gleaming, he took up the challenge. ‘Did he? I wasn’t aware of it, but it doesn’t surprise me.’ Going to a door along the corridor, he pushed it open. ‘The rose bedroom,’ he introduced, standing back to allow her to enter, his whole attitude one of anticipation.
Maxi stepped forward before comprehension struck her. She was only grateful he couldn’t see her face when she realised the rose bedroom had once been her own. She halted in the doorway, aware that more than the name had been altered. It was a beautiful room, but nothing remained of the former occupant. Not only had the décor changed, but so had every stick of furniture.
‘He had it done straight away. There was no stopping him.’
Her heart squeezed painfully at the realisation of just how hard her father had tried to wipe away the memory of her. It made no difference that she had known how much she would be hurting those she left behind; she had never expected to see the result of it. But she had, courtesy of Kerr Devereaux. She could never hate her father for what he had done, but she could and did experience a great welling of hatred towards the man who waited silently behind her.
Walking inside, she carefully composed her features before facing him. ‘You know, you missed your calling,’ she declared conversationally, as if she found him amusing. ‘I imagine you would have been a whiz as a torturer. You get such pleasure from your work!’
‘Marriage to Ellis wasn’t all you expected it to be, was it?’ he said by way of an answer, following her inside and closing the door.
Maxi gasped, then simply had to laugh at his sheer effrontery. She could never remember anyone speaking to her like this in her whole life! She stared at him in awful fascination. ‘Doubtless it won’t astound you to hear it was no bed of roses?’ she queried wryly. She had, after all, gone into her marriage with her eyes fully open, and it had lived down to her expectations of it. ‘A piece of news which will cheer Fliss up no end!’
‘Not nearly as much as to know that you’ve gone,’ he rejoined instantly, and once again she was forced to laugh.
‘She certainly has a champion in you, doesn’t she? Are you sure you’re not the teeniest bit in love with her yourself?’ she taunted, and had the satisfaction of seeing him breathe in sharply for a change.
Kerr’s wrath spanned the space between them in a flash. ‘That’s about the level of remark I’d expect from a woman who’d steal her sister’s fiancé.’
Maxi went to the window, brushing aside the net, feigning an interest in the view. ‘As you’ve assumed you can say what you like to me, I’ve taken the same option myself. If you begin to find it irritating, you can always stop,’ she advised, letting the curtain drop and turning to lean casually against the frame.
‘I take it from that remark that you’re staying, then?’ he observed caustically.
Clearly he wasn’t about to take the hint and put up his weapons, and she found his continued animosity very wearing on her nerves, not to mention her temper. ‘It would seem so,’ she replied with a bland smile.
Grey eyes narrowed. ‘What have you come for, Maxi?’
This time she raised both eyebrows in mocking rebuke. ‘Surely that’s my business, and my family’s?’
He shifted his weight, and the act of slipping his hands into his pockets drew her eyes to his legs and the way the material stretched across powerful thighs. To her chagrin, deep inside, the feminine core of her twisted in instant response. Defensively she averted her eyes, annoyed that a reaction she hadn’t experienced for so long should have been brought about by him. It also left her with a much more rapid pulse, and she desperately hoped she hadn’t betrayed herself in any way. It appeared not.
‘You’re forgetting that, as of today, our families are linked,’ Kerr reminded her unnecessarily, coming a step closer.
It produced an unnerving reaction in her, making her suddenly feel as if she was being hemmed in, and that there was very little air in the room. She was forced to turn away, making quite a performance of opening a window, thus giving herself time to recompose her features. ‘All right, I’ll rephrase the question. Why do you think I’ve come?’
He didn’t hesitate. ‘To cause trouble.’
Her laugh was brittle even to her own ears, revealing just how much her response had shaken her. ‘Thanks for the vote of confidence! Is it so impossible to imagine that I’ve simply come to see my family?’
‘Frankly, yes. You’ve already proved yourself to be a calculating woman when you stole your sister’s fiancé. And don’t pretend you couldn’t help yourself. You knew what you were doing, every step of the way,’ Kerr insisted derisively.
If she had any explaining to do, it most certainly wasn’t to this overbearing stranger! Her chin rose an inch. ‘You’re absolutely right! I wanted to take him from her, so I did!’
Kerr shook his head slowly, eyes registering a boundless contempt. ‘You’ve no remorse, have you?’
Her lashes dropped, shielding her thoughts. ‘None. What else would you expect? I will never, ever, be sorry that I took him away,’ she added for good measure, knowing that, in his blindness, he would never think she could be sorry for anything else. Besides, her statement was true.
‘And you want me to believe you haven’t come to cause trouble?’ he sneered, and Maxi clenched her hands into angry fists.
‘Actually, I don’t expect you to believe anything. What you do or don’t think is totally immaterial to me.’
He took a threatening step towards her, finger stabbing out to emphasise his words. ‘Maybe so, but remember this, I’m not about to let you start another scandal. So if you’ve got it in mind to have yourself a little fun at other people’s expense, do yourself a favour and forget it. Try anything, and I promise you’ll live to regret it.’
Arms akimbo, she squared up to him. ‘Just what do you think I’m going to do? Didn’t you hear me tell your brother I don’t make a habit of taking other women’s men?’ she charged.
‘Women have a habit of saying one thing and doing another,’ Kerr pointed out tersely, and Maxi sent him a withering look.
‘You’re saying men don’t? I know someone who’d give you one hell of an argument!’ She’d spent a lifetime with him, the summer of their brief marriage. Colin Ellis had had one unbreakable rule: never tell the truth unless it was unavoidable.
Kerr seemed unimpressed. ‘Let’s just say I’d be more inclined to believe a man than a woman.’
A statement that explained a lot. ‘What happened? Did a woman let you down? With your attitude, I can’t say I blame her!’ Maxi jeered.
There was a fleeting instant when he looked positively murderous, then it was gone just as quickly, leaving her wondering if she’d imagined it. ‘You’d like that to be true, wouldn’t you? However, before you get into your stride, it’s only fair to tell you you’re barking up the wrong tree,’ Kerr denied smoothly.
Maxi raised her eyebrows sceptically. ‘Really? I don’t believe you. You see, I’m more inclined to believe a woman than a man.’
He smiled, but without a trace
