âIt was just a kiss.â
Flynn raked a hand through his dark hair as he continued, âBetween two consenting adults, I might add. Now, if weâd ended up in bed I might be able to understand you feeling slightlyâ¦maneuvered.â
âI barely know you,â Marigold snapped.
Dark eyebrows rose mockingly. âFlynn Moreau, single and of sound mind,â he offered lazily. âAnything else youâd deem important?â
âPlenty.â
âThen weâll have to see to that,â he said very softly.
He was interested in her? A man like himâsuccessful, wealthy, charismatic and powerful? She couldnât quite believe itâ¦.
HELEN BROOKS lives in Nothamptonshire, England, and is married with three children. As she is a committed Christian, busy housewife and mother, her spare time is at a premium, but her interests include reading, swimming, gardening and walking her two energetic, inquisitive and very endearing young dogs. Her long-cherished aspiration to write became a reality when she put pen to paper on reaching the age of forty, and sent the result off to Mills and Boon.
âOH, NO, please, please donât do this to me.â Marigold shut her eyes, thick dark lashes falling briefly on honey-smooth skin before she raised them again to glare at the dashboard in front of her. âWhat are you doing to me, Myrtle? Weâre miles from anywhere and the weatherâs foul. You canât have a tantrum now. I didnât mean it a mile or two back when I called you crabby.â
The ancient little car didnât reply by so much as a cough or a splutter, but Marigold suspected there was a distinctly smug air of âYou should think before you speakâ to Myrtleâs demeanour as the carâs four wheels settled themselves more comfortably into the two inches of snow coating the road in front of them. The old engine had been hiccuping for the last half an hour or so before dying completely.
Great. Just great. Marigold peered out into the driving snow that was already coating the windscreen now the wipers had ceased their labouring. In another hour it would be dark, and here she was, stuck in the middle of nowhere and with what looked like a very cold walk in front of her. She couldnât stay in the carâsheâd freeze to death out here if no one came alongâand for the last little while there hadnât been sight of a house or any dwelling place on the road.
She reached out and unhooked the piece of paper with the directions to Sugar Cottage off the dashboard, wondering if she had taken a wrong turning somewhere. But she hadnât, she assured herself in the next moment. She knew she hadnât. And Emma had warned her the cottage was remote, but that had been exactly what she wanted. It still was, if only she could get to the flipping place!
She studied the directions again, frowning slightly as she concentrated on working out how far she still had to go along the country track, her fine curved brows drawing together over eyes which were of a vivid violet-blue. The last building had been that âolde-worldeâ thatched pub sheâd passed about ten miles back, and then sheâd driven on forâshe consulted the directions againâprobably another mile or two before turning off the main road into a country lane. And then it had been just a rough track for the last few miles. Perhaps it wasnât so far now to Sugar Cottage? Whatever, she had no choice but to start walking.
She allowed herself one last heartfelt sigh before turning and surveying the laden back seat. Right. Her wellington boots were in her old university knapsack along with an all-enveloping cagoule that nearly came down to her toes! She had packed her torch in there too after Emma had emphasised umpteen times how isolated and off the beaten track the cottage was. Mind you, Emma had been more concerned about the electricity failingâa common occurrence in winter apparentlyâor Marigold having to dig her way to the car from the front door. Theyâd both assumed sheâd actually reach the cottage before any dramas reared their heads.
There was a large manor house across the other side of the valley, Emma had said, but basically the small cottage in Shropshire she had inherited from her grandmother in the spring was secluded enough for one to feel insulated from the outside world.
And right now, Marigold told herself firmly as she struggled into her thick, warm fleece before pulling on the cagoule, that was worth braving a snowstorm for. No telephone and no TV, Emma had continued when sheâd offered Marigold the use of the cottage over Christmasâher grandmother had refused to allow any such suspect modern inventions over the threshold! And the old lady had baked all her own bread, kept chickens and a cow in the paddock next to the house, and after her husband died had remained by herself in her home until passing away peacefully in her sleep aged ninety-two. Marigold thought sheâd have liked to meet Emmaâs grandmother.