“‘Compliment’?” she echoed incredulously. “How was that a compliment?”
Max blew out a breath. “Okay, wrong word. Comment, then. Observation,” he added in case the second word didn’t suit her fancy, either. “Do you always like to argue?”
There he was, criticizing her again. She stood her ground. “No, do you?”
He would never have realized that his patience was limited if it hadn’t been for her. “Lady, until you came into my life, I never argued at all.”
Her hands went to her waist automatically, her eyes darkening. “Are you saying that I bring out the worst in you?”
She was putting words into his mouth. “Did I say that?”
Damn it, why couldn’t he just admit she was right, apologize and back off? “No, but you implied it.”
His temper threatened to flare. “If I implied it, I would have known.”
Because he was a relative stranger, not to mention technically a relative, she bit back a few choice words she would have hurled at him under other circumstances. But she couldn’t hold back what she thought of him.
“You are the most annoying man I have ever encountered.”
A calmness set in and he held on to it. “I don’t see how that’s possible,” he informed her coldly. “I’ve met your fiancé.”
She could feel her temper escalating. She didn’t need this aggravation. She should have never let him drag her out of the kitchen.
“Ex-fiancé,” she corrected. “And keep Allen out of it.”
“Why?” He wanted to know. “Because you still have feelings for him?” And why that question had suddenly risen to his lips was a mystery he didn’t think he’d be solving in the near future. What the hell had come over him?
“No, because you’re sitting on your high horse, criticizing my choice, and it’s none of your damn business who I chose.”
He looked at her mildly, cutting her dead. “Never said it was.”
For a second he’d taken the wind out of her sails. Feeling cheated, she decided to shout at him anyway. “Damn straight it’s not. Now if you don’t mind, I’d like to get out of this claustrophobic box and go back down to my family.”
Seething, Lily tried to push him out of her way. She wound up brushing against him instead. The full length of her body was suddenly pressed against his as she plowed forward before he could step back.
Her mouth fell open as every inch of her body felt an overwhelming current fly through it.
Damn it, she thought, she wasn’t supposed to be feeling this. Whatever the hell “this” was. Lightning. Electricity. Chemistry.
Something.
Something that started everything churning within her and caused desires to surface from where she’d thought she’d buried so far down that they could never rise up again.
Why?
Angry, confused, resentful, Lily stared up at him, dumbfounded.
She was doing it again. Looking up at him with those wide eyes of hers. Changing the temperature of his blood from normal to overly warm. He could feel the heat rising, spreading. Finding its way to all parts of him and holding him in its grip.
He was either about to come down with something or to do something very, very stupid.
For both their sakes, he hoped he was coming down with something.
Before Max knew exactly what was happening, he found himself cupping her face with his hands. Searching her eyes for something. What, he wasn’t sure.
The next minute he brought his mouth down to hers.
The moment that he did, all hope that this was a some rare form of closet fever or an equally curable disease was lost.
Chapter Six
Lily could remember, early on in her culinary career, being preoccupied and bending to open the door of an oven whose temperature had been set at five hundred degrees. The blast of heat that hit her face had completely sucked away her breath and almost overwhelmed her.
Kissing Max, being kissed by Max, was exactly like that, except that there was no “almost” to cling to, no roasting pan of squab to occupy her mind and force her to move beyond the paralyzing sensation that threatened her with complete meltdown.
And, being kissed by Max was also infinitely more pleasurable.
Struggling for control of her body and what was left her of mind, Lily couldn’t make herself pull away, didn’t want to make herself pull away.
Like a small metal filing irresistibly drawn to the surface of a giant magnet, Lily found herself wrapping her arms around Max’s neck, wrapping herself around the kiss, and utterly losing herself in what was happening, withdrawing from the real world for a blink of an eye.
For an eternity.
Pleasure and a host of delicious sensations curled upward from her toes, stretched and reached out to all parts of her.
A ringing noise drifted in from a distance, growing more urgent.
With a sigh that was half annoyance, half relief, Max pulled his head away.
Pulled his lips away.
Her eyes opened and she looked up at him, dazed, disoriented.
Max curbed the desire to thread his fingers through her hair, to cup her cheek, both of which would have displayed far more affection than the kiss, which had been based on pure passion. Affection went deeper and was, he told himself, to be reserved for something more important than grappling with a sucker punch to the gut.
Still, he couldn’t help smiling just a little. She looked as confused as he felt. “Either we’ve just discovered something very unique here and your jeans are ringing, or that’s your cell phone.”
Why were only half the words he was saying penetrating? She could see his lips moving. Was it so god-awful hot in this bathroom that it had affected her hearing somehow?
“What—” And then his words replayed themselves in her numbed brain, finally making sense. “Oh, right, my phone.”
Flustered and annoyed at being undone this way when he looked as cool as a night in November, Lily brought her hands down from around his neck and took a step back. Reaching for the phone, which continued its demanding whine, she discovered that getting it out was a challenge she hadn’t anticipated. The small black object fit snugly into her pocket. Too snugly.
Her hair fell into her eyes as she finally managed to retrieve it. Doing her best to completely ignore the amused smile on Max’s face, she turned her back on him as she demanded, “Hello?”
“Lily?” It was Arthur. No one else sounded that nasal when he said her name. “I can’t find the reservations book and there’s a party of twelve that insists it has a reservation for tonight. You didn’t make one, did you?”
She closed her eyes, trying desperately to get her bearings, both cursing and blessing Arthur’s insecurities, which had come to her rescue. One more second and she might have been reduced to a pile of ashes.
That sort of thing, she promised herself, was not going to happen again. She wasn’t going to let herself be tempted by sensations like that, although she had to admit, sneaking a side glance at Max, Allen had never rocked her world like that. No one had.
She struggled to get her mind back on Arthur and his question. “Are you talking about the Wannamakers?” She visualized the page in the reservations book with today’s date.
“Yes.” She could almost hear Arthur’s less than majestic chest collapsing. “Then they did make a reservation for tonight? They’ve really got one?”
“They did and they do.” It took her a moment to summon the information from her memory banks. Quickly, she told Arthur the menu she recalled being specifically requested and before Arthur could launch into plaintive wailing that he couldn’t possibly provide it, she headed him off at the pass and told him how he could.
“Now do it,” she instructed forcefully, refraining from making the command so strong as to have him fall apart on her.
Saying goodbye, she flipped the phone closed and began the task of fitting it back into the pocket where she’d gotten it.
Max
made no secret of watching her struggle to return the cell phone to its place. “You know,” Max said, “you might give some serious thought to chucking that thing somewhere while you’re here.”
With one last shove, Lily pushed the phone into her pocket. “Why would I want to do that?” she all but growled. She hated being told what to do.
He was in no hurry to return her to the party. He rather liked having a monopoly on her. The woman was certainly easy on the eye, if not the ear. But then, he thought, no one was perfect.
“I thought the point of your being here was to relax.”
“It is.” Maybe he could sit back all day and twiddle his thumbs, but she couldn’t. If the truth be known, she really wasn’t sure how to relax. “That doesn’t mean abandoning my responsibilities.”
Among which, it was a safe bet, he thought, was to point out everyone else’s shortcomings. “Might give that man time to build up his own backbone and confidence if you did,” he pointed out.
As much as she wanted to indulge Arthur, leaving him technically in charge was as far as she was willing to carry this. “Might give him time to ruin my reputation, too.”
Now she just wasn’t making any sense and although he was beginning to realize that was a peculiarity with Lily, his curiosity got the better of him. “All right, I’ll bite, why keep him?”
Why did she feel as if she was compelled to defend Arthur to this man every time her assistant’s name came up? Why did she owe Max Yearling any kind of an explanation at all?
“Because he’s not bad as a second-in-command and he takes orders without question.” She thought of the one time she’d stopped by Arthur’s home with some hot soup when he had been far too sick to come to work. The apartment had been Spartan. He had no hobbies, no pets, nothing. “Besides, working at the restaurant is all he has. If I let him go, he’d fall apart.”
There was a look on her face, just for a moment, that caught his attention, that intrigued him. He wasn’t even sure what it was, but it had stirred him. “So you do have a heart.”
Instantly her chin went up as she took major offense at the observation. Her eyes narrowed into combative slits.
“Yes, I do. Do you?”
He couldn’t help smiling at the verbal challenge. They’d already established that fact because something had beat pretty wildly when he’d kissed her. He found himself being stirred again and even began to reach for her, his eyes holding her fast.
But the next moment he heard the sound of feet hurrying up the wooden steps that led to the living quarters.
The slightly breathless young woman with the golden-blond hair that cascaded down her slender shoulders spared one fleeting, accusing look at Lily before her mouth curved in an inviting smile as she all but engulfed Max in her gaze.
“There you are,” the blonde declared. “I’ve been looking all over for you, Max. I thought you might have left the party.”
“No, Vanessa. I’m just helping the guest of honor get barbecue sauce out of her hair,” he explained mildly.
“Which you were responsible for putting there,” Lily reminded him.
She could have not been there for all the attention Vanessa gave her. The young blonde was already taking hold of Max’s arm and dragging him toward the landing. It was clear that “Vanessa” wanted him away from her, the sooner the better. “Everyone’s looking for you, Max.”
Very gently, Max disentangled himself from the young woman’s grasp and directed her hand to the banister.
“Well, then let’s not keep them waiting.” About to descend the staircase, Max paused and glanced back over his shoulder. “Lily?”
She didn’t like the way he took charge and she definitely didn’t like the way her knees still felt—as if they didn’t quite belong to her.
Still, she couldn’t just hover here like some lost sparrow. With a toss of her head, she replied, “I’m coming,” then followed him down.
The moment they reentered the saloon, Vanessa clamped her hands on Max’s arm again.
“They’re playing that song I like. Dance with me, Max?” She fluttered her lashes at him. “Please.”
He wanted to say no, but he didn’t want to crush Vanessa’s fragile ego in front of so many witnesses. It wasn’t all that long ago that June was this age and suffering from her first heartache. So he smiled and said, “Sure.” Making certain there was a respectable distance between them, he took Vanessa into his arms and began to dance.
Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Lily melt away into the crowd.
“Your sauce was a huge success,” Alison told her sister as she, Luc and Lily drove home several hours later. “As were you.”
It wouldn’t have taken much to be a success at that party, Lily thought. “I think a chimpanzee in a pair of jeans would have been a hit as long as she was female,” she commented.
She tried to remember when she had seen so many single men gathered together in one place, and failed. They’d been friendly, too. Not the pawing, drooling sort of friendly that took place in singles’ gatherings where everyone was frantic to wind up with a partner by evening’s end, but the polite, warming friendly that made her feel, she had to admit, comfortable and at home. And all female.
She supposed that, in a way, the place did have its charm.
“Maybe so,” Luc allowed, “but you’re a great deal more appealing than any chimpanzee I’ve ever seen, Lily.” He laughed as he drove through the silent, sleeping countryside. “I think half the single men there would have been willing to marry you on the spot—”
“That’s because your cousin’s cooking is for survivalists and mine appeals to the palate. It has nothing to do with me.”
Luc exchanged glances with Alison, a look of wonder at this sudden modesty in his eyes. Just how badly had the incident with her former fiancé affected her? He hadn’t had much of a chance to interact with his sister-in-law, but he recalled a confident, gregarious woman who wouldn’t have taken anything from anyone. The woman who’d just made that self-effacing comment had been badly scalded.
“What’s the deal with that girl—Vanessa something or other?” Trying to sound casual, Lily hesitated, wondering if by asking she was implying that she had anything beyond idle interest in Max. She didn’t want the wrong idea to make the rounds, but then, this was Alison and Luc she was talking to and if she couldn’t trust them not to spread rumors, then she might as well just give up on life entirely.
“Ulrich?” Luc asked.
She wasn’t sure that was the girl’s name. “The one who was following Max around,” she elaborated. “Are they…together?”
“Only insofar as she dogs his tracks,” Luc told her. He felt Alison press her hand on his knee, silently communicating. He knew exactly what she was thinking. He agreed. There was interest here and he wasn’t about to say anything that would discourage it. “Vanessa’s had a crush on Max ever since she was ten years old.”
Lily wasn’t exactly sure how old the young woman was, but she had a figure that undoubtedly could launch a thousand daydreams. “And he doesn’t—”
“No, he doesn’t,” Luc was quick to assure her. “Max’s not the type to pay attention to underage girls.”
“Is she underage?” The girl’s body certainly wasn’t, she thought. The low-cut T-shirt and jeans looked as if they’d been painted on. “I thought—”
“She just turned eighteen,” Luc told her. “Everyone around here thought that she’d take off, like so many of them do when they reach that age. But she’s decided to hang around a little longer before she makes plans.” He was repeating when Matt Ulrich had told him at the Salty less than a month ago. The man hoped that his only daughter would decide to remain permanently.
Lily shrugged, in case either of them thought that any of this mattered to her beyond making conversation. “She’s very pretty.”
“And very young,” Luc pointed out.
“I thought you just said—”
“There’s yo
ung chronologically,” Alison told her. “And young emotionally. Vanessa’s the latter.” The girl was a schemer, a manipulator, playing young men against each other from the time she was fifteen. Someday the girl was going to cause real trouble if they weren’t all careful.
“Pretty isn’t the only criteria that means something, even in a place like this,” Luc told her. “We get snowed in a lot in the winter and you have to be able to get along with the person you’ve picked to stay at your side. Otherwise,” he laughed, “Max would have a rash of mysterious homicides to look into.”
“Vanessa likes to play one man against another to feed her ego.” Alison went on to explain how the girl’s mother had died when Vanessa was little more than a child and how she, Alison, felt sorry for her, knowing what that was like. Thank God she’d had a brother like Kevin to care for her and to make sure she was raised with the right values. Matthew Ulrich, she lamented, just wanted someone to cook and clean for him while he worked.
Lily nodded, letting the discussion die. She was still fairly unconvinced that there wasn’t something between Max and the young girl. The look in Vanessa’s eyes when she had gazed at Max had been both adoring and possessive. The look Vanessa had directed at her had been full of poison.
Not that any of that mattered to her, Lily reminded herself. After all, in a couple of weeks she’d been back in Seattle and the people in Hades would be little more than a vague memory for her.
Lily heard the knock on her door. “I’m going to sleep in today, Aly. Don’t worry about me, just go about your lives as if I wasn’t here,” she said from beneath her blanket.
Alison thought of protesting, but then decided that maybe Lily would be better off if she were left on her own for a while. In the five days she’d been here, she and Luc, Jimmy and April had all taken turns escorting Lily around the area. Maybe she needed some time by herself. “Okay, it’s your vacation. I’ll be at the clinic if you change your mind.”
“I won’t,” Lily promised.
She listened for the sound of receding footsteps and then, throwing off the covers, breathed a sigh of relief. For the past five days, she had felt as if she were being baby-sat. They were all being very nice to her, but she felt as if she were taking them away from their lives and she didn’t want that. She knew she didn’t appreciate having her own life disrupted.
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