Winter Interlude (18 page)

Like any male
,
he had a fairly strong sex drive, but sex was something he could take or leave, given the person he was sharing it with was never Judith
.
Back when she expected him to date, he honored her wishes
, b
ut he never found anyone he was serious about other than Judith
—
if you could count her as serious
.
Once the relationship got to a certain point, he’d break things off in an effort to avoid hurting anyone, but invariably too many got hurt anyway
.
None knew that someone else held his heart
.
Secretly, he’d hoped that maybe one of them would break the spell Judith held over him
.
D
eep down
,
he knew he never gave anyone he met the opportunity
.
Tired of it all
,
he decided it wasn’t worth another person’s heartache.

Remembering, he sighed
.
How had his life become so pathetic
?

He snatched a gallon of milk, along with a quart of half
-
and
-
half, and went to find
Kate
, determined not to think about her.

He’d just get back to the house without any more incidents and immerse himself in work.

Work always took his mind off his troubles
.
His thoughts were interrupted when he spied the very woman currently so prevalent in them pushing the cart across the aisle at the other end of the store
.
He strode in her direction
.

“I almost forgot the wine
.”
Once he reached her, he stuck his items in the basket
.
“Judith and James like red
.
I prefer
c
hardonnay
,
but I’ll drink red if it’s the only thing available
.”

“We’re doing a French theme, so make sure both are French wines
, okay
?”

He nodded and started for the wine section as she headed toward the checkout stand
.

Paul walked up as the last item was being scanned and placed the bottles on the belt
.
They were quickly added to the rest of the groceries and bagged.

When
Kate
reached into her purse, Paul put his hand over hers. “No way am I letting you pay for this.”

“You paid for dinner,” she said in a firm tone, shaking her head
.
“Quit trying to be Macho Man and let me buy the food.”

“I really don’t think you want to go head
-
to
-
head with me here in the checkout lane.” He ran his MasterCard through the slot and dared her to protest with his stare.

“Men
!”
She rolled her eyes
.
“You know we’re quite capable of earning money and paying for groceries without your help.”

He grinned
.
“Accept the gift and say thank you
.
As long as I’m present, I’ll never let you pay
.”
His grin broadened and he amended his words. “Far be it from me to ruin your view of me as a chauvinist.”

“
Aargh
!” she grunted
.
“Leave it to a Neanderthal like you to say something so stupid.”

“I do aim to please,” he said, in between chuckles
.
Kate
glowered at him while he signed the sales slip. When done, he looked at her with raised eyebrows,
and asked
in an innocent tone, “Do you want to help me carry these
?
I mean
,
since you’re so into equality.”

“Oh
,
shut up
.”
She grabbed half
of
the bags, turned
,
and stomped out of the store
.
His bark of laughter erupted
.
She was damned cute when annoyed.

At the car, she stopped, then turned
,
and
began
tapping an impatient foot
.
He hit the automatic locks
.
The lights flashed twice and the locks flipped up
.
She opened the back door, placed the groceries on the seat
,
and spun around, almost bumping into him after he’d followed on her heels
.
He held his ground just to see what she’d do
.
Since he wasn’t moving, she abruptly snatched the bags out of his hands and stuck them inside the car with the others
.

She turned and glared at him
.
“Do you mind?”

He grinned and backed up
.
As she slammed the
car’s back
door, he
stepped over and
opened the passenger door
.
“Allow me
.”
Holding on
to his smile, he made an exaggerated bow
.

She shook off snow, which was vigorously coming down at this point, and sent him a
nother
look that could freeze fire before sliding into the front seat
.

Still grinning, he got in beside her.

Neither spoke as he started the engine and pulled onto the highway
.

“So is our truce off because I paid for groceries?” he asked after driving a few miles.

She crossed her arms and snorted
.
“You know why I’m irritated, so don’t try to use those sexy baby blues to get yourself out of it.”

“You think I have sexy eyes
?”
He batted his eyelids and increased the wattage of his smile
.
“Ah, shucks.”

“Humph
.
Don’t read anything into it
.”
Her steadfast gaze remained glued to the passenger window. “You happen to have Jame
s’
eyes
.”

Paul stole glances
at
her while driving
.
Despite the fact that he hated to be compared with his brother, his smile stayed in place
.
Yep
!
He was getting under her skin
.
He had to admit
,
he hadn’t expected a simple grocery stop to provide so much entertainment
.
And this kind of sparring certainly took his mind off sex, which was good.

“
It
’s really coming down now,” he said, in an effort to draw her into conversation minutes later
.
The snow was making the road slippery
.
“Storm must’ve come in early
.”
He chuckled lightly when she ignored his comment
.
“Hopefully
,
the plows will keep up with it so I won’t need chains in the morning
.
Such a pain to put them on.”

When she still didn’t respond, he sighed, thinking it was just as well
.
He followed her example and kept quiet for the rest of the drive
.

Paul exhaled a sigh of relief as the house finally came into view
.
He turned into the driveway and pushed the electronic control for the garage door opener at the same time
.

“Before you escape my annoying presence, will you help me with the groceries?”

“Sure,” she murmured, before hopping out
.

Together they made quick work of the chore
.
When everything was put away and she started toward the guesthouse, he couldn’t stop from asking, “You wouldn’t be interested in a glass of wine before you call it a night
,
would you
?”
No one could miss the pleading in his voice.

When she
paused
and glanced over her shoulder, he wished he’d never broached the question, especially after spying her torn expression, reading it as clearly as the morning paper’s headline
.

“Not tonight,” she replied, offering a wan smile
.
“I think I’ll turn in
.
I’m tired
.
Thanks for dinner and the groceries
.
It was nice of you to buy, even though you didn’t need to.”

He nodded, feeling both disappointed and relieved by her refusal
.

Not wanting to dwell on what that meant, he opened the bottle of wine, poured a hefty glass, and headed to his room
.
He put the glass on his nightstand, then turned to light the fire he’d laid earlier
.
The kindling caught and flared, eventually lighting up the bigger pieces
.
In a matter of moments, the fireplace was ablaze
.

Paul stared into the flames as if they held the answers to all of his questions
.
He felt lonely as reality sank in
.
He wished with all his heart that things could be different
;
he was so tired of loving someone who would never return his feelings
.
The process of letting Judith go from his heart, which had begun a few months ago when he’d discovered he wanted to marry and she wasn’t going along, was picking up speed, like a boulder tumbling from a cliff
.

He sighed and turned back to the bed, dismissing his thoughts
.
They were all too depressing
.