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It was a mess. She knew it. He knew it. Why pretend? Normally he wouldn’t. She’d often wondered what she’d done to earn his hostility, but figured her relationship with Garret topped Tobias’s list of her many negative attributes. Then there was his mother and her role as the Piersons’ maid once upon a time. Tobias hadn’t liked Jocelyn then, either, referring to her as “princess” in his mocking tone. “I’m running a little behind schedule, but I’ll catch up. I stayed here last night and got quite—”
“What?”
The vehemence in his tone surprised her. “I beg your pardon?”
“You stayed here? By yourself? Did Garret stay with you?”
Joss couldn’t believe his nerve. She shifted her weight onto one hip and crossed her arms over her less-than-stellar chest. “No, he didn’t. But somehow I managed to survive all by myself.”
He looked as though he’d swallowed a lemon. “I meant with the weather as bad as it is and with this place in such a state—”
“You just said it was coming together.”
“I lied. It looks like hell, but I didn’t want to hurt your feelings.”
“Like you care about that. You just informed me my hair looksstiff.”
“What do you expect when it’s always scraped back and stuck to your head?”
Jocelyn stared at him, her mouth open in shock. Of all the—
“You shouldn’t have stayed here by yourself. That’s all I’m saying. It’s dangerous.”
“And you think it’s dangerous because…what? I’m such a ditz I can’t lock a door or turn on the alarm system? Can’t call the police if someone were to break in? Can’t use one of the many metal rods lying about to whack someone over the head if I needed to?”
He shuffled his feet as though he was suddenly being attacked by ants—or metal rods. “I forgot you had an alarm.”
“I know how to work it, too,” she said in her sweetest, most saccharine Southern-belle voice. “But I guess that shows your opinion of me, doesn’t it? Just say it, Tobias. You think I’m dumb. I’m so dumb, in fact, that Garret shouldn’t be with me. And that ‘professional woman’ comment? We both know what you meant—it was a shot because Iwasa debutante. But, for the record, some of the most enterprising, take-charge women in this part of the country weredebutantes.”
“I don’t want to argue with you, dammit, I—”
“Then don’t. Just tell me why you’re here and get o—” She broke off, but it was too late. They both knew what she’d been about to say. “I—I’m sorry. That was very rude.”
He pulled an envelope from his pocket and shoved it at her, his unusual eyes glittering with anger and what looked to be…hurt?
“Tobias—”
“Make sure you lock up and set the alarm.”
He was out the door in seconds. As though taking his side, the wind tore at her hair yet again before Tobias yanked the panel shut with a loud bang.
She opened the envelope and choked at the embossed slip inside. Coughing, wheezing, she collapsed against a crate, digging the paper from within to confirm the truth she already knew. It wasn’t…surely itwasn’t.
But it was. Oh, shoot, what had she done?
She was now going to have to apologize to one of the most obnoxious men on the planet.
Chapter 8
“TOBIAS, WAIT!”Jocelyn hurried out the door after him. “Wait!” she called again, catching him halfway down the stairs. He didn’t stop. “Tobias, please.”
Manners did the trick. He turned to stare up at her, his thick eyebrows low over his eyes. “What do you want?”
The temperature made her teeth chatter. “C-can you come back inside for a minute?” Remembering what had made him stop, she added, “Please?”
Tobias ran his hand over his hair and messed it even more. Didn’t he ever get his hair cut? She bit her tongue to keep from saying something else she shouldn’t and waited for him to make up his mind. Stubborn man.
It bothered her that he didn’t like her. It didn’t matter, of course. But he was Garret’s best friend and she had enough good girl in her to want everyone to like her. Including him. But the fact that Tobias behaved as though he couldn’t stand to be in her presence—that he didn’t approve of Garret’s love for her—irritated her to no end.
