His Cinderella Mistress Read online

  ‘Changing the subject, Max?’ Jude guessed shrewdly.

  That was the problem with Jude: he was too astute. And the last thing Max wanted was for the other man to even begin to guess at the emotional tangle Max now found himself in.

  Part of him wanted to just pass the problem of the Calendar farm over to someone else, and in the process get himself as far away from January as he possibly could—something that he now knew he needed to do. But the professional side of him, the part of him that had been loyal to Jude and the Marshall Corporation for the last fifteen years, decreed that he had to continue trying to talk the Calendar sisters into selling their birthright.

  ‘Not particularly,’ he came back easily. ‘I merely wondered if you had been any more successful with April than I was,’ he added dryly.

  ‘Not in the least,’ Jude came back cheerfully. ‘She insists on treating me as if I’m nothing more to her than a naughty little brother.’

  ‘Novel.’ Max grinned at the thought of the arrogantly successful Jude being cast in such an unflattering role.

  The other man chuckled. ‘Actually, I’m quite enjoying it. She really is a fascinating woman,’ he added appreciatively.

  Nowhere near as fascinating, to Max, as January had proved to be! But at least he had veered the other man off the subject of the Calendar sisters, which was, after all, what he had set out to do by introducing the subject of April Robine.

  ‘To get back to the Calendar farm,’ Jude continued determinedly—proof that, as usual, he hadn’t been veered off the subject at all! ‘We really need to get that settled and out of the way in the next few weeks, so that we can get on with drawing up the plans. Offer them more money if nothing else works,’ he added hardly.

  Dogged. Single-minded. They were qualities in Jude that he had always admired in the past. But where this particular problem was concerned Max found those traits extremely irritating.

  ‘I’m well aware of the time-scale involved, Jude,’ he snapped. ‘But I don’t think, in this case, that the offer of more money is going to make the slightest bit of difference.’

  In fact, Max was sure that it wouldn’t. The offer already made was far above the market value of the property, and despite the fact that the Calendar sisters obviously weren’t exactly wealthy, none of them had been in the least tempted to accept the offer. Money, it seemed, just wasn’t important to them.

  ‘I really don’t want to have to come over there myself, Max,’ Jude said softly.

  Max didn’t want the other man to come here himself, either. For one thing, it implied failure on his part if Jude had to deal with this himself. For another, he simply didn’t want Jude coming here, meeting the three sisters, putting that two and two together, and realizing that Max’s real problem was January!

  It seemed that, unless he wanted to admit the truth to Jude, that he had unwittingly become personally involved with January, one of the Calendar sisters, something he would rather not do, he really had no choice but to stay here and continue the negotiations on Jude’s behalf.

  ‘I asked you to leave it with me a few days longer,’ he reminded the other man harshly.

  ‘A few more days is all you have, Max,’ Jude conceded warningly before abruptly ending the call.

  Max slowly replaced his own receiver before turning to stare frustratedly out of the window of his hotel room, the snow once again falling outside not helping the darkness of his mood. What a damned mess!

  There was obviously no way Jude was going to back down from buying the Calendar farm. Which meant that Max couldn’t either.

  But how to persuade the Calendar sisters into changing their minds was the problem. Having now met all of them, an insurmountable one, as far as he could see.

  But nowhere near as insurmountable as the problem January had become to him personally.

  Indulging in an affair with her for the time he was in the area had seemed like a pleasant way to spend his free time. The fact that she had turned out to be one of the reasons he was here at all completely changed that. Besides, having got to know January a little better, having met her sisters, he now knew that January was not the type of woman to have an affair. With anyone.

  But least of all him.

  Whereas he knew he still wanted her with a fierceness that took his breath away, that everything about her fascinated him: the way she moved, the way she talked, everything!

  CHAPTER FIVE

  ‘EXACTLY what do you think you’re playing at?’ January demanded without preamble the moment Max opened the door of his hotel suite to her insistent knock.

  To give him his due, he looked momentarily taken aback by her unexpected appearance, although that surprise was quickly masked as he looked down at her with mocking enquiry. ‘Changed your mind about our dinner date?’ he drawled dryly.

  Her eyes flashed a warning. ‘I’ve changed my mind about nothing concerning you, Mr Golding,’ she snapped. ‘Absolutely nothing!’ she repeated as she pushed past him into the sitting-room of the hotel suite, turning to glare at him when she reached the centre of the room.

  He slowly closed the door before strolling in to join her. ‘You seem a little—agitated?’ he prompted lightly.

  Agitated? She was blazing! In fact, she was in such a heated temper that she really didn’t need the added warmth of her blue anorak, or the gloves and scarf she had earlier pulled on with it.

  ‘Did you have to tell my sisters that the two of us had already met?’ she challenged accusingly. ‘Yes, of course you did,’ she scathingly answered her own question before he even had chance to do so. ‘It was all part of the plan, wasn’t it?’ she said disgustedly. ‘All part of that—’

  ‘Stop right there, January,’ he cut in softly—although one glance at the grimness of his features was enough to tell January that his tone was deceptive, that he was now actually as angry as she was, he just showed it in a different way! ‘You appear to be—upset,’ he allowed evenly. ‘And I’m sorry for that. But, at the same time, I also think you are becoming slightly paranoid about this situation—’

  ‘Paranoid!’ January echoed disbelievingly. ‘Is it “paranoid” when my sisters are absolutely stunned that I somehow forgot to mention that I had already met the lawyer Max Golding? That I was actually supposed to be going out on a date with the man this evening!’ she added disgustedly.

  She didn’t add that he was also the man she had allowed to kiss her so passionately yesterday evening. Or that he was also the man she had been falling in love with!

  May and March had been far from happy when January had finally arrived home—minus the car; it really was stuck fast in the ditch. Because somewhere, during the course of their conversation with Max this afternoon, he had let drop the fact that he and January had already met!

  To say her sisters had demanded an explanation for January’s previous oversight would be putting it mildly. The fact that they had both calmed down once she’d told them exactly what had happened, that they were now just as suspicious of Max’s motives as she was, didn’t alter the fact that Max had deliberately put her in that defensive position in the first place.

  Max gave a shake of his head. ‘January, so far I’m not having such a good day myself, so do you think we could just sit down and talk about this like two reasonable adults?’ he prompted hardly.

  ‘That may be a little difficult—when only one of us is reasonable!’ she came back scathingly.

  She would never forget the way her sisters had looked at her on her return this afternoon, could still see that uncertainty in their expressions as they’d waited for her explanation. Oh, she didn’t doubt for a moment that they had both believed her explanation, that she was completely innocent in the whole matter, it was only when she’d gone up to her room to change out of her damp clothing that she had decided not to waste another minute before telling Max Golding just how underhand and devious she thought him to be.

  He shrugged. ‘I’m not even going to ask which one of us you
consider that to be,’ he returned dryly. ‘Although,’ he continued firmly as she would have snapped a reply, ‘I think the fact that you’ve driven out here, in the middle of yet another snowstorm, rather negates your being eligible for the description!’ he added hardly, blue gaze disapproving.

  January opened her mouth a second time to give him that sharp reply, and then changed her mind as her gaze drifted past him to the window, where the snow could be seen falling heavier than ever.

  To be honest, she hadn’t really noticed the snow falling as she’d driven to the hotel, had been so angry, so consumed with all the things she was going to say to Max, going over and over inside her head the conversation that she intended having with him, that she had driven to the hotel on automatic. So much so she hadn’t been aware of the snow!

  ‘January, could you come down off your high horse long enough for us to talk?’ Max cajoled softly. ‘I’ll order us a pot of coffee, and you can drink a warming cup of it while we talk. How about that?’

  She wanted to say no, to tell him what he could do with his cup of warm coffee, but now that she was no longer as consumed by burning anger she was able to feel the chill that went all the way through to her bones.

  That still wasn’t a good enough reason to have coffee with the enemy, a little voice chastened inside her head.

  No, it wasn’t, she accepted heavily. The truth of the matter was, now that she was here with Max, her anger spent for the most part, she was once again becoming aware of the attraction she felt towards him—still felt towards him, in spite of everything!

  Fool, she admonished herself disgustedly. Idiot, she added for good measure.

  ‘January?’ Max prompted huskily.

  She gave a weary sigh. ‘Order your pot of coffee, Max,’ she conceded. ‘But nothing you have to say is going to change my mind about you. Or the Marshall Corporation,’ she added hardly.

  He gave an abrupt inclination of his head, moving to the telephone to call Room Service and order the coffee.

  January was glad of the few moments’ respite from his probing blue gaze, moving away to take off her scarf and gloves before shaking her hair loose from the collar of her jacket.

  What was she doing here? Really doing here? Because she had already done what she’d come here to do—and now she was staying to have coffee with the man.

  She bit her lip, knowing exactly why she was still here. She couldn’t believe—part of her didn’t want to believe!—Max was actually guilty of the things she had accused him of!

  Not that she had any intention of letting Max see that particular weakness; that wouldn’t do at all. She just wanted to see—needed to see—some sort of redeeming feature in his character that told her she was justified to feel about him the way that she really did.

  ‘It’s on its way.’ Max spoke softly behind her.

  Too close behind her, she discovered when she spun round sharply, stepping back as she found Max standing only inches away from her.

  He looked at her quizzically. ‘You were miles away.’

  ‘Wishing myself…’ she came back tautly.

  He gave a pained wince. ‘Then that makes two of us,’ he murmured huskily. ‘I was wishing the same thing a short time ago,’ he explained at her questioning look.

  January’s breath caught in her throat at the burning intensity of his gaze. ‘And now?’

  ‘Now?’ he echoed with a self-derisive grimace. ‘Now I wish it would just keep snowing. Snowing. And snowing. I wish, January—’ he took a step closer to her ‘—that the rest of the world would just go away, that the two of us could get marooned alone together in here. For a week. A month!’ he concluded heavily.

  She looked up at him uncertainly, her breath now coming in short, shallow gasps. ‘Can you get snowed in in a hotel room?’ she breathed huskily.

  ‘Probably not,’ he conceded ruefully. ‘But—’ He broke off as a knock sounded on the door. ‘That will be the coffee,’ he acknowledged disgustedly.

  ‘So much for being marooned alone together,’ January pointed out softly.

  He gave a derisive inclination of his head. ‘Maybe that wasn’t such a good idea, after all,’ he rasped before moving abruptly away to open the door and admit the maid with their tray of coffee.

  He seemed different this evening, January acknowledged frowningly. Apart from that brief lapse just now, he was more distant. More remote. His gaze no longer burning with that intensity, but wary.

  Of course he was different, she instantly admonished herself; his cover was blown, which meant he no longer needed to act like a man who was besotted with her.

  ‘Cream and sugar?’

  She turned sharply, blinking to clear her head as she saw Max was waiting to pour her coffee, the maid having already quietly departed. ‘Black. Thank you,’ she added stiffly.

  What was she doing here? she asked herself once again. Had she secretly hoped? Had a part of her still thought that perhaps there had been some sort of mistake—

  ‘Thank you.’ She moved to take the cup out of his hand, her gaze not quite meeting his as he looked down at her probingly.

  January, careful not to let their hands touch as she took the cup from him, moved away from him abruptly to once again look out of the window, blinking back the sudden tears that blurred her vision.

  She had been so angry earlier, at the realization of exactly who he was, at what she believed to be his duplicity; now she just felt miserable. Because it was all over? Because for that brief forty-eight hours she had felt wrapped in Max’s interest in her? Had known a feeling of being cared for that she hadn’t felt since her father had died? Was that why she so desperately wanted to cry?

  How stupid she was. She should have known, should have guessed, that having a man like Max interested in her just couldn’t be real. After all, what was she really but a part-time farmer and singer? Hardly the sort of woman Max could ever be serious about. For all she knew about him, he could already be a married man! The very thought of that was enough to stiffen her backbone.

  ‘Max—’

  ‘January—’

  They both began talking at once, January giving Max a rueful grimace as she turned to face him. ‘You first,’ she invited huskily.

  His expression was bleak, eyes icy blue, letting her know that whatever he was going to say, she wasn’t going to like it.

  Whatever he said now, Max knew January wasn’t going to like it. If he mentioned Jude and renewed his offer to buy the farm, January wasn’t going to like it. If he tried to explain—once again!—that he really hadn’t known she was one of the Calendar sisters, he knew she wasn’t going to like that, either. Or, indeed, believe him.

  Besides, what was the point in even trying to convince her that he was telling the truth about that when he had already decided to back away from that particular situation himself? Back away—he was back-pedalling so fast he was surprised she couldn’t hear the pedals going round!

  God, she was beautiful, he inwardly acknowledged achingly.

  Yes, she was.

  But now that he knew who she was, the closeness of her family, he also knew that whatever she might have said about love the night they’d first met, she was actually the sort of woman who wouldn’t settle for anything less than marriage—and, no matter how attracted he was to her, the very thought of being married, to anyone, gave him an icy lump of panic in the pit of his stomach.

  His mouth thinned grimly. ‘I spoke to Jude Marshall earlier,’ he bit out forcefully. ‘He’s willing to increase his offer.’

  January recoiled as if he had actually struck her, and it took every ounce of Max’s will-power not to take her in his arms, to tell her that everything would be okay, that while he was around no one would ever take the farm away from her, or anything else, if she didn’t want them to.

  But who was he kidding? He had known Jude most of his life, might be a trusted friend as well as employee, but he also knew the other man well enough to know that what Jude wante
d, he got, usually by fair means, but if those means ultimately failed…! Jude had left him in absolutely no doubt earlier that he wanted the Calendar farm, and that he intended getting it.

  Max’s own inner feelings of a conflict of interest simply wouldn’t come into the other man’s equation!

  Max thrust his hands into the pockets of his denims, his fists tightly clenched. ‘My advice to you all is to seriously consider this second offer,’ he told January harshly.

  Her eyes widened indignantly as she snapped, ‘I wasn’t aware I had asked for your advice!’

  He shrugged with seeming unconcern, hating himself for talking to her in this way, but at the same time knowing that he couldn’t back down now from the stance he had taken. Couldn’t? More like daredn’t, he acknowledged self-disgustedly. Conflict of interest, be damned; he had made his choice in Jude’s favour the moment he’d realized just how deeply involved he already was with January. Having her hate him for that choice was the price he had to pay.

  ‘I’m offering it anyway,’ he drawled dismissively. ‘Jude isn’t a man to take no for an answer.’

  Her eyes flashed deeply grey. ‘Then the two of you must have a lot in common.’

  She meant to be insulting, and she succeeded. Although there was no denying, Max accepted hardly, that she unwittingly told the truth. The two men were similar in lots of ways, both successful at what they did, both still bachelors at thirty-seven, and both intending to stay that way.

  If not for the same reasons.

  Jude made no secret of the fact that although women fascinated him, they as quickly bored him in a one-to-one relationship, claimed that if he ever met the woman who didn’t bore him after a few days’ acquaintance he would marry her. Whereas Max had no intention of marrying ever, for any reason, least of all love.

  He had looked at January on New Year’s Eve, and known he wanted her. But it was nothing more than that, he told himself determinedly. He wouldn’t allow it to be.