Holiday with a Stranger

by Christy McKellen

  She wasn’t sure why she felt so nervous around him. She’d faced CEOs of multi-million-pound corporations and been less jittery than this. He had some kind of strange effect on her, and she found it distressing. She should be able to handle this, no problem, but just his presence next to her set her mind into a spin. Every movement he made sent vibrations along her nerves. His gestures were precise, but elegant, and she thought she could probably watch him for hours and not grow bored.

  ‘That was delicious, thanks,’ she said, leaning back in her chair.

  ‘You’re welcome. Woman should not live on cornflakes alone,’ he said, giving her a look of reproach.

  She grinned sheepishly, then tapped her hands gently on the table, beating out a rhythm.

  Connor continued to watch her as she battled with the unwelcome warmth spreading through her under his intense gaze.

  The silence between them lengthened.

  ‘So, how do you usually spend your evenings?’ she asked, trying to break the atmosphere.

  Connor’s brow furrowed as he gave it some thought. ‘Game of chess?’

  ‘Chess, huh? Okay. I’ve not played in a while, but what the hell?’

  ‘I warn you, I take no prisoners.’ He wagged a finger at her.

  ‘Thanks for the warning,’ she said, going into the snug and grabbing the chessboard.

  Neither did she.

  * * *

  ‘Ah, the Corporate Opening,’ Connor joked as Josie moved her first piece.

  ‘Always works for me,’ she said, looking up at him through her eyelashes.

  Connor didn’t hesitate before moving his first piece.

  ‘Hmm, the Nomad Defence. Daring,’ Josie said, an eyebrow raised in jest.

  ‘They don’t call me Crazy-eyed Connor for nothing.’

  ‘Do they really?’

  ‘Actually, no.’ He pretended to look sad.

  ‘So, how else do you entertain yourself when you’re travelling?’ She tapped her fingers against her leg whilst studying the board for her next move. She was determined to win this game.

  ‘When I get the chance I go mountaineering—sometimes ice climbing.’

  Josie raised both eyebrows this time. ‘Action man, huh?’

  ‘Got to get my kicks somehow.’

  ‘Right.’ She moved another piece, holding on to it for a few seconds before releasing it.

  ‘You, I see, have a more cautious nature.’

  She shrugged. ‘I don’t like making mistakes.’

  Connor laughed. ‘Some of my worst mistakes have led to the most interesting times I’ve ever had.’

  ‘I’ll take your word for it.’

  ‘You’ve never been tempted by extreme sports?’ He looked up at her before glancing down to move his next piece.

  ‘Not unless you count falling out of a tree.’

  He smiled. ‘Ah, so there is an adventurous spirit in there somewhere, then?’

  ‘No, not really, but a friend dared me.’

  Connor smiled again. ‘And you never back down, right?’

  Josie looked at him steadily. ‘Something like that,’ she said, moving another piece.

  * * *

  Twenty minutes later Connor was scratching his head in bewilderment. ‘You’re good.’

  ‘What’s with the surprise?’

  He barked out a laugh. ‘I don’t get beaten very often.’

  He held her gaze for a moment; he was looking for something, but she wasn’t sure what. His pupils dilated as he gazed at her and once again a strange swooping feeling hit her deep inside. Her skin tingled and the breath hitched in her throat. They were two feet apart, but she felt the connection as if she was caught in a tractor beam.

  How did he do that?

  Not sure how to handle the feeling, she broke her gaze and sat back in the chair, trying to get some distance between them, her fingers dancing at her sides.

  Connor was disappointed when Josie looked away. He was trying to figure out if she was for real. He’d been burned before by women trying to worm their way into his affections and he was suspicious about the apparent softening in her attitude. Perhaps this was another ruse to try and get rid of him somehow. He needed to be careful.

  On the outside she seemed genuine enough. Despite her spikiness, or maybe because of it, he wanted her, and now she was showing a softer side he wanted her even more. This was driving him crazy. But he’d be a fool to get involved with her right now. He should do himself a favour and put some distance between them before it was too late.

  Picking up a newspaper to look at the crossword, he found Josie had already completed it.

  ‘What the...? When did you do this?’ He smacked his hand against the paper.

  Josie looked across at him. ‘Hmm? When you were cooking dinner. Sorry, did you want to finish it? I thought maybe you were stuck.’ There was a glimmer of mischief in her eyes.

  He scowled. ‘I did, but I’d just had a brainwave.’ He peered at the crossword. ‘Although apparently I hadn’t.’ He shook his head, perplexed. He picked up the other paper only to find she’d finished the crossword in that too. These were tough cryptic puzzles that he’d been struggling with for hours.

  ‘Did you do these in that fifteen minutes before dinner?’

  ‘Yeah.’ She flushed under his scrutiny.

  ‘Do you have some crazily high IQ or something?’

  She shuffled in her seat, drawing her knees up onto the sofa, her body forming a fetal position. ‘I don’t know. I’ve never been tested.’

  ‘Really?’

  She shrugged. ‘I’m good at remembering things. I don’t always understand them—not like...’ She paused, looking down at her hands. An evasive manoeuvre.

  ‘Not like...?’ He wanted to push this; there was obviously more to it than she was letting on.

  ‘Not like some people.’

  ‘It sounded like you had someone in mind there.’

  ‘Hmm...’

  He could tell by the way her eyes shifted sharply to the left that she was hoping to escape the subject by acting dumb. Not a hope in hell.

  ‘Who are you talking about, Josie?’

  She sighed, the weight of her reluctance heavy in her breath. ‘My sister Maddie. Madeline Marchpane.’ She gave him a look, as if she was waiting for him to connect the dots, for the correct synapses to snap together.

  Then the penny dropped.

  Madeline Marchpane was in the media a lot, celebrated for being a sexy genius scientist. She had a popular show in which she explained complex theories in layman’s terms. The public had lapped her up. That was why Josie’s name and face had dinged those bells for him.

  ‘Are you twins?’

  ‘She’s two years older than me.’

  ‘You look a lot alike.’

  ‘I know.’

  He smiled. ‘And she has had her IQ tested?’

  Josie snorted gently. There was a world of pain in that short exhalation of breath. ‘Yes.’

  ‘That must be a tough gig to compete with.’

  ‘I wish I could say I got the beauty and she got the brains, but it wouldn’t be true.’ It was obviously a line she wheeled out on a regular basis, and her attempt at flippancy was totally unconvincing.

  ‘You think you’re second best to your sister?’

  She frowned. ‘We can’t all be exceptional.’

  ‘You think you’re not exceptional?’

  She laughed—a low, tense chuckle. ‘I do okay.’

  ‘Jeez, no wonder you’re so strung out.’

  Her gaze snapped to his. ‘You think I’m strung out because I have a successful sister?’ She leant forward in her chair, a deep scowl marring her beautiful face. ‘I’m s
tressed because my business is in jeopardy and I’ve been ordered to go on bloody holiday.’

  The sudden flash of anger surprised him, but it left her face as quickly as it had come. There was that look again: the swiftly shifting gaze, the tensing of her jawline, the flicker of a frown. As if she was internally reprimanding herself for something. She’d done it the last time her tone had slipped into aggressiveness.

  ‘Who ordered you?’

  ‘Your sister.’

  ‘Why would she do that? And why the hell would you listen to her?’

  There was a tense pause before she spoke again. ‘Because of a thing at work.’

  ‘A thing?’

  She rubbed a hand over her eyes, then batted away his question. ‘I’ve been working fifteen-hour days for weeks and I’m exhausted. Abi thinks I need to step away from work for a while.’

  Her whole posture had slouched, as if she’d drawn right into herself.

  ‘So she sent you here to do cold turkey?’

  She didn’t look up. ‘I agreed to come here for a break.’

  ‘It’s a good job your laptop’s bust and you haven’t been writing tenders, then,’ he said wryly.

  A muscle ticked in her jaw.

  ‘You okay, Josie?’

  She looked up sharply. ‘I’m fine. Just tired. In fact, I think I’ll go to bed.’ She unfurled herself and stood up. ‘Goodnight.’

  She didn’t look back as she left the room.

  Interesting.

  * * *

  The next morning Josie came downstairs to find the sun pouring in through the patio doors in the kitchen, bathing everything in golden light. There was no sign of Connor and the door to the snug was firmly shut. The heavy tension that had built since she’d woken dropped down a notch.

  She’d felt spun out last night, after their conversation about Maddie and work, and had tossed and turned for an hour before falling into a fitful sleep. He’d hit on some real bruises this time, and she didn’t like it one bit. She was going to have to be more careful about what she said around him from this point onwards. He was too perceptive for his own good and she’d already told him more than she was comfortable with.

  Only a couple more days, Josie, then he’ll be gone.

  Pushing him to the back of her mind, she moved about almost in a dream, making coffee and heaping cereal into a bowl. Even in the sunny calm of the kitchen she felt weirdly buzzed, as if she was anticipating something momentous but had no idea what.

  Just as she was pouring herself another coffee Connor strode in, bare-chested, his hair rumpled with sleep, his eyes tired.

  ‘Morning,’ she said, turning to hide the blush that crept up her neck at the sight of him. Her heart slammed uncomfortably against her chest and she took a long, slow breath in an attempt to calm down.

  ‘Morning,’ he mumbled. ‘How was my bed?’

  She forced herself to look at him, determined not to give away how flustered she was. ‘Very comfortable. How was the sofa?’

  He grimaced and rubbed the back of his neck. ‘Short and lumpy.’

  Stifling her smile, Josie grabbed another mug, poured in the remainder of the coffee and handed it to him.

  ‘Thanks.’ He took a long sip, wincing as he swallowed. ‘You like your coffee strong.’

  She only just stopped herself saying Like my men. Where the heck had this one-track mind sprung from?

  They ate breakfast together in silence, the tense atmosphere from the night before still hanging between them.

  ‘So, what are your plans for the day?’ he said finally.

  She shrugged. ‘I don’t have any. A bit of reading, maybe. A short walk. Some relaxing...’ She noticed a smile playing around his lips. ‘What?’

  ‘I can’t imagine you sitting around relaxing, that’s all. You’re the least relaxed person I’ve ever met. You always look as if you’re itching to move on to the next thing.’

  ‘Yeah, well, I’m not used to sitting still.’

  ‘You’re a nervous breakdown waiting to happen. You know that?’

  She gave him a tight smile, fighting down her irritation that he seemed to be picking up right where they’d left off last night. ‘I haven’t got time for a breakdown. My schedule wouldn’t allow it.’

  He gave her a mirthful stare. ‘You plan everything?’

  She straightened the skirt of her halter-neck dress. ‘I like to know what I’m doing.’

  ‘I’m surprised you haven’t got more of a plan for the day, then—or are you freestyling for the challenge?’

  Josie tipped her head thoughtfully. She hadn’t got beyond thinking about what she was going to have for breakfast, taking the day one step at a time. But if she couldn’t work she was going to have to think of something pretty soon, before she died of boredom.

  ‘Something like that.’ She swept her hand around the stillness of the kitchen and the unbroken landscape that stretched away from them outside. ‘There’s not a whole lot going on around here, so I’m going to have to make my own fun.’

  He looked at her then and their gazes locked. His pupils darkened, turning his eyes black. He held her gaze, drawing her into a world of fiery longing. What the hell was going on? A need to touch him almost overwhelmed her. Her stomach did a double flip and her fingers itched to run over his golden skin, tracing the swell of muscles over his arms, across his shoulders, down his chest...

  Bad idea.

  It had been such a long time since she’d been so attracted to someone it had thrown her into chaos. She’d forgotten how exciting it was, how much fun. Not that this could be any more than a passing whim. She should enjoy the novelty of it but give herself boundaries. Stay in control.

  ‘Uh...do you fancy another game of chess?’ she asked, pulling her thoughts back onto safe ground before she started drooling. It had been entertaining playing last night, especially when he’d been so disgusted when she’d beaten him.

  He shook his head. ‘I can’t. I’m meeting a friend for lunch in Aix.’

  ‘Oh, okay.’ She kept her tone light, but was annoyed by how disappointed she felt.

  ‘You could always walk up to Guy’s farm and get some eggs. They’re great when they’re really fresh. Just head north-east. It’s a couple of miles away across the fields.’ He waved in the direction he meant. ‘It shouldn’t take you more than half an hour to get there.’

  ‘Yeah, okay. I might do that.’ Her wayward voice had taken on a childishly reluctant tone without her consent.

  Connor didn’t appear to notice. ‘Want me to draw you a map?’

  She shoved her shoulders back in defiance at his coddling behaviour—before remembering his comment about her ‘magnificent rack’ and adjusting her posture to make her stance less overtly aggressive. ‘No, thanks. I’m sure I can find it,’ she said coolly.

  ‘Don’t leave it too late to walk over there. The heat gets pretty fierce after midday.’ His face was blank of emotion but she was pretty sure he was deliberately winding her up again.

  ‘Okay,’ she said, gripping her mug hard.

  She wasn’t sure why she was so cross with him. She almost felt as if he was abandoning her by going out, which was patently ridiculous. She was a grown-up who was perfectly capable of entertaining herself.

  Wasn’t she?

  The truth was she never had to do it at home, because she was either thinking about or totally engrossed in work. Being away from it left a big gap in her psyche.

  ‘Okay. Well, I’m making omelettes tonight, so we’re definitely going to need eggs from somewhere.’

  She put her mug down carefully on the table before she threw it at his smug head. ‘You don’t have to feed me, you know.’ Her teeth were beginning to hurt from being clamped together so hard.

  ‘It’
s just as easy to make food for two people,’ he said, shrugging. ‘What are you going to have if you don’t eat with me?’

  That was a good point. There wasn’t exactly a lot of food in the house, and the meal he’d made last night had been delicious. She should consider it his fee for her agreeing to share the place; he wasn’t exactly the easiest housemate to live with and she should get some sort of recompense for it.

  ‘Want me to pick some up in town instead?’ he asked, obviously irked at her slow response.

  ‘No. It’s fine. I’ll go to the farm,’ she said through tight lips.

  ‘Great.’ He smiled and went to slap her on the arm, but stopped himself. Their gazes snagged and he gave her a curt nod. ‘Make sure you lock up properly when you go out. See you later.’

  He turned and walked out, pulling the door shut a little too hard behind him so that it slammed against the frame.

  * * *

  After taking a rather circuitous route to the farm a couple of hours later, Josie finally arrived hot and frustrated.

  The farmyard was deserted, so she knocked on the heavy oak door to the house. It was heaved open a few seconds later by a short, burly man with a thatch of wiry black hair.

  ‘Oui?’

  ‘Hello, Guy, I’m staying with Connor Preston in the farmhouse over there,’ Josie said in French. ‘I would like to buy some eggs from you.’

  The man gave her a slow up-and-down inspection.

  ‘Oui.’

  His gaze lingered on her breasts and she had to work hard not to cross her arms defensively in front of her.

  Great—a pervy farmer. Just what she needed.

  ‘Come to the runs with me. I need to collect them,’ he said, gesturing to the side of the house, where a collection of ramshackle barns and pens stood.

  She followed Guy at a distance and watched as he checked the nests for newly laid eggs.

  Walking back to her with a smile, he stood a little bit too close for comfort as he carefully put the eggs into the bag she’d brought with her. He smelt of dirt and cigarettes and wrongness. Wrinkling her nose, she forced herself to stand still. She often found herself turned off people because they didn’t smell right, and he was definitely one of those people.