‘What?’ She blinked again in confusion, her cheeks flushing as she stared at him, still not quite able to believe that it really was him. What on earth was he doing here? Oh no, was he on the cookery course, too? Please, no! He couldn’t be. What were the chances? She swallowed. Maybe he’d followed her to give her a piece of his mind. If the shoe were on the other foot, she’d have been furious if someone treated her like that. Shoe! Had he followed her to bring her shoe back?
‘Conor,’ she croaked, wanting to die of embarrassment. This couldn’t be happening. Gone was the flirtatious charmer; instead, an angry dark-eyed tornado stood over her, his eyes full of fury and his mouth curled in disgust.
The clichéd words danced on the tip of her tongue:I can explain.What, that she was a complete coward and hadn’t been grown up enough to own her first one-night stand?Pitiful, Hannah, pitiful.
‘I’m s-sorry. I—’
‘You’re not the first, you know.’ His eyes narrowed as he glared at her.
Despite the mortification flooding through her, his sharp anger pricked at her. It wasn’t as if she’d committed the crime of the century – what did he have to be so cross about? It was her right to leave if she wanted to. If she wasn’t mistaken, he knew the score – he’d probably written the damn thing – but something inside her refused to be cowed. ‘I’m well aware of that. No one could doubt that you know what you’re doing.’
Clearly taken aback, he opened his mouth and shut it with pleasing incoherence as if lost for words. She couldn’t help grinning, proud of herself for scoring that little hit. Where had this new Hannah come from? Talk about sticking your whole arm right into the mouth of the lion. No prizes for guessing he hadn’t taken too kindly to be being abandoned in the middle of the night – which she might have apologised for if he hadn’t come steaming in, all guns blazing, with a bug up his butt.
His scowl darkened. ‘You really had me fooled with that wide-eyed, innocent act. I suppose you think you’re clever.’
‘A few people have remarked upon it.’ And there she went again. It was as if she had no control over her mouth around Conor. Maybe it was because he was so far out of her league that she had absolutely nothing to lose.
‘Well, it won’t get you very far. I know what your game is. I never sleep with the guests.’
‘I wasn’t aware that I’d asked you to.’ Cheeky so and so, although she did wonder what guests he was referring to. It hadn’t stopped him when she was a hotel guest. ‘It was good but not quite in the sex-god category. Must try harder.’
He gaped at her and she had to bite back a smile at the grimness of his expression, although the tightening of his features emphasised his dark good looks. Today he was channelling ‘angry pirate’, especially with that five o’clock shadow dusting his jaw.
Big mistake. For a moment she allowed herself to remember the feel of those bristles across her skin and it brought back a flood of sensation that made her knees wobble. OK, it had been quite a night but not so mind-blowing that she’d lost her wits and come chasing after him as he seemed to assume. God, the man had some ego.
As she tried to steady her stupid noodle legs, another thought suddenly crossed her mind. What if Fergus had got it wrong? What if theshewho missed the ferry was ahe?Please God don’t let him be my housemate.That would be a nightmare.
‘What are you doing here?’ she asked, her voice cracking a little in anticipation of the answer. It would be an absolute disaster if they had to share this gorgeous little cottage.
‘Funny, very funny. You know damn well I live here.’
‘What? Here, here?’ She glanced over her shoulder.
‘Don’t be facetious. You know what I mean.’
No, she didn’t, but she refused to give him the satisfaction of admitting as much. She had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. Her mind raced a mile a minute. How the heck could she have possibly known he lived here? And what were the chances? It was the coincidence from hell. Things like this just didn’t happen in real life. She gave him a bland smile. ‘If you say so. Did you want something?’
His lip curled as he looked at her. ‘No, I don’t.’
Ouch, that stung. He didn’t need to make his dislike that obvious. Clearly she’d been a safe bet as a one-night stand but now he was embarrassed by her showing up on his doorstep, wherever that was.
‘I brought you a message. The guest due to be sharing with you had to turn back. The next ferry crossing was cancelled and she had a call to say her father had been taken ill.’
Hannah’s stomach clenched. ‘You’re not moving in here, are you?’
‘Why would I want to do that?’ The horror on his face made his feelings quite plain.
She shrugged, a wash of heat rinsing her cheeks.
‘Unfortunately for you and your plans, you won’t see very much of me at all. Sorry about that, but your scheme has backfired big time.’ With that he turned on his heel, leaving her wondering if she’d just fallen down a rabbit hole. She still didn’t know who he was or why he had this peculiar idea that she’d followed him here.
Chapter Five
With a certain amount of trepidation, Hannah approached the hotel entrance and was immediately entranced by the beautiful stone building. It was softened by a trailing Virginia creeper that was just starting to adopt its autumn hues, turning from rich green to burgundy, as it trailed around neatly painted windows with bright-red sills.
However, it only took her mind off things for a moment. The unexpected meeting with Conor had completely unnerved her. What were the chances of running into him again? And how mortifying after doing a runner on him. Her heart had only just resumed normal service after her pulse rate had risen so high she could feel it thudding in her veins.
‘Hello there, welcome to Killorgally Hotel. You must be Hannah. I’m Bridget Byrne.’
