The Deserving Mistress Read online

  He returned her gaze challengingly for several long seconds, seemed on the brink of saying something, and then changed his mind as the tension relaxed from his shoulders. ‘I do have a couple of things to attend to when I get back to the hotel,’ he accepted softly, putting down his empty champagne glass.

  She would just bet he did, May acknowledged tautly, talking to April Robine—and probably not just talking, either—being amongst them. ‘Then we really mustn’t delay you any longer, must we?’ she returned with saccharine sweetness.

  It was as if there were only the two of them in the room as their gazes met—and clashed—neither of them seeming aware of the other four people present as those gazes continued to war silently.

  ‘Why don’t the rest of us go over and see Ginny and the twins while May and Jude say goodnight?’ January was the one to suggest brightly, putting down her own empty glass and looking at March and the other two men expectantly.

  “‘Ginny and the twins”…?’ Max echoed doubtfully even as he prepared to follow her by putting down his own glass.

  May smiled at him encouragingly, having taken a great liking to this often overly serious man, knowing that January’s warm impetuosity was exactly what he needed to brighten his previously rigid lifestyle.

  ‘It’s a female thing,’ Jude assured his friend wryly. ‘I’ll see the two of you some time tomorrow,’ he told the two men as they followed their fiancées out of the kitchen.

  Leaving May alone with him. Which was the last thing she wanted. But at the same time, she recognised that it was probably necessary; she hadn’t finished saying to him earlier all that needed saying, before her sisters and their fiancés had arrived.

  ‘I know. I know.’ Jude held up defensive hands as she would have spoken. ‘Don’t mention David Melton, April Robine, or the film role, to either of your sisters. Did I get that right?’ he added tauntingly.

  May gave the ghost of a smile. ‘You know that you did.’ She grimaced. ‘It’s just that—I don’t want—’ She broke off awkwardly, shaking her head distractedly.

  She couldn’t even begin to explain, not to this man, or anyone else. All she knew was that the situation, with the arrival home of her two sisters, had suddenly become so much more complicated. So much so that she just wanted to hide herself away until the danger had passed. And that was something she just couldn’t do!

  Jude stepped forward, standing very close to her now, looking down at her concernedly as he reached up to caress her cheek. ‘Have you never heard that it sometimes helps if you share a problem?’ he prompted huskily.

  May gave a choked sound, somewhere between a laugh and a sob, she realised heavily. ‘Not this problem,’ she assured him softly, and certainly not with Jude, of all people. ‘They’re all so happy, aren’t they?’ She looked wistfully across towards the barn to where her sisters and their fiancés were no doubt admiring their favourite ewe and her new offspring.

  Jude’s thumbtips moved beneath her jaw, raising her face so that she was looking directly at him, that grey gaze sharply probing. ‘But not you,’ he said after a few seconds. ‘May, I didn’t mean it just now about your being a pain in the—’

  ‘Backside?’ she finished ruefully.

  ‘I was going to say proverbial,’ he corrected dryly, those thumbtips lightly caressing against her jaw now.

  ‘Yes, you did mean it.’ May laughed huskily, wishing he would stop touching her in this way, but feeling powerless to stop him. ‘And I know that I have been.’ She nodded heavily. ‘I just—maybe it would just be better for everyone if we were to sell the farm, after all.’ She sighed agitatedly, no longer sure what was the right thing to do. For any of them.

  Jude’s gaze narrowed. ‘You don’t really think that,’ he said slowly, shaking his head.

  ‘Hey, you’re the one that wants to buy it, remember?’ she reminded him incredulously. The last thing she had expected was an argument from Jude against her selling the farm.

  ‘So I am.’ His mouth twisted ruefully. ‘I don’t know what I was thinking of,’ he added self-disgustedly.

  May gave him a searching look. He had seemed different this evening, in the company of his two closest friends, not quite so much the cold-blooded businessman that he usually liked to appear.

  She smiled. ‘You know, Jude, maybe you aren’t such a—’

  ‘Careful, May,’ he warned dryly.

  ‘I was going to say hard-headed businessman as I thought you were,’ she defended reprovingly.

  ‘Don’t you believe it,’ he warned hardly. ‘Tonight was social.’

  She raised dark brows. ‘Meaning tomorrow evening will be business?’ she taunted.

  Jude gave a self-derisive shrug. ‘I wouldn’t go that far.’

  Neither would she. They didn’t seem to be able to be in the same room for very long without Jude either kissing or touching her—very disturbing when May had been so determined to keep him at arm’s length.

  He wasn’t at arm’s length now, either, standing far too close to her for comfort, those caressing thumbs against her jaw as he lightly cupped her face in gentle hands.

  She was falling in love with this man, May realised in sudden shock as she stared up at him.

  How on earth had that happened?

  With everything else that was going on in her life—David, April Robine’s presence in the area, the increasing pressure to sell the farm—how on earth had she managed to fall in love with Jude Marshall, of all people?

  His gaze sharpened. ‘What is it?’ he prompted concernedly. ‘You suddenly went pale again,’ he explained, frowning darkly.

  Pale—she was surprised she hadn’t collapsed altogether at the discovery she had just made about herself.

  Her lips clamped together as she moved sharply away from him, a shutter coming down over her normally candid gaze. ‘I’m tired,’ she bit out abruptly, deliberately not looking at him, instead watching as his hands fell ineffectually down by his sides. ‘It—I really think you should go now,’ she added tautly.

  Before she completely lost it. If she hadn’t already…Falling in love with Jude Marshall, an obvious friend of her estranged mother’s, wasn’t exactly a sane thing to do, now was it?

  And she was becoming slightly hysterical, May realised shakily. Any minute now she was going to start babbling incoherently, or cry, which was probably worse.

  ‘After all—’ her mouth twisted scathingly ‘—I’m sure April must be expecting you back at the hotel some time tonight.’

  Jude’s gaze narrowed shrewdly as he seemed to guess her remark had been deliberately antagonising.

  But what else could she do? The whole fabric of her life seemed poised in the balance now that she knew she was in love with this man.

  Oh, like most women she had her dreams of eventual love and marriage, but in those infrequent day-dreams she had always fallen in love with someone who loved her in return, a kind, caring lover who wanted to love and cherish her for the rest of her life, as she would love and cherish him.

  Jude Marshall looked as cherishable as the rogue bull her father had purchased a couple of years ago, before he had had to resell it a few weeks later because of its unmanageability; no one had been able to get near it without the risk of being gored.

  Jude was just as untouchable.

  He was also the close friend of a woman she would always loathe and despise…

  Jude watched May frowningly, the emotions flitting too quickly across her normally candid face to be analysed.

  She had also—he knew this without a doubt—just been deliberately rude to him concerning his friendship with April.

  April…

  If May wouldn’t give him the answers he wanted, then perhaps April would. It was worth a try, he decided.

  ‘I’m sure she is,’ he lightly answered May’s deliberate taunt, determined not to get into yet another argument with her—especially as that seemed to be what she wanted. ‘I’ll book a table for us somewhere and pick you
up about seven-thirty tomorrow evening, okay? May,’ he added firmly as she would have spoken, ‘when I ask a woman out that’s usually exactly what I mean—and that includes calling to collect you in my car,’ he added decisively.

  She frowned across at him. ‘I don’t recall there being any asking involved.’

  Yes, she was spoiling for yet another fight—and she wasn’t going to get one. Not with him, at least.

  His mouth thinned determinedly. ‘I’ll call for you at seven-thirty,’ he repeated evenly.

  May’s derision was obvious as she gave him a scornful smile. ‘Effectively ensuring there’s no possibility of anyone seeing us out together at your hotel?’ she taunted.

  Jude drew in a deeply controlling breath before answering her. ‘I have no one to hide from, May,’ he rasped harshly.

  ‘No?’ She raised challenging brows.

  He was going to throw caution to the wind in a minute, go back on his earlier decision, and kiss the life out of her—something guaranteed to result in another fight.

  ‘Your father should have smacked your bottom more when you were a child,’ he bit out tautly, his hands clenched at his sides as he fought the urge to take her in his arms.

  She gave a wistful shake of her head. ‘My father didn’t believe in physical punishment for any of his children.’

  ‘Making their husband’s role all the more difficult!’ he dismissed hardly.

  May’s smile deepened. ‘Max and Will don’t seem to have any complaints.’

  ‘Yet,’ he scorned.

  Her smile faded as suddenly as it had appeared. ‘Ever,’ she snapped with certainty. ‘January and March are both lovely young women—’

  ‘Aren’t you just the teeniest bit prejudiced?’ Jude derided, knowing he had her rattled now with what she saw as criticism of her sisters.

  ‘And isn’t your nose just the teeniest bit out of joint because your two closest friends are about to get married and break up the bachelor threesome?’ she returned challengingly.

  Jude drew in a sharp breath. Not out of anger. Not out of indignation. But because a part of him knew that she was right…

  He had been friends with Max and Will for years, the three men often spending huge chunks of time together, playing hard as well as working hard. It was a little unsettling to realise, with Max and Will’s recent engagements, the pending marriages, that time was now over.

  And he didn’t thank May for bringing his attention to the fact.

  ‘Doesn’t that idiom, considering your obvious closeness to your two sisters, apply equally well to you?’ he taunted, instantly wishing his words unsaid as May paled, telling him that his taunt had hit its mark. ‘This is getting us nowhere, May,’ he dismissed, moving away impatiently. ‘Whatever it is you’re trying to do with this conversation, I refuse to play. Okay?’ he added hardly, aware of how he had nearly completely lost his temper.

  Something that never happened. As May had so acutely guessed from the beginning, he gave little of himself away, either verbally or emotionally, something that anger was guaranteed to do.

  Except that May Calendar seemed able to get under that barrier he had deliberately erected about his emotions, seemingly without any effort whatsoever…

  ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about,’ she dismissed, moving across to the kitchen window. ‘They’re all coming back now, so—’

  ‘It’s time for me to leave,’ he finished impatiently. ‘May, considering the favour I’m doing you—not mentioning Melton or April,’ he explained at her questioning look, ‘you could be a little politer to me than you’ve been the last few minutes.’

  Her mouth twisted humourlessly. ‘I’m afraid you don’t bring out that quality in me,’ she drawled. ‘Any more than I bring it out in you,’ she added pointedly. ‘Now, if you wouldn’t mind, I have some beds to make up for my unexpected guests…’

  Jude’s gaze narrowed. ‘You—’

  ‘Still here, Jude?’ March Calendar mocked as she was the first of the quartet to enter the kitchen. ‘We thought you would have left long ago.’

  ‘Then you thought wrong, didn’t you?’ Jude bit out irritably; another Calendar sister who needed her backside smacked. ‘Max, would you mind walking out to my car with me?’ he prompted lightly.

  ‘No problem,’ his friend dismissed, turning to give January a lingering kiss on the lips before following Jude from the farmhouse.

  This was certainly going to take some getting used to, Jude realised ruefully as the two men walked over to his hire car; Max had always been more of the loner of the three men, enjoying relationships but never allowing any female to get too close to him. Obviously that had all changed with his obvious love for January Calendar. No doubt Will was as entranced by March.

  ‘They’re quite something, aren’t they?’ Max drawled ruefully as he seemed to guess at least some of Jude’s thoughts.

  But not all of them, thank goodness—because Jude had just come to the startling conclusion that, if he weren’t very careful, he could end up as bewitched by May Calendar as his two friends were by her sisters.

  How the hell had that happened?

  When had it happened?

  More to the point, why had it happened? The last thing he needed, the last thing he wanted, was to fall in love with any woman, let alone one as prickly as May was turning out to be.

  ‘Jude?’ Max prompted concernedly.

  He gave his friend a startled look, realising Max was still waiting for an answer to his casual statement. Casual to Max, that was. That was the last thing it was to Jude.

  ‘Quite something,’ he acknowledged hardly. ‘Although I didn’t really bring you out here to talk about the Calendar sisters,’ he added harshly.

  ‘You didn’t?’ Max leant back against the hire car. ‘You and May seemed to be getting along just fine when we all arrived,’ he added speculatively.

  ‘Don’t start,’ Jude warned, eyes glinting silver. Max and Will were probably the only two people who really knew him well, and the last thing he wanted was for either of them to get the idea he was interested in May in anything but a business way. ‘I want to buy this farm from her,’ he rasped. ‘I would hardly be rude to her.’

  Max shrugged. ‘That’s never stopped you being rude to people in the past.’

  ‘You—’ Jude couldn’t help himself—he laughed. ‘You’re right.’ He nodded, still grinning ruefully. ‘But May’s been having a hard time of it managing here on her own.’ He shrugged. ‘I—I felt sorry for her.’

  Max’s eyes widened at the admission.

  As well they might, Jude accepted irritably. Feeling sorry for people he was trying to beat in business had never been part of his make-up, either. But it was better that Max think that than to have the other man guess how confused Jude’s emotions had really become where May was concerned. So confused he didn’t know what they were himself any more.

  ‘Not that she would thank me for the sentiment,’ he continued derisively. ‘The woman had more spikes than a hedgehog!’

  Max laughed appreciatively. ‘So if you didn’t want to talk about the Calendar sisters, what did you bring me out here for?’

  Jude straightened. ‘You remember April, of course?’ he prompted guardedly, knowing that the other man did; they had both become friends of April’s while in America.

  ‘Of course.’ Max nodded. ‘How did it go with her after I left the States—?’

  ‘She’s here,’ Jude cut in decisively. ‘At the hotel. Oh, not staying with me,’ he added impatiently as Max’s expression turned to one of speculation. ‘She had some business of her own to do over here, so we travelled over together, that’s all— What the hell are you looking at me like that for?’ he demanded as Max raised questioning brows.

  ‘Like what?’ Max returned innocently.

  ‘Oh, never mind.’ Jude felt too irritable, too disquieted altogether, to be able to deal with this right now. ‘The thing is that May has taken some sort of instant dis
like to her— You’re doing it again!’ he snapped as Max once again looked speculative.

  Max shrugged. ‘April is a very beautiful woman—’

  ‘The way April looks has nothing to do with May’s dislike of her; as far as I can tell she disliked her before the two of them even met.’ He sighed his impatience.

  ‘Interesting,’ Max murmured slowly.

  ‘Interesting or not, all I want from you is a promise not to mention April’s name in the Calendar home. Don’t ask.’ He sighed again as Max looked more puzzled than ever. ‘I have yet to get to the bottom of that particular story, but when I do I’ll let you know, okay?’

  ‘Okay.’ Max shrugged, straightening. ‘Say hello to April for me,’ he added as Jude got into the car.

  ‘Will do.’ He nodded before driving away, hoping that Max wouldn’t see his hurried departure for what it really was.

  Escaping from May and the confusion of emotions that suddenly went with her…

  CHAPTER NINE

  “I WANT to know exactly what you told Jude last night,’ May stated flatly.

  ‘And a good morning to you, too, May,’ April Robine returned dryly, perfectly composed as she moved to sit in the chair opposite May’s in the hotel lounge, looking as beautiful as ever in a tailored black dress that showed off the perfection of her figure and long, slender legs.

  May continued to scowl; she hadn’t come here to exchange pleasantries with this woman.

  In fact, she wished she didn’t have to be here at all, but in the circumstances of her having dinner with Jude this evening she really needed to know what he knew.

  ‘It’s raining outside,’ she dismissed uninterestedly. ‘And I repeat, what did you tell Jude last night?’

  ‘You know, May,’ April said consideringly, her head tilted to one side, ‘your manners were better at five years old than they are now!’

  May felt the warmth of colour enter her cheeks, the barb hitting home in spite of herself. She had been brought up with impeccable manners—they all had; they just seemed to have gone out of the window since the advent of Jude Marshall and April Robine into her life.