Chapter Six
M aryanne was so furious she couldn’t find the words to express her outrage. She opened and closed her mouth twice before she collected herself enough to proceed.
“I told you before that I don’t want you interfering in my life, and I meant it.”
“I was doing you a favor,” Nolan countered, clearly unmoved by her angry display.
In fact, he yawned loudly, covering his mouth with the back of his hand.
“Griff’s a stockbroker friend of mine and one hell of a nice guy.
If you’d given him half a chance, you might have found that out yourself.
I could see the two of you becoming good friends.
Why don’t you give it a try? You might hit it off, after all. ”
“The only thing I’d consider hitting is you.
” To her horror, tears of rage flooded her eyes.
“Don’t ever try that again. Do you understand?
” Not waiting for his reply, she turned abruptly, stalked down the hall to her apartment and unlocked the door.
She flung it shut with sufficient force to rattle the windows on three floors.
She paced back and forth several times, blew her nose once and decided she hadn’t told him nearly enough. Throwing open her door, she rushed down the hall to Nolan’s apartment again. She banged twice as hard as she had originally.
Nolan opened the door, wearing a martyr’s expression. He cocked one eyebrow expressively. “What is it this time?”
“And furthermore you’re the biggest coward I’ve ever met. If I still worked for the newspaper, I’d write a column so all of Seattle would know exactly what kind of man you are.” Her voice wobbled just a little, but that didn’t diminish the strength of her indignation.
She stomped back to her own apartment and she hadn’t been there two seconds before there was a pounding on her door. It didn’t surprise her to find Nolan Adams on the other side. He might have appeared calm, but his eyes sparked with an angry fire. They narrowed slightly as he glowered at her.
“What did you just say?” he asked.
“You heard me. You’re nothing but a coward. Coward, coward, coward!” With that she slammed her door so hard that a framed family photo hanging on the wall crashed to the floor. Luckily the glass didn’t break.
Her chest heaving, Maryanne picked up the photo, wiped it off and carefully replaced it. But for all her outward composure, her hands were trembling. No sooner had she completed the task than Nolan beat on her door a second time.
“Now what?” she demanded, whipping open the door. “I would have thought you got my message.”
“I got it all right. I just don’t happen to like it.”
“Tough.” She would have slammed the door again, but before she could act, a loud banging came from the direction of the floor. Not knowing what it was, Maryanne instinctively jumped back.
Nolan drew a deep breath, and Maryanne could tell he was making an effort to compose himself. “All right, Mrs. McBride,” Nolan shouted at the floor, “we’ll hold it down.”
“Who’s Mrs. McBride?”
“The lady who lives in the apartment below you.”
“Oh.” Maryanne had been too infuriated to realize she was shouting so loudly half the apartment building could hear. She felt ashamed at her loss of control and guilty for disturbing her neighbors—but she was still furious with Nolan.
The man in question glared at her. “Do you think it’s possible to discuss this situation without involving any more doors?” he asked sharply. “Or would you rather wait until someone phones the police and we’re both arrested for disturbing the peace?”
She glared back at him defiantly. “Very funny,” she said, turning around and walking into her apartment. As she knew he would, Nolan followed her inside.
Maryanne moved into the kitchen. Preparing a pot of coffee gave her a few extra minutes to gather her dignity, which had been as abused as her apartment door.
Mixed with the anger was a chilling pain that cut straight through her heart.
Nolan’s thinking so little of her that he could casually pass her on to another man was mortifying enough.
But knowing he considered it a favor only heaped on the humiliation.
“Annie, please listen—”
“Did it ever occur to you that arranging this date with Griff might offend me?” she cried.
Nolan seemed reluctant to answer. “Yes,” he finally said, “it did. I tried to catch you earlier this afternoon, but you weren’t in.
This wasn’t the kind of situation I felt comfortable explaining in a note, so I took the easy way out and left Griff to introduce himself.
I didn’t realize you’d take it so personally. ”
“How else was I supposed to take it?”
Nolan glanced away uncomfortably. “Let’s just say I was hoping you’d meet him and the two of you would spend the evening getting to know each other. Griff comes from a well-established family and—”
“That’s supposed to impress me?”
“He’s the type of man your father would arrange for you to meet,” Nolan said, his voice sandpaper-gruff.
“How many times do I have to tell you I don’t need a second father?” His mention of her family reminded her of the way she was deceiving them, which brought a powerful sense of remorse.
He muttered tersely under his breath, then shook his head. “Obviously I blew it. Would it help if I apologized?”
An apology, even a sincere one, wouldn’t dissolve the hurt. She looked up, about to tell him exactly that, when her eyes locked with his.
He stood a safe distance from her, his expression so tender that her battered heart rolled defencelessly to her feet.
She knew she ought to throw him out of her home and refuse to ever speak to him again.
No one would blame her. She tried to rally her anger, but something she couldn’t explain or understand stopped her.
All the emotion must have sharpened her perceptions.
Never had she been more aware of Nolan as a man.
The space separating them seemed to close, drawing them toward each other.
She could smell the clean scent of the soap he used and hear the music of the rain as it danced against her window.
She hadn’t even realized, until this moment, that it was raining.
“I am sorry,” he said quietly.
Maryanne nodded and wiped the moisture from her eyes. She wasn’t a woman who cried easily, and the tears were a surprise.
“What you said about my being a coward is true,” Nolan admitted. He sighed heavily. “You frighten me, Annie.”
“You mean my temper?”
“No, I deserved that.” He grinned that lazy insolent grin of his.
“What is it about me you find so unappealing?” She had to know what was driving him away, no matter how much the truth damaged her pride.
“Unappealing?” His abrupt laugh was filled with irony.
“I wish I could find something, anything, unappealing about you, but I can’t.
” Dropping his gaze, he stepped back and cleared his throat.
When he spoke again, his words were brusque, impatient.
“I was a lot more comfortable with you before we met.”
“You thought of me as a debutante.”
“I assumed you were a pampered immature…girl. Not a woman. I expected to find you ambitious and selfish, so eager to impress your father with what you could do that it didn’t matter how many people you stepped on.
Then we did the Celebrity Debate, and I discovered that none of the things I wanted to believe about you were true. ”
“Then why—”
“What you’ve got to understand,” Nolan added forcefully, “is that I don’t want to become involved with you.”
“That message has come through loud and clear.” She moistened her lips and cast her gaze toward the floor, afraid he’d see how vulnerable he made her feel.
Suddenly he was standing directly in front of her, so close his breath warmed her face. With one gentle finger, he lifted her chin, raising her eyes to his.
“All evening I was telling myself how noble I was,” he said. “Griff Bradley is far better suited to you than I’ll ever be.”
“Stop saying that!”
He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her against him.
“There can’t ever be any kind of relationship between us,” he said, his voice rough.
“I learned my lesson years ago, and I’m not going to repeat that mistake.
” But contrary to everything he was saying, his mouth lowered to hers until their lips touched.
The kiss was slow and familiar. Their bottom lips clung as Nolan eased away from her.
“That wasn’t supposed to happen,” he murmured.
“I won’t tell anyone if you won’t,” she whispered.
“Just remember what I said,” he whispered back. “I don’t do well with rich girls. I already found that out. The hard way.”
“I’ll remember,” she said softly, looking up at him.
“Good.” And then he kissed her again.
* * *
It was three days before Maryanne saw Nolan.
She didn’t need anyone to tell her he was avoiding her.
Maybe he thought falling in love would wreak havoc with his comfortable well-ordered life.
If he’d given her a chance, Maryanne would’ve told him she didn’t expect him to fill her days.
She had her new job, and she was fixing up her apartment.
Most importantly, she had her writing, which kept her busy the rest of the time.
She’d recently queried a magazine about doing a humorous article on her experiences working for Rent-A-Maid.
“Here’s Nolan now,” Barbara whispered as she hurried past Maryanne, balancing three plates.
Automatically Maryanne reached for a water glass and a menu and followed Nolan to the booth. He was halfway into his seat when he saw her. He froze and his narrowed gaze flew across the room to the middle-aged waitress.
Barbara didn’t appear in the least intimidated. “Hey, what did you expect?” she called out. “We were one girl short, and when Maryanne applied for the job she gave you as a reference. Besides, she’s a good worker.”