‘In that case I suggest you ring them right now to take you back to wherever you came from and leave me alone.’
Chad leaned against the door and caught a hint of Maggie’s delicious scent, the intoxicating mixture of vanilla and warm, soft woman driving him crazy. ‘Is thatreallywhat you want?’
‘Do you honestly think I need a half-drunk man on my doorstep on top of all my other problems?’ Maggie snapped.
‘Honey, don’t be too hard on me. I only had a couple shots of Jack Daniels for courage.’
‘Courage?’
‘To disobey you,’ he muttered. ‘I know you told me to go away, but I hated seeing you upset and I couldn’t damn well go to bed not knowing if you were okay.’ That was the surface reason, and a genuine one, but underneath a myriad of others fought for his attention. ‘You gonna let me in?’
‘Maggie, is that . . . oh, it’s you.’ Emily’s forlorn face crumpled as she appeared at the door and spotted him. ‘I hoped Jonathan had come back.’
‘Do you get it now that I don’t have time for you as well as all this?’ Maggie’s brutal tone cut him to the bone.
‘I’m going to bed.’ Emily whispered. ‘Maybe when I wake up in the morning this will all be a nightmare.’ She slouched off back into the house. Chad took a chance and rested his hand on Maggie’s arm, saying nothing. A single large tear trickled down her cheek and he tenderly brushed it away. ‘Would it help to talk?’
She shook her head, nodded several times and then shook it again. ‘I . . . don’t know.’
‘How about I come in, make you a cup of tea and then you can decide?’ he suggested, mentally crossing his fingers.
‘Do you evenknowhow to make tea?’ Her voice wobbled, but the faintest trace of a smile pulled at her generous mouth.
‘I sure do,’ Chad asserted with more confidence than he actually felt. The same legal mentor who’d recommended always replying to one question with another also told him never to sound as though he didn’t know what he was talking about in court. ‘Boiling water. Tea. China cup. Milk and sugar if required. Cake.’
Maggie’s deep blue eyes sparkled. ‘I think we’ve had more than enough cake for one day, don’t you?’
‘Is there such a thing as too much cake?’
* * *
‘You’re far too clever.’ Maggie wagged her finger at him. ‘Nobody should be able to make me smile right now.’But the problem is looking at you makes me happy and I can’t seem to help it. A lock of black hair fell over Chad’s forehead and she yearned to stroke it back into place, except that it looked far too tempting where it was.
A satisfied grin crept over his face as it dawned on him she wasn’t going to send him away — not yet. She’d turned down everyone’s offers of help but he’d ignored her and turned up anyway. Chad wasn’t stupid so he had to be as stubborn asshe was. When she was fifteen Maggie didn’t eat for three days because her father wouldn’t let her go to a Save the Whales demonstration in London. Her exasperated mother said she might as well resign herself to being an old maid because no man would put up with such a pig-headed girl.
‘I suppose you’d better come in.’ Maggie worked on sounding as ungracious as possible. She didn’t need him to think she was falling at his feet. She strode away down the hall into the kitchen and by the sound of heavy footsteps on the bare wood floor behind her assumed Chad was following. Maggie filled the kettle at the sink before switching it on.
‘Are you rejecting my tea-making offer?’ Chad teased.
‘You may think you sounded sure of yourself but I saw right through you. I’d bet on my most precious possession that you’ve never made a decent cup of tea in your life.’ His dark gaze swept down over her and Maggie shivered in an unexpected, good sort of way.
He folded his arms and she suddenly became aware he’d changed out of the fancy suit. Only a thin red T-shirt covered his broad chest and Chad’s jeans were more holes than denim, emphasising his long, muscular legs.
‘I’ll take your bet,’ he drawled, his voice running all over her skin like a puddle of golden syrup melting over hot buttered toast.
‘You don’t even know what I’m talking about,’ Maggie protested.
‘I don’t need to, sugar, if it’s important to you I might lose on purpose.’ He took a step closer and she struggled to keep breathing, far too aware of his clean, masculine scent surrounding her. Chad rested a finger on her jaw and lifted her chin to meet his smouldering eyes. ‘You willin’ to take the chance?’
She was pretty sure they weren’t talking about tea any longer. A sudden image of Emily’s distraught face flashed in front of Maggie’s eyes and she reluctantly pushed Chad away. ‘I don’t need this,’ she whispered.
‘I didn’t mean to be heartless. I only wanted to make you smile again.’
Overreacting was usually Emily’s prerogative and a wave of guilt swept through Maggie. ‘Sorry. I’m being a cow.’
‘Nope, you aren’t.’ He shook his head. ‘It’s been a long, tough day all around.’ Chad pulled out a chair and gently pushed her to sit down. ‘I’ll make your tea. No bets. No flirting. Simply tea.’
Maggie couldn’t decide if she was sorry or not.
