that what you think this is all about?’ His eyes were narrowed to glittering blue slits, a nerve pulsing in his tightly clenched jaw.
‘What else?’ she said derisively. ‘But you really don’t have to worry about the other night, Gideon. I can assure you that I, for one, would much rather forget that it had ever happened at all!’ She was breathing hard in her agitation.
‘Do you think I don’t know that?’ Gideon drew in a sharp breath. ‘You’ve made that all too damned obvious by the way you’ve been avoiding my company ever since,’ he ground out accusingly.
‘What did you want me to do?’ Molly scorned. ‘Fall all over you like some lovesick idiot?’
Again he gave that humourless smile. ‘That would be asking too much.’
‘Too right it would!’ Her vehemence was all the deeper because that was exactly what she would rather have done.
It was what she wanted to do now…
Looking at him, being with him, brought home to her how much she loved this man, how much she wanted to throw herself into his arms and have him tell her that it was all right, that he was in love with her, too.
But she had stopped believing in fairy tales a long time ago, and was well aware that Gideon didn’t love her. Oh, he might find her desirable—after the other night he really couldn’t deny that—but it was against his own wishes to feel that way, was something he fought against all the time. And most of the time he succeeded…
‘Okay.’ He gave a heavy sigh. ‘I accept that you want as little to do with me as possible. But do you have to leave to achieve that? I thought we had been managing to avoid each other quite well the last twenty-four hours?’
Oh, they had. She had. And so, from his comment just now, had Gideon. She just wasn’t sure how much longer she could keep up this bravado, pretend not to give a damn.
But would she love Gideon any less for being alone in London? The answer to that was a definite no.
‘I don’t want to stay on here.’ But even as she said it she knew her voice lacked the conviction it had had a few minutes ago.
‘That isn’t true, and you know it.’ Gideon sighed. ‘You don’t want to stay here with me as a guest, too. So the question is, do you want me to be the one to leave?’
Her eyes widened. ‘Are you seriously offering?’
His mouth thinned. ‘Yes, I’m seriously offering.’
Molly stared at him. Would he really do that? More to the point, could she ask him to do that?
Three days ago, when she had first learnt that he and David were to be guests here, too, over Christmas, she had considered Gideon to be an interloper, an intrusion on what should have been a family Christmas. But over those last three days she had come to realise that he wasn’t an interloper at all, that he was as much a part of Crys and Sam’s family as she was.
She moistened dry lips. ‘I—’ She broke off as she heard the doorbell ring. ‘Are we expecting anyone today?’ She frowned.
‘I have no idea,’ Gideon answered grimly. ‘Wait here while I go and see,’ he instructed abruptly, before striding from the room.
Wait here while I go and see, Molly’s thoughts echoed resentfully; like hell she would.
Gideon had reached the door by the time she came out of the sitting-room, turning to give her a reproving glare as he heard her in the hallway behind him.
‘It’s okay, I’ll get it.’ He spoke to someone over Molly’s shoulder.
Molly turned in time to see Crys shrug before returning to the kitchen.
Gideon was still glaring at her when she turned back. ‘I thought I told you—Oh, never mind,’ he snapped impatiently as Molly stood her ground, and reached out to wrench the front door open. ‘Diana!’ he greeted, his voice containing none of the ice of a few seconds before, when he had spoken to Molly.
‘I hope I haven’t arrived too early,’ Diana apologised ruefully. ‘Hi, Molly,’ she said with a smile as she glanced around Gideon. ‘Crys didn’t actually specify a time when she invited me to come and spend the day with you all.’
‘I’m sure you aren’t too early.’ Gideon opened the door wider for the doctor to enter. ‘Especially as you seem to have arrived bearing gifts,’ he added lightly, as the bag that Diana carried chinked tellingly.
‘I couldn’t possibly have accepted Crys’s invitation without contributing in some way,’ Diana Chisholm assured them, and laughed huskily. ‘Besides, one of my partners has offered to be on call today—he has two aged aunts and his mother-in-law staying with him over the holidays,’ she added pointedly. ‘Which means I have an unexpected day off,’ she said happily.
‘That’s good,’ Molly told her sincerely, having a genuine liking for the pretty doctor. ‘And I’m sure that if you do happen to have too much wine then Crys and Sam will be only too happy for you to stay here tonight,’ she added.
‘Oh, I doubt that I shall do that, but thanks,’ Diana answered lightly. ‘I noticed on my drive over here that there seem to be an awful lot of police cars in the area—no doubt on the lookout for drunk drivers going home from the pub.’ She grimaced.
‘Actually, you’ve arrived just in time to add your weight to the argument for Molly not to return to London today,’ Gideon told the other woman lightly, and the gleam of challenge in his eyes was for Molly alone as he glanced across at her.
It was a glance Molly deliberately didn’t meet as she turned to smile at Diana.
‘Oh, no, you can’t possibly,’ Diana told Molly concernedly. ‘I moved here from London three years ago.’ She shook her head. ‘It has to be the loneliest place on earth at Christmas-time if you aren’t with family.’
Any place was lonely if you weren’t with people you loved—the man you loved. Molly already knew that. But being here with Gideon, when her love wasn’t returned, was painful, too.
‘Do stay, Molly,’ Diana encouraged warmly. ‘I did so want to have a chat with you. I’m an avid fan of the Bailey series, you know.’
Molly smiled. ‘In that case it’s David you should be talking to, not me.’
Diana looked nonplussed. ‘Oh, but he mentioned that you’re going to be in the new series with him?’
‘Did he, indeed?’ Molly laughed exasperatedly. ‘David!’ She turned to open the library door—she had seen David disappear in there an hour or so earlier. He was still there, sitting in the window, gazing out at the snow-covered landscape, a book lying untouched in his lap. ‘And they say women gossip!’ she teased as she preceded Diana and Gideon into the room.
David looked slightly surprised to see Diana, putting the book down on the table to slowly stand up. ‘What did I do now?’ He gave a quizzical smile, that smile not quite reaching the sadness of his eyes.
‘Never mind,’ Molly dismissed lightly, moving to link her arm
