His Cinderella Mistress Read online

  ‘Can I get you anything else before I go to bed myself?’ January cut in briskly. ‘A cup of coffee? Something else to eat?’

  ‘No, thanks,’ he answered slowly, once again looking at the photograph of the three sisters. ‘Isn’t that a little strange?’ he murmured softly. ‘Why would your mother have been cut from the photograph? Surely it must have been one of the last pictures your father had of the four of you together?’

  ‘Probably, yes,’ January confirmed sharply, not welcoming his questions.

  Because she had asked her father the same question once. His answer that the photograph wouldn’t fit into the frame if it wasn’t cut down had seemed very strange, even to an eight-year-old. But the look on her father’s face, almost of bewilderment, had been enough for her never to ask about her mother again.

  Max was looking at her searchingly now, his brow clearing as he answered her previous question, ‘I really don’t need anything else, thanks,’ he repeated lightly. ‘And don’t worry, January,’ he added dryly. ‘I promise I’ll be out of your way as soon as the weather breaks.’

  ‘That’s good,’ she answered distractedly, her expression instantly becoming stricken as she realized exactly what she had said. ‘What I meant—’

  ‘I know what you meant, January.’ Max laughed softly, moving to stand in front of her, blue eyes gleaming with laughter. ‘You meant exactly what you said!’ He shook his head. ‘And I can’t say I exactly blame you,’ he added ruefully. ‘If I were in your shoes I would feel exactly the same way!’

  This wasn’t helping January in her efforts to dislike him! Neither was his close proximity!

  But maybe May had been right after all; maybe getting to know them all personally—some more than others, January acknowledged with an inner wince!—was making this as difficult for Max as it was for them? She certainly hoped so!

  ‘I’ll see you in the morning,’ she told him distantly as she moved away determinedly.

  ‘Aren’t you going to tuck me in and give me a goodnight kiss?’ Max prompted huskily.

  ‘No,’ she drawled, turning back to look at him, dark brows raised derisively. ‘I’m not going to offer to read you a bedtime story, either!’

  ‘Pity,’ he teased, sitting down on the side of the double bed. ‘I would like to come with you tomorrow, by the way,’ he added seriously.

  ‘Come with me where?’ January was having a little trouble keeping up with the jumps in the conversation.

  ‘To see Josh, of course,’ he dismissed. ‘You will be going in to see him tomorrow, won’t you?’

  ‘If the weather breaks,’ she confirmed slowly. ‘Max, are you sure it’s a good idea for you—? What are you doing?’ she gasped as he crossed the room in two strides, his fingers biting into her shoulders as he held her in front of him.

  ‘January, I will tell you once more—and once more only!’ he warned harshly, shaking her slightly, his eyes glittering darkly. ‘I did not—I repeat, not!—have anything to do with the attack on Josh.’

  ‘I don’t— Max, you’re hurting me!’ she gasped at the pressure of his fingers against her shoulders.

  He scowled darkly. ‘At this moment I would like to very thoroughly beat you,’ he told her gratingly. ‘But as I’ve already assured you I am not a violent man—!’ His mouth came down fiercely on hers.

  His kiss was full of the anger he refused to express in any other way, and January met that anger with the tenderness she longed to give him but daredn’t show him in any other way…

  It was that tenderness that finally won through, Max groaning low in his throat, his hands cradling each side of her face as he now sipped from the softness of her lips.

  Finally he raised his head, his forehead damp against hers as he looked down at her. ‘You are the most extraordinary woman I have ever met,’ he murmured dazedly.

  January moistened her lips before answering, ‘I am?’

  ‘Hmm.’ He nodded, grimacing slightly, obviously not at all happy with the fact. ‘One moment you’re thinking I’m some sort of crazed attacker, and the next you’re kissing me—’

  ‘Max, you didn’t let me finish what I was going to say earlier,’ she said huskily, one hand reaching up to briefly touch the hardness of his suddenly clenched jaw. ‘I was merely going to ask whether, in the circumstances of your connection to the Marshall Corporation, it was wise for you to come with me to visit Josh. Whether you should become any more involved with my family,’ she explained softly as he still frowned.

  ‘I think your warning is probably a little late,’ he acknowledged self-derisively. ‘And I have every intention of going to see Josh. Maybe he got a look at the person who attacked him. Maybe—’

  ‘Max, I’m sure the police are perfectly capable of dealing with that,’ January cut in pointedly. ‘After all, you’re a lawyer, not a policeman,’ she reasoned lightly.

  He shook his head. ‘There’s something wrong with this attack on Josh. Something other than the fact that it was a man this time rather than a woman,’ he added wryly at January’s knowing look.

  ‘Max—’ She broke off as a knock sounded on the bedroom door.

  Obviously one of her sisters. Probably wondering why it was taking her so long to make up the bed!

  She gave Max a rueful grimace as she moved out of his arms. ‘Come in,’ she invited dryly, giving her eldest sister a knowing look as she opened the door. ‘I was just making sure Max has everything he needs for the night,’ she told May teasingly.

  May’s green gaze flickered reprovingly over Max before moving back to January. ‘And does he?’

  ‘As much as an unexpected guest can expect.’ Max was the one to answer derisively.

  May returned his gaze unblinkingly. ‘If you want them, you will find some laundered pyjamas in the top drawer of the dresser.’

  ‘I always sleep in the nude, but thanks anyway,’ Max returned tauntingly.

  May gave a tight smile. ‘You might find the farmhouse a little cooler than you’re used to.’

  ‘Not so far,’ he came back, dark brows raised challengingly.

  ‘May, I think we’ll leave Max to get settled for the night,’ January cut in determinedly, having decided this verbal battle of wills had gone on long enough.

  ‘We’re usually all up by about six o’clock,’ May told Max pointedly.

  He nodded, blue eyes dancing with merriment. ‘A cup of tea in bed about then will be very welcome!’

  May gave a snort of dismissal. ‘Guest or not, if we don’t have that luxury, then neither do you!’

  He shrugged. ‘I would be quite happy to bring you all a cup of tea in bed.’

  May’s gaze narrowed. ‘I’ll just bet you would—’

  ‘He’s winding you up, May,’ January cut in once again, shaking her head reprovingly at Max even as she chuckled softly. ‘But if you should get the urge to make an early cup of tea, Max, we all take ours without sugar!’ she added even as she pushed her sister towards the door. ‘You were the one who invited him here in the first place,’ she reminded May lightly once they were outside the bedroom, the door safely closed behind them.

  ‘I may have done,’ May snapped. ‘But I told you why that was. I certainly didn’t think he had the nerve to try to seduce my little sister right under my nose!’ she added indignantly.

  ‘Your little sister is twenty-five years old,’ January reminded her dryly. ‘And I’m more than capable of taking care of myself.’

  May shook her head. ‘Not where Max Golding is concerned, I’ve just realized,’ she said slowly. ‘January, are you serious—?’

  ‘Could we leave this for tonight, May?’ she cut in firmly, her earlier humour having completely disappeared. ‘I’m really not in the mood to discuss Max any more tonight,’ she added heavily.

  May looked at her searchingly for several long minutes, before slowly nodding her head. ‘Okay,’ she agreed huskily. ‘But just—never mind.’ She shook her head, smiling. ‘Everything will look different
in the morning,’ she added brightly.

  January was glad her sister had said different, and not better. Because somehow January doubted it would be that. In the morning she would still be in love with Max. And that couldn’t be good. For any of them.

  Considering he had doubted that he would sleep at all, with January so close and yet so unattainable, Max found he had slept for almost eight hours, a glance at his wrist-watch telling him it was almost seven o’clock.

  Way past time for taking January—or anyone else!—a cup of tea in bed!

  He smiled as he imagined May’s indignation if he had arrived in the sisters’ bedrooms with the suggested morning tea. Whatever had prompted the eldest Calendar sister to invite him to dinner last night, May had definitely changed her mind about the wisdom of that invitation by the time she’d come looking for January in this bedroom later in the evening.

  Wisely so, Max acknowledged with a self-derisive grimace.

  No matter what he did, how hard he tried to keep a distance between himself and January, to concentrate on the business side of their relationship rather than the personal, he invariably ended up kissing her instead!

  Maybe—

  He heard a door slam downstairs, followed by muffled noises outside, evidence that the sisters were indeed up and about. And May, at least, was no doubt frowning disapprovingly about his own tardiness in getting up!

  She was also right about the coldness of the farmhouse, he discovered a few minutes later as he hurriedly dressed before going to the bathroom across the hall, the tiles in there ultra cold on his sock-covered feet.

  And the most he had to compare this cold discomfort with was the times he went skiing, when he spent his evenings and nights in a wonderfully warm ski lodge, his days wrapped up warmly as he skied the slopes. Hardly any comparison at all!

  You’re getting soft, Golding, he told himself disgustedly, at the same time acknowledging that he was ill-equipped to survive in conditions like these. Which also made him wonder why on earth the Calendar sisters would want to…!

  Only May and March were in evidence when he entered the kitchen a few minutes later, this room much warmer than the rest of the house, Max realized thankfully.

  ‘Coffee?’ March offered abruptly as she held up the steaming pot invitingly.

  ‘Thanks.’ He nodded distractedly, aware of May’s brooding silence as she sat at the kitchen table drinking her own warm brew, studiously ignoring him, it seemed.

  ‘Help yourself to milk and sugar,’ March told him dismissively as she placed a mug of coffee on the table for him. ‘In case you’re wondering, January is over in the shed dealing with early milking,’ she added dryly.

  Was he really that obvious? Max wondered with a scowl. Probably, he conceded heavily. To January’s sisters, at least…

  ‘Now that we’ve cleared the drifts away from the doors and a path over to the shed,’ May put in pointedly.

  While he lingered in his bed trying to build up the courage to get out of the warmth of the bedclothes into the cold of the room, May implied, but didn’t actually say.

  ‘Is there anything I can do to help?’ he offered—and as quickly realized how ridiculous he sounded; what on earth did he know about any of the workings of a farm?

  March obviously found the offer just as ridiculous, giving a wry smile. ‘Stay out of everyone’s way?’ she suggested scathingly.

  Feeling inadequate did not sit easily on Max’s shoulders; having it pointed out to him by the more outspoken of the Calendar sisters only made it worse!

  He stood up noisily. ‘I think I’ll just go over anyway and see if there’s anything I can do for January.’

  May sat back, looking at him derisively. ‘I think you’ve already done enough for her, don’t you?’ she murmured enigmatically.

  Max’s gaze narrowed on her speculatively as he pulled on his heavy jacket. Obviously whatever headway he had made with May yesterday had been completely voided by having January linger in the bedroom with him last night, May definitely back to her old protective self.

  Family disapproval was also something Max had never encountered before—mainly because he had never so much as suggested meeting any of the family of the women he had been involved with over the years!

  God, he really had to get out of here. And not just the farmhouse, either!

  Which may prove a little difficult, he discovered on opening the door; May really hadn’t been joking about the snowdrifts! They were as high as four feet along the side of the shed and the hedgerow of the track up here to the house.

  ‘Our uncle—Sara’s father—is going to come up from the road and clear it later this morning,’ March assured him with a mocking grin—obviously having enjoyed the look of dismay on his face for several minutes first.

  Max didn’t even bother to reply as he closed the door behind him, pausing in the porch to pull on his walking boots before staggering across to the cow shed. And it really was staggering, the ground extremely slippery underfoot. But at least the snow seemed to have stopped falling.

  Quite what he had expected once inside the shed, he really had no idea. But it certainly wasn’t to hear the sounds of the electric milking machines—or to see January as he had never seen her before!

  Faded denims were tucked into knee-high wellington boots, a coat that looked several sizes too big for her reaching warmly down to her knees, a scarf muffled up about her face, her ebony hair all but hidden beneath a multicoloured woolen hat.

  Grey eyes—the only part of her face visible!—were full of laughter as she looked up and saw his astounded expression.

  She pulled the scarf down from over her mouth, grinning ruefully. ‘See what I mean about the impracticality of love at first sight!’ she derided.

  Max recovered quickly, the beautiful grey eyes the same, as was her smile. ‘This certainly beats the toothpaste tube and the bare feet,’ he acknowledged dryly, moving further into the shed.

  It was warmer in here than outside, probably because of the heat given off by the animals themselves. Although there were other disadvantages, the animals giving off a smell that was overwhelming.

  He grimaced. ‘May still seems a little—annoyed with me, this morning.’

  ‘With you, too?’ January shrugged. ‘She’ll get over it.’

  Max was still curious as to where the elder Calendar sister had been when she’d claimed she was going to the dentist. But as neither of her sisters seemed to have the least suspicion, and May herself was completely unforthcoming, he didn’t think he stood much chance of finding out.

  ‘I’ll be finished in here soon, if you would like to go back to the house,’ January offered. ‘Unless, of course, it really is a little too frosty over there?’ She quirked dark brows teasingly.

  ‘I’m sure I can cope,’ Max drawled. ‘But I’ll wait for you, anyway.’

  In actual fact, he quite enjoyed watching January’s dexterous movements as she finished milking the first set of cows before moving on to the next.

  He also couldn’t help smiling as he imagined the faces of the guests staying at the hotel if they could see the glamorous singer from the piano-bar now. January’s gorgeous figure was completely hidden in the bulky clothing she wore, and, as far as he could tell, she didn’t have on even a dusting of make-up, not even a lip gloss.

  And yet she was still beautiful to him, he realized somewhat dazedly. What was happening to him?

  It certainly wasn’t the right time for his mobile telephone to start ringing. Mainly because he could too easily guess who the caller was going to be!

  Despite the time difference between here and America, Max knew from experience that Jude was a man who needed very little sleep—and who didn’t appreciate that others might not be quite so fortunate!

  ‘Shouldn’t you get that?’ January prompted curiously as he made no effort to take the intrusive telephone from his pocket.

  He shrugged. ‘If it’s important, I’m sure they will call back.’
<
br />   But as the telephone kept ringing Max was more convinced than ever that the caller had to be Jude; the other man really didn’t take no for an answer! Besides, when hadn’t Max been available to take Jude’s calls?

  He looked about his surroundings self-derisively. When standing in the middle of a cow shed, with the woman who was slowly driving him insane, that was when!

  CHAPTER TEN

  JANUARY gave an inner sigh of relief as Max’s attention was distracted when he finally decided to answer the call. Despite her earlier self-derision, it had been very unnerving having him standing there watching her as she worked.

  For one thing, for all this was her usual garb when she was working on the farm, she looked so unglamorous. For another, she was still so aware of the fact that she couldn’t be alone with this man for longer than two minutes without ending up in his arms!

  Not that she thought there was much chance of that happening at the moment—Max would need to be blind as well as besotted to find her attractive the way she looked right now. And January knew he was neither of those things…

  ‘Don’t you ever sleep, Jude?’ she heard him snap into the mobile telephone.

  Jude…? Jude Marshall?

  ‘Jude, I believe we had this same conversation yesterday,’ he bit out irritably.

  About the three of them, no doubt, January acknowledged resentfully, unashamedly listening to Max’s side of the conversation now even while she gave every appearance of continuing with the milking.

  ‘They simply do not want to sell, Jude,’ Max rasped. ‘That is, of course, your prerogative,’ he continued coldly. ‘No. No, I don’t. I—’ He broke off as one of the cows gave an extremely loud moo in the background. ‘What was that?’ he obviously repeated the question that had been put to him, giving January a brief grimace before replying. ‘I have the television on, Jude,’ he invented. ‘The news. Look, Jude, I’m sure you didn’t telephone me at this ridiculous hour, wasting your time and money, to talk about what I may or may not be watching on television! But for your information, we’ve had snowstorms here—Yes, snowstorms! I am freezing cold, and not a little fed up with this whole situation—’ He listened for a few seconds. ‘So fire me!’ he snapped before abruptly ending the call.