really wanted right now was to sit down with a glass of cooled white wine and simply unwind before thinking about preparing dinner. Her unexpected guest did not fit in with those plans at all. Besides, exactly what did he want to come in and wait for?
‘One of the family?’ she echoed smoothly, the mildness of her tone totally masking her impatience.
He nodded. ‘You and Dani. You are obviously the elder—’
‘Obviously,’ she acknowledged crisply. Why state the obvious?
He gave her a sharp look, visibly making an effort to relax. ‘I didn’t mean to sound insulting, Miss Baker—’
‘You may not have meant to, Mr...?’ She paused pointedly; he knew her name while she had absolutely no idea what his might be.
‘Kingston,’ he supplied. ‘Zack Kingston.’
Merry frowned. Kingston? The name did sound familiar. Dani had mentioned someone at university by that name. David Kingston... ‘David would be your son—’
‘Nephew,’ Zack Kingston corrected. ‘Dani has obviously talked to you about him!’
Merry didn’t like the accusation in his tone. Any more than she liked standing on the doorstep having this conversation with him. ‘Mr Kingston, I was just about to have a glass of wine. Would you like to join me?’ Green eyes steadily met blue.
How much ‘sense’ did he think she had now? The trouble with Mr Zack Kingston was that he formed snap judgements, and had taken one look at her and decided she was small and defenceless. It was only one of several wrong assumptions he had made!
That direct blue gaze was reassessing now, moving slowly from her bare feet, over the faded black denims, the too-large jumper, to the wild cascade of her long dark hair, the small gamine face dominated by challenging eyes.
To Merry’s amusement, she could see he was none the wiser for his review of her. She obviously didn’t look to him what she actually was. There was something to be said for a man-free—and therefore problem-free—life, after all!
‘Make your mind up, Mr Kingston,’ she advised mockingly. ‘I don’t intend standing here all evening waiting for your answer!’
Anger flared briefly in his deep blue eyes before he quickly brought it under control. Here was a man used to calling the shots, Merry guessed again, not the other way around. Well, this was her home, and her time, and if he wanted to continue this conversation he could do it inside, where she could relax. She had absolutely no idea what he was doing here, what it had to do with Dani—if anything—and she had no intention of discussing it any further standing on the doorstep!
‘You’ll be quite safe, Mr Kingston,’ she added derisively. ‘I make it a rule never to attack defenceless men on—what is it today?—on a Tuesday evening,’ she teased as she turned and walked back inside the house, sure he would follow her, he had come here this evening with something to say, and unless she was mistaken he hadn’t said it yet!
‘I can assure you, Miss Baker, I am far from defenceless!’
She was right; he had followed her! And as she looked up from pouring two glasses of wine she tried hard not to notice how his large frame dominated the bright but compact kitchen. ‘You are?’ she returned as she handed him his glass.
‘I are—I mean—Oh, hell.’ He scowled. ‘Tell me, Miss Baker—’
‘Merry,’ she put in lightly, sitting up on one of the bar stools. ‘Short for Meredith,’ she tacked on, to save him the bother of asking; he was the sort of man who would want to know!
He nodded. ‘Tell me, Merry,’ he murmured softly as he sat on the second bar stool, his bent knee only inches away from her own. ‘What happens to “defenceless men” on the other evenings of the week?’
Different approach. Anger hadn’t worked, so now he was going to try cajoling, revealing some of that humour she had guessed at when she first saw him.
Merry quirked dark brows at him over the top of her wine glass. ‘Why don’t you come back tomorrow and find out?’ she replied.
For a moment he looked perplexed. And then he smiled, and laughed.
Whew! Merry continued sipping her wine, mainly as a way of hiding the way her breath had caught in her throat. ‘Drop-dead gorgeous’! That laugh only made him more so. A young Robert Redford, she decided admiringly.
He sobered, shaking his head as he still smiled. ‘If Dani is anything like you, then I think I understand David’s dilemma,’ he said.
‘David has a dilemma?’ she prompted softly.
The laughter had all gone now; Zack Kingston’s expression one of grim disapproval. ‘I consider it a dilemma, but I doubt that he does!’
Merry didn’t understand how his nephew’s dilemma could have anything to do with Dani. Dani had begun her studies at university at the end of September, and, being gregarious by nature, she had quickly made friends. David Kingston was only one of several Dani had mentioned during the last couple of months. Merry certainly couldn’t think of any reason for the boy’s uncle to come here in search of Dani...
‘When do you expect your mother home?’ Zack Kingston continued restlessly, putting down his glass of barely touched white wine.
Which wasn’t altogether fair on the wine. Merry didn’t consider herself a connoisseur by any means, but her taste was discerning, and the wine was a delicious Chablis, perfectly chilled.
‘I don’t,’ she told him consideringly. ‘David’s dilemma has something to do with Dani?’ An uneasy fluttering sensation was beginning in the pit of her stomach.
Dani wasn’t only gregarious, she was absolutely beautiful. And there was no bias involved in that observation; Dani had been bowling men off their feet since she was in her cradle!
‘Tell me,’ Merry said slowly, ‘is David anything like you?’
‘What the hell does that have to do—?’ Zack Kingston broke off, shaking his head impatiently. ‘David was the son of my older brother and his wife. Unfortunately they were both killed in a car accident ten years ago, which is when I took over his guardianship.’
Very commendable, considering the demands a child could make on you—even more so when he wasn’t actually your own...
‘That doesn’t actually answer my question, Mr Kingston,’ Merry persisted.
‘I don’t see what it has to do with anything—’
‘It has a great deal to do with it,’ she said tersely; a twenty-ish version of this man could be devastating to a girl like Dani. ‘David is tall, blond, and gorgeous, right?’
Now he was the one to look mockingly at her. ‘Like me?’ he returned.
Merry glared at him. ‘You’re too old to be playing these sort of games, Mr Kingston—’
‘The name is Zack—Merry,’ he cut in. ‘And I don’t consider myself “too old” for anything!’
The
