New Year Kisses: His Cinderella Mistress

‘Help yourself to milk and sugar,’ March told him dismissively as she placed a mug of coffee on the table for him. ‘In case you’re wondering, January is over in the shed dealing with early milking,’ she added dryly.

Was he really that obvious? Max wondered with a scowl. Probably, he conceded heavily. To January’s sisters, at least…

‘Now that we’ve cleared the drifts away from the doors and a path over to the shed,’ May put in pointedly.

While he lingered in his bed trying to build up the courage to get out of the warmth of the bedclothes into the cold of the room, May implied, but didn’t actually say.

‘Is there anything I can do to help?’ he offered—and as quickly realized how ridiculous he sounded; what on earth did he know about any of the workings of a farm?

March obviously found the offer just as ridiculous, giving a wry smile. ‘Stay out of everyone’s way?’ she suggested scathingly.

Feeling inadequate did not sit easily on Max’s shoulders; having it pointed out to him by the more outspoken of the Calendar sisters only made it worse!

He stood up noisily. ‘I think I’ll just go over anyway and see if there’s anything I can do for January.’

May sat back, looking at him derisively. ‘I think you’ve already done enough for her, don’t you?’ she murmured enigmatically.

Max’s gaze narrowed on her speculatively as he pulled on his heavy jacket. Obviously whatever headway he had made with May yesterday had been completely voided by having January linger in the bedroom with him last night, May definitely back to her old protective self.

Family disapproval was also something Max had never encountered before—mainly because he had never so much as suggested meeting any of the family of the women he had been involved with over the years!

God, he really had to get out of here. And not just the farmhouse, either!

Which may prove a little difficult, he discovered on opening the door; May really hadn’t been joking about the snowdrifts! They were as high as four feet along the side of the shed and the hedgerow of the track up here to the house.

‘Our uncle—Sara’s father—is going to come up from the road and clear it later this morning,’ March assured him with a mocking grin—obviously having enjoyed the look of dismay on his face for several minutes first.

Max didn’t even bother to reply as he closed the door behind him, pausing in the porch to pull on his walking boots before staggering across to the cow shed. And it really was staggering, the ground extremely slippery underfoot. But at least the snow seemed to have stopped falling.

Quite what he had expected once inside the shed, he really had no idea. But it certainly wasn’t to hear the sounds of the electric milking machines—or to see January as he had never seen her before!

Faded denims were tucked into knee-high wellington boots, a coat that looked several sizes too big for her reaching warmly down to her knees, a scarf muffled up about her face, her ebony hair all but hidden beneath a multicoloured woolen hat.

Grey eyes—the only part of her face visible!—were full of laughter as she looked up and saw his astounded expression.

She pulled the scarf down from over her mouth, grinning ruefully. ‘See what I mean about the impracticality of love at first sight!’ she derided.

Max recovered quickly, the beautiful grey eyes the same, as was her smile. ‘This certainly beats the toothpaste tube and the bare feet,’ he acknowledged dryly, moving further into the shed.

It was warmer in here than outside, probably because of the heat given off by the animals themselves. Although there were other disadvantages, the animals giving off a smell that was overwhelming.

He grimaced. ‘May still seems a little—annoyed with me, this morning.’

‘With you, too?’ January shrugged. ‘She’ll get over it.’

Max was still curious as to where the elder Calendar sister had been when she’d claimed she was going to the dentist. But as neither of her sisters seemed to have the least suspicion, and May herself was completely unforthcoming, he didn’t think he stood much chance of finding out.

‘I’ll be finished in here soon, if you would like to go back to the house,’ January offered. ‘Unless, of course, it really is a little too frosty over there?’ She quirked dark brows teasingly.

‘I’m sure I can cope,’ Max drawled. ‘But I’ll wait for you, anyway.’

In actual fact, he quite enjoyed watching January’s dexterous movements as she finished milking the first set of cows before moving on to the next.

He also couldn’t help smiling as he imagined the faces of the guests staying at the hotel if they could see the glamorous singer from the piano-bar now. January’s gorgeous figure was completely hidden in the bulky clothing she wore, and, as far as he could tell, she didn’t have on even a dusting of make-up, not even a lip gloss.

And yet she was still beautiful to him, he realized somewhat dazedly. What was happening to him?

It certainly wasn’t the right time for his mobile telephone to start ringing. Mainly because he could too easily guess who the caller was going to be!

Despite the time difference between here and America, Max knew from experience that Jude was a man who needed very little sleep—and who didn’t appreciate that others might not be quite so fortunate!

‘Shouldn’t you get that?’ January prompted curiously as he made no effort to take the intrusive telephone from his pocket.

He shrugged. ‘If it’s important, I’m sure they will call back.’

But as the telephone kept ringing Max was more convinced than ever that the caller had to be Jude; the other man really didn’t take no for an answer! Besides, when hadn’t Max been available to take Jude’s calls?

He looked about his surroundings self-derisively. When standing in the middle of a cow shed, with the woman who was slowly driving him insane, that was when!

CHAPTER TEN

JANUARY gave an inner sigh of relief as Max’s attention was distracted when he finally decided to answer the call. Despite her earlier self-derision, it had been very unnerving having him standing there watching her as she worked.

For one thing, for all this was her usual garb when she was working on the farm, she looked so unglamorous. For another, she was still so aware of the fact that she couldn’t be alone with this man for longer than two minutes without ending up in his arms!

Not that she thought there was much chance of that happening at the moment—Max would need to be blind as well as besotted to find her attractive the way she looked right now. And January knew he was neither of those things…

‘Don’t you ever sleep, Jude?’ she heard him snap into the mobile telephone.

Jude…? Jude Marshall?

‘Jude, I believe we had this same conversation yesterday,’ he bit out irritably.

About the three of them, no doubt, January acknowledged resentfully, unashamedly listening to Max’s side of the conversation now even while she gave every appearance of continuing with the milking.

‘They simply do not want to sell, Jude,’ Max rasped. ‘That is, of course, your prerogative,’ he continued coldly. ‘No. No, I don’t. I—’ He broke off as one of the cows gave an extremely loud moo in the background. ‘What was that?’ he obviously repeated the question that had been put to him, giving January a brief grimace before replying. ‘I have the television on, Jude,’ he invented. ‘The news. Look, Jude, I’m sure you didn’t telephone me at this ridiculous hour, wasting your time and money, to talk about what I may or may not be watching on television! But for your information, we’ve had snowstorms here—Yes, snowstorms! I am freezing cold, and not a little fed up with this whole situation—’ He listened for a few seconds. ‘So fire me!’ he snapped before abruptly ending the call.

January stared at him. Had he really just told the owner of the Marshall Corporation, his friend as well as employer, what he could do with his job? And if so, why had he…?

‘Don’t look so worried,’ Max drawled as he looked up and saw January’s stunned expression. ‘Jude won’t fire me,’ he sighed. ‘We go too far back for him to ever do that.’

So that challenge had just been bravado on his part? January could hardly contain her disappointment. For a moment there she had really thought—

The mobile telephone began to ring a second time. Obviously Jude Marshall wasn’t a man used to taking no for an answer.

Well—obviously, January instantly chided herself, otherwise Max wouldn’t be here in the first place. Something she would do well to keep remembering; Max was only here to try and persuade her and her sisters into selling their home.

If only she didn’t love him so much!

‘January?’

She lowered long lashes over her eyes, determined that Max wouldn’t see her tears. Let him play his stupid power games with Jude Marshall—and leave her alone.

‘Shouldn’t you answer that?’ she said huskily as he came to stand in front of her, the ringing mobile telephone still in his hand.

‘I can talk to Jude any time,’ Max rasped, the ringing ceasing abruptly as he switched it off. ‘January—’

‘I’m really very busy, Max.’ She moved purposefully away from him as he would have reached out and taken her in his arms—so much for thinking she looked undesirable! ‘And you’re cold,’ she reminded him determinedly. ‘My uncle should have cleared the track shortly, so you’ll be able to drive back to the hotel,’ she added dismissively, her chin rising challengingly. ‘Maybe even book yourself a flight back to America, away from this cold weather,’ she added scathingly.

A nerve pulsed in his tightly clenched jaw. ‘Is that what you want?’ he muttered grimly.

‘Of course,’ she assured him brightly. ‘We all just want to get on with our lives. Don’t you?’ she derided.

His eyes glittered. ‘My life isn’t in America!’ he snapped.

‘Well, wherever it is, then,’ January shrugged, wishing he would just go—before those threatening tears began to fall.

She simply couldn’t bear the thought of Max going completely out of her life, of never seeing him again.

Max stared at her for several long minutes, his expression grim. ‘Okay,’ he finally muttered forcefully. ‘I’ll go back to the farmhouse and wait for your uncle. But I’m still coming with you later to see Josh,’ he warned hardly.

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