A Christmas Seduction

‘Hello, I’m Caroline Stevens, and these two terrors are Tom and Ellie.’ Tom, Laura guessed, was about six, and Ellie four. ‘I’m sorry, I don’t know your name. Jon never mentioned he was bringing a guest. Come inside. Let me take your coat.’

She urged Laura into the warmth of the house and helped her off with her coat. Laura watched as she hung it in the closet, very much aware that, for all the other woman’s friendliness, she was struggling to be polite. It occurred to her that Caroline Stevens hadn’t expected Jonathan to bring a woman with him, and was surprised to find herself upset by it. Perhaps Jonathan’s feelings weren’t unreciprocated after all.

‘What the hell are you doing here?’

That never-to-be-forgotten voice set the fine hairs all over Laura’s body on end. She turned towards the stairs where the owner of it stood on the half-landing. Against her will, the sheer masculine appeal of him took her breath away. Damn it, she thought as her knees showed a tendency to go disastrously weak, why on earth did this have to be happening to her now? It didn’t seem to matter to her senses that he was glaring at her, and that she actively disliked him; she was responding to the unseen signals he was putting out. It was that left-over animal instinct. Nature was telling her receptive hormones that here was an ideal male with which to make sure of the continuation of the species. Well, she had news for Mother Nature. The man was far from ideal, and she had no intentions of getting within a good country mile of procreation!

‘And good evening to you too, Quinn,’ she greeted him blithely, and he descended the last few stairs in no time at all.

‘Never mind that. Just give me a straight answer,’ he commanded imperiously, and his sister hastily stepped forward.

‘Quinn, for heaven’s sake! She’s a guest!’ She remonstrated with him, but he met that with a snort of derision.

‘Laura Maclane is no guest in this house,’ he returned shortly, and the other woman’s eyes grew round as saucers.

‘Laura Maclane? Oh.!’ She stared at Laura as if she had suddenly grown horns.

‘Is she the witch lady Stella talked about?’ Tom’s young voice piped up, and Laura caught her breath in dismay.

She didn’t think ‘witch’ was the term her half-sister had used but, whatever word it had been, she found it hurt to be spoken of that way. And when Laura was hurt she got angry. How dared Stella talk about her in front of the children? It was inexcusable!

Their mother clearly thought so too. ‘Goodness, Tom, what a thing to say!’ Caroline exclaimed in embarrassment. ‘I must apologise for my son; he had no idea he was being rude.’

Tom frowned heavily, taking exception to the rebuke. ‘Uncle Quinn didn’t tell Stella off when she said it to him!’ he complained, and his mother’s colour deepened.

‘That’s quite enough, young man,’ she ordered in a choked voice, only to hear her daughter put in her ten cents’ worth.

‘Is she really a witch, Mama?’ Ellie asked in a quavering voice, and Laura realised the tot was close to being really scared.

Cursing her insensitive half-sister, Laura quickly set about allaying her fears. ‘Of course I’m not, sweetheart,’ she responded, squatting down so that she could smile directly into the little girl’s eyes. ‘But I think your uncle and I are about to exchange words, so perhaps it would be better if you went inside, hmm?’ she suggested gently, not wanting to alarm her further. Rising, she looked pointedly at Caroline who, after a momentary hesitation, caught her children by the hand and led them away.

Once they were gone, Laura turned to her protagonist.

‘Have you been telling tales about me, Quinn, darling?’ she drawled sweetly, whilst her eyes shot daggers at him. His own eyes took on a sardonic gleam.

‘I don’t need to. Your reputation goes before you. This is the last place you should look to for friends.’

‘I’m aware of that,’ she snapped. It was why she was

here, so she could change the way they thought about her. ‘I’m angry that somebody’s been talking in front of the children. That is unforgivable!’ she responded hotly.

‘I agree, which was why I put a stop to it,’ Quinn replied reasonably, promptly taking the wind out of her sails.

Disconcerted, she eyed him suspiciously. ‘You did?’

Quinn nodded in assent. ‘As soon as I realised what Stella was doing. Clearly I was too late for some of it.’

‘Oh.’ Darn it. She did not want to be grateful to this man for anything.

‘I can see you’re overwhelmed with gratitude,’ he observed laconically, and she scowled.

‘Stella ought to know that little pitchers have big ears,’ she rejoined huffily, refusing to do what he wanted and thank him. The words would choke her.

‘She knows now,’ Quinn asserted firmly. ‘She won’t be doing it again.’

In a dizzying about-face, Laura instantly felt sympathy for Stella. ‘I bet she loved that! Do you always expect everyone to do what you want?’

The faintest hint of a mocking smile twitched at his lips. ‘Let’s just say I’m dangerous to cross.’

Laura raised an eyebrow in a gesture less than impressed. ‘So is the street outside my studio, but I do it all the time.’

The statement produced another smile. ‘Am I supposed to take that as a challenge?’ he enquired mildly, and Laura was reminded that a crocodile appeared to smile just before it bit your hand off.

‘Do I look like a fool?’

‘Actually, no, but that can be deceptive. Looking at you, who would have thought you would sleep your way into a fortune?’ he remarked sardonically, and she felt her palm itch with a violent need to slap him hard.

Quinn Mannion had made up his mind about her before they had ever met. As far as he was concerned, the only thing she could have wanted from Alexander was money, and the only way to get it was with sex. What that said of his opinion of his godfather made her furious. Under the circumstances she had no qualms about responding in the provocative way he so disliked.

‘Oh, but I didn’t sleep. That wouldn’t have got me anywhere,’ she retorted silkily, and was immensely gratified to see she had indeed got under his skin.

‘You have no shame, do you?’

Her smile was as unrepentant as she could possibly make it. ‘None at all where Alexander is concerned.’

Quinn shook his head in reluctant admiration at her nerve. ‘It’s hard to know whether to call you brave or foolhardy. You almost defy description. So what does bring you here? Other than the need to flaunt your victory in the face of the family?’

Tipping her head to one side, Laura let her lips curve lazily. ‘Perhaps I simply wanted to see your fabulous blue eyes again. Did you know they look stunning when you’re angry?’ she taunted and, the funny thing was, it was quite true. Even sending out frosty messages, they were the most amazing eyes she had ever seen.

A strange expression flitted in and out of those blue depths as he went quite still. ‘Why are you coming on to me, Laura Maclane?’ he asked with disquieting softness, sending a trickle of unease down her spine.

Bearding the lion was a risky business, and probably not the wisest move she could have made under the circumstances. As a rule, her instinct for self-preservation would have made her back off, but not with this man. Unable to resist the impulse to drive a further dart under his skin, she sent him a sultry look from under her lashes and reached out to brush an imaginary speck of fluff off his Argyle sweater.

‘Why do you think?’ she returned audaciously, and almost leapt out of her skin when his hand snaked out and closed tightly about her wrist. She winced and had to bite down hard on her lip to keep from crying out. ‘Brute!’

‘I’ve warned you about playing games. I’m not my godfather. I am neither kind nor a fool. If you’ve come here to cause trouble, I can give you more trouble than you can imagine. Do you want to think again, darling?’

Of all the. If he thought he could get away with manhandling her, he was wrong. Laura was winding up to give him a strong piece of her mind when a sound at the door made them both turn.

‘What’s going on here?’ Jonathan asked sharply as he came in with their cases. Setting them aside, he closed the door and frowned at Quinn who slowly let Laura go.

‘So she came here with you, did she?’ he observed evenly, as Jonathan disposed of his own coat.

‘Do you have a problem with that?’ Turning from the closet, Jonathan crossed to Laura’s side and slipped an arm around her shoulder in a purely protective attitude.

Quinn eyed the gesture speculatively. ‘I’m wondering if you’re out of your mind. Bringing her here is the last thing everyone needs.’

‘It doesn’t alter the fact that Laura is my guest, and as such has a perfect right to be here,’ Jonathan argued, not in the least daunted by Quinn’s frosty response.