“Why do you do that? Accuse me of lying at every opportunity?”
“A better question is why am I always right?”
He set his coffee cup down, tugged at the belt of his robe and said, “You're not right. Women always say that to win an argument, but it's never true.”
“Of course it is,” Keira said, sipping her coffee. “Women are right because we see everything and we remember everything.”
“Sure.”
“Just like I can see that you're trying to start a fight so you won't have to answer my question.”
He sighed. This woman got to him like no one else ever had. And he was forced to admit that part of the reason why was because she never took any of his crap. She always called him on everything.
“Fine,” he said tightly and met her gaze with a hard look designed to put some distance between them. “I was thinking that it would be more comfortable if you could have gone home this morning. Happy?”
“Delirious,” she said, throwing his own word back at him. Then she turned around and pulled a chair out from under the kitchen table. Curling one leg under herself, she plopped down, propped her elbow on the table and took another sip of coffee before saying, “Was that so hard?”
Nathan just blinked at her. Any other woman would have been insulted, giving him all kinds of frosty attitude right now. Figured Keira would react differently. She had to everything else.
“You're not mad.”
“Nope, sorry to disappoint.” She took long drink of her coffee, then set the cup onto the table. “Nathan, I know you don't really want me here, and that's okay. I mean, I hadn't planned on staying forever, you know.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“But it's really storming out there, so I'm stuck here and you're stuck with me. We might as well make the best of it, don't you think?”
A constant surprise. Keira Sanders never failed to bewilder him with her reactions to things. He couldn't depend on what she'd do next, because she never responded to anything the way he expected her to. How was a man supposed to find his emotional footing if a woman kept changing on him?
“I suppose that's logical.”
“Excellent,” she said. “I've got a few ideas on what we could do today.” She hopped off her chair, stumbled over her own foot and slammed into his chest. She grabbed him in self-preservation and spilled his coffee down the front of his robe. Grinning up at him, she said, “Maybe we should do some laundry first.”
Cold fettuccine Alfredo for breakfast, a load of wash done and in the dryer, and the snow was still blowing outside.
Keira wandered through the lodge, peeking into closets and exploring rooms that were still standing empty waiting for the decorator. From every room, the view was outstanding and displayed the growing storm to its advantage.
She chewed at her bottom lip and wondered how the town was doing, then reminded herself that the people of Hunter's Landing dealt with snowstorms every year. The only difference with this storm was that she wasn't there. She couldn't see for herself that everyone was fine, hunkered down to wait out the snow.
She couldn't even call anyone to check on them. The phone lines were still down. Remembering the look on Nathan's face when he'd tried the phone again an hour ago made her smile.
Leaving one of the bedrooms, she wandered back into the upper hall, passed the master bedroom and paused for a moment, remembering everything she and Nathan had done together the night before. Her heart filled, her body ached with tired satisfaction and the small smile on her face faded slowly. She knew that today, he was regretting their time together.
He probably wasn't used to facing his nighttime bed partner the next day. Well, this was pretty new for Keira, too. But at least she was trying to make the best of it. Unlike Nathan, who'd buried himself in busywork on his laptop. The man had avoided talking to her for hours now and the quiet—except for his fingers hitting the keyboard—was starting to really bother her.
The wind howled around the corners of the house, sounding as though it was looking for a way in. Shivering, Keira headed for the stairs. She held onto the banister, and started down, her bare feet making no sound at all on the dark carpet runner that covered the wood planks.
Walking into the great room, she headed for the fire crackling in the hearth, turned her back to it and stared at Nathan, just a few feet away. He hadn't even looked up when she entered the room.
“Ignoring me doesn't make me invisible,” she said abruptly.
“Huh? What?” He raised his head, turned to look at her and asked, “What did you say?”
“I said, are you going to be sitting in front of that computer all day?”
“I have work to do.”
“That you can't send anywhere because the phone lines are down.”
“It's not e-mail, it's work,” he said.
“Fine.” She blew out a breath, walked toward him, then squatted beside him until they were eye to eye. “My point is, does everything have to be done today?”
“Keira …”
She hopped up, plopped onto the couch beside him and leaned in, staring at the computer screen. “Okay, okay. So you have to work. Tell me about it. Talk to me.”
He sighed in resignation, and Keira hid a smile. “I'm working up a new schedule for impromptu visits to my hotels.”
She looked at him, stupefied for a second, then burst out laughing.
“What's so funny?”
She waved one hand, shook her head and fought for breath. Laughter spilled from her throat, bubbled into the room and crashed down around them as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and gave him a fast hug. “Nathan, you're really something,” she said when she finally got control of her giggles.
“I'm so happy I can entertain you.”
“Don't you get it?” she asked, grinning. “You're making a schedule for impromptu visits. The whole point of impromptu is no schedule.”
Nathan scowled at her, then at the computer screen. He felt like an idiot. But in his own defense, he'd only been making busy work anyway. Anything to keep his mind off the fact that Keira was here and way too accessible.
He had no intention of getting in any deeper with her. And the best way to keep from doing that was to keep his hands to himself. Yet … everytime he heard her breathe, or caught a whiff of her scent, all he wanted to do was carry her back upstairs and bury himself inside her.
He wanted to experience again that incredible warmth that he'd only found with her. But it wouldn't be right. He wanted to enjoy her, enjoy their time together and still be able to walk away. Because he would be leaving. Nothing would stop him.
She
