The Deserving Mistress

She gave a scornful laugh. ‘Then I would suggest you start looking to buy a house in the area—because I’m not interested in selling the farm, to you or anyone else.’

‘No, you’re obviously not,’ he accepted lightly. ‘But your sisters may feel differently now that they are both engaged to be married.’

Jude regretted having made this last challenge even as he made it. He saw the way her cheeks paled once again, that slightly haunted look in those deep green eyes telling him that she was no longer as sure of her sisters’ feelings in the matter as she wanted him to think she was.

Making him feel like a complete heel.

Oh, he was determined, forceful, had never let a business challenge get the better of him, but he had never considered himself to be deliberately cruel before.

What the hell was wrong with him?

May Calendar, with her big green eyes, her magnolia skin, her air of fragility, that was what was wrong with him.

And it stopped right now!

‘Have a nice day,’ he told her glibly, closing the door softly behind him before strolling over to get back into his hire car.

Damn, damn, damn!

CHAPTER THREE

‘THIS is very kind of you, David.’ May smiled shyly across at him as they sat in the bar of the hotel restaurant while waiting to go to their table. ‘But I’m afraid it’s just a waste of your time, that it isn’t going to change anything,’ she added with a rueful shake of her head.

‘I don’t consider having dinner with a beautiful woman as time wasted,’ David Melton assured her huskily, blue gaze warm in the rugged handsomeness of his face.

He was so nice; that was what made all of this so diff

icult. That, and the fact that May really would have loved to accept the part in his forthcoming film he had repeatedly offered her. But, for reasons she had no intention of telling him—or, indeed, anyone else—the whole thing was simply impossible.

But she had kept her promise to telephone David at his sister’s earlier today, had repeated what she had told him in London a couple of weeks ago, and again yesterday evening, only to have him ask her to come out to dinner with him this evening. No pressure, he had assured her as she’d hesitated, just a friendly dinner together, when he wouldn’t even mention the film role if she would rather he didn’t.

It had been too tempting an offer for her to refuse, David extremely handsome as well as being a charmingly interesting man. And with the added incentive not to mention the film role…

And now she had been the one to introduce the subject…!

Primarily because she felt so guilty about the time David had taken to give her the screen test a couple of weeks ago—only to have her turn down his offer after that test had proved successful.

To be offered a film role, on the basis of one performance in a local pantomime, was the stuff that actresses’ dreams were made of, and May knew that David must wonder at her sanity for having turned down such an offer.

‘Does your reluctance concerning playing the role of Stella have anything to do with the man I met last night?’ David prompted lightly, looking at her over the top of his glass as he took a sip of the white wine he had ordered for them both as a pre-dinner drink.

‘The man you— Oh.’ May grimaced as she realised exactly whom he was talking about. ‘No,’ she assured him with a firm shake of her head. ‘Jude is a total irrelevance to this situation— What’s so funny?’ she prompted with a puzzled frown as he gave a husky chuckle.

He gave a rueful shake of his head. ‘I doubt that particular man has ever considered himself an irrelevance in any situation!’ he explained dryly.

May smiled at what she was sure was an accurate observation where Jude Marshall was concerned. ‘No, I’m sure that he hasn’t,’ she agreed. ‘But in this case, he is,’ she insisted firmly.

David gave her a puzzled glance. ‘Who is he, exactly?’

She knew what he was—exactly! Jude Marshall was a sneaky opportunist, a man who had taken advantage of her extreme tiredness the evening before; more importantly—he was trying to buy their farm out from under them.

‘No one of any importance,’ she dismissed hardly, remembering all too clearly that Jude had kissed her yesterday evening. Worse—she remembered that she had kissed him back.

She had been too surprised initially to do anything but stand in shocked immobility in Jude’s arms, but, once the shock had worn off, instead of pushing him away, as she should have done, she had responded. That was something she wasn’t about to forgive him for in a hurry!

‘I’m glad to hear it.’ But David still didn’t look totally convinced by her dismissal of Jude.

Time to change the subject, May decided—in fact, it was past time! ‘Are you staying in the area long?’