Page 97 of The Christmas Holiday
‘No. I’m just the words. He’s the… Oh!’ I pointed across the room with my glass to where Hunter was. Except he wasn’t there any more. He was next to me. And he was now wearing my almost full glass of orange juice over what just moments ago had been a pure white shirt.
‘F… lip!’ Hunter exclaimed as he caughtthe owner’s eye mid exclamation.
‘Oh God! I’m so sorry! I was just… I thought you were over there.’
‘I’m rather wishing I’d stayed over there now,’ he said, peering down at his shirt.
‘Take it off!’ the owner exclaimed and several bridesmaids’ heads snapped round.
‘Excuse me?’
‘The shirt. Take it off. Now. The juice will stain. It is good shirt. Take it off. I have replacementfor you to wear and we will get shirt back to you by this evening. Good as new. I know many tricks.’
‘Oh. Umm. That’s very kind of you but I’m OK, really. It wasn’t expensive at all and I’m sure it’ll come out in the wash anyway.’ Hunter had begun stepping backwards as the petite woman advanced on him, reaching for the buttons on his shirt. Misjudging, he bumped into a wall. His eyes foundLiv and sent out a silent plea.
‘I’m sure the hotel laundry will do a great job on the shirt, Miss Poliakov. You really needn’t trouble yourself,’ Liv charmed.
‘No trouble. Shirt off, please.’
Liv looked over the top of the woman’s head and gave Hunter a shrug. He switched his gaze from her back to Miss Poliakov, who held out her hand, waiting for the shirt. An assistant now stoodbeside her holding another for him to change into while the rest of us watched the scene play out.
Hunter tipped his head back against the wall and did a wide-eyed blink before letting out a deep, resigned sigh. His gaze dropped to meet mine, holding it steadily as his fingers worked quickly at the buttons, before stripping the shirt off, revealing the hard, toned body his clothing had onlyhinted at. A few comments whispered behind hands and one loud wolf-whistle seemed to go unnoticed by him as he grabbed the other shirt and speedily slid his arms in, tucking it in around his back, fussing for a moment with the collar. My eyes were fixed on him, unable to turn away. He lowered his gaze momentarily, the deep breaths he was taking showing with the rise of his shoulders. And then helifted his eyes again and met mine, now awash with tears.
‘Mia…’ He stepped towards me but I shoved at his chest, pushing past and out of the studio, forgetting until the instant I stepped outside that London was in the middle of a wonderfully festive, but bloody freezing, snowstorm. I’d quickly grabbed my bag as I rushed out, but had completely forgotten my coat. I couldn’t go back in there.Not right now. Thoughts tumbled and twisted through my mind and I needed to understand them before I went anywhere near Hunter Scott again.
‘Mia!’ his voice called out over the wind now whipping snow into my eyes.
‘Don’t come near me. I don’t want to hear it now.’
‘Mia. You’re going to freeze to bloody death. Here.’ He held out the arms of my coat. Hesitating a moment, I quickly pushedmy arms down into the sleeves and belted it around me. I might be stubborn but I wasn’t stupid.
‘We need to talk.’
I shook off the hand he’d laid on my arm. ‘I tried to do that before and you weren’t interested! Now I… I can’t Hunter, I’m sorry.’
I turned to leave.
‘Now who’s walking away?’ His voice was even, but I could hear the strain in it.
Quickly I spun back. ‘That’snot fair and you know it. I wanted to help and you wouldn’t let me in! You told me nothing was wrong! That nothing had happened! But the fact that there are two huge, angry scars on your chest and stomach that sure as hell weren’t there before tells me that’s not exactly true. No wonder you never took your T-shirt off at the pool, and always slept in one when we had to share a room. You hid that fromme. Purposely! But Liv and Sandeep know, don’t they? That’s what she nearly put her foot in, isn’t it? Before, in the hotel bar? And as for this…’ I reached out and lifted the fine chain he wore – on the end of which was the engagement ring he’d put on my finger six years earlier. ‘What the hell is this? What? You just carry it around so you’ll have one handy the next time you find someone elseyou fancy becoming engaged to for a while?’
He caught my hand as I let go of the chain. ‘You know why I wouldn’t let you in, Mia?’
I met his eyes, and suddenly I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the reason. ‘I wouldn’t let you in because I was afraid that, if I did, I wouldn’t let you go again! I did that once and it nearly killed me. I wasn’t prepared to put myself through that again!’
‘And now?’ I said, eventually.
Hunter moved us out of the flow of the pedestrian traffic, towards the lee of the building. The snow twirled in the wind, stinging our faces and chilling us to the core.
‘I walked away before and it’s something I’ll always regret.’
I stared at him, my mind turning over everything that had happened since Hunter had walked back into my life. All punctuatedby what I’d just seen.
‘Why would you regret it? You don’t even like me.’
He gave a wry smile. ‘Of course I like you.’
‘You didn’t want to be anywhere near me! You said that yourself!’
