Rapid Response

She jumped when she realised he’d been speaking. She quickly backtracked over what had happened and blushed when it struck her how childishly she’d behaved. The problem was that Ben had always managed to arouse her, and not only her temper either.

‘And I’m sorry for the way I behaved just now,’ she said swiftly, closing her mind to the thought because she couldn’t deal with the memory of how wonderful their love-making had been. ‘It was silly of me to get so het up.’

‘So that makes it one apology apiece, discounting all my minor ones, of course. Do you want to go first and make it two, or shall I do the honours?’

Ben cocked his head on one side and regarded her quizzically. A tiny smile tugged at the corners of her mouth when she saw the laughter in his eyes.

‘Oh, you can go first. After all, you probably have a lot more to apologise for than I do.’

‘Oh, nice one! That slid very smoothly between the ribs.’

He grinned and Holly felt her pulse perform a determined little hiccup as she received the full benefit of the smile. It was hard to hide her dismay because she was no longer interested in Ben that way. She’d filed him under H for history just a few short hours ago and she wasn’t about to have second thoughts because her hormones were playing up. So maybe he was the most handsome man she had ever met, and she was prepared to admit that, but she wasn’t prepared to put her heart through the mincer a second time!

‘I owe you an apology for the way I spoke about Josh this morning. I had no right to comment on your relationship.’

‘Josh and I don’t have a relationship,’ she replied without thinking. The fact that she wasn’t one-hundred per cent certain that Ben couldn’t hurt her again had to be faced. It would be both foolish and dangerous to dismiss the idea, as she’d done before.

‘You don’t? But why not? Sorry! It’s none of my business, is it?’ Ben sighed. ‘That makes it three apologies to me and one to you.’

‘It doesn’t matter,’ Holly assured him, because she certainly didn’t want to make an issue out of it. Maybe it was silly but she felt uncomfortable about discussing her love life—or lack of one—with Ben. ‘Josh and I are good friends but that’s all. He’s a really nice person and we get on extremely well but we aren’t romantically involved.’

‘Not yet.’ Ben smiled but she could see a muscle in his jaw beating away, as though it was an effort for him to appear so upbeat at the prospect of her and Josh becoming an item in the future.

‘No, not yet.’ Her smile was a little too bright but she didn’t want to think about why Ben should dislike the idea. As he’d said, it wasn’t his business…

But? a small voice interjected. Because there’d been a definite but wriggling about on the end of that sentence.

Holly quickly dismissed the thought. There were no ‘buts’ in this situation. Getting hung up on the idea that Ben might care about her would be a mistake and she didn’t intend to fall into that trap again.

‘Sounds as though you have plans,’ Ben observed with a laugh.

‘Could be. Anyway, now that we’ve got the prickly bits over and done with, what did you want to say to me?’ She quickly returned the conversation to the relatively safe topic of why he had seen fit to hijack her in the first place. She frowned when he didn’t answer. ‘Come on, Ben. Out with it.’

‘I wanted to sort out a few things but I don’t really think it’s necessary now.’

‘A few things? Like what? Whether or not I’ve got over you? Is that what you mean?’

‘Mmm.’ He grimaced. ‘How big-headed can you get? I mean, why on earth would you still be pining for me, Holly? I bet you’ve had dozens of boyfriends in the last couple of years.’

‘I’ve been out with a few people,’ she replied coolly, because she had no intention of admitting that the ‘few’ added up to just two and that neither of them had been a proper relationship. Ben had been the first and the only man she’d ever slept with, although a team of mounties on horseback wouldn’t have dragged that confession from her.

‘Of course you have,’ he agreed, obviously unperturbed by the idea of legions of men lining up to take her out.

It just went to prove how wrong she’d been to imagine he cared about her seeing Josh, Holly thought darkly. If Ben could handle the thought of her dating dozens of different men then one more wouldn’t make a scrap of difference to him! The thought stung so much that it was an effort to appear calm when he continued.

‘It’s a weight off my mind, anyway.’

‘Pardon?’

‘The fact that you’ve moved on. I’ve been racking my brain to think of a way to…well, smooth things over between us, but obviously there’s no need to worry. What happened in the past is all over and done with, isn’t it, Holly?’

‘Not quite.’ His arrogance had almost left her speechless with shock. Almost, but not quite. She stood up straighter, not even trying to hide her contempt. Maybe he hadn’t enjoyed upsetting her two years ago but he’d still gone ahead and dumped her, reneged on all those promises he’d made, broken her heart, and nothing he said or did now could change all of that.