November Harlequin Presents 2(253)

‘Thanks, Mark,’ Jed said, taking Cryssie’s arm firmly and pulling her to her feet. ‘We’ll be fine. Thank you for accommodating us.’

Cryssie stared up at him, open-mouthed and incredulous. ‘Now, hang on a minute—’ she began, but he cut in.

‘Come on…darling,’ he said lightly, and there was a warning note in the word. ‘It’s way past your bedtime. Goodnight, Mark—and thanks again,’ he added, to the man’s retreating back.

Come on what? Who? I’m not his darling, she thought wildly, anger beginning to take over. Did he really think she was going to spend the night alone with him—as if it was the most natural thing in the world? Well, it might be natural for him to share his bed with the female companion of the moment, but her life was not like that! And it never would be!

‘Now, you look here—’ she began, trotting briskly along the carpeted hallway in an attempt to keep up with his determined stride, trying to free her arm from his strong grasp. ‘If you think for a single minute that I—’

‘Don’t make a scene, Cryssie,’ he said roughly. ‘I’m known in this place.’

So, whatever else happened, Mr Jeremy Hunter mustn’t lose face! If she ‘made a scene’, as he put it, and refused to go along with his plans, it would make him look so small, so uncool! So humiliated! That any woman wouldn’t want to be whisked off to bed with him was unthinkable! After all, this was the twenty-first century. Who demanded single rooms in this day and age? She doubted whether there was a female in the world who wouldn’t jump at the chance to be in her position!

She felt completely and utterly helpless as he marched her up the stairs, and inserted the key to their room, opening the door and pushing her inside in front of him.

‘Mmm,’ he said appreciatively. ‘This looks cosy enough, don’t you think?’ He glanced across at the large double bed, then looked down at her quizzically. ‘Which side do you prefer?’

He was laughing at her now—teasing her—that was obvious. His black eyes were dancing with merriment, and that just served to make her give him a piece of her mind.

‘If you think—for one second—that I’m going to spend the night here, with you…I mean…it’s unthinkable!’ she began.

He raised one dark eyebrow. ‘So? What are you going to do? Spend it outside on the landing? That would be most uncomfortable, not to say ungrateful, and bewildering to the management. They’ll think this room isn’t good enough for madam.’

She looked at him witheringly, but before she could speak again he said more tersely, ‘Don’t be a foolish girl, Cryssie. You’re tired and you need some rest, and this is obviously the best—the only—way out of this.’ He looked down at her steadily. ‘Don’t get so uptight. It’ll all look different in the morning.’

‘Let’s hope you’re right,’ she said flatly. ‘You might think that this is all part of a jolly evening, Jeremy,’ she said furiously, then stopped short as she heard herself utter his name. Because it was the first time she had called him anything at all.

‘Please—do call me Jed,’ he said amiably, as he began to loosen his bow tie. ‘All my friends do. And after tonight I think we really will be like…old friends—don’t you?’

She hoped she wasn’t reading more into that than he meant! But if he did have any big ideas he was going to be disappointed! She realised that this incredible evening had proved one thing—she didn’t care if she had a job next week or not. It no longer seemed that important. And if it meant she’d be told to find something else—well, it was just too bad. She would not be manipulated by this man. He seemed able to manipulate everyone else, but she wouldn’t let him get away with it this time!

‘Let’s get one thing straight,’ she said tartly. ‘I am not your darling, thank you very much, and I take exception to your use of the word.’

‘Okay,’ he said evenly. ‘I only called you that to save us both unnecessary embarrassment. It would have looked far worse to give the impression that we were comparative strangers about to share a room than to make it look as if we were—well, happily acquainted, shall we say?’

Cryssie had to admit that he had a point. Suddenly her shoulders drooped, and for an awful moment she thought she was going to burst into tears. But she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of seeing her crumble. She wasn’t finished yet! Instead, she marched over to the two-seater settee under the window and threw her bag down on to it.