like the woman he’d spent the day with. But then, how well did he really know her?
‘I’d like to leave, please.’ That wasn’t just impatience he could see in her eyes, it was accusation.
‘Why? You were pretty damn keen to stay a few minutes ago. What’s changed?’
‘You have.’ Her eyes narrowed and he saw temper and disappointment. ‘You’re not the man I thought you were.’
‘I beg your pardon?’
‘You heard me.’ She marched past him, obviously giving up on her dress.
He took her arm, hauled her back. ‘Humour me. I want an explanation.’ No way was he letting her walk off without one.
‘Fine.’ She jerked her arm out of his, pushed her chin up. ‘I don’t like the way you talked to your sister. It was unnecessarily cruel. I’ve been there. I know what it’s like to be rejected like that by someone you love. And believe me, it’s not pleasant. So in the interests of sisterly solidarity, I’m leaving.’
‘Sisterly …?’ He was so stunned at the outburst, he had to grab her again before she got out of the door. ‘Hang on a damn minute.’
‘Let go of my arm.’
‘For one,’ he said, tightening his grip, ‘she’s not your sister. In fact, you don’t even know Maddy. So why the hell do you even care how I talk to her?’ He could have added it was none of her business and she shouldn’t have been eavesdropping in the first place, but he decided to let that pass. Seeing the mutinous expression on her face, he was more interested in knowing where the hell th
is was all coming from.
‘I could hear how upset she was on the phone.’ She tried to shrug him off; he held firm. ‘You brushed her off. I thought better of you than that. But I can see I was wrong. Clearly it was more convenient for you to spend the weekend seducing some woman you’ve only just met than keeping a promise you made to your sister. That’s not something I want to be a party to.’
He wanted to shout at her, frustration warring with temper, but beneath the accusation and self-righteous indignation in her voice he could hear the distress. So he resisted the urge to roar.
‘You know, if you’re going to eavesdrop on private conversations you should at least do it properly and listen to the whole thing.’
‘I heard enough. I heard you tell her you couldn’t come. That you were too busy with work. When we both know work had nothing to do with—’
‘I prefer not to talk to my sister about my sex life. If that’s okay with you,’ he interrupted, letting sarcasm drip. ‘And I didn’t forget to go deliberately. I got a little sidetracked by a certain woman who has been happily seducing me right back.’
‘Even so, you’re not going, when you should—’
‘I am going,’ he interrupted, the sharp words stopping her in mid-rant. ‘In fact, I’m leaving as soon as I can get packed.’ Or he was now. ‘Even though it’s going to be a pain in the backside. Maddy and her family live in Cornwall, for God’s sake. It’s a six-hour drive and you and I both know I didn’t exactly get a whole lot of sleep last night.’
