Somehow, she was worming her way right into the heart of him. And Nathan wasn’t sure how to keep her at a distance anymore. Or even if he wanted to. Which worried him more than a little.
He hadn’t thought about anything but business for years. Now, his life was on hold and he was in a situation where the rules had all changed on him. He was in a place where there was too little work to do and too few distractions to keep him from having too much time to think. To wonder. To ask himself a few fundamental questions. Like what his life might have been like if he’d taken a different path.
He supposed most men wondered those things from time to time, but he never had. He’d never had any doubts about his life or how he lived it.
Until now.
Until Keira.
“What’re you thinking?” she asked.
“No way,” he said. “I’m not playing that game again. I’m in no mood to get frostbite, thanks.”
Keira laughed, gave him a punch on the arm and said, “Fine, coward. Can I use your satellite phone?”
He turned and looked at her, curiosity taking small, annoying bites of him. “Who’re you going to call? The lines are all down, remember?”
“My sister,” Keira said. “I know, it’s really long distance, you know, to London and all. But I won’t stay on long and I’ll pay for the call.”
Something inside him eased back and he really didn’t want to explore what that might mean. Instead, he rummaged through the briefcase beside him on the floor, came up with the phone and handed it over. “Talk as long as you want. My treat.”
“Wow. You’ll do anything to get me to leave you alone, huh?”
The answer to that question should have been yes. Since he wasn’t sure anymore if it was or not, he said nothing, just turned back to his computer and began to delete his well-thought-out letter.
Keira punched in her sister’s number as she walked into the kitchen and poured herself a cup of coffee. While she waited for Kelly to pick up, she took a sip and leaned back against the kitchen counter.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Kel,” Keira said, pushing away from the counter and walking toward the bank of windows. Her gaze fixed on the storm still blowing like crazy out there, she listened to Kelly’s excited yelp and settled in for a good talk.
“Where have you been?” Kelly demanded. “I’ve been trying to get you forever but the phone at home’s out of order and, by the way, how are you calling me and whose phone is it? I didn’t recognize the number.”
Keira laughed, took another sip of hot coffee and said, “Big storm blew in yesterday. Phone lines are down.”
“Then how—”
“It’s a satellite phone,” Keira said quickly. “Nathan let me borrow it.”
“Nathan, is it?” Kelly whistled a little, then asked, “what’s he doing at the house?”
“He’s not at the house, Mom—I’m at his place.”
“You mean the lodge?”
“That’s the one.” Keira grinned and watched her reflection smile back at her.
“So this storm. How bad is it?”
“Phone lines down, remember?”
“Which means the roads are blocked, which means you’re stranded in that big lodge with Nathan Barrister?”
Keira laughed. “All that college wasn’t a waste after all. You’re really quick.”
“Very funny. How did this happen? Oh, K. You slept with him, didn’t you?”
“Kelly…” Keira glanced back over her shoulder, as if Nathan could hear her sister’s voice.
“You did. I can so hear it in your tone. It’s that, this is none of your business, butt out, Kelly, tone. I know it well.”
“And yet,” Keira said through gritted teeth, “you always seem to ignore it.”
“I’m sorry. No, wait. I’m not. Honest to God, Keira, are you nuts? This is Nathan Barrister, for God’s sake. He is sooooooo not your type.”
A quick jolt of anger shot through Keira but she managed to squelch it before she could shout. “What exactly is my type then, Kel? You tell me.”
“Someone remotely normal? As in, not some damn recluse? Someone who isn’t one of the richest men on the planet? Someone who isn’t renowned for strings of one night stands?”
Well, Keira thought bitterly, she’d had to ask. “You’re really making me sorry I called,” she muttered and took another drink of coffee, appreciating the scalding heat as it sang down her throat.
“It’s not like I don’t want you to find somebody,” Kelly said, her voice a lot softer now, as if carrying an apology she wouldn’t actually say, “it’s just. Keira, you’ve been down this road before, remember? Remember how hurt you were?”
“Trust me,” Keira said tightly. “I remember.”
How in the hell could she forget? Three years ago, she’d fallen madly, wildly in love with an Olympic skier who was in town training over the winter. Max had been exciting and funny and sexy and he had seemed to care for her as much as she had for him.
In a few short months, they had gotten so close that Keira was mentally making plans for a life together. They spent every night locked in each other’s arms. And Keira had never been so happy.
She’d never seen him for what he really was. Never suspected that he didn’t feel the same way she did.
Until the day his fiancée rolled into town.
And Max, smooth, gorgeous Max, had turned and introduced Keira to the woman he was going to marry—as a “good friend.”
The pain of that humiliation was going to be with her forever. Seeing the sympathetic understanding in the other woman’s eyes when they met had told Keira that she wasn’t the first woman he’d cheated with. Wasn’t the first woman he’d lied to.
But that information had done little to heal a broken heart.
So, when the aching misery had finally faded along with her memories, Keira had made herself a promise. To protect herself, she wasn’t going to fall for anyone again. Wouldn’t believe more pretty lies. Wouldn’t let a man get so deep inside her that she couldn’t shake him loose any time she wanted to.
And her plan had worked pretty well. Until Nathan Barrister had walked into her life. Now she knew that her sister was right to worry. Because Keira was falling for him.
Despite knowing better, despite knowing that there was no future for them, her heart hadn’t learned its lesson.