The Deserving Mistress Read online

  Which was why she had no idea what he was doing standing on her doorstep now.

  Jude watched May’s face as she obviously recognised her visitor—but obviously wished that she didn’t, her expression a puzzling mixture of surprise and dismay.

  He turned his narrowed gaze on the other man; probably aged forty or so, tall and slender, with short blond hair and a boyishly handsome face. Which told him precisely nothing, Jude acknowledged ruefully. The man could just be a salesman or something equally innocuous—although, from May’s reaction to seeing him, somehow Jude doubted it…

  ‘David,’ he heard May greet huskily.

  ‘I was in the area—I had to come, May,’ the man returned determinedly.

  May shook her head. ‘I haven’t changed my mind,’ she told him firmly.

  ‘But—’

  ‘You’ll find someone else,’ she assured him, an uncomfortable glance in Jude’s direction letting the other man know that she wasn’t alone.

  David shot Jude an impatient glance of his own before his attention returned determinedly to May. ‘I don’t want anyone else, May,’ he told her forcefully. ‘It has to be you. You’re perfect—’

  ‘I really don’t want to talk about this just now,’ May cut in firmly, obviously completely conscious of the listening Jude, even if the other man seemed unconcerned by his presence.

  Curiouser and curiouser, Jude acknowledged consideringly. Was this David a spurned lover who simply refused to go away? Or something else? Although quite what that ‘something else’ could be Jude had no idea. Which brought him back to the spurned lover theory…Although, in the other man’s shoes, Jude would have been more than a little concerned at another man’s presence here alone with May. Unless the other man considered him to be insignificant in what was going on between him and May? A thought that Jude, who had never thought of himself as in the least ‘insignificant’ in any situation, found intensely irritating.

  He stood up, moving to stand at May’s side, deliberately resting his hand on the door behind her. ‘Is there a problem, May?’ he prompted haughtily.

  She shot him a frowning glance. ‘Nothing that I can’t handle. Thank you,’ she added belatedly.

  Jude turned his attention on the other man, deliberately looking down the long length of his nose, topping the other man by at least three inches. ‘I’m afraid you’ve caught us right in the middle of eating our dinner…’ he said pointedly.

  The other man looked displeased at this interruption. ‘I just wanted to have a few words with May—’

  ‘And, as I’ve just told you, we’re eating our evening meal,’ Jude bit out with hard dismissal, his gaze challenging on the other man now.

  May looked up at him frowningly, seeming to sense that the situation was fast moving out of her control, turning back to David smilingly. ‘I appreciate your—continued interest,’ she told him warmly. ‘But, as I told you before, I’m really not interested.’

  David shook his head. ‘I’m not giving up.’

  May looked completely baffled as to what to do or say next to this man, shaking her head dazedly.

  ‘I don’t understand what went wrong,’ David continued forcefully. ‘One minute you were fine with everything that we had talked about, the plans we had made, and the next—’

  ‘How many times does she have to tell you she’s not interested?’ Jude cut in coldly, stepping forward slightly to drape a proprietorial arm about May’s narrow shoulders. Too narrow, he realised frowningly. She really was too thin, too delicate, to live the hard-working life that she so obviously did.

  David’s gaze became guarded as he looked at that possessive arm about her shoulders. ‘And you would be…?’ he prompted slowly.

  ‘I would be a friend of May’s,’ Jude answered harshly.

  ‘I see,’ the other man murmured, obviously not seeing at all as he turned to look questioningly at May.

  ‘I would really much rather not talk about this any more, David,’ she told him regretfully. ‘I-it was a nice dream while it lasted,’ she added wistfully. ‘But it really isn’t for me. I’m sorry.’ She grimaced.

  Her visitor drew in a ragged breath, hunching his shoulders as he thrust his hands into the pockets of his sheepskin jacket. ‘I’m not giving up,’ he assured her decisively. ‘I’ll be back.’ He nodded firmly. ‘Perhaps we can talk then.’

  ‘I wouldn’t count on it,’ Jude put in raspingly, his patience wearing very thin where this man was concerned. Couldn’t he see, and just accept, that May wasn’t interested? That she wanted him to leave and not come back to bother her?

  Was this how Max and Will had felt, too? he wondered a little dazedly; protective, but at the same time finding their Calendar woman incredibly attractive?

  Except that May Calendar was not his woman. Would never be his woman. Not if he had anything to say about it. And he most certainly did.

  ‘Are you staying with your sister again?’ May was talking to the other man again now. ‘I’ll ring you there some time tomorrow,’ she added quickly as she received confirmation of that fact with David’s nod.

  ‘I’ll be waiting for your call,’ he assured her huskily before turning his hard blue gaze on Jude. ‘Goodnight,’ he added coldly.

  ‘Goodbye,’ Jude returned with a challenging lift of his dark brows.

  The other man gave a humourless smile of acknowledgement at the obviously male challenge before turning to walk across to his car, a sporty Jaguar, Jude noted with displeasure; obviously this David, whoever he was, was wealthy enough to help May if he wanted to. And, from their conversation, he obviously did.

  And yet she seemed uninterested in whatever the other man had to offer, so perhaps—

  ‘And just what the hell did you think you were doing just now?’ May’s angry challenge was accompanied by the slamming of the door as she turned to face him, her cheeks fiery red with anger, her eyes glittering deeply green.

  He raised mocking brows at the unexpected attack. ‘Trying to be helpful?’ he prompted pointedly. ‘The man was obviously bothering you, and so I—’

  ‘Helpful? Helpful?’ she repeated incredulously, hands clenched at her sides. ‘Can you drive a tractor?’

  He blinked frowningly. ‘Unfortunately not.’

  ‘Milk a cow?’

  He grimaced. ‘Definitely not!’

  ‘Nurse a weak lamb?’

  He shrugged. ‘Probably not.’

  ‘Feed the hens and collect the eggs?’

  He drew in an impatient breath, knowing exactly where this conversation was going. ‘Look, May—’

  ‘No, of course you can’t do any of those things!’ she answered her own questions impatiently. ‘But I can, and I do. And those are the only ways that you could possibly be of any help to me, Mr Marshall,’ she told him scathingly. ‘I really don’t know where you got the impression that I’m some helpless female that needs rescuing—’

  ‘Don’t you?’ he rasped pointedly.

  She had the grace to blush, her exhausted condition earlier having been unmistakable. ‘That was an exceptional circumstance,’ she dismissed firmly. ‘Now, if you wouldn’t mind leaving…?’ She stood pointedly away from the door, her expression challenging.

  Jude gazed at her frustratedly. She really was the most—

  Were those tears he could see in those incredible green eyes? And if so, were they tears of sheer frustration with all the work she had to do, or were they for some other reason?

  ‘We haven’t finished our meal,’ he pointed out softly.

  She gave a shake of her head. ‘I’m afraid I’ve completely lost my appetite.’

  ‘May—’

  ‘Will you just go?’ she cried emotionally, the tears welling against the darkness of her lashes now.

  ‘No—I won’t just go,’ he answered impatiently. ‘May, I don’t think for one minute that you’re a helpless female.’ How could he, when she had obviously been the female mainstay of this household since she was nothing bu
t a child herself? ‘But you are wrecked, anyone can see that from just looking at you—’

  ‘Thanks!’ she snapped scathingly.

  He sighed heavily. ‘There’s just no reasoning with you, is there?’

  ‘None at all,’ she bit out coldly.

  Jude shook his head. He had never met a woman like May Calendar before. Had never felt like shaking and kissing a woman at the same time before, either—

  Kissing…?

  Damn it, yes, he wanted to kiss May Calendar! Wanted to sweep her up into his arms and kiss her until she was senseless. Until they were both senseless.

  Which was why he most certainly wasn’t going to do it! ‘Fine,’ he rasped harshly, picking up his jacket from the back of the chair before walking determinedly to the door. ‘Any message for Max or your sister if he should happen to telephone again?’ he challenged hardly, already knowing from her reaction earlier to his casual mention of having spoken to Max that she did not want her youngest sister to know she was coping alone here.

  She swallowed hard, her cheeks suddenly pale now. ‘No—’ she moistened dry lips ‘—no message. Except—’

  ‘Yes?’ He paused at the door.

  She gave the ghost of a smile. ‘You could tell January that Ginny and the twins are all doing well. The ewe from last night, and her two lambs,’ she explained ruefully at his puzzled frown.

  Jude gave an acknowledging inclination of his head, not having particularly enjoyed scoring that point, where Max and January were concerned, over a woman who was so exhausted she could hardly see straight. ‘I would get that early night if I were you, May—before you fall over!’ he rasped.

  She gave a shake of her head. ‘I still have things to do.’

  He gave an impatient shrug at her stubbornness. ‘Your choice,’ he bit out harshly. ‘But, from the look of things, they will still be there for you to do all over again tomorrow.’

  She gave the hint of a smile. ‘My father used to say that.’

  Used to. Because, as Jude now knew only too well, having checked up on the Calendar sisters a little more thoroughly after Max had got himself engaged to one of them, neither of the Calendar parents were still alive, the mother having died while the three girls were still very young, the father only a year ago.

  Which really made him feel good about trying to buy the farm out from under them!

  ‘Then you should have listened to him!’ he rasped, no longer sure whether it was May or himself that he was angry with.

  One thing he did know, he needed to get this whole thing back into perspective, to concentrate on his objective, which was to buy this land and then leave.

  And, to do that, he had to get away from May Calendar.

  Besides, April would be waiting for him back at the hotel. Charming, entertaining, thoroughly agreeable April.

  May Calendar looked at him unblinkingly. ‘I did listen to him, Mr Marshall, but I don’t have to listen to you—’

  ‘That’s it!’ His patience, what there was of it, had been blown completely at her determined continuation of the formal ‘Mr Marshall’. Damn it, he had tried to be kind to her—even though she would so obviously have preferred that he wasn’t—to be reasonable; he had even bought her dinner.

  With no ulterior motive? a little voice taunted inside his head.

  And what if there had been? She could still have been a little more grateful than she had.

  May eyed him mockingly now. ‘That’s what, Mr Marshall?’ She smiled tauntingly.

  ‘This,’ he bit out forcefully—seconds before he swept her up into his arms and kissed that mocking smile right off her lips.

  Mistake, Jude, he admitted with an inward groan. Mistake!

  She tasted of honey. Her lips were soft and responsive—probably because she was too surprised to do anything else, he acknowledged ruefully, even as he moulded her body against his, the warmth of her breasts crushed against his chest, the dark swathe of her silky hair falling down over his arm as he tilted her head back to deepen the kiss.

  Nectar.

  Sweet, sweet, nectar.

  So intent was he on tasting that nectar that he didn’t at first notice the tiny fists pummelling against his chest, only coming to a full awareness of her resistance as she wrenched her lips away from his to glare up at him.

  ‘Let go of me,’ she ordered furiously, pushing ineffectually at his chest now. ‘You—you—’

  ‘Yes?’ he derided challengingly even as his arms dropped back to his sides and he stepped away from her.

  It had taken several seconds to get his own raging emotions back under control, but now that he had…

  Exactly what had he thought he was doing? Okay, so May was beautiful, immensely desirable, challenging—but she was also, in this particular situation, the opposition!

  She put up a hand to her slightly swollen lips, her eyes wide and accusing as she looked up at him. ‘I have no idea where you thought such behaviour was going to get you, but… Get out,’ she told him quietly, shaking her head dazedly. ‘Just get out.’

  Oh, he was going, intended putting as much distance between himself and this woman as possible.

  She was dangerous. To his self-control. To his self-preservation. To his self-possessed existence!

  He gave her a deliberately mocking smile. ‘Don’t feel too bad about responding, May,’ he said tauntingly. ‘You won’t be the first woman to do so—or the last,’ he added derisively.

  If anything her face paled even more, those glittering green eyes the only colour in her face now. ‘Get out!’ she repeated between clenched teeth.

  Jude calmly bent to pick up the jacket he had dropped seconds ago to take her into his arms, easily holding her accusing gaze as he put the jacket on, deliberately taking his time, much to her obvious impatience.

  ‘Have something else to eat, May,’ he drawled as he walked to the door. ‘It would be a pity to waste all that food just because you don’t like the person who bought it for you,’ he added dryly.

  ‘Goodbye, Mr Marshall,’ she said as pointedly as he had to the man called David a few minutes ago.

  Jude paused in the open doorway. ‘Oh, not goodbye, May,’ he assured her grimly. ‘Unlike my—associates, I don’t intend leaving until I’ve done what I came here to do.’

  She gave a scornful laugh. ‘Then I would suggest you start looking to buy a house in the area—because I’m not interested in selling the farm, to you or anyone else.’

  ‘No, you’re obviously not,’ he accepted lightly. ‘But your sisters may feel differently now that they are both engaged to be married.’

  Jude regretted having made this last challenge even as he made it. He saw the way her cheeks paled once again, that slightly haunted look in those deep green eyes telling him that she was no longer as sure of her sisters’ feelings in the matter as she wanted him to think she was.

  Making him feel like a complete heel.

  Oh, he was determined, forceful, had never let a business challenge get the better of him, but he had never considered himself to be deliberately cruel before.

  What the hell was wrong with him?

  May Calendar, with her big green eyes, her magnolia skin, her air of fragility, that was what was wrong with him.

  And it stopped right now!

  ‘Have a nice day,’ he told her glibly, closing the door softly behind him before strolling over to get back into his hire car.

  Damn, damn, damn!

  CHAPTER THREE

  ‘THIS is very kind of you, David.’ May smiled shyly across at him as they sat in the bar of the hotel restaurant while waiting to go to their table. ‘But I’m afraid it’s just a waste of your time, that it isn’t going to change anything,’ she added with a rueful shake of her head.

  ‘I don’t consider having dinner with a beautiful woman as time wasted,’ David Melton assured her huskily, blue gaze warm in the rugged handsomeness of his face.

  He was so nice; that was what made all of this so diff
icult. That, and the fact that May really would have loved to accept the part in his forthcoming film he had repeatedly offered her. But, for reasons she had no intention of telling him—or, indeed, anyone else—the whole thing was simply impossible.

  But she had kept her promise to telephone David at his sister’s earlier today, had repeated what she had told him in London a couple of weeks ago, and again yesterday evening, only to have him ask her to come out to dinner with him this evening. No pressure, he had assured her as she’d hesitated, just a friendly dinner together, when he wouldn’t even mention the film role if she would rather he didn’t.

  It had been too tempting an offer for her to refuse, David extremely handsome as well as being a charmingly interesting man. And with the added incentive not to mention the film role…

  And now she had been the one to introduce the subject…!

  Primarily because she felt so guilty about the time David had taken to give her the screen test a couple of weeks ago—only to have her turn down his offer after that test had proved successful.

  To be offered a film role, on the basis of one performance in a local pantomime, was the stuff that actresses’ dreams were made of, and May knew that David must wonder at her sanity for having turned down such an offer.

  ‘Does your reluctance concerning playing the role of Stella have anything to do with the man I met last night?’ David prompted lightly, looking at her over the top of his glass as he took a sip of the white wine he had ordered for them both as a pre-dinner drink.

  ‘The man you— Oh.’ May grimaced as she realised exactly whom he was talking about. ‘No,’ she assured him with a firm shake of her head. ‘Jude is a total irrelevance to this situation— What’s so funny?’ she prompted with a puzzled frown as he gave a husky chuckle.

  He gave a rueful shake of his head. ‘I doubt that particular man has ever considered himself an irrelevance in any situation!’ he explained dryly.