‘What?’ he cut in icily. ‘What would you have thought, Meg? That I had run off with him? Because if that thought even entered your mind I—’
‘It didn’t!’ Her shocked expression said that it really hadn’t. ‘It was only that I woke up to find the bed beside me empty.’
‘Always a disappointment,’ he drawled, starting to relax again.
Meg shot him a reproving glare. ‘Speaking for yourself, of course.’
‘Oh, of course,’ he murmured dryly.
‘Humph.’ She gave him a narrow-eyed look before continuing, ‘Anyway, I woke up and Scott wasn’t there. Neither were his clothes. A quick search of the cottage showed me that you weren’t here, either. I thought—well, what I thought was that Scott must have woken up, been confused about where he was, and just—just wandered off somewhere. I thought you had gone after him. And that perhaps you had both got lost in the snow. And then I heard Scott laughing.’ She choked back the tears. ‘And when I looked out the window and saw the two of you happily building what I could clearly see was a snowman, well, that’s when I got angry instead of scared.’
‘And came straight out of the cottage ready to tear me limb from limb!’ he drawled. ‘You aren’t becoming hysterical again, are you?’ He eyed her warily; she was certainly babbling enough to be, had said more in the last five minutes than in the whole of their previous acquaintance. ‘Because you know what I threatened to do the last time you became hysterical.’ He could see by the sudden colour that flooded her cheeks that she did remember. Clearly.
‘Of course I’m not becoming hysterical,’ she defended strongly.
‘No?’ Well, there was no need for her to sound quite that certain. He wasn’t sure it was good for his ego. His ego, be damned; women didn’t usually make it so obvious they desperately wanted to avoid having him kiss them.
Now who was being irrational? Don’t get involved, he had told himself. Firmly. Decisively. Now he felt annoyed that the woman he needed to keep his distance from also wanted to keep him at a distance.
‘No,’ she acknowledged agitatedly. ‘I passed hysterical some time ago.’
‘You did?’ he grated speculatively.
‘I did.’ She nodded. ‘And then I—What are you doing?’ She gasped as he took hold of the tops of her arms. ‘You don’t need to shake me.’ She looked up at him with guileless eyes. ‘I told you, I was—’ whatever she was or wasn’t was cut off as Jed lowered his head and kissed her, something he had been wanting to do since last night.
Her lips felt soft and cool beneath his, but that coolness was only from the cold outside, he quickly learnt as her mouth became warm and inviting.
It was all the encouragement he needed, his arms moving about the slenderness of her waist as he moulded her curves into his, her tiny hands coming to rest on his shoulders as she clung to him.
‘Mummy, did you find the carrot and the—oh…’
Meg came to her senses a lot quicker than Jed did, obviously attuned to her son’s voice, pulling sharply away to release herself and turn to where Scott stood in the doorway in open-mouthed fascination, his eyes huge green pools of curiosity.
‘No, we haven’t found them yet, Scott,’ Meg’s voice quivered slightly. ‘We—I had something in my eye and Mr Cole, Jed, was getting it out for me,’ she invented with a smoothness that had Jed staring at her too.
‘Something in her eye’ my eye, he glowered darkly. Although perhaps her version was better than telling Scott that Jed had been devouring his mother’s mouth with a need that had quickly spiraled out of control.
So much for not getting involved.
What the hell had he been thinking?
He hadn’t been thinking at all, that was the problem, only feeling. And Meg had felt very good indeed.
‘The carrot’s in the cool box in the fridge, and the coal is in the bucket in the sitting-room,’ he rasped as Meg bent down so that her son could inspect that the imaginary something had definitely gone from her eye.
The face Meg turned towards him was white with strain. ‘Where are you going?’ she prompted huskily as Jed moved to the door.
‘Out,’ he barked harshly.
She blinked. ‘Out where?’
‘Just out!’ he bit out tersely, making good his escape, having no real idea where he was going, only that he had to get away from Meg for a while.
And try to get the taste and feel of her out of his head.
Chapter 4
‘The main roads are clear if you would like to get your things together.’
Meg gave Jed a startled look as she sat at the table playing a game of cards with Scott, not having heard him come into the cottage.
Jed had been gone for over an hour, time enough for her to have helped Scott finish off the snowman, make him some breakfast and a cup of coffee for herself, before sitting down to play a game of Pairs with him.
But during all that time she had been half listening for the sound of Jed Cole’s return, not quite knowing what to say to him after what had happened between them, the memory of that kiss still firmly in her mind, only knowing that she felt less alone when he was around.
Well, she was less alone when he was around, obviously. But it was more than that: there was an arrogant confidence about Jed, an assurance, that made her feel nothing could go too wrong while he was there.
Except that he might kiss her again, of course.
She had been too stunned earlier to do anything more than respond when he’d started kissing her, and by the time she’d stopped feeling stunned she had found she was enjoying it too much to want it to stop.
Quite what to make of that, when she had only known the man for less than twenty-four hours, she wasn’t quite sure. But it certainly made her feel shy about facing him again.
Except that now he was back he was telling her it was time for her and Scott to leave.
‘You carry on playing, Scott,’ she told her son softly. ‘I just want to have a word with Mr—Jed,’ she quickly amended as he scowled across the room at her.
She followed him out into the hallway as he stepped out of the room, firmly telling herself to forget what had happened between the two of them earlier, that it would be better for everyone if she did.
Except that she couldn’t quite keep her gaze from the sensuous curve of his lips, or stop herself from remembering how they had felt against hers, or the slight abrasiveness of his chin, where he was in need of a shave, against the softness of hers.
‘What word did you have in mind?’ he drawled sarcastically. ‘Opportunist? Lecher? Or maybe something worse?’ He grimaced self-disgustedly.
‘No, of course not,’ she snapped impatiently. ‘What happened earlier was the result of overheated emotions,’ she dismissed with what she hoped was conviction, because she wasn’t sure what it was the result of, only that she would never be able to forget it. ‘You said we could leave? Does that mean I’ll be able to phone the local garage, after all?’
‘It means I’ve just walked down to the main road and back.’
‘You have?’ she gasped.
‘I have,’ he drawled. ‘And pretty damn slippery it is, too. But I think I may be able to drive my Range Rover down the half a mile or so of this lane, and then the main road has been cleared, so I should be able to drive the two of you the rest of the way to your parents’ house.’
Meg’s eyes widened at this suggestion. ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea at all,’ she protested without thinking, a blush colouring her cheeks as his brows rose speculatively. ‘I mean, I really can’t put you to all that trouble.’
‘And the alternative of having you and Scott remain here isn’t putting me to any trouble?’ he scorned.
Well, when he put it like that…!
‘I wasn’t meaning for us to remain here,’ she came back sharply, accepting that she and Scott had probably been a nuisance to him since they arrived.
Although he had seemed to be getting on with Scott well enough earlier. That was before he had kissed her, Meg reminded herself, something he obviously deeply regretted if he was willing to attempt driving in the dangerous conditions to get rid of her.
She frowned. ‘But if the main road is cleared now, perhaps I can order a taxi.’
‘Will you get real, Meg?’ Jed rasped his impatience. ‘The half a mile down to the main road is almost suicidal, and even though the main road is cleared now, there is more snow forecast for later on today.’
‘There is?’ She groaned her dismay.
‘There is,’ he confirmed hardly. ‘Now the way I look at it is we have a small gap in the bad weather during which I can attempt to get you and Scott to your family in time for Christmas. Take it or leave it.’
She had to take it. Of course she did. Except that she was no longer in any hurry to get to her parents’ house, not now that she knew that Sonia and Jeremy were going to be there too.
She swallowed hard. ‘I don’t want to put any of us in danger just for the sake of waiting a while.’
‘Believe me, Meg, you’re in more danger staying on here than we are attempting that ten-mile drive,’ he rasped self-derisively.