“Why not?” His sleepy voice threatened to undermine her resistance. “You did when you went to Deadwood.”
Taking advantage of the momentary easing of his hold, she slipped out from under his arm. “I know, but then I had laid out all the upcoming projects, explained my ideas in detail. There are things pending that need my personal attention.” While speaking, she had collected her clothes as she made her way to the connecting bathroom.
“Hannah, wait.” Justin jumped from the bed, attractive as sin in his nakedness. He reached for her.
Dodging his hand, she stepped into the bathroom, locking the door before calling out to him, “You can have the shower when I’m done.” She turned on the water full blast to drown out the sound of his muttered curses.
Exhausting every curse word he knew, Justin stood stock-still next to the bed, staring at the locked bathroom door. Hannah was closing him out, exactly as she had tried to do last evening. Frustration, anger and an emotion too similar to fear to be acknowledged burned inside him.
He didn’t get it. He just didn’t get it…or her. One minute she was cool and remote, the next sensual and hungry for him. During the night Hannah had freely displayed how badly she wanted him, again and again.
So what happened between the last time they made love and this morning? And, dammit, they had made love, not merely had sex, whether or not she wanted to admit it, either to him or herself.
Shaking his head in bewilderment, he moved around the room picking up his clothes. They’d have to talk about it, about their relationship, for, like it or not, that’s what it was shaping up to be, not a one-night stand, not a slam-bam-thank-you-ma’am, but an honest to God relationship.
It scared the hell out of him. Nevertheless, an in-depth discussion was definitely called for here. He would have to make another stab at convincing her to take the day off.
Hannah had never showered and dressed so fast in her life. Her hair still damp, she twirled it all into a loose twist at the back of her head and anchored it with a few well-placed hairpins. Sighing in longing and regret for what might have been, she turned with steadfast determination and went to the kitchen. Justin stood by the kitchen table, and with a nod she indicated that the shower was all his.
She had the table cleared and wiped, dishes stacked in the dishwasher, the coffee brewing, the tea steeping, bacon sizzling and eggs whipped, ready to pour into a warming frying pan by the time Justin walked into the room.
“We forgot to say good morning.” His soft voice crept across the kitchen to slither up her spine.
Gritting her teeth against a shiver, Hannah returned his greeting. “You’re just in time,” she said with calm detachment, dumping the egg mixture into the pan. “If you want to help, you can set the table.” Without turning to look at him, she dropped four slices of bread into the toaster. She jumped when he plucked the spatula from her hand.
“I’ll do the eggs,” he said, his voice and his body too close for her comfort. “Since you know where everything is, it’s better if you set the table.”
“Okay.” Hannah was glad to escape, if only to the wall cabinet a few feet from him. After setting two places at the table, she went to the fridge for orange juice and milk. “Do you want jam for your toast?”
“Do you have peanut butter?”
“Yes,” she said, surprised that he also liked the spread on his morning toast.
“Natural or sweetened? I don’t like the sweetened stuff.”
“Neither do I,” she said, removing the jar from the fridge.
Other than the odd remark here and there about the food, they ate in silence, each into their own thoughts. Feeling edgy, Hannah saw him raise a brow when she glanced at the clock for the third time. But he didn’t comment on it…until after he had his coffee and she her tea.
“I think you should take the day off,” Justin said, his voice laced with determination.
“I already told you I wouldn’t do that,” she retorted, her voice equally determined.
“We need to talk.” Now his eyes were cold as gray ice.
Getting up, Hannah carried her barely touched tea to the sink, dumped it and rinsed it before replying. “No we don’t. I need to leave for work.” She walked from the room to the coat closet. “And you need to drive to Baltimore.” She pulled on her coat and grabbed her purse.
“Dammit, Hannah,” Justin said, his tone bordering on a shout. “Listen to me.” He reached out to take her arm, to prevent her from walking out the door she’d opened.
Her nerves and emotions raw, her mind screaming at her to get away before she succumbed to agreeing to be one of his now-and-then women, Hannah avoided his hand as she spun around to confront him. “I won’t listen to you, Justin.” She was hurting, and wanting to hurt him back, if that was possible, she lashed out at him. “I have to thank you for giving me so much please,” she said sarcastically. “But it’s over now. You belong in Montana, and I belong here. Whether or not Adam sends you back here, I don’t want to see you again.”
“Hannah, you don’t meant that.” He sounded genuinely shocked. “You can’t mean it.”
“I do mean it,” she insisted, fighting tears and a desire to punch him…hard, for hurting her so much. “I’ve got to go now.” She backed out through the doorway. “I’d appreciate it if you would lock the door as you leave.” With that last parting shot, she slammed the door on his stunned face.
Justin was mad. He was more than mad, he was furious. He just couldn’t decide who he was more furious with, Hannah for cutting him dead, or himself for getting too deeply involved with her in the first place.
Dammit, who needed her, anyway? Certainly not him. The last thing he needed was a haughty, overly independent woman. Hell, there were plenty of warm, eager and willing women out there.
Justin repeated the assurance to himself all the way back to Montana and throughout the following three weeks. He repeated it to himself while he was working, when conferring about the horse farm in Pennsylvania they had decided to invest in, but mostly when he prowled the house at night, unable to sleep for thinking about her, aching for Hannah.
Why the hell had he been so stupid as to fall in love with her? Why had he allowed himself to fall for the Hannah that was not always cold and haughty, but sweet and hot, a tiger in his arms.
Justin knew when he was beaten. To his amazement it didn’t even bother him that he’d finally fallen in love-real love. He decided he’d have to do something about it, something more than he had originally planned on back in February.
Going to the phone, Justin placed a call to Adam, his fingers tapping an impatient drumbeat as he waited for his brother to come on the line.
“What’s up?” Adam said.
“We need a family meeting about this horse farm in Oley, Pennsylvania.”
“Wait a minute, we’ve already bought the property,” Adam said. “And it was your idea to begin with. Don’t tell me you changed your mind and want us to back out of the deal when we’re just days away from settling it.”
“No, no, I haven’t changed my mind about the property,” Justin reassured him, “only about who we send east to manage the farm.”
“Not Ben?” Adam sounded shocked.
“Not Ben,” Justin concurred. “I know for a fact that Ben really doesn’t want to relocate and that Karla doesn’t want to move so far from her family.”
“Then who the hell do you have in mind?” Adam demanded. “One of the men on the ranch?” Before Justin could get a word in, Adam added, “Is there another one of the men capable of running a Thoroughbred farm?”