“Thanks, Mom! I’ll do that.”
Made of logs that had been cut from the property itself, Nick’s cabin sat in the middle of a thick stand of pines and looked as though it had been there forever. With a deep front porch and paned windows that were designed to let in the light and bring the forest inside, it had a charm to it that Janey had always loved. Tonight, only a single lamp burned in the living room, but that was enough to cast an inviting glow across the porch.
Parking in the circular drive, she wasn’t surprised when the porch light came on as she started up the stairs to the porch. The cabin sat at the end of a long private drive, and in the dark of the night, Reilly would have seen her headlights the second she turned down the drive.
Janey didn’t consider herself a shy person. She liked people and enjoyed talking to them, but something happened to her on the way up the steps to his front door. Suddenly her heart was pounding, her knees weren’t quite steady, and the little welcoming speech she had all prepared flew right out of her head the second he opened the door to her. And for the life of her, she didn’t know why. Flustered, she forced a weak smile and couldn’t think of a thing to say except, “Hi.”
His face expressionless, he arched a brow at the sight of the cake pan in her hand. “What’s that?”
“What? Oh!” Suddenly remembering why she was there, she blushed to the roots of her hair and abruptly thrust the pan into his hands like it was a hot rock. “It’s a cake,” she said unnecessarily. “To welcome you to the neighborhood.”
“I see.”
Janey wasn’t too sure of that. From his expression, he’d never seen a cake before, and Janey couldn’t say she blamed him. It was awful looking. Suddenly appreciating the humor of the situation, she grinned. “I know it looks terrible—I’m not much of a cook—but trust me, this is a real prize compared to the first one I made. That one ended up in the trash can.”
“You made two?”
“I didn’t want to poison you,” she said simply. “The whole point of this was to make you feel welcome.”
He should have laughed. She expected him to. When he didn’t, she reminded herself that he was going through a difficult time and probably didn’t mean to be rude. If she was going to be a friend to him, she had to remember that.
Shrugging off her hurt feelings, she forced a smile that didn’t come as easily as she would have liked. “Well, it’s getting late. I just stopped by to give you the cake. Oh, and to invite you to a meeting of the decorating committee for the Christmas festival,” she added. Quickly telling him about the festival and how much fun the committee meetings were, she said, “Our first meeting’s next Monday, and I thought you might like to come. It’ll give you a chance to meet people and have some fun at the same time. If you’re not busy, of course.”
There was nothing the least bit offensive about her little speech, but Reilly knew better than to be taken in by the apparent innocence of it. Did she really think he was so gullible? Ever since Victoria’s death, he had been hit on by just about every woman who crossed his path, and he was heartily sick of it. There were three casseroles in his refrigerator from three other women who’d had the same idea as Janey. And despite their claims to the contrary, he knew they weren’t just being neighborly. He’d played the game too many times with the women in L.A. after Victoria had died. By bringing him a covered dish, they were each ensuring that they could return in a few days with the excuse that they were there to pick up their cookware.
Just thinking about it irritated the hell out of him. From the little he’d seen of Janey McBride, he’d thought she was different. Obviously, he’d been wrong.
“I’m busy Monday night,” he said coldly.
“Oh. Well, then, maybe some other time.”
When she started to turn, her smile now gone, he should have let her go. If she wanted to go on thinking there was a chance they’d get together at a later time, that was her problem, he told himself. He wasn’t responsible for what she thought. But even as he tried to convince himself of that, he knew he had to set the record straight. He wasn’t a man who led women on—he never had been. Honesty wasn’t always appreciated, but it prevented a lot of problems in the long run.
“No, there won’t be another time,” he said flatly. “You might as well know that now. If you’ve set your sights on me, you’re wasting your time. I’m not interested.”
Stunned, Janey couldn’t believe she’d heard him correctly. He actually thought that she…that she was the kind of woman who would…
Unable to finish the thoughts whirling in her head, she almost laughed at the ridiculousness of his accusations. He couldn’t be serious! She’d never come on to a man in her life—she wouldn’t even know where to begin. This had to be some kind of a joke.
But there was nothing the least bit amusing about the hard glint in his blue eyes. He actually thought she was making a play for him, and he wanted nothing to do with her.
Later—years from now—she told herself, she might be able to look back and laugh about this. But for now she’d never been so insulted in her life. Pride coming to her rescue, she drew herself up proudly and stared down her nose at him with all the regalness of a queen. So he wasn’t interested, was he? Well, neither was she!
“Someone here has an overinflated ego,” she said coolly, “and it’s not me. For your information, Doctor, the only reason I brought the cake over was because Dr. Michaels asked me to be nice to you. Since I’ve obviously failed at that, I won’t bother you anymore. Good night.”
Chapter 3
She didn’t slam the door, but she didn’t need to. She’d made her point, not that Reilly cared. Watching her storm out, he told himself he was lucky to be rid of her. If he was any judge of character, Janey McBride, unlike the other women who had tried to sweet talk their way into his home, wouldn’t be back. He’d hurt her pride, and as she drove away and her taillights disappeared into the darkness, he knew she was probably consigning him to the devil. And that was all right by him. He wasn’t interested in her or any other woman.
The problem was, she seemed to be the only one who’d gotten the message, he thought irritably as he shut the front door and headed for the kitchen. The others who’d come bearing gifts and a come-hither smile hadn’t been nearly as easy to discourage. Refusing to take offense at his rudeness, they’d just shrugged off his bad manners with an irritatingly forgiving laugh and promised to lighten his mood. All he had to do was give them a chance.
Sex. He hadn’t pretended to misunderstand what they were offering. That was what they wanted, how they thought they could catch him. They could pretend to themselves and everyone else that their motives were pure—they were just being friendly by welcoming the new widower to the neighborhood—but he knew a woman on the prowl when he saw one. And everyone who’d knocked on his door that evening had had that gleam in her eye that had sent alarm bells clanging in his head.
Everyone, that is, except Janey McBride.
He tried to deny that, but he couldn’t forget the look on her face when he’d told her she was wasting her time if she’d set her sights on him. She’d been shocked—there was no other way to describe it—as if the thought had never entered her head. And now that he thought of it, she hadn’t been dressed like a woman bent on seduction. Far from it, in fact. Unlike the others, who’d delivered
