The strongly aligned features before her reflected his disappointment and perhaps even exasperation.
‘He’s not paying me for anything. I told you, I’m here as a friend.’ Fin hadn’t been sure of the reception he would receive from Nick’s ex-girlfriend but what he expressly hadn’t been expecting was a woman with looks that could grace a centrefold, and a temper as hot as Hades to match. Not that he couldn’t understand why she was so angry at not hearing from Nick in five long years then suddenly receiving a command from him out of the blue telling her he wanted to discuss their child at last.
But surely any woman with an iota of common sense would see that in the interests of that child there had to be certain advantages in letting her wealthy father make contact? It must have been tough for Brenna trying to manage all these years on her own without help. If she could just calm down for a few seconds she might – just might – start to see things in a more positive light.
‘Let me go.’
‘What?’
‘My arm. You’re hurting me.’
Fin dropped the slender limb like a hot potato, a hint of crimson reddening his jaw.
‘I’m sorry,’ he murmured. ‘Sometimes I don’t know my own strength.’
Brenna could believe it. She rubbed her arm where the impression of his hand left her smarting but tingling too. It was the tingling that disturbed her the most.
‘Lucky for Nick he has such a “trouper” on his side.’
‘And what about you? Do you have a champion on your side, Brenna?’
Her upper lip wobbled a little.
‘I fight my own battles … always have done and always will. So you see, Mr Malone, I really don’t need you or anyone else to look out for me.’
‘Lucky for you, then, that you’re so utterly self-sufficient.’ Not missing a beat, Fin came back at her, privately rattled that she continued to profess not to need him when his sense of it was that she could definitely use some help. ‘Ever heard the expression “no man is an island”? Presumably it applies to women, too.’
His comment completely threw her. The truth was that Brenna was weary of fighting all her battles on her own. It would be wonderful to have someone to share her fears and concerns with besides her poor over-worked mother. But never again would she make herself vulnerable to a man. She’d walk across hot molten lava in her bare feet first.
‘You’re wasting your time trying to win me round. All I want to do is see Nick and tell him to leave me and Nancy alone. As soon as I’ve done that then I’m going home. I’m sorry that he put you to all the trouble of having to come out here. I’m sure you’d much rather be at home in sunny California or wherever it is you’re from, and I can’t say I blame you. God knows, the winter here has little to commend it. Not unless you love it like I do.’
Digging her gloved hands into her pockets, Brenna was suddenly aware that her fingers were almost rendered frozen from the icy breeze that was blowing across the landscape. A weary sense of acute desolation made her heart feel like it was cracking.
‘I can see how you might feel like that. It definitely has a certain kind of charm,’ Fin commented.
Was he being facetious? Right then Brenna was too mentally drained even to try to analyse the remark.
‘Yes, it does,’ she softly agreed. ‘And I’m eccentric enough not to mind the cold. As long as I’m wrapped up warm it doesn’t really bother me. And the landscape …’ Her dark eyes misted over as she absorbed the view of the soft green hills that stretched as far as the eye could see. ‘The landscape just seeps into your soul.’ Her voice drifted away as self-consciousness uncomfortably gripped her.
‘Come and have a coffee with me,’ her companion suggested, his voice turning unwittingly smoky.
‘I’ve already said I—’
‘A person’s allowed to change their mind.’ Grinning, Fin’s appreciative gaze absorbed the wild windswept black tresses, the passionate soulful brown eyes and the sultry naked mouth. Truth to tell, right now the woman in front of him was all the landscape he cared to look at and admire. Windswept verdant vistas and rain-soaked flowerbeds were just no competition – no matter how lovely. ‘I promise if you let your guard down just a little and talk to me, I won’t try to take advantage.’
Brenna’s eyes instantly registered alarm. ‘You can be sure I won’t be letting my guard down – even a little – any time soon, Mr Malone. I would never make such a dangerous slip like that.’
Telling himself to be patient in the face of her continued defensiveness Fin sighed, his warm breath creating a puff of steam in the sharp cold air. ‘Message received loud and clear.’
‘And anyway,’ she surprisingly relented, ‘I prefer tea.’
‘Tea it is, then. And drop the “Mr Malone”, will you? Call me Fin. All my friends do.’
At the perplexed frown on the beautiful face in front of him, he smiled with unabashed amusement.
‘You never can tell. We could become friends. Wouldn’t that be the surprise of the century?’
Chapter Two
The heat of the fire was making her drowsy. Brenna deliberately widened her eyes as she reached forward for her cup of tea. Before she could get to it, from the other side of the ponderous oak table, Fin beat her to it. With a charming smile that was bordering on dazzling, he handed her the delicate porcelain cup and saucer and completely disarmed her. Feeling like she’d just reached the end of a path with a sheer drop at the end of it, she managed to stop her hand from shaking as she accepted it.
At all costs she had to keep a level head round this man, especially until she met up again with Nick. She didn’t want either of them to have the advantage over her.
‘Thanks.’ Taking a sip of fragrant Earl Grey tea, she leant back against the comfortable upholstery of the sumptuous sofa. Immense fatigue washed over her, just as though someone had slipped a sleeping tablet into her beverage. She supposed it was due to the combination of an early-morning start, then the long drive to reach the hotel, then the banked-up emotion that had been simmering constantly since she’d received Nick’s letter. Right then Brenna had the strongest desire to succumb to it – to simply give in and not fight it. But she couldn’t. Not when there was so much at stake. ‘So … do you work in the film industry too, Mr Malone?’
His eyebrow shot up at the question. Fin didn’t intend to give up on getting Brenna to call him by his first name but for now he would let it go. At least the lady was making conversation, not simply glaring at him with those gorgeous brown eyes of hers in deep suspicion as she was apt to do.
‘I was once. Up until a couple of years ago I’d worked as a stuntman for fifteen years. I busted my leg once too often, I’m afraid. Now I’m a stunt director with my own company. Less action but more pay so I’m not complaining.’
‘And how did you meet Nick?’
‘We met on a film set a few years back. He was between shots and I was on a break so we got talking. I guess you could say we hit it off and from time to time we meet up for a beer.’
They were friends yes, but not ‘bosom pals’, Fin acknowledged silently, the thought surprising him. The truth was he had college pals he was closer to than Nick Balcon. The British director wasn’t someone he’d ever exactly refer to as a ‘buddy’.
It was hard for Brenna to imagine Nick enjoying a close friendship with anyone. He wasn’t the kind of man that seemed to crave such a bond with another human being. Because of his self-contained character he’d naturally created an aura of aloofness around him – a mystique.