“You’ll come after me, I know. But it is she who hurts me. She doesn’t want anything serious to develop between us and every time I get too close she shuts me out … the way she did at the Fourth of July party.”
He sympathized with his friend. It was hard to court a difficult woman. And though he wasn’t courting Nichole, she was difficult and he did want her. He clapped a hand on Palmer’s shoulder. “If it’s meant to be, it will happen.”
“I’m not sure I want fate on my side. She can be a cruel mistress,” Palmer said with a laugh. “Come on, let’s go join the women.”
Conner wasn’t too sure he wanted to, but hopefully whoever Jane invited would take his mind off Nichole, even if it was only for tonight. He needed to put the attraction to her in perspective. He’d been working too hard. That was probably why he’d been so consumed with her lately. She was, after all, the only woman he’d kissed and held in his arms recently.
Of course, he was going to be thinking about her all the time. In fact, he was doing it again, he thought. The woman in the kitchen even sounded like Nichole as he walked toward it. But as soon as he crossed the threshold and entered the kitchen he realized it wasn’t his mind playing tricks on him.
Nichole was standing next to his sister, helping her assemble some kind of hors d’oeuvre and laughing at something Jane had said.
Remembering the last time he’d seen her, only a day ago, and how she’d left his office, he couldn’t help believing that she was here for revenge. She had gone after his sister when she hadn’t been able to get the dirt on him.
Of course a woman like Nichole would never understand that Jane wouldn’t give him up. His sister was very loyal and knew better than to talk about their past with any reporter, no matter how charming she was.
“Uh-oh, my brother doesn’t look happy to see you,” Jane said.
“I told you he wouldn’t be,” Nichole said.
He handed the bottle of wine to Jane and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Nichole, I’d like a word with you in private. Jane, I’m using your study.”
He turned on his heel and walked out of the kitchen. He heard the sound of Nichole’s carefully measured footsteps behind him as he entered Jane’s study and waited for her to follow him in.
He gestured for her to enter the room and carefully closed the door behind them. Then turned to her. “What the hell do you think you’re doing here?”
Nichole had suspected that Conner wouldn’t be pleased to see her here, but she’d never guessed that he’d be so angry. “Having dinner.”
“Don’t be flip. It was cute the first time we met but now, not so much,” he said.
“I’m not being flip. I’m here to have dinner,” she said. “I had no idea that you’d be here.”
“I’ll bet you didn’t.”
“What exactly do you think I’m plotting to do?” she asked. “Your sister is friends with one of my BFFs … actually you know her, too. Willow.”
“So you asked Willow to get you close to my sister?” he asked.
“Not at all. I want an interview with you, Conner, not with your sister. She’s funny. She thinks that we’d make a great couple but that you’re letting the fact that I’m a reporter keep you from seeing my charms—her words,” Nichole said.
“I can see your charms,” he muttered under his breath, rubbing the back of his neck. “So you’re not here to dig up dirt on me?”
“Nope,” she said. “And I’m insulted that you’d think I’d do something like that. I’m a reporter with ethics. I don’t make up stories or dig through trash cans to find leads. When I write my story on you, it will be because you gave me an interview,” she said. To be honest, she was insulted, and who wouldn’t be. But more than that, she was hurt. She had the feeling that Conner was doing everything he could to keep from being attracted to her, and if that meant that he had to make her into the bad guy, then she guessed that’s what he’d do.
“I’m not going to stay for dinner. Your sister is delightful, but you are not the man I thought you were,” she said, turning to walk away.
He grabbed her elbow and tugged her off balance until she fell back into his arms. “I’m sorry.”
“What?”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I felt cornered by Janey and then seeing you just added fuel to the fire. I was happy to see you, I am happy to see you. Dammit, Nichole you are a complication.”
“I said the same thing about you earlier. I don’t know why you can’t simply agree to the interview and then we can get it out of the way.”
“I can’t do that. I’ve sworn I’d never give an interview.”
“But you can bargain with me?” she asked.
“It’s the only card I have,” he admitted. “It’s the only thing I can say to keep you interested in staying here with me.”
“You could try asking me to stay.”
He shook his head. “I can’t. Then you’d know how much I really want you.”
She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him close, putting her head on his shoulder. “You make things so hard.”
“I do, don’t I?”
She pushed away from him, taking a step back. “Why is it so hard for you?”
“Just between us?” he asked.
She nodded, realizing that he was more vulnerable than she ever would have guessed.
“You’re not like the women I’ve dated,” he said.
She arched one eyebrow at him. “That sounds like a line.”
“It isn’t. You are so fiery and passionate about your work. You don’t let anything stand in your way, but when I hold you in my arms I can tell that you are equally passionate with me. I want that, but …”
“But what?”
“You can also seem all-consuming,” he admitted.
She understood what he was trying not to say. She suspected that he was afraid, just as she was, of letting him get too close. They were both, in their own ways, used to being alone, and meeting someone of the opposite sex with this much chemistry was a threat.
There was a knock on the door before it opened. Jane stood there with two cocktail glasses in her hands. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell each of you that the other was coming.”
“It’s okay,” Nichole said.
“We’ll talk later,” Conner said.
But Jane just handed a cocktail glass to Nichole and then hugged her brother. “It’s your own fault for refusing to say what happened between the two of you. I knew there was something going on.”
She saw Conner’s face tighten and though Nichole knew Jane had been trying to help, she’d just done the one thing guaranteed to drive Conner further away from her. He prided himself on being aloof, but he couldn’t be if everyone saw them as a couple.
Dinner wasn’t as awkward as he’d feared it might be. First of all, the only people at the party were the four of them and since Palmer and Jane were two of his favorite people, Conner found it easy to relax. But that just kept him on guard a little more. He didn’t want to inadvertently give anything away to Nichole that she’d use later.
Once the meal was served, Jane was in her element at the head of the table. As the hostess, she kept the cocktails flowing