His Cinderella Mistress
‘Too bad,’ she snapped forcefully, moving quickly to his side, her hand moving to rest lightly in his crooked arm.
Max looked down at her questioningly. ‘I’m not about to be arrested, January,’ he teased huskily.
She wasn’t so sure about that! And if that were the case, and it had anything to do with the attacks over the last seven months, she had every intention of telling the police exactly how ridiculous they were being; Max hadn’t even been in England when most of those attacks had occurred!
‘You would be Miss Calendar?’ The policeman frowned as he became aware of her presence. ‘Miss January Calendar?’
Her hand tightened on Max’s arm. ‘I would,’ she confirmed warily.
‘Don’t look so worried, January.’ Max bent his head to tell her soothingly. ‘They aren’t about to arrest you, either!’
‘I should think not,’ she bristled indignantly.
‘However…’ Even as Max began to speak the door to Peter Meridew’s office opened, several people emerging, obviously also policemen, a couple in plain clothes, two others in uniform restraining another man between the two of them as he struggled and shouted abuse.
‘John…!’ January gasped, before looking up disbelievingly at Max.
His expression was grim, his hand tight on hers as it rested on his arm. ‘John is the one who has been carrying out the attacks,’ he told her gently.
‘John is—?’ She shook her head dazedly before turning back to look at John.
A John who looked totally unlike the likeable man she had come to know over the last few months, his face twisted into an ugly mask as he continued to shout and struggle as he was taken from the hotel.
John…!
He was the attacker? The man who had attacked six women? Who had be
aten Josh so badly on Monday evening? The man who—
The man who had attacked Josh on Monday evening…
She looked up sharply at Max as a terrible truth began to grow inside her, seeing the confirmation of her suspicions in Max’s grimly set features—before blackness washed over her and she began to fall.
Max looked down worriedly at January as she lay on the sofa in Peter Meridew’s office. Her face was so pale, dark shadows beneath her eyes, her breathing shallow.
He had managed to catch her before she’d actually hit the tiled floor, picking her up to carry her through to the manager’s office, dismissing the other man from his own office with an imperious wave of his hand, in one way relieved that January had been spared the next few minutes of dealing with the police, but in another way concerned about what to say to her when she did regain consciousness. Because he had seen the truth in her eyes seconds before she’d collapsed, knew then that she had realized exactly why John had carried out those attacks.
Knew that she was the catalyst…
‘It was me, wasn’t it?’ January murmured beside him, as if the intensity of Max’s thoughts had penetrated her unconsciousness.
Max turned to her sharply. ‘How do you feel?’ he prompted concernedly, taking one of her hands in his, dismayed at how cold she felt despite the warmth in the hotel.
She blinked, tears sparkling against her long lashes. ‘John did those things because of some sort of misguided—feelings, for me, didn’t he?’ she repeated brokenly.
Max’s hand tightened on hers. ‘It wasn’t your fault, January,’ he told her firmly. ‘You must never think that. The man was obsessed.’ He shook his head grimly. ‘I never realized before today how normal an insane person can appear!’
She gave the ghost of a smile. ‘I’m not sure that remark was exactly complimentary to me…?’
Good, she was getting her sense of humour back; it was a start.
Max gave her a reassuring smile. ‘It was meant to be, I can assure you. Are you feeling better?’ he asked as she swung her legs to the floor and sat up next to him on the sofa.
She didn’t look better, her face still deathly pale, those tears still trembling against her lashes.
‘January, you couldn’t have known,’ he told her intensely. ‘Damn it, until I spoke to Josh this afternoon I thought it was Peter Meridew!’ he added self-derisively—and instantly wished he hadn’t as January’s face paled even more. ‘It was mentioning that to Josh this afternoon that jogged his memory into realizing it was the hotel barman’s voice he had recognized. The police have been watching John since this afternoon,’ he added grimly.
‘You knew?’ January gasped. ‘You really did know?’