Winter Interlude (5 page)

When her gaze hit his, she halted and her smile faded somewhat
.
“Hey
,
Paul.”

Her
unenthusiastic
greeting rose above the din of the noisy bar.

Paul nodded
.
“Don’t worry,” he said, to put her mind at ease
.
“I’m finishing my drink, then I’m outta here.”

“Don’t rush off on my account,” she purred, but her sweet tone was as phony as her too
-
tight smile
.
She turned to Judith, who’d stood, and offered a more natural smile
.

As the two women exchanged hugs, he laughed
.
“I wouldn’t dream of rushing
.”

“I’m so glad to see you,” Judith said, sitting back down as
Kate
perched on the empty barstool on the other side of her.
H
er attention on
Kate
, she asked, “Would you like a drink
?”

Kate
nodded
,
then
made eye contact with the bartender and pointed at Paul’s glass
.
“I’ll have white wine too
.
Chardonnay, please
.”
She
leaned forward to
glance at
Paul
through the space between the bar and Judith
.
“I see you’re dressed up today
.”
The genuineness of her smile slipped a bit, hiding behind her salesperson’s insincere mien
.
“You look very professional
.”

His jaw clenched at the part of the sentence she left off
—
for a change
.
After making too many comments about his laid
-
back work habits in the past, she didn’t have to
say
it
for him to know she was thinking it
.

Their gazes remained locked, until he shook his head
.
He shouldn’t care what she thought
.
Hell, he usually had three or four hours in by the time most people arrived at their jobs, including her
.
Besides, results mattered most in his business
.
And he provided results
.
His connections
,
together with his intellect and long hours
,
had proven to be
quite
profitable since starting his own firm, for both him and his clients
.
He didn’t need
Kate
Winters’ approval to validate his success.

“Our table should be ready soon,” Judith said, drawing his attention
.
“So
,
how was your trip?”

“Great!”
Kate
replied
.
“I missed you, though
.”

“You’ve been on a trip
?”
Paul snared her gaze again and flashed a quick grin
.
“I didn’t even realize you were gone.”

She turned to Judith with eyes that said,
See what I have to deal with?

When Judith glared at him, he shrugged his shoulders,
and formed his features into
an
innocent
expression that said
,
What?

“So when did you get in?” she asked, turning back to
Kate
as the bartender placed a glass of Murphy Goode
c
hardonnay in front of her.

“Late Monday night
.”
Kate
took a
sip
and sighed
.
“Today was a backbreaker because one of the deliveries from my buying trip arrived.”

The two women discussed
Kate
’s antiques store, while Paul stayed silent
.
Finally
finish
ing
his wine
, he
stood
and
gave Judith a peck on the cheek
.
“I’ll let you two continue talking business.”

“You’re sure you don’t want to join us
?
You
are
welcome, you know,” Judith offered, throwing
Kate
a warning
glare
, daring her to disagree.

“I know, but I’ve got stuff to do
.
I’ll give you a call and catch up with you later, okay?”

“Okay
.”

“Bye
,
Paul,”
Kate
said, in that same too
-
sugary voice
.

“See
ya
,
Kate
.”
He smiled and waved.

~

A
s she w
atch
ed
Paul go,
Kate
whispered, “He stayed longer just to bug me
.”

“Cut it out
!”
Annoyance flared in Judith’s eyes
.

“What?”
Kate
huffed
.
“I didn’t do anything but try
to
be nice
.”
Paul scored a ten in the looks department, but that was mainly because he favored James
.
Both were striking blond men with the same sexy blue eyes and six-foot frame, but Paul was slightly leaner
.
S
porting a navy business suit, he
looked
as if he’d stepped out of a magazine
.

Everyone but her saw
Paul
as a great guy
—
funny, intelligent, hardworking
—
a successful self-starter, so no one understood why the
two of them
were at odds
.
Heck, sometimes
she
had trouble understanding the reasons
.
Somehow, they just fell into their
combative
pattern and she had no clue as to how it happened
.
F
or as long as she could remember, Paul seemed to derive
a lot of
pleasure from pushing her hot buttons
,
and tonight had been no different
.

“You heard him say he didn’t realize I’d been gone
.”

“I doubt he meant
it
the way you took it
.”
Judith stood, waded through several bodies toward the hostess
,
and asked about being seated
.

Kate
knew exactly how he meant it
.
He might have a decent sense of humor, but he also used subtlety like a weapon
.
W
hen he aimed that subtle humor her way, she felt like some moronic bimbo who chased after his brother
.
Like he had room to joke about relationships
.
But Judith was right
.
H
is comments struck a nerve because she sometimes felt like a lone aggressor, the sole participant doing anything to maintain a
relationship
with James
.
It was definitely past time to put petty grievances aside, especially since they’d be spending a
few
days together
.
And if everything worked out, they
woul
d be related, which meant she had to work harder on changing her attitude toward him
.

The hostess grabbed two menus and nodded
.
“Your table’s ready
.
Right this way
.”

“Come on, let’s sit down and you can tell me all about your buying trip,” Judith said, reaching for her drink
.

Maintaining a contrite smile,
Kate
joined the procession through a maze of crowded tables
.
The hostess stopped at a small one in front of the main window overlooking the busy street
.

After sitting, Judith opened her menu
.

Kate
sat opposite
and tried to focus on her menu,
but too excited by all her news, her enthusiasm sprang free
.
“Oh
,
Judith, it was such a great trip
.
I got more than I’d imagined
.
Some great deals and a few good contacts.”

“I’m glad
.”
Judith lowered her menu and smiled
.
“I know what success means to you
.”

“And this only adds to that success
.”
She didn’t struggle any longer, not like before, but she still had to budget
.
The salary she gave herself allowed for her two greatest pleasures
—
traveling and snow skiing
.
She used her buying trips to satisfy her traveling bug
.
A
s for her skiing passion, dating
James had its perks
.
The two used the Morrison family lake house in the mountains for ski weekends
.
Only this year, he’d been too buried in projects to take a day off, so she’d gone without him too many times
.
And skiing alone was the pits
.