Heart in his throat, he knew what her packed bag signified. That didn’t mean he
had to accept it. He wouldn’t accept it, because walking away from her last time had cost him more than even he had realized until recently.
No way would he make that same mistake twice. Clearing his throat, he nodded toward the suitcase.
“Going somewhere?”
Chapter 7
“I can’t do this.” Heather hated being such a Scrooge on Christmas when the sounds of carols from inside the inn drifted out into the courtyard. The whole place looked like a winter wonderland, more warm and welcoming than any holiday card she’d ever seen with the wreaths and bows adorning window after window and a wealth of tall pines covered in miniature lights around the parking lot.
“That’s excellent news.” Jared spoke softly, his gentle tone at odds with the dark emotions in his eyes, his big warrior’s body tense. “Because I wouldn’t let you do this even if you wanted to.”
He grabbed her suitcase off the curb and faced her while she tried to gauge his mood.
“Do you want to talk in the lodge or back down at the cabin?” he prodded when she said nothing.
“Neither.” She shook her head, hoping her cab wouldn’t arrive too soon since she at least wanted to give him an explanation—more than they’d given each other the last time they’d parted company. “What I mean is, I can’t stay here pretending that everything is all fun and frivolity between us when I had every intention of walking away from you tomorrow morning before you even woke up.”
The plan had turned sour on her somewhere during their time together and she wouldn’t sit across from him and smile over dinner while she plotted her exit.
He hadn’t worn a hat and snowflakes fell on his dark hair, the lacy crystals doing nothing to soften the hard edges of him as his jaw tightened.
“You came here for revenge.” He shook his head as if disappointed. “But then you decided you’d had enough fun with that plot, so you thought you’d bail out even earlier than planned?”
She swallowed her regrets enough to call up some indignation.
“Since your motive in inviting me up here wasn’t exactly all hearts and flowers, I didn’t think you’d mind. Or did you hope that I would be so thrilled at the prospect of new business that I wouldn’t care you had an ulterior motive? Did it occur to you that I might not want to do business with a man who once walked away from me so easily?”
“You think I asked you up here for a business proposition?” He sounded genuinely surprised. Thunking her suitcase back on the curb, he stalked toward her, his dark eyes narrowing.
In spite of everything, her heart sped its pace, her body slow to get the message that Jared wasn’t the man for her.
“I have good reason since you made it a special point to drag me into the middle of the woods to pitch your project.” She’d been taken advantage of by her family enough times to recognize a maneuver when she saw one. Heather had been taught the art of the wheedle from a master, and next to Loralei, Jared was a novice.
“You’re right.” He confirmed her worst fears as easily as he’d trotted out of her bed to travel halfway across the globe.
God, she’d been a fool to come here.
And still her body contradicted her, straining against her will to be near him.
“I was trying to give you a pitch.” He closed the distance between them, his hands settling on her shoulders. “And I did a piss-poor job of it if you came away thinking I wanted your help decorating the cabins for—well, just for the sake of a business relationship.”
She tried to follow that reasoning and couldn’t, but then she knew that having his hands on her had a track record of making her brain disconnect.
“Heather, I asked you up here because I wanted to show you what my life is about these days and who I am now that I’m not bound to the military.”
Inside the windows looking out onto the courtyard, Heather noticed Mrs. Krause peering out at them, her bright Santa sweater a flash of color that was hard to miss. She hurried away again, leaving Heather to puzzle through what Jared was saying.
“And I respect what you’re doing, but I can’t do business with you when—”
“Heather, I don’t care if you never want to work with me professionally.” He said it in that no-games tone she remembered from a long-ago conversation when she had first been captivated by him and an approach to life so different from what she was used to.
“You don’t?”
“I don’t.” He brushed a dusting of snow off her collar and tipped her chin up, the leather of his gloves smoothing along her jaw. “I just wanted you to see that you would at least have some potential work income to tide you over if you ever wanted to consider moving up here to be with me.”