Carole Mortimer - Mistletoe Magic

Especially as she wasn’t really sure herself that there was any need for them to do so…

‘I need to make a call myself,’ he insisted firmly, following her from the room.

Molly turned to glare at him as she hurried to the kitchen to answer the telephone. ‘You do realise that everyone is going to start speculating about the way we keep disappearing off together like this,’ she snapped impatiently.

‘Let them,’ he came back harshly, lifting the receiver from the wall before Molly could even reach for it. ‘Hello? No, this isn’t Sam,’ he answered slowly, giving Molly a raised eyebrow at actually receiving a response this time. ‘Would you like me to—? Damn it,’ he rasped, holding the receiver away from his ear before slamming it back on the wall. ‘She rang off,’ he muttered impatiently.

‘She?’ Molly prompted frowningly.

‘She.’ Gideon nodded grimly.

Molly eyed him warily. ‘Why are you looking at me like that?’ she asked slowly, very much afraid that the temporary truce between them was about to come to an end.

‘Because Sam isn’t here for me to look at him like that,’ Gideon snapped, moving abruptly away from her to start pacing up and down the kitchen.

Molly watched him for several seconds, not at all sure she knew what was going on—she certainly had no idea what Gideon was thinking behind that grimly set mask.

She frowned. ‘Gideon—’

‘What does your brother think he’s playing at?’ Gideon bit out angrily, his eyes glittering deeply blue. ‘Isn’t a beautiful wife like Crys and a newborn son enough for him?’

‘Well, of course it’s… Gideon, what are you implying?’ Molly stiffened indignantly as she began to get an inkling of exactly what Gideon was saying.

He continued his pacing. ‘It’s the usual scenario, isn’t it? The mistress telephoning her lover over Christmas because he’s spending time with his family and she feels left out—’

‘Now, hold on just a minute,’ Molly exploded incredulously. He couldn’t really think that Sam…?

‘Do you have another explanation for the way this woman keeps ringing off when it obviously isn’t Sam answering her calls?’ Gideon paused in his pacing to challenge her scathingly.

She glared at him. ‘I don’t have any sort of explanation for the telephone calls, or any reason for a woman to keep hanging up like that. But the one thing I do know is that Sam does not have a mistress.’ She shook her head disgustedly. ‘Having seen how happy he and Crys are, I don’t know how you can even suggest such at thing. Unless you’re just looking for an excuse to cause trouble between them because of the way you feel about Crys,’ she added accusingly, her cheeks flushed with anger, her eyes glittering deeply brown.

Gideon became very still, every muscle and sinew of his body stiff with resentment. ‘And exactly what do you mean by that remark?’ His voice was dangerously quiet.

Molly raised her chin defiantly. ‘Anyone with eyes in their head can see that you’re in love with Crys yourself,’ she felt stung into accusing.

And then she wondered at her temerity. Had she really just voiced what had until this moment been only suspicions?

Yes, she had! But in her own defence it had only been because of the things he was saying about Sam.

How dare he say those things about Sam?

After Sam’s bad experience with his unbalanced ex-fiancée twelve years ago, he hadn’t so much as looked at another woman until he’d met Crys. And, okay, it hadn’t exactly been love at first sight between the two of them, she remembered with affection, but it was obvious to anyone that the two of them now loved each other very much, that neither of them had eyes for anyone else.

To anyone except Gideon, it would appear…

From the dangerous glitter in his eyes at the moment, she had a feeling that the only emotion he was feeling right now was murderous anger—towards her.

MOLLY eyed Gideon warily, unsure what was going to happen next—those ‘polite pills’ had most definitely worn off.

‘How dare you say something like that to me?’ Gideon demanded coldly.

‘How dare you say something like that about Sam to me?’ she returned heatedly, her hands clenched at her sides as she met his gaze unflinchingly.

He gave an impatient shake of his head. ‘Forget about that for the moment. Let’s concentrate on—’

‘No. Let’s not forget about it!’ Molly cut in determinedly. ‘Your accusations…your suspicions about Sam and some other woman are totally unfounded,’ she insisted firmly. ‘Just something nasty and trumped-up because—’

‘I would advise you not to repeat what you just said about my feelings towards Crys,’ Gideon put in softly, a nerve pulsing in his tightly clenched jaw.

Molly faced him unblinkingly. ‘Why not?’ she scorned. ‘Because, no matter what accusations you may make about other people, you are above such things? Or because it strikes a little too close to home? What—? Oh!’ She had time only to gasp before his mouth took fierce possession of hers.

And yet somehow it wasn’t a kiss of anger as before…

Gideon held her captive merely with his lips, plundering hers, and a light cupping of a hand on each of her cheeks. He held her face up to his, the kiss gentling after that first assault, sipping and tasting.

Heat coursed through her as she responded to those kisses, an aching need engulfing her. Her body curved into the hard length of his as if by instinct, and every hard contour told of his own rising desire.

His lips left hers to travel down the scented column of her throat, and the heat of his breath, the moist warmth of his lips against her skin ignited a fire wherever they touched.

She wanted this man.

Oh, how she wanted him!

His tongue probed the hollows at the base of her throat, dipping and tasting, and Molly shook with desire as she clung mindlessly to the width of his shoulders, the heat of his body matching hers.

She gasped as his teeth bit the lobe of her ear, the gasp turning to a throaty groan as that bite turned to a sensuous nibbling that raised her temperature even higher.

Finally those lips returned to hers, easily transmitting Gideon’s passion and desire, and Molly returned those emotions as she pressed closer against him.

‘Hmm-hmm,’ interrupted a softly teasing voice. ‘When you have quite finished seducing my little sister, Gideon…’ Sam drawled as the two of them sprang abruptly apart, ‘Diana has received a call on her mobile and won’t be able to join us in going to church, after all; I thought the two of you might want to come and say your goodbyes,’ he told them pointedly.

For a few moments Molly had trouble remembering who Diana was, and from the frown on Gideon’s face he wasn’t faring much better.

Although he recovered more quickly than she did, straightening purposefully before nodding abruptly. ‘I’ll go through now,’ he bit out tersely, giving a brief, dismissive nod that included both Molly and Sam before striding from the room.

Molly let out a shaky breath, momentarily closing her eyes, sure she must have imagined what had passed between herself and Gideon just now. Because it hadn’t been anger. And it hadn’t been disgust. To her, at least, it had felt like something else entirely.

She needed time to think, time to analyse what she thought had happened—

Sam was eyeing her mockingly when she opened her eyes, his smile one of teasing affection. ‘Anything I should know about, little sister?’ he asked softly.

Not until she had worked out for herself what just now had been all about. If she ever did.

And Sam certainly didn’t need to know that one of his guests believed he was having an affair with another woman, Molly recalled frowningly, the rosy haze that had briefly surrounded her disappearing completely at this recollection.