Max could see that she did, could see the cold anger in her eyes, the scorn for him that she made no effort to hide.
The pain deepened inside him, so much so that it held him immobile as he watched January walk away from him, the door closing softly behind her as she left.
Max knew she hadn’t just walked out of the hotel suite, but out of his life.
For ever.
Never before, not once in all of his thirty-seven years, had he told anyone that he cared about them. And he cared more about January than he ever had anyone before.
More than cared, if he was honest. With himself, at least.
And, after the things she had just said, he knew she felt nothing but loathing for him in return…!
CHAPTER TWELVE
SOMEONE was following her!
/> January wasn’t quite sure when she first became aware of the car following some distance behind hers, but she had been sure of it for at least the last three miles, every turn she took down increasingly country roads—deserted roads!—the car behind making the same turn seconds later.
Suddenly Max’s scathing comments about the safety of her driving home alone late at night no longer seemed quite so ridiculous!
Unless it was Max himself who was following her…?
Surely not; she knew he was a determined man, but surely not a vindictive one? And it was more than vindictive to scare her in this way!
Then who was it?
She gave another glance in the driving mirror, those two headlights still there, if some distance away, too far back for her to even begin to identify the make of the car, let alone identify the driver. But she certainly didn’t intend stopping the car in order to confront the other driver, either!
But she didn’t like this, didn’t like it one little bit.
Of course, she could be wrong about the other car deliberately following her, it could just be someone else returning home late at night who also happened to live in her area. She could just be overreacting to this because of Max’s dire warnings!
There was one way of testing that theory, January realized as she took note of where she had got to in the journey; in about half a mile or so there was a narrow lane that led onto the track that eventually reached the farm. And only their farm. If the person behind her took that same short cut then she was definitely being followed.
January’s hands tightened on the steering wheel as the car followed on behind her as she turned down the lane, feeling hot and cold at the same time as she accepted she was definitely being followed.
To say she was alarmed now would be an understatement; she had never been so scared in her life!
The mobile telephone!
They had one mobile telephone between the three of them, May keeping it with her during the day as she worked about the farm, but insisting that January take it with her on the evenings she worked. She had always dismissed the necessity of it in the past, but at this particular moment she was glad of May’s over-protectiveness!
But who did she call?
Her sisters at the farm?
Both May and March were heavy sleepers, and with the mobile here with her, the only other telephone was downstairs in the hallway.
Max?
Absolutely not!
The police, to tell them she thought she was being followed?
If she turned out to be wrong about that, she was going to end up looking extremely foolish.
But what if she wasn’t wrong…?