Mistletoe Magic
‘No,’ she repeated firmly, glaring up at him. ‘I’m well aware of what you think of me, Gideon—’
‘Are you?’ he taunted, his arms dropping back to his sides as he slowly stepped away from her. ‘Somehow I doubt that very much,’ he added harshly.
Molly easily met that contemptuous gaze. ‘I would have to be a complete idiot not to know,’ she snapped. ‘And, no matter what you may think to the contrary, I am not an idiot! For some reason you have decided I’m some sort of femme fatale—’
‘For some reason?’ he repeated scathingly, shaking his head disgustedly. ‘I didn’t imagine you that morning at James’s apartment. Or the fact that you were completely naked underneath the shirt you were wearing—James’s shirt,’ he added pointedly. ‘Two pretty good reasons for deciding something, wouldn’t you say?’ He eyed her contemptuously.
Molly gasped, could feel the flush in her cheeks. ‘If taken at face value, yes. But—’
‘What other way is there to take them?’ Gideon cut in scornfully. ‘You aren’t trying to tell me that it was just coincidental that Crys was away at the time on a promotional tour for the publication of her newest cookery book?’
Molly looked at him wordlessly for several long seconds. He really did think…
She dropped down abruptly onto the bed, staring up at him disbelievingly. She knew he had a bad opinion of her, but…
She shook her head dazedly. ‘Didn’t you ever talk to James about that morning? Didn’t you ask him?’
‘No, I never spoke to James about it,’ Gideon cut in harshly. ‘And I didn’t ask him anything, either. What I did do was tell him what an idiot he was for risking his marriage to Crys over a brief affair with someone like you,’ he concluded grimly.
Molly felt numb—couldn’t think, couldn’t speak, could only stare at Gideon Webber in stunned disbelief. It had never occurred to her…
‘So there you have it,’ Gideon continued when she made no reply. ‘Was this what you wanted when you suggested the two of us talk—all of this out in the open, with no more need for even cursory politeness between the two of us?’
‘I wasn’t aware that there had been much of that anyway,’ Molly felt stung into replying, still stunned at what this man was accusing her of. He believed she’d had an affair with his brother James!
His mouth twisted humourlessly. ‘There is in front of Crys and Sam,’ he snapped. ‘Crys obviously knows nothing about you and James—’
‘There was no me and James!’ she cried protestingly, at the same time knowing that on the evidence this man had, her protest sounded hollow, to say the least. Even if it was the truth.
His top lip curled contemptuously. ‘Obviously nothing James felt important enough to need to make any deathbed confession to Crys.’ Gideon gave a disgusted shake of his head. ‘That’s something to be grateful for, at least!’
‘But…’
‘But I know. And you know,’ Gideon continued hardly. ‘Let’s just leave it at that, hmm?’
Molly’s eyes widened disbelievingly. ‘You surely don’t think that I would ever—’
‘Who knows what you’re capable of?’ he cut in disgustedly. ‘From what I can gather, Crys is your best friend—and yet you felt no compunction about taking advantage of her absence from the marital home to jump into bed with her husband.’
This was incredible. Unbelievable. Oh, it certainly went a long way towards explaining Gideon’s behaviour towards her—it was just totally inaccurate as to what had really happened just over three years ago.
‘There’s only one positive thing that I can see about this situation,’ Gideon continued hardly.
‘There’s a positive to all this?’ Molly echoed dazedly.
‘Oh, yes.’ Gideon nodded with grim satisfaction.
She blinked. ‘And that would be…?’
Those dark blue eyes gleamed with that same satisfaction. ‘Crys is now married to your stepbrother. A situation that would certainly alter if you were ever to feel the need to clear your own conscience. Crys would find it very difficult to stay married to the brother of the woman who had an affair with her first husband.’
‘Now just a minute—’
‘I’ve wasted all the time that I’m going to tonight,’ Gideon rasped with a dismissive shake of his head.
On her, that was, Molly acknowledged numbly. This was worse, so much worse than she could ever have imagined. Oh, she had known there had to be a reason behind Gideon’s complete contempt for her, had guessed that it probably had something to do with finding her in James’s apartment that morning just over three years ago, but she had never imagined…
‘Be warned, Molly,’ Gideon added harshly. ‘I won’t ever let you do or say anything that will hurt Crys. Is that understood?’ he prompted determinedly.
She swallowed hard. ‘Perfectly.’ She nodded, wondering if he weren’t being just a little hypocritical. His protectiveness of Crys—erroneous as it might be in her own case—seemed to indicate more than just ex-brother-in-law affection on his own part.
Not that she was particularly interested in that; it was his belief of her own behaviour that was so disturbing.
Crys had been, and still was, Molly’s best friend. And Molly had known James for some time before introducing Crys to him; James had been one of her best friends, too. But that was all he had ever been: her friend.
Not that she thought this man was about to believe that for a moment. He had formed an opinion of her on one brief meeting. A bad opinion. And the only way to even try to explain herself was to give him an explanation of a time in her life she would rather forget. An explanation he was unlikely to believe in any case.
‘Good,’ Gideon bit out with satisfaction. ‘In that case, I have nothing further to say to you. Except—’
‘Please,’ Molly protested weakly, putting up a shaking hand to the temple that had started to throb painfully. ‘I’ve already heard enough of your insults for one evening.’ She sighed heavily.
Gideon paused on his way to the bedroom door. ‘Oh, I wasn’t about to insult you again, Molly,’ he assured her lightly.
‘No?’ she said disbelievingly.
‘No,’ he said derisively. ‘I was about to tell you that I’d lied about dealing with the spider. It’s on the ceiling directly above your head. Have a good night!’ he added tauntingly, before letting himself out of the bedroom.
Molly didn’t see him leave. One glance at the ceiling above her head revealed that there was indeed a spider. A huge one!
She shot off the bed so fast she almost fell over, staring in horrified fascination at the long-legged, fat-bodied insect.
Swine!
Rotter!
Sadist!
And she wasn’t referring to the spider!
CHAPTER FOUR
THE phrase ‘you look like hell’ came to mind as Molly looked at herself in the dressing-table mirror the following morning. Her hair stood out in a wild tumble of curls and her face pale, with dark shadows beneath her eyes.
It wasn’t just any morning, either; it was Christmas Eve.
But she had never felt less like Christmas than she did at this moment. She had spent a sleepless night, alternately looking at the spider or thinking of the things Gideon had said to her the previous evening.
He really believed she’d had an affair with his brother James behind Crys’s back.
For one thing, she hadn’t felt that way about James—had only ever looked on him as a friend. For another, Crys was her best friend; there was no way Molly could ever have betrayed that friendship, even if she had been in love with James, by sneaking behind Crys’s back and having an affair with him.
But if Gideon ever chose to tell Crys of that morning when he had arrived at the apartment Crys had shared with James, and found Molly in residence, her only clothing one of James’s shirts, would her friend be able to believe in her complete innocence?
Molly would assure her that James had only ever been her friend. But in light of that night Molly had once spent at the married couple’s apartment, while Crys had been away, the night Gideon was aware of, too, would Crys still believe in her innocence?
Gideon had contemptuously assured her he had no intention of ever telling Crys about that night, that he had no desire to hurt her or to ever see her hurt, but would he continue to feel that way if it no longer suited his own plans?
Unhappily, the conclusion Molly had come to during the long sleepless night had been that she simply didn’t know the answer to that question. Despite her aversion to going anywhere near the man ever again, she would have to speak to Gideon on the subject.
But not until she had done something about the way she looked.
And she did try. She washed her hair and styled it until it was silkily gleaming on her shoulders, applied make-up to hide her paleness and those dark shadows beneath her eyes, even chose her clothes carefully: a burnt-orange-coloured blouse teamed with fitted black denims. It was just that none of those things could hide the fact that she looked and felt thoroughly exhausted from all the thinking she had done during the night.
Oh, damn the man—and his suspicious mind. If it weren’t for both those things she would be enjoying a warm family Christmas with Crys, Sam and the baby, just as she had envisaged when she’d accepted their invitation to stay.
‘Last again?’ Gideon taunted the moment she entered the kitchen, shortly after nine o’clock.
He would have to be the first person she saw this morning—and he wasn’t alone, either. Crys was sitting at the kitchen table with him.
The latter turned to smile warmly at Molly as she walked over to pour herself some coffee from the pot. ‘Sam and David have taken Peter and Merlin for a walk to give me a few minutes’ break; Peter was cranky all night—didn’t seem to want to settle.’ She grimaced affectionately.
‘I know the feeling.’ Molly nodded, sipping her hot coffee, her brooding gaze daring Gideon to come back with another one of his barbed comments after the total inaccuracy of his initial statement; they both knew that David had been the last down the previous morning.
Crys at once looked concerned. ‘Sam said there was a spider in your bedroom last night,’ she sympathised.
Molly looked coldly at Gideon now. ‘There was,’ she confirmed flatly. And that sadistic swine had left her alone in her bedroom with it all night.
He returned her gaze steadily, the blandness of his expression giving away none of his emotions or thoughts.
In Molly’s opinion he didn’t have any of the former, and far too much of the latter.
‘Lucky that Gideon was able to deal with it for you.’ Crys nodded happily.
The only thing Gideon had dealt with was his own need to tell Molly exactly what he thought of her—before leaving her alone with that monster spider!
‘Wasn’t it?’ she returned noncommittally, no longer even looking at Gideon, just too tired to cope with any more of his scorn, even in a look. ‘Could I borrow your car to go into town this morning?’ She turned to Crys. ‘I still have a little last-minute shopping to do.’
It had also occurred to her some time during the sleepless night that, as she hadn’t known they were going to be here over the holiday period, she didn’t have presents to give to either David or Gideon tomorrow morning.
Not that she particularly wanted to get Gideon a Christmas present, unless it was a bottle of arsenic, but it would certainly look odd if she bought something for everyone else and deliberately excluded him.
There was no help for it; she would have to buy him a present, too. Something completely impersonal, she had finally decided—like a one-way ticket to the North Pole. He would certainly feel at home there, amongst all that ice and snow.
‘I’m driving into town myself this morning.’ Gideon was the one to answer her. ‘So you may as well come in with me.’
Molly’s eyes widened in horror at the thought of spending any more time alone with this man while she felt so tired and vulnerable. And she made no effort to hide the emotion when he looked at her mockingly.
‘What a wonderful idea!’ Thankfully Crys had turned to look at Gideon and didn’t see Molly’s response to the suggestion. ‘Perhaps you wouldn’t mind picking up a newspaper and my order from the butcher’s while you’re there?’
‘Glad to,’ Gideon assured her smoothly.
‘Great.’ Crys grinned as she stood up. ‘I’ll just go and get the list.’ She hurried from the room.
Oh, yes, just great, Molly echoed heavily in her thoughts, knowing it had been taken for granted that she would accept Gideon’s offer to drive her into town.
And why not? Ordinarily it would be the normal thing to do. It was just that there was nothing in the least ‘ordinary’ about the emotions that passed like electric volts between Gideon and herself.
‘You look tired this morning.’
It was a statement, not a question, and a totally unwelcome one as far as Molly was concerned. Once again she looked up to glare at Gideon. ‘And whose fault is that, do you think?’ she challenged tartly.
He grimaced. ‘From the accusation in your tone, I gather that it’s mine…?’
Her eyes flashed deeply brown. ‘You gather correctly. You—’
‘Here we are.’ Crys bustled back into the room with the appropriate list. ‘It’s the shop in the square—not the one down the street,’ she added lightly, not seeming in the least aware of the tension in the kitchen between Molly and Gideon.
And why should she be? Molly reasoned ruefully. As Gideon had already pointed out, as far as any of the family were concerned the two of them had only met for the first time at the christening.
‘I’m sure that between the two of us we’ll manage to find it,’ Gideon assured her as he stood up. ‘Hmm, Molly?’ he prompted pointedly.
Molly felt a small shock run through her body as he called her by her first name, sure that it was the first time he had done so in the last two days. Not that it had sounded in the least warm or familiar—just slightly alien coming from this particular man.
‘I’m sure we will,’ she confirmed flatly. ‘I’ll just go and get my coat and meet you at the car.’ She turned to leave without waiting for any response to this remark, just needing to get away for a few minutes on her own.
To regroup.
Also to make sure she removed all sharp instruments from her handbag—just in case she was goaded into sticking any of them into Gideon as he drove. After all, it was him she felt like doing harm to, not herself.
The green Jaguar saloon was comfortable, she would give him that, Molly allowed grudgingly a few minutes later when she sat beside Gideon as he drove the car down the long driveway out onto the public road. Warm and comfortable. But that was only the car. The owner was anything but those things.
Perhaps it was too warm and comfortable, she decided a few minutes later as her eyes began to close and her head to nod tiredly.
‘You really are tired, aren’t you?’ Gideon said slowly as Molly made a concerted effort to stay awake.
‘Why would I say I was if I wasn’t?’ she snapped back testily.
There was complete silence in the car for several long seconds, and then Gideon gave a sigh. ‘Perhaps I was a little hard on you last night,’ he said grudgingly.
Molly turned to give him a sharply suspicious look. Surely he couldn’t be apologising for the things he had accused her of yesterday evening?
He glanced at her, dark blond brows rising as she warily returned his brief gaze before it returned to the road ahead. ‘I was referring to my omission to dispose of the spider,’ he drawled derisively.
No, she had been right the first time; he wasn’t apologising for the accusations he had made.
‘Did you spend all night keeping a wary eye on it?’ he added with some amusement—completely nullifying the previous apology.
‘Don’t give it another thought,’ Molly dismissed hardly, determined not to give him the satisfaction of knowing she had done just that.
‘I wouldn’t have done—’ he shrugged ‘—if it weren’t for the fact that you look so exhausted this morning.’
‘By “exhausted” I presume you mean awful?’ she bit out resentfully; so much for the washed hair and make-up.
He gave another shrug of those broad shoulders. ‘Well…’
Molly felt the angry colour warm her cheeks as she glared at him. ‘Do you ever say anything nice?’ she snapped caustically.
‘Frequently.’ He nodded, completely unabashed. ‘For instance, in contrast to what you were wearing on Sunday, the blouse you’re wearing this morning suits your colouring perfectly.’
The compliment was so unexpected that it left Molly speechless. And slightly tearful, she realised with dismay.
Overtired.
Overwrought.
Just over-everything…
Gideon gave her another glance, frowning slightly. ‘Wasn’t that a nice thing to say?’
Molly gave a deep sigh, aware even as she did so of just how tensely she had been sitting as she relaxed back against the seat. The problem was, even ‘nice’ sounded suspect coming from this man.
‘Thank you,’ she accepted huskily.
‘You’re welcome.’ He nodded. ‘I’ll go and hunt down the spider when we get back, if you like,’ he added huskily.
She shook her head wearily. ‘There’s no need for that.’
His eyes widened. ‘You managed to deal with it yourself?’
‘No,’ she acknowledged ruefully. ‘I meant that to my certain knowledge it hasn’t moved an inch from its balancing act above the bed—so there will be no need to hunt it down.’
A frown appeared between those dark blue eyes. ‘I’m not usually a deliberately vindictive man,’ he rasped.
Molly grimaced. ‘You’re just happy to make me the exception, hmm?’
The frown deepened. ‘Not happy, exactly…’
‘Oh, just go for it, Gideon.’ Molly gave a tiredly rueful laugh.
The frown remained. ‘You really spent all night watching that spider?’
‘I really did.’ She nodded self-derisively. ‘After all, I could hardly go along and ask Sam for help after you had assured him so emphatically that you had already dealt with it.’
Gideon’s mouth thinned. ‘I feel really bad now,’ he rasped self-disgustedly.
Molly eyed him questioningly. ‘How bad?’
‘Bad,’ he accepted slowly.
‘Bad enough to listen to my side of what happened three years ago?’ Molly came back, more decisively than she would have believed herself capable of this particular morning.
He stiffened. ‘No,’ he rasped harshly. ‘I feel guilty for leaving that spider in your room when you obviously are an arachnophobic. That doesn’t mean I’m about to let you try to convince me that I didn’t see that morning what I definitely did see.’
Hard. Unyielding. Judgemental, Molly decided frustratedly. How could she reason with a man like that?
She couldn’t, came the unpleasant answer. Although that wasn’t going to stop her from trying.
‘However,’ Gideon continued hardly before she could formulate a reply, ‘what I am willing to do is call a truce on the subject over the Christmas period.’
‘Big of you!’ she snapped impatiently.
His mouth tightened ominously. ‘It’s the best offer you’re going to get,’ he bit out harshly. ‘In fact,’ he continued grimly, ‘as far as I’m concerned it’s the only offer you’re going to get.’
In other words, take it or leave it! And in the circumstances—not wanting to spoil Christmas for the others, if any of them should pick up on the barbed warfare between herself and Gideon—Molly knew she would have to take it.’
Her mouth twisted humourlessly. ‘I take it this “truce” will cease being in effect the moment midnight strikes on Boxing Night?’
His own smile was just as humourless. ‘Actually, I’m staying until the morning of the twenty-eighth—think you can manage to be polite for that long?’ He quirked dark blond brows at her.
‘I’m not the one being impolite!’ she returned waspishly.
Gideon gave a shrug of broad shoulders. ‘I’m willing to give the alternative a try.’
Molly bit back the angry retort she would have liked to make, on the basis that it wasn’t a very good way to begin a truce—but that didn’t mean she didn’t still have murderous tendencies towards this arrogant man.
‘Fine,’ she bit out between gritted teeth.
He turned to give her a mocking glance. ‘So, what are you going to buy me for Christmas?’ he taunted.
Molly’s eyes widened at his astuteness in guessing what her ‘last-minute shopping’ actually was, and then she gave a rueful shake of her head. ‘I did have a bottle of arsenic in mind—but then I decided that might be a little too obvious!’
To her surprise. Gideon gave an appreciative chuckle. And once again it transformed his whole face, giving him a boyish look, turning his blue gaze warm rather than arctic.
Which, considering Molly’s total awareness of him probably wasn’t a good idea…
‘Maybe a little,’ he finally conceded, still smiling.
‘What would you like me to get you?’ she prompted interestedly, having no idea what this man’s interests or preferences were.
In any subject!
He was here alone, so he obviously wasn’t involved in a relationship at the moment; he would be spending Christmas with whoever it was if that were the case. But that posed the question: what sort of woman was he attracted to? Obviously not petite redheads who happened to be frightened of spiders.
Now why on earth had she had that thought? Molly wondered crossly. It was bad enough that she should have allowed herself to be attracted to him, without wishing he might find some redeeming attraction in her.
Besides, she already had an idea that Gideon’s attraction lay towards fragile silver-blonds with haunting grey eyes. Crys…
‘Well, I don’t like chocolate, and I have enough aftershave already,’ Gideon answered her slowly. ‘Would a book be impersonal enough, do you think?’ he prompted softly.
Molly felt her cheeks flush; did this man know everything? ‘I’m sure that it would,’ she bit out tersely. ‘What sort of book did you have in mind?’ Something erudite and learned, no doubt, Molly reasoned wryly.
Gideon shrugged. ‘There is a book I’ve been meaning to buy for some time. I was waiting for it to come out in paperback, and then I just forgot to buy it…’
‘Yes?’ Molly prompted dryly, wondering if her bank account had enough in it to cover the cost of a book this man hadn’t yet got around to buying for himself.
The move from America back to England had worked out quite expensive, what with shipping her few personal belongings back here and finding herself a flat to live in. But, on the bright side, at least she was one of the ten per cent of actors who were in work at any one time.
Gideon eyed her frowningly. ‘Perhaps you already had something in mind? Besides the arsenic, that is,’ he taunted.
She gave a shake of her head. ‘Not a thing.’ She doubted the one-way ticket to the North Pole would have been any better received. ‘In fact, I would more than welcome any useful advice you could give me in that direction,’ she assured him briskly, knowing she had no idea what to get for David, either.
She was also wondering what Gideon had got her for Christmas…
Obviously he had already known he would be staying for Christmas, and who the other guests were to be, so he would have purchased something for each of them before coming up to Yorkshire. Knowing how he felt about her, she dreaded to think what he would have as a gift for her.
Gideon nodded. ‘Okay, then. One of my favourite comedians is Billy Connolly, and—’
‘I don’t believe it!’ Molly protested incredulously, and colour flooded her cheeks as she realised what she had said. ‘I mean—well…Billy Connolly is—’ Whatever she had been trying to say, she gave it up as a bad job to stare at Gideon dazedly.
Billy Connolly? He was her absolute all-time favourite comedian, and had proved himself to be an exceptional actor in recent years, too. She would just never, ever have thought that Gideon Webber would like him, too…