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CHAPTER THREE

‘EVERYONE had enough to eat?’ Crys prompted happily half an hour later.

Half an hour during which Molly’s bewilderment hadn’t lessened in the least. She knew that Crys was happier now than she had ever been, and that this second marriage to Sam was her whole life, but it certainly hadn’t occurred to Molly that her best friend might decide it was high time that she found such happiness—to the point that she had already picked out two eligible men for her to look over as prospective husband material.

David Strong and Gideon Webber, of all people…

David was one of the nicest men Molly had ever met, and instantly put one at ease, but he was still suffering badly from the unexpected death of his wife. Molly was very much looking forward to working with him, but she knew he certainly wasn’t on the look-out for another woman in his life in the near future.

As for Gideon Webber…!

The only consolation to her own aversion to such an idea was that, much as he obviously loved Crys, Molly knew Gideon Webber would be furious at the very idea of being matched with her.

‘There’s a good reason behind my wife’s desire to make sure you’re all well fed,’ Sam remarked dryly after they had all assured Crys they couldn’t eat another thing.

Crys grinned unrepentantly. ‘With all the excitement and preparation for the christening we haven’t had time to put up our Christmas decorations yet,’ she explained. ‘Sam has some telephone calls to return in his study this morning and so I thought the four of us might have some fun putting up the decorations.’

‘No problem,’ David assured instantly.

‘Glad to help,’ Gideon added lightly.

Molly was so disturbed by this added delay to the two men leaving that she didn’t say anything.

‘You haven’t heard where the decorations are yet,’ Sam warned them wryly.

David chuckled, shaking his head as he looked at Crys. ‘Your wife has the ability to charm the birds out of the trees, Sam,’ he drawled affectionately.

‘Or the decorations out of the attic?’ Sam suggested ruefully.

‘That, too,’ Gideon acknowledged dryly as he joined in the teasing conversation.

It made Molly feel more out of things than ever; this Christmas holiday simply wasn’t working out in the way that she had thought it would.

‘How about you, Molly?’ Sam turned to her as he, not unusually, seemed to sense some of her confusion. The two of them had always been closer than blood brother and sister. ‘I was going to take Peter in with me this morning, but if you would rather look after him than help with the decorations…?’

She would rather do anything else other than spend the morning in Gideon Webber’s company.

But even as she opened her mouth to accept Sam’s let-out she found her gaze caught and held by Gideon’s taunting one. Delicate colour rose in her cheeks and she knew he was aware, and obviously enjoying, her discomfort in his presence.

Her mouth set stubbornly and her eyes flashed before she turned to smile at Sam. ‘Thanks for the offer, but you know how I’ve always loved putting up Christmas decorations.’ And how little chance she had had to do so during her years in America.

It simply hadn’t seemed worth the effort to put up Christmas decorations in her apartment these last few years, when there had been only herself to see them. She had been looking forward to being involved in all aspects of this family Christmas, including putting up the decorations, and she wasn’t going to let Gideon Webber’s presence ruin that for her.

‘I certainly do.’ Sam ruffled her hair affectionately. ‘When she was younger she used to insist the decorations went up in November and didn’t come down until February!’ he confided in the others.

The colour deepened in Molly’s cheeks, and she carefully avoided looking in Gideon’s direction this time, sure those dark blue eyes would be filled with mockery. ‘I’m not quite that bad any more.’ She grimaced self-consciously. ‘But I have always loved Christmas,’ she admitted ruefully.

‘Nothing wrong with that,’ David assured her approvingly.

‘Nothing at all,’ Gideon agreed huskily.

Molly looked up at him sharply, expecting to see the normal derision in his gaze, but instead she found him looking at her quizzically, his thoughts unreadable. What now? she wondered frowningly.

Gideon gave a mocking inclination of his head. ‘I’ve always thought that anyone who likes Christmas can’t be all bad,’ he drawled challengingly.

Brown eyes warred with dark blue for several long seconds before Molly broke the gaze to look at the other three people in the room; Crys still smiled warmly, David and Sam were busy clearing the table of the debris from breakfast.

Was she, Molly, the only one who could hear the deliberate insult behind Gideon’s words? Probably, she acknowledged—no one else seemed aware of Gideon’s antagonism towards her.

She turned back to him, chin raised as she met that challenge. ‘What are your own feelings towards Christmas?’

They might have been the only two people in the room as they faced each other tensely.

Gideon’s mouth quirked humourlessly. ‘What do you think?’

He really didn’t want to know what she was thinking about him right now.

‘I have no idea,’ she answered honestly. Trying to fathom the workings of Gideon could take a lifetime—and she really didn’t have two minutes of her time to waste on the hateful man.

He grinned at her. ‘I’ve always loved Christmas, too,’ he told her mockingly.

It wasn’t his words that disarmed her, but that grin. It transformed his whole face until he was boyish and charming. Two things she had never before associated with the arrogantly haughty Gideon Webber.

‘Good,’ she finally managed to answer inadequately.

The grin spread to the warmth of his dark blue eyes. ‘Not what you expected to hear, was it?’ he guessed shrewdly.

If there was one thing she had learnt about this man in the last twenty-four hours, it was never to expect the expected from him; he had so many facets to his nature it was impossible to second-guess anything he might do or say.

She gave a dismissive shrug. ‘What I do or don’t expect from you isn’t really important, is it?’ she dismissed heavily.

‘Not to me, no,’ he confirmed hardly.

Well, that definitely told you, didn’t it, Molly? she acknowledged to herself ruefully. Just as well she felt the same way about him, wasn’t it?

Brown eyes sparkled with sudden humour and she easily met his gaze this time. ‘Well, I’m glad we got that out of the way, aren’t you?’ she taunted.

Was it her imagination or did she briefly see admiration flare in those dark blue eyes? Maybe, but it was so quickly masked by his usual mockery that even if she had seen it she knew Gideon wasn’t happy with the emotion.

Well, that was just too bad. She was who she was, and she was pretty sure that wasn’t the person Gideon thought she was. In fact, she was certain it wasn’t!

Gideon glared down at her wordlessly for several seconds, eyes narrowing before he slowly turned away, an enigmatic smile curving those sculptured lips.

Now what? Molly found herself wondering for the second time in almost as many minutes. Why was it, she wondered, that this man always looked as if he knew something she didn’t—like a cat that had lapped up all the cream?

And just as quickly she remonstrated with herself for such a fanciful thought; the only cat that Gideon Webber resembled was the feral kind—a hunting tiger, perhaps.

With her as his prey…

‘We can all go out this afternoon and choose a fir tree,’ Sam was saying now. ‘There’s a place not far from here where you can pick and chop down your own,’ he added with satisfaction.

‘Excellent,’ David said with obvious pleasure.

‘A real traditional Christmas,’ Gideon agreed, before once again looking at Molly, dark brows raised mockingly. ‘Aren’t you glad that Crys and Sam invited us all to stay over the holiday period?’ he added softly.

Molly could feel all the colour draining from her face as the truth finally hit her with the force of an actual blow to the body. Neither David nor Gideon was leaving today. Or tomorrow. Or the day after. Or the day after that. These two men, as well as herself, were invited to spend Christmas at Falcon House, with Sam, Crys and Peter.

Why hadn’t she guessed before? It had been there in front of her face all the time—the fact that David and Gideon had stayed the previous night, that neither man seemed in any hurry to leave this morning. Because they weren’t leaving any time soon. In fact, it sounded as if the six of them were going to be cosily ensconced here together for the next four days at least!

‘Still love Christmas?’ a familiarly taunting voice murmured softly in the vicinity of her ear.

Her faith in the goodwill of Christmas had definitely been sorely tested in the last few minutes, but, yes, she still loved Christmas—in spite of whom she might be forced into sharing it with.

She turned sharply to tell Gideon as much, only to find that he was much closer than she had thought he was. His head bent towards hers, their breath intermingling as Molly’s abrupt rejoinder died on her lips, and her gaze was held captive by Gideon’s as her breathing seemed to stop altogether.

He really was the most attractive-looking man, that honey-blond hair falling endearingly over his forehead, his eyes a dark, fathomless blue over high cheekbones, the patrician nose and that firmly sculptured mouth.

‘Will you be on the “naughty” or “nice” list this year, do you think?’ he taunted softly.

Attractive-looking maybe. But as soon as he opened his mocking mouth the whole image was quickly dispelled.

Perhaps just as well…considering she had actually felt herself being drawn to that attraction for a few—mad—minutes.

She drew in a sharp breath. ‘I…’

‘Come on, you two,’ David called over to them cheerily. ‘We have decorations to get down from the attic,’ he reminded them lightly.

Molly moved gratefully away from Gideon to join David as he followed Crys from the kitchen. But she was aware of Gideon’s gaze following her every step of the way…

She was still muttering to herself as she tied the belt on her dressing gown later that evening, after taking a shower before going to bed.

Not that it had been an altogether bad day; the decorations had gone up without too much trouble, their evening meal had been prepared and eaten in companionably good humour, and conversation had flowed freely. Even after dinner, when they had all played a game of Monopoly, it hadn’t been as bad as she had thought it was going to be—despite the fact that Gideon had easily been the winner.

No, on the surface it had been a successful day. Only Molly, it seemed, had been aware of the barb behind every comment Gideon had made to her…

It had started with the naughty or nice remark, and continued unabated throughout the day—to such an extent that Molly had been relieved to excuse herself with the intention of taking a shower before going to bed.

‘I’ll give him naughty or nice,’ she muttered to herself as she hurried down the hallway back to her bedroom. The last thing she wanted was to bump into Gideon when she was wearing only her dressing gown. No doubt he would find some sarcastic remark to make about that, too.

‘I’ve always been nice,’ she grumbled irritably as she opened her bedroom door.

Only to let out a loud scream as she saw someone silhouetted against the moonlight shining through her uncurtained window.

‘I’m glad to hear it,’ Gideon murmured dryly as he turned from gazing out of the window. ‘But did you have to scream like that?’ He gave a pained wince as he stepped forward into the glow of light given off by the bedside lamp she had left on for her return, still dressed in the casual shirt and trousers he had changed into earlier this evening.

‘Yes, I had to scream like that!’ Molly assured him furiously. ‘What on earth do you think you’re doing in my bedroom?’ She glared across the room at him, her heart still beating double time, her legs feeling slightly shaky from the shock she had just received.

‘Waiting for you, obviously,’ he drawled dismissively. ‘Do you think you could shut the bedroom door? If I’m staying, there’s no point in drawing more attention to ourselves than necessary.’

No point in…! She had thought her torment was over for at least today, and now he had the cheek to just appear in her bedroom like this!

Molly made no effort to close the door behind her. ‘But you aren’t staying,’ she told him forcefully. ‘In fact, I don’t know what gave you the impression you could just come in here—’

‘You said earlier we had to talk.’ He shrugged.

Molly gave him an exasperated look. She had said they needed to talk—knew that he needed to be put right concerning several ideas he had conceived about her. But this was hardly the time—or the place—for such a discussion.

‘Not now. And certainly not here,’ she added impatiently. ‘Do you have any idea what people are going to think if they find you in my bedroom?’

Crys, for one, would probably start picking out wedding-dress patterns.

‘That was the reason I suggested you close the door,’ Gideon reasoned dryly.

On second thought, maybe that wasn’t such a bad idea, Molly decided, and she moved to close the door quietly. Anyone walking by to one of the bathrooms down the hallway would hear the two of them talking.

Gideon’s brows were raised when she turned back to glare at him. ‘Did you have a specific person in mind when you made that suggestion?’ he taunted. ‘I haven’t interrupted an assignation, have I?’

Considering David was the only other eligible male in the household, Molly thought his remark in particularly bad taste. ‘Don’t judge everyone else by your own behaviour,’ she snapped scornfully.

Gideon’s eyes narrowed. ‘Exactly what do you mean by that remark?’ he demanded icily.

‘Oh, it’s different when it’s made about you, isn’t it?’ she derided exasperatedly, not really having any idea what she meant; it had just sounded like a good thing to say. It had also obviously touched a raw nerve…

‘You—’ She broke off abruptly as a knock sounded on the bedroom door, looking from the closed door to Gideon, her expression stricken.

‘Molly?’ Sam called concernedly through the door. ‘I’m sorry to bother you, but Crys said she was sure she heard you scream a few minutes ago?’

Molly gave Gideon an accusing glare, having no idea what she should do now. If she opened the bedroom door then she would have no choice but to try to explain Gideon’s presence here to Sam. And if she didn’t open the door Sam was going to think it very odd.

‘I think you had better open the door and reassure him of your safety,’ Gideon murmured softly.

‘Oh, you think, do you?’ Molly muttered furiously. ‘None of this would have happened at all if you had thought a little harder about the possible repercussions of a late-night visit to my bedroom!’

He gave a humourless smile. ‘The only repercussion I could think of was if you thought I had come here with some idea of seduction in mind—’

‘In your dreams, buster,’ she cut in disgustedly.

‘Molly…?’ Sam sounded worried as he knocked a second time.

‘It’s okay, Sam.’ Molly raised her voice so that he could hear her as she moved to open the door, deliberately keeping it only slightly ajar in the hope that he wouldn’t be able to see Gideon in the room behind her. ‘I’m fine, Sam,’ she reassured brightly. ‘I—it was just…I saw a spider.’

‘And we all know how you love spiders,’ her stepbrother sympathised affectionately. ‘I’ll come in and get rid of it for you,’ he instantly offered.

Not with Gideon in her bedroom, he wouldn’t! ‘No, it’s all right, Sam.’ She firmly stood her ground in the doorway. ‘I—you see…’

‘The fact is, Sam—’ Gideon spoke purposefully as he moved to stand visibly beside Molly ‘—I heard Molly scream, too, and I have already disposed of the spider by putting it out of the window.’

Molly closed her eyes briefly, wishing for this to simply be a nightmare, but knowing that it wasn’t; it was possible to wake up from a nightmare! She opened her eyes again, to find Sam looking down at her speculatively, dark brows raised over knowing green eyes. After what Sam had told her earlier, concerning Crys’s efforts at matchmaking, it wasn’t too difficult to guess what he was thinking—or whose fault that was.

‘That was kind of you, Gideon.’ Sam turned his speculative gaze on the other man. ‘I know from past experience how Molly hates to deal with spiders herself.’

‘Didn’t you know? Gideon is well known for his kindness.’ Molly felt stung into snapping; the man wouldn’t know ‘kind’ if it jumped up and bit him on the nose!

Her obvious sarcasm was completely wasted on Gideon. His expression was one of total unconcern.

‘Well, if you’re sure you’re okay…?’ Sam prompted lightly.

‘I’m fine,’ Molly assured him.

‘I’ll say good night, then.’ Her stepbrother smiled, that knowing look still in his laughing green eyes.

‘Again,’ Gideon acknowledged dryly. ‘I’ll just have one last check for any more spiders before I leave,’ he added dismissively.

And as there hadn’t been a spider in the first place…

Molly found herself forcing a strained smile as Sam turned and walked back down the hallway to the bedroom he shared with Crys, giving him a half-hearted wave before closing her bedroom door and turning on Gideon.

‘Now look what you’ve done!’ she burst out furiously, eyes blazing deeply brown. ‘Sam no more believes you were in my bedroom searching for nonexistent spiders than I do!’ she added accusingly.

He looked nonplussed and raised blond brows. ‘He doesn’t?’

‘No,’ she snapped, colour warming her cheeks as she remembered that earlier conversation with Sam. A conversation she had no intention of giving this man even a hint of!

Gideon shrugged unconcernedly. ‘It sounded quite plausible to me. Especially as it turns out you really don’t like spiders,’ he added mockingly.

Molly’s gaze narrowed dangerously. She had disliked spiders all her life, no matter what size they were. She had no explanation for it—knew there was no logic to the fear—she just couldn’t stand them in the same room with her.

‘So what do you imagine Sam does think I’m doing in your bedroom?’ Gideon prompted softly, his expression deliberately guileless.

‘I’m sure you can work that out for yourself!’ she breathed agitatedly, knowing exactly what Sam would be thinking—saying—right now.

Gideon raised dark blond brows. ‘As far as anyone else is concerned, we were introduced for the first time yesterday morning at the christening. Do you usually invite men into your bedroom on such short acquaintance?’

‘Do I…? You’re the one who invaded my bedroom, not the other way round!’ she reminded accusingly.

It was bad enough that Sam and now Crys were aware that Gideon was in her bedroom, without having to take the responsibility for it, too. In fact, if she had to put up with any more of his insults this evening she was going to hit him.

‘I didn’t “invade” anywhere, Molly,’ he came back evenly. ‘I simply waited in here for you to come back from taking your shower.’

‘And you had no right thinking you could do that,’ she returned exasperatedly. ‘I may have said the two of us need to talk, but I’m certainly in no mood to talk to you at the moment,’ she added disgustedly.

There was a moment’s silence, and Gideon’s gaze was speculative now. ‘Then what are you in the mood for?’ he finally murmured softly.

Her eyes widened furiously at his obvious meaning. ‘Why, you arrogant—’

‘I don’t think so.’ Gideon reached out and easily caught her wrist as her hand would have made contact with one of his cheeks. ‘In fact…’ he muttered grimly, and his head lowered and his mouth took possession of hers.

Molly was so stunned by the unexpected kiss that for several long seconds she merely stood transfixed in his arms, his body hard against the softness of hers as his mouth explored hers with complete thoroughness.

Cold thoroughness…

That was what brought her to her senses, what stopped her from responding. Because, to her intense dismay, she actually wanted to respond.

Somewhere in the course of the last twenty-four hours—and she couldn’t for the life of her imagine when it could have been—she had become attracted to Gideon Webber!

It couldn’t have been when he was tormenting her. Nor when he was being sarcastic. After all, despite her earlier unfortunate love affair, she wasn’t a complete masochist, and certainly hadn’t deliberately allowed herself to become attracted to such an arrogantly impossible man. But for some reason she had done so anyway…

Which was why he had to stop kissing her!

‘No!’ She pulled sharply away to object, pushing away from him as his arms momentarily tightened about her.

Gideon looked down at her with hooded blue eyes. ‘No?’

‘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!