Winter Interlude (13 page)

Still shaken from her initial question, she frowned
.
His reply
,
given so humbly
,
only irritated her
.
“That’s not an answer, that’s a cop
-
out
.
”

“No
,
it’s not,” he shot back defensively
.
“I really have no idea
.”

The silence in the car became deafening
once again
, until she waved a hand
.
“Forget it
.
I don’t know why I asked
.”
Her words came out in a rush
.
“It’s not as if anything’s going to change,”
Kate
said, wanting the subject dropped
.

More silence followed.

“Before you continue to make me feel
worse
,” he said in a lower, more penitent voice a moment later
.
“I want you to know I never thought about the effect of my words before
.
It’s not pleasant now to realize they may have hurt you, and for what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”

Mollified a little by his apology, she nodded, wishing now more than ever she’d kept her mouth shut
.
An annoying Paul was someone she could handle
.
A contrite Paul was someone she’d never seen before
.
His sincere regret played havoc on her senses.

“Look,” he said, a few miles further down the road
.
“Since we’re being honest here, I have to say I think you take too much shit from my brother
.
You’re better than that.”

Her jaw dropped open in disbelief
.
He was as bad as she in his pursuit of Judith
.
Since she had
already said more than enough, she kept the words to herself, unwilling to open Pandora’s
b
ox
.

For endless miles, the only sound came from the low hum of the radio.

“The music’s starting to get on my nerves,” Paul said,
and turned
off
the radio after they’d driven for almost an hour without a word between them
.
They were on the outskirts of Sacramento, headed into the mountains
.
“I just made up my own version of
T
wenty
Q
uestions
.
I ask the questions and you answer
.
Then you get a turn.”

“That sounds a lot like
T
ruth or
D
are
.”
Crossing her arms,
Kate
had no intention of answering any more of his questions
.
“I think we’ve had enough truth for one afternoon and I’m not about to dare you to do anything
.
I recognize a worthy adversary when I see one.”

“Come on
.
What have you got to lose?” he countered, grinning
.
“I can’t be mean, I promised Judith
—
and neither can you.”

He seemed so earnest in his request
…a
nd that engaging smile, now aimed at her, was too hard to ignore
.
Encouraging him even the least little bit was surely asking for trouble, but she couldn’t resist
.
Not when sincerity spilled out of that sexy blue gaze, so similar to Jame
s’
, yet
strangely
, nothing like his
.

Besides, he was right about one thing
.
It would help with boredom
.
“Okay,” she said,
and nodded
.

His grin expanded,
and
the mischievous glint
in his eyes
had her returning the smile
.
Even though she was a risk-taker, she might regret her decision. Those crinkles around his eyes that transformed his face, giving him a devilish appearance, sucked her right in to agreeing to the game.
She had to admit, the guy had an intriguing side
she never expected
.
Time for a little defense, she thought.
“I have the right to refuse to answer
.”

“Same here
.
Let’s see…”
He broke off, clearly warming to the idea
.
“We should make some ground rules so that it’s a fair contest
.”

“Okay
.
What’d you have in mind
?”
Kate
eased back into the seat.

“We each get to ask a question until we stump each other
.
Then the other person has the floor
,
so to speak
.
If you don’t want to answer, it’s your turn to ask
.
How’s that?”

“That’s
silly
!”
She rolled her eyes
.
“We’ll just keep passing the questions back and forth because neither one of us will answer.”

“Hmm, you’re right,” he agreed, and after taking a few minutes to think, he added, “Okay, I got it
.
The winner is the person who answers the most questions
.”

“Now you’re
being ridiculous
.”
Kate
smirked
.
“I’m sorry
,
but you really are pathetic when it comes to games
.”
Her words earned another laugh out of him
.
She joined in
.
“I’m beginning to like the way your mind works, Morrison, and that’s not a good thing
.
We’re much better off as enemies, so let’s just stay that way.”

“Oh, come on
.
Lighten up
.
If you don’t like my rules, let’s see if you can do better
.”

She thought for a few minutes
.
“Okay, how about this
.
Any question asked is fair game
.
We each keep asking until the other person refuses to answer
.
If that happens, then whoever asked the question has to answer the other person’s next question honestly and vice versa without refusing
.
Does that sound fair?”

“Sounds like a good way to kill the next hour or so,” he said,
and shot
her another grin. “Okay, fire away
.”

Kate
laughed
.
“Oh no
,
you don’t, you started it
.
You ask first.”

“Ah
!
You’re on to me
.
I should’ve known you’d see through my ploy to get you at a disadvantage,” he teased
.
“Let’s see
.
I’ve got to think of a question to ask that won’t be a risk in case you don’t want to answer
.
Give me a minute, this is going to require some thought
.”
After much contemplation, he smiled
.
“Okay, I’ve got it. I’ll stay on easy stuff for a while
.
What’s your favorite color?”

She grinned
.
“This I can handle
.
Blue.”

“Favorite singing group or vocalist?”

“Cher!”

“You’re joking
,
right?” he snorted,
then chuckled at her indignant look
.

“No
.
I told you, Cher
.
And stop laughing at my answer,” she shot back, unable to hold on
to her giggle
.
“I saw her in Vegas, and she puts on a hell of a show.”

“I think I can learn more about you than I thought from these innocuous questions.”

Sobering, she straightened
.
“This is strictly to pass time,
b
ucko
—
not to get to know each other.”

“Pipe down, I know what we’re doing
.”
He paused a second
.
“Okay, favorite food?”

“Pasta.”

“Favorite animal?”

“Cats
.
I love cats.”

“Favorite moment in time?”

“Too easy
!
Christmas the year after I graduated from college.”

“Why?”

“That’s when James told me he loved me,” she blurted before realizing that her words alluded to something she didn’t necessarily want him to know about her
.
She wished she could take them back, especially after glimpsing his face scrunch up in condemnation
.
“You obviously don’t approve
.
So tell me why.”

“I’m still asking the questions here,” he said in a jovial manner, as if trying to move things back to
smoother ground
.
His next words belied this
.
“Do you still think he loves you?”

Pain ripped through her when she thought about his question
.
Question of the year
.
If she knew the answer, she’d be one happy person
.
She
shook
her head
.
“I’m not answering
.
Now it’s my turn
.
Why?”