death!” His voice ricocheted off the high beamed ceiling and Keira didn't even flinch.
“Don't be such a baby.”
“A baby?” Astonishment flashed across his features and she waved one hand at him dismissively.
“You're lucky I let you back in.”
There was a long moment of silence before he finally said, “Yeah. You're just crazy enough to have left me out there, so I guess I am lucky. And frostbitten.”
“That was a nasty thing to think about me,” she said, ignoring his complaint, “and even nastier to say.”
“You wouldn't leave it alone. You had to know what I was thinking,” he pointed out, raising his hands high in amazement. “What is it about women, anyway? They poke and prod at a man to tell them what he's thinking and when he does, they lock him outside in a damn snowstorm!”
“Is it our fault that what you're really thinking is so ridiculously insulting that we aren't prepared?” Keira slapped the granite counter. “We want to know what you're thinking, because, silly us, we actually think your minds aren't twisted little black holes.”
“No, you expect us to be like you,” Nathan said tightly, still scowling, still stamping his feet on the floor trying to get his circulation moving again. “All warm and fuzzy, wanting kids and a dog and a white picket fence and—”
“Are you delusional?” Keira interrupted his rant. “Who said anything about a picket fence?”
“You don't have to say it,” he challenged, stabbing one finger in the air, pointed at her. “It's who you are. You're Ms. Roots herself. Well, I don't have roots. Don't want any and if I found some I'd rip ‘em out of the ground.”
Keira stomped across the room until she was right in front of him. His blue eyes were wild and hot, and the set of his jaw told her he was every bit as furious as she was. Well, good. No point in being mad all by yourself. And besides, he'd probably never lost his temper. Not the ever-polite, always distant Nathan Barrister. So, she'd let him rant and rave. Maybe it'd do him some good. God knows it was doing wonders for her.
“Your perfect little town has nothing I want or need. As soon as possible, I'll be on my jet, heading for the opposite end of the world.”
“Good. Nobody's asking you to settle down in Hunter's Landing, Mr. Wonderful.” Keira stabbed her finger at him, poking him several times dead center of the chest until he grabbed her finger in self defense. She shook him off a second later. “I'm certainly not laying out traps for you—”
“Oh, no?” Nathan countered quickly, apparently enjoying interrupting her for a change. “No traps, huh? Did it happen to escape your notice that we didn't use any protection?”
Keira blanched for a second. Damn it, it had escaped her attention. Then his words hit home. A trap? “First I'm a slut and now I'm trying to trap you and your golden sperm? Aren't I the busy little bee?”
“You're deliberately avoiding the point,” he said. “We didn't use anything and—”
“Well, jeez,” she said, interrupting him neatly for the umpteenth time, “color me human. You know, I don't actually travel with condoms in my jeans on the off chance that some spoiled, snotty rich guy will want to have sex with me and then insult me!”
He grabbed two fists full of his own hair and yanked. Hard. Then, his voice rumbled through the kitchen at a level just below howling. “For God's sake, I just told you I could have made you pregnant and you take that as an insult, too?”
“I'm not pregnant,” she snapped. “Just so you know, I'm on the Pill, so no worries there, Mr. Barrister. Your personal fortune is safe from this particular gold digger.” “I never said you were a—” “But as long as we're on the subject,” she continued, her voice rolling right over his, “how about you?” He grimaced. “I'm not on the Pill.”
“Not the best time to develop a sense of humor, just so you know.”
He raised his hands in mock surrender. “Fine. Fine. I'm healthy. No worries there. You?”
“Contrary to certain people's opinion, I am not a slut and, therefore, I, too, am very healthy.” She crossed her fingers over her heart. “Of course, I'll be happy to get you a letter frommy doctor to alleviate any further concern …”
“Damn it, Keira, I'm not calling you a slut for doing whatever you have to do to get what you want. That's how the world works. The real world, that is, not your own personal little Xanadu here.”
“Believe it or not,” she shouted, “I did not have sex with you to keep you here for the month!”
“You keep telling yourself that,” he said tightly.
“Jeez,” Keira muttered, shaking her head. “Are you really so far out of touch with humanity? Does everything in your world carry a price tag?”
“There are price tags everywhere in the world. Wake up and maybe you'll notice them.”
“You lead an ugly life,” she whispered.
“At least I live with my eyes open,” he countered. “I know that people are mostly out for themselves and willing to do just about anything to take care of number one.”
“So I slept with you to get what I want?”
“Wouldn't be the first time it's happened.”
Keira flinched at the coldness in his eyes. He really did believe that anyone getting close to him was out for his money. His lifestyle. How sad. How unbearably empty his world must be. And the saddest part was, he didn't even realize it.
“And so, because you've surrounded yourself with sycophants and users, you naturally assumed that I was one, too.”
He gritted his teeth and a muscle in his jaw twitched. “And you're telling me you're not.”
“Yeah,” she said, “I am. And what's more, you know it. Somewhere in that cavernous emptiness you call a heart, you know it. And you insulted me on purpose.”
He glared at her. “You are the most—” He caught himself, dragged in a gulp of air and then fired his gaze into hers. “Okay, yeah. I did.”
“Finally!” Keira shouted and scooted a little closer to the kitchen fire, nudging Nathan out of her way. “The question is why?”
“Why?”
“Why did you want to insult me, Nathan?” She tipped her head to one side, stared up at him and asked, “If you wanted me to leave, all you had to do was say so.”
“I didn't want you to leave,” he admitted, though it was clear he wasn't happy about the confession.
“Then why?”
“I honestly don't know,” he said and pulled her up close against him. When she tried to push herself free, he simply tightened his hold on her middle, pinning her body to his until Keira could feel his need building again.
