CHAPTER NINE
Hannah ignored him, stepping into her dungarees and dragging the two straps over her shoulders without bothering to do them up properly, or find her lost shirt first. She had a spare at home, anyway, and it wasn’t like there was anything this man hadn’t seen already. Much to her disgust.
More worryingly, Pepper had disappeared.
She called him quietly but he didn’t come out of hiding, which was suspicious. Hannah peeped around the kitchen door but there was no sign of him. Only a generous dish of cat treats on the floor.
She frowned. Pepper was already on the hefty side. He’d be as big as a pig soon if he kept getting double treats.
‘Pepper?’ She could hear a dangerous note in her voice, which was wobbling a bit. Was she going to cry? ‘Come on, we need to go.’
She turned and came smack up against Daniel, almost losing her balance.
‘Careful,’ he said, and grabbed her arms to stop her bouncing back onto the tiled floor. ‘It’s okay, I’ve got you.’
She glared at him silently until he released her.
He frowned, taking a quick step back as though something in her face had alarmed him. ‘What’s going on, Hannah? Are you leaving again?’
‘Well spotted.’
‘Okay.’ He studied her face intently. ‘So what did I do to upset you this time?’
Argh, why did he have to be so good-looking?
‘Can I get past, please? I need to find Pepper and go home.’
Daniel folded his arms and leaned against the door jamb, so that she couldn’t escape.
‘I don’t think so,’ he said, still very controlled. ‘Not until you answer my question.’
She fixed him with a grim stare, her mouth set in a straight line. His air of deliberate control was making this a thousand times worse for her. Not to mention his partial nudity, which kept distracting Hannah from her hate-fest.
Argh!
She almost wanted to pummel that fabulous bare chest with her fists, except she didn’t want to give away how strongly she felt. Plus, she was worried that once she started pummelling, she might not stop until Daniel Elliott, famous bloody Hollywood director, was an itty-bitty, mashed-up slop of man-flesh on the floor of Ivy’s house.
Sick of her heart plunging up and down on an emotional roller coaster, she snapped at him, ‘I don’t like being your holiday bit on the side, that’s what’s wrong.’
‘Where the hell did you get that idea from?’ He straightened up and took a step towards her. There was a look in his face she did not recognise. Anger? Frustration? Or perhaps he was just plain annoyed that she had found out his little two-timing game. ‘I already told you I don’t do casual sex.’
‘Who’s Melody then?’
‘Sorry?’
Was it Melody on the phone last time too? Telling her that you loved her, for god’s sake, right after…after…’ To her horror, her voice choked up with emotion and she could feel tears pricking at her eyes. ‘Oh, damn you!’ Through swimming vision, she saw his eyes crinkle and his mouth begin to curve upwards. She jutted her head forward, suddenly raging. ‘Don’t you dare laugh at me!’
His face straightened immediately but the laughter remained in his brilliant green eyes.
‘I’m not laughing,’ he said.
‘What’s that, then?’ She jabbed a finger at his face, misjudging the distance between them, and accidentally collided with his eye. ‘Oh, shit. Sorry.’
‘Ow!’ Ruefully, he rubbed his eye. ‘God, that hurt.’
‘Sorry,’ she repeated breathlessly. Then remembered why she had jabbed a finger at him in the first place, and renewed her frown instead. ‘But you shouldn’t have laughed at me. And then lied about it.’
‘I wasn’t lying. It’s not laughter. This is relief.’
‘What?’
The corners of his mouth tipped up again, and he took another hurried step backwards, seeing her expression. ‘I can’t believe you thought that …’ His grin grew wider. ‘You’re jealous of Melody.’
‘Who is she?’
‘My ex-wife.’ He backed away again as she came at him. ‘Woah. She’s a very, very ex-wife. Trust me, I’m never going there again.’
‘So why is she on the phone to you constantly.’
‘Because she wants custody of Woody.’
‘Woody?’
‘He was our snake.’ He shrugged. ‘And she’s mad because when we broke up, I took him with me. But she only wants him back to spite me.’ He rubbed his chin as though remembering some unpleasant fight where he got punched. ‘It was not an amicable break-up. Melody’s a bit of a control freak, and I … I just like to relax, you know. Her constant cleaning, and hoovering, and keeping track of my movements … It drove me mad.’
‘Your movements?’
‘Like, in and out of the house. The hours I kept at work.’
‘Oh.’
He frowned. ‘What did you think I meant?’
She avoided his gaze. ‘Oh, nothing.’
He laughed. ‘Did you think I meant … ’
‘Shut up.’
‘Okay.’ He smiled. ‘But I’m sorry I laughed before. It’s just … You have absolutely no reason to be jealous of Melody.’
‘I’m not jealous.’ Hannah stamped her foot in outrage.
‘I believe you.’ He raised his hands in a universal gesture of surrender, and then spoiled it by muttering as an aside, ‘Liar.’
A strange sound came from Hannah’s throat.
He stared. ‘Are you … growling at me?’
She set her teeth, not replying.
‘Listen.’ He moved fast, dragging her into his arms before she could escape. ‘I don’t do infidelity,’ he said against her ear, his warm breath leaving her skin tingling. ‘Trust me, I’ve been on the receiving end of that with Melody, and it’s hell. I would never inflict that on someone else.’
Hannah hesitated. ‘She went off with someone else?’
‘A cameraman. He was married, though not any longer. They made quite a pair.’ His voice dripped with sarcasm. ‘And now she wants Woody so her little family can be complete.’
Relief softened Hannah’s rigid muscles as she digested that information. It sounded like the truth too. ‘Seriously?’
‘Would I lie about Woody?’
Hannah smiled. There was a moment of silence, and then she stepped back, studying his face. ‘I feel such an idiot.’
‘Well, you are rather,’ he said kindly.
‘Hey!’ Hannah made a fist and punched him lightly on the arm.
‘Ouch.’ He pretended to rub it, and then swooped down and picked her up in his arms. Which was quite a feat, as she was not exactly a featherweight. Hannah squeaked and grabbed hold of him, but he ignored her, merely saying, ‘Mind your head.’ He manoeuvred her through the doorway only lightly banging her ankle against the door surround.
‘Excuse me,’ she said tartly, ‘but where are we going?’
‘Bed, of course. That sofa wasn’t exactly the most comfortable place to make love, you know. Hell on the knees, and I need mine in good condition.’
‘Oh yes?’
‘In case of any future encounters.’ His eyes did that crinkly, laughing thing again. He glanced down at her, and then added mischievously, ‘Talking of knees, did you know that your dungarees are on inside-out?’
After accusing Daniel unjustly of doing the dirty on her, Hannah thought she was past embarrassment. But colour flared in her face as she checked, and saw that he was right. In her hurry, she had stepped into her dungarees without noticing what she was doing.
Daniel grinned, catching her expression of dismay. ‘Don’t worry. I’ll help you take them off in a minute. Now, don’t look down.’
Then he ran up the stairs, breathing fast. Hannah closed her eyes and held on, hoping to goodness he would not trip and drop her. It would not be much fun to spend Christmas in traction. But she ought to have trusted him, because mere seconds later, she felt herself floating gently down onto the softness of his bed, and opened her eyes to see him kneeling above her.
‘Now then,’ he murmured, ‘about those dungarees.’