he cut in. ‘I take it you’re Chris? Short for?’ he prompted at her nod of confirmation.
‘Crystal,’ she supplied reluctantly, considering the question quite inappropriate in the circumstances.
That hard green gaze raked over her mercilessly, from her tiny feet, her obvious slenderness, to the tip of her silver-blonde head.
‘It figures,’ he finally drawled insultingly.
‘Why does it?’ she came back sharply.
He shrugged broad shoulders. ‘You look as if the slightest thing might snap you in half.’
‘Looks can be deceptive,’ she returned, with pointed reference to his remark earlier concerning Merlin’s docility.
‘Touché.’ His mouth twisted into a humourless smile, that hard gaze once again raking over her with complete disregard for the fact that he was being extremely rude.
Crys was well aware of the fact that she had lost a considerable amount of weight due to the strain of the last year. Her small frame, along with her diminutive height—only a little over five feet—gave her an air of fragility that might otherwise not have been there. Her face was thin, cheekbones prominent beneath haunted grey eyes, jawline finely visible. Only the fullness of her mouth remained the same.
She had hoped that this few days in Yorkshire with Molly might help to alleviate some of that strain—but only a few minutes’ acquaintance with Molly’s older brother had shown Crys that wasn’t going to happen!
‘Well, Crys, it looks as if you don’t have somewhere else to go, after all,’ Sam taunted.
That was what he thought! ‘I take it, from what was said, that Molly isn’t going to be here for a couple more days?’
Even that humourless smile disappeared now. ‘You take it correctly,’ he confirmed grimly. ‘The rehearsals for the film she starts shooting next month have run over schedule,’ he explained briefly, before picking up his empty mug and moving to pour a refill. ‘Want one?’ he offered belatedly.
‘No, thank you,’ she returned primly, aware that his lack of manners in not offering her more coffee before was probably due to the fact that he spent most of his time here alone—that he wasn’t used to catering to the needs of a guest. It wasn’t a feeling she, personally, intended altering for him, either! She was also aware that, as an actress, Molly had a schedule often disturbed in this way. It was one of the reasons they had decided to drive up separately to Yorkshire. ‘As Molly can’t make it for a while, I think it would be better—’ for all of them! ‘—if I—’
‘I hope you aren’t going to suggest booking into a hotel,’ Sam rasped, shaking his head. ‘Molly would never forgive me if I allowed you to do that.’
Now it was Crys’s turn to give a humourless smile. ‘And I’m sure that would bother you!’
‘As a matter of fact—yes, it would,’ he replied firmly. ‘Molly is very dear to me.’ His voice was husky now. ‘She’s—special. And any friend of hers is welcome here,’ he added with finality.
Crys silently agreed with him about Molly being special. The two girls had met at boarding-school ten years ago, when Molly had joined the lower sixth in preparation for taking her ‘A’ Levels. For anyone else, a change of school at such a delicate time might have resulted in feeling lost and out of place, but Molly’s nature was such that she quickly made herself at home wherever she was. The two girls had quickly become fast friends, spending most of their time together during school term.
Curiously enough, though, they had never visited each other at home during the holidays… If they had, Crys would already have known that she felt most uncomfortable in the presence of Molly’s brother who was twelve years older!
‘Unless I’m mistaken, you were under the impression that Molly’s friend Crys was a man?’ she asked.
‘Molly was most insistent that I be nice to this particular friend. It was important to her that this Chris should feel welcome. It was a natural assumption to have made, in the circumstances.’
Crys felt a glow of warmth at her friend’s obvious care for her comfort. Although that didn’t change the fact that Sam Barton had now been presented with a female friend rather than the male he had been expecting, or that Molly’s arrival had been delayed for a couple of days…
‘That was kind of Molly,’ she accepted. ‘Although her unexpected absence does change things rather—’
‘Because you’re a woman and not the man I was expecting?’ He frowned darkly. ‘Why does that change anything?’
Surely that was more than obvious, even to a man who chose to live as out of touch with the world as this one did? Oh, not that Crys felt in the least prudish about the fact that they would be a man and woman staying alone here for a few days. Despite her earlier imaginings, this man hadn’t given the least indication that he found her in the least attractive, let alone anything else. It was just that he was so obviously somebody who preferred his own company—possibly with the exception of Molly’s—that having a complete stranger foisted on him for a couple of days simply wasn’t on.
Besides, though Molly had always talked about her older brother in glowing terms, there was something decidedly odd about a thirty-eight-year-old man living reclusively in the wilds of Yorkshire in a castle that was deliberately made to look derelict on the outside but was the height of luxury inside!
Added to which, Crys didn’t feel in the least comfortable with him—would find it absolute purgatory to have to spend days alone here with him.
‘It really is very kind of you to make such an offer, Mr Barton—’
‘The name is Sam,’ he rasped. ‘And I’m sure, even on such brief acquaintance—’ his mouth twisted derisively ‘—that you are well aware that kindness is not a predominant part of my nature!’
Oh, yes, she was aware, all right, had believed him earlier when he’d threatened to drop her if she screamed.
She shook her head. ‘Nevertheless—’
‘Look, as you pointed out earlier, it’s getting late, and the light’s fading fast,’ he cut in briskly. ‘I need to go outside for a while and—and finish what I started. Why don’t you make yourself at home here for an hour or so and we’ll talk about this again when I come back?’
Yes, he would have dropped her earlier, Crys had no doubt, but she reminded herself that he also had enough compassion in him to give a decent burial to a stray dog he had found dead this morning…
‘Pour yourself another coffee,’ he invited lightly, ‘warm yourself next to the Aga. And we’ll see how you feel about things later. Okay?’
The cup of coffee and the Aga sounded inviting, but Crys was already sure how she would feel about things later; she simply couldn’t stay here with this man. He might be Molly’s brother, and Molly obviously adored him, but Crys wasn’t sure she even liked him!
She looked up to find his green gaze still regarding her searchingly, although the blandness of his expression gave away none of what he was thinking.
Crys looked at him now with the knowledge that he
