‘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.’
‘You’re going? Really?’
‘Yes, I am.’ Quite why he’d made up his mind on the spur of the moment, he didn’t know. But he was stuck with the decision now. ‘My sister may drive me nuts most of the time, but I wouldn’t deliberately set out to disappoint her or my niece.’
Her arm went limp in his grasp, the colour riding her cheeks like a beacon as the tension drained out of her. ‘I didn’t… I thought you were…’ Her voice trailed off, the guilty flush heating.
‘See what I mean about the eavesdropping?’ he said.
She dipped her head. When her gaze lifted back to his, he saw contrite and embarrassed. Not a look he would ever have associated with her. But then she’d never been predictable.
He always made a point of not delving too deeply into a woman’s motivations, because that way lay madness. But the itch of discomfort wasn’t doing a damn thing to halt his curiosity. Why had she flown off the handle like that? She’d mentioned being rejected by someone she loved. And he suddenly wanted to know who. And why.
‘I shouldn’t have butted in. Or jumped to conclusions,’ she added. ‘I’m really sorry.’
‘You know, you owe me,’ he said, the solution to his problem popping into his head with startling clarity. ‘You made assumptions about me that wer
en’t true—and you should make it up to me.’
She’d forced his hand, made him agree to visit Maddy when he hadn’t properly weighed up the options. He deserved some payback for that.
‘How?’ she asked blankly.
Cal silenced the little voice in his head telling him to stop and think this through.
So what if he was using whatever it was that had caused that passionate reaction against her? And so what if the urge to keep her with him was unprecedented? This solution would make the trip to Maddy’s a lot more bearable, and give them both the chance to finish this thing once and for all.
‘I want you to come with me.’
CHAPTER NINE
RUBY gave a half-laugh, sure he had to be joking, but Cal didn’t laugh back. In fact, he didn’t even smile. ‘You’re not serious? I don’t know your sister,’ she spluttered.
‘That didn’t bother you a moment ago.’
He couldn’t possibly be serious. The idea was preposterous. But even more preposterous was the fanciful little bump in her heartbeat at the determination in his voice.
‘You’ll like Maddy,’ he said, as if that were even relevant.
‘But this is a family affair, and I’m a stranger. Why would you even want me there?’ she said. She’d made a foolish mistake, not just jumping to conclusions, but getting worked up about what she’d overheard in the first place. How he behaved towards his sister—or anyone else—shouldn’t have mattered to her in the slightest.
His gaze roamed over her, making heat curl and twist in her abdomen. ‘You mean apart from all the obvious reasons.’
‘Yes, apart from those.’ She crossed her arms over her chest, refusing to let him sidetrack her—even if her hormones were dancing a jig again at the sight of his naked chest. ‘Sex isn’t a good enough reason to introduce a woman you barely know to your family.’
‘I think we’ve got to know each other pretty well, actually,’ he said.