“You agreed that we should be honest with each other, and I have a question for you.”
Tina eyed him suspiciously. What question did he have, and how would she answer it? What if it wasn’t something she wanted to discuss? Why had she opened herself up to this by agreeing with him? How could she have avoided agreeing to begin with? The questions went round and round in her head but she was determined not to let him see her agitation.
“Shoot,” she said, keeping her voice cool.
“Yesterday, you described me as ‘hot’, and suggested that I have women hanging off my arm. Your words.”
He seemed inordinately amused by it, and Tina cringed. She didn’t recall saying anything like that, but she knew Max wouldn’t lie about something like that…would he? He was still speaking so she returned her attention to his words.
“…what you meant by that.” was all she caught of the end of his comment.
“By what?” she temporized, trying to buy time.
Max sat back in the armchair and smiled at her. “Do you wish to continue to prevaricate, or will you abide by our agreement?”
Her hackles rose. She wasn’t lying when she said she didn’t know what he meant. “You said two things in your statement,” she replied sharply. “I was merely wanting to know whether you were asking about the first or the second part of the statement.”
“I think you know I meant the whole statement,” he said, and Tina felt his eyes boring into her, daring her to deny the truth of his assessment.
“I was probably delirious,” she said, still not answering him.
“Most likely,” he agreed, “but that is usually when we are most uninhibited, no? Which means that what you said is what you were really thinking. Therefore, my question is valid. And I would like to know what you meant by it.” He eyed her with intent before adding, “And before you accuse me of hubris again, remember that I have already made a confession of my own to you. Consider this me making a bid to even the playing field.”
Tina’s pulse raced, and she set the still mostly full wine glass on the floor and swung her legs off, keeping the blanket draped over her feet. The tension between them was sharp and poignant, and the crackling in the fireplace was now a drumbeat marking its growing.
“I’m sure you’ve had enough women tell you how attractive you are, Mr. Ambassador,” she said haughtily, caught between annoyance that he had forced her to admit to her attraction and admiration for his directness. What she wouldn’t give to be able to be that honest with men! It might have saved her a disastrous trip to the Poconos. But even as she thought it, she realized that without John Sampson, there would never have been a Max…what was his last name?
“You never did tell me your last name, by the way,” she asked.
He hesitated, and then said, “My name is Cedric Maximilian.”
“Thank you. I assume you don’t like the name Cedric, so you shortened the last name?”
“Something like that, yes.”
He seemed reluctant to discuss his name, and she understood. After all, not many women were named ‘Leontyne’. ‘Tina’ was just easier to say.
“Why did you ask my name?”
She should have expected the question, but it still caught her by surprise. “I was just thinking that I didn’t know it, and ‘Mr. Ambassador’ was beginning to wear thin.” There was no way she was admitting to the real reason she asked. No matter how drawn she was to him, he was still a stranger, and male. Men were to be avoided at all costs for the time being.
“I hope you won’t start calling me ‘Mr. Maximilian’,” he said. “I really do prefer to be called just ‘Max’.”
“Max it is,” she agreed with a small smile. It suited him anyway. He looked like a ‘Max’.
“I do? How does a ‘Max’ look?”
Tina inhaled sharply when she realized she had commented aloud. Still, she wasn’t about to back down from the challenge she heard in his voice. “He’s very tall, very handsome, and very charming.”
She watched to see how he would react to the flattery, but nothing changed in his expression, nor did he move. He merely returned her stare and sipped his wine. It irked her that he could be so calm in the middle of a conversation that she found fraught with tension. How could he be so cool? Most guys she knew would be preening at the words she had just spoken. Their faces would have been wreathed in smug grins, their chests puffed up. Not Max. No, he was apparently unmoved by her admiration.
“Thank you. You are a beautiful and charming woman in your own right.” He seemed to study her for a long moment before continuing, “I’m not sure you look like a ‘Tina’, though.”
Tina chuckled. She loved how good-natured he could be. It took a pretty intense guy to be as playful as he was serious. It said there were hidden depths to him, and as she watched a slow smile spread over his cheeks, she wished she could know the fullness of who he was.
“What does a ‘Tina’ look like, then?” She threw his question back at him, an answering grin on her face.
“Tina Turner,” he replied without hesitation.
Tina burst out laughing. “Then you’re right. I’m definitely not a ‘Tina’.”
Thinking about the energetic singer with her infectious sassiness and blatant sex appeal, Tina could see Max’s point. She admitted that there was nothing remotely overt about her. She was never fully relaxed, she never laughed aloud in public, she held herself aloof and in check at all times. She couldn’t see Tina Turner being any of those things.
“I rather like you, though,” he continued, stunning her, “so I’m not bothered that you aren’t a ‘Tina’. You’re a delight just as you are.”
“I suppose you’ve met your fair share of ‘Tina’s’,” she commented, unsure of how else to respond to his comment.
“I have.” He nodded quietly. “But you’re the first you I’ve ever met. And I’m very glad I did.”
Tina couldn’t stop the rush of heat to her cheeks, nor could she avoid addressing the compliment this time. She barely managed to hold his gaze as she answered.
“Thank you. It’s very kind of you to say so.” She tore her gaze away from his, embarrassed at how stilted her response was.
She looked up when she felt him close to her, and found him standing over her. He reached out a hand, and she took it, standing in front of him. He didn’t let go of her, but led her over to the picture window. It was fully dark now, but there were stars in the sky, and lights twinkled in the distance. And close at hand, the snow made everything glow.
“Do you see that? Nature is beautiful, no matter what,” he informed her, finally letting go of her hand. He gestured to a tree just beyond the porch, laden with snow, swallowed by drifts a few feet high. “There is no confusion in Nature. There is only certainty. Everything is as it was meant to be. Every event is true.”
Tina turned to look at him. There was a message in his words, she was sure, but she couldn’t decipher it. She was too inexperienced with men like Max to know where he was going with the thoughts he was expressing. If she wanted to know, she would have to ask. There was no other way, and she wasn’t shy about asking.
“I’m still not up to scratch, Max, but I’m sure there’s something you want me to understand, so why don’t you just tell me?”
“I did not speak from kindness, Tina. I spoke the truth.”
Chapter 5: Disclosures
Why was watching the woman standing before him so compelling? The play of thoughts across her features drew his eyes to her face, and he drank in the subtle color that darkened her cheeks as she appeared to process his words. She had to understand that he was not flattering her. He had learned long ago that flattery reaped very shallow rewards, and he wanted much more with Tina.
“Thank you.”
He watched her throat move as she swallowed, and something in him swelled with pride that he had shaken her cool aloofness. He wanted her just a little bit on edge, because he sensed that that was when she wou
ld be at her most uncensored with him.
“How long had you been planning to remain in the Poconos?” he asked.
“Originally, I was to have left this afternoon. I hadn’t known the snow I saw in the forecast would have been a blizzard until we got here.”
Max noted the instant she began to withdraw. She hadn’t meant to give away as much as she had, but now he knew she had been with someone, he had to hear the rest of the story.
“We? You came up with friends?”
Somehow, he knew that that was not the case, but he wanted to help her get to the story on her own terms. If there was a man involved, he wanted to know about it.
“Something like that,” she replied in a stiff voice. “How long were you planning to stay?”
Max grinned, shaking his head. She wouldn’t get away as easily as that. There was definitely a man, and he was almost like a dog with a bone. He would not let her off the hook this time.
“I’ll share my story with you, if you promise to share yours.”
She looked at him uncertainly. “What makes you think there’s any more to the story?”
“Why were you out in a blizzard on Friday evening?” He held her gaze, not letting her look away from him, and he saw the shutter she tried to drop into place. “Something must have triggered your desire to escape, despite the inclement weather.”
“I thought you said you are an ambassador. Does your job description include playing detective?”
Her voice was high and sharp. Max decided to throw her a bone. “I am here to bury my mother, and spend a little time with my maternal family.”
He waited for the heavy feeling to weigh down his chest, but there was just a quiet sadness. Perhaps his unexpected guest had been just the push he needed to help him deal with his mother’s passing. Another reason he needed to know her better.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, Max!” Her first words were full of sympathy. Her next were full of suspicion. “I thought you were not American.”
“I am not. My mother was. My father met her at an official function he was attending, and followed her back here to woo her.”
“Oh. That’s a sweet story. How long were they married?”
Max knew what she was doing. There was real curiosity about his family, but she was also clearly leading the conversation away from herself and the uncomfortable question she did not wish to answer. He would let her have her way for now, but he would cash in his chips eventually. He was too intrigued by her reticence now to allow her to escape discovery. He ignored the feeling of unease that he might be setting her up to be humiliated.
“They were married for forty years,” he said, “and they were very happy for all of them.”
“I’m sure your dad must be devastated,” she said. “I can’t imagine living so long with one person and not being shattered when he died.”
He watched her turn her gaze back out to the star-speckled snow. “As you say, my father is ravaged by her death. But he is a strong man.” He paused, the emotions he had been keeping at bay washing over him. He missed his mother, and wished she were still around to help him figure out how to break down Tina’s walls. “So, now I have told you my story. It’s your turn to tell me yours.”
He leaned his shoulder against the glass and crossed his arms and legs, waiting, not letting his eagerness show.
“My plans for the weekend changed, and I thought I could make it down the mountain before the worst of the snow hit.”
“Why did they change, Tina? What happened?”
She refused to look at him, and he decided that the time for politeness was past. They had not touched each other in any more intimate way than a helping hand at her elbow. But this need he had to hear her story made him step into her personal space and pull her chin up, forcing her to look at him.
“Were you threatened? Hurt?” The thought of her being at the mercy of some unscrupulous man had his blood pressure ticking up, but he managed to stop himself from gripping her chin any harder. Instead, he looked into her eyes and asked, “Were you afraid?”
She looked at him then, defiance clear in her gaze. No, she hadn’t been afraid, she had been infuriated.
“I was led to believe what turned out to be lies. I hate being lied to, because I always try to be truthful.”
Only when you decide to speak, Max thought. Aloud, he said, “What did he lie about?” Now he felt tender concern for her, because it was clear that the memory of whatever had happened had not left her, and that it still rankled.
“How do you know it was a man?” Her question was sharp.
“Was it a woman?” His response was teasing.
She inhaled sharply, and let out the angry breath. “I didn’t like his choice of entertainment and said so. He didn’t like me refusing him.”
Max followed the movement of her trembling hand to her cheek, and suddenly, everything became clear. “Did he hit you?”
He didn't need her silent nod to confirm his suspicion, and he couldn’t swallow the growl of displeasure that rose in his throat. Tamping down his building anger, he asked, “What else did he do?”
If he had tried to take her without her consent… Max let go of the thought. It was driving his blood pressure up, and he didn’t want to lose control. He heard her reply with immeasurable relief.
“Nothing. I waited until he went into the living room to watch television before I left. He didn’t hear me.”
He needed to know if this woman, whom he had let himself have an interest in, was still connected to the man she had run away from. He doubted it, but he had to be sure.
“Why did you come with him, Tina?”
She pulled away from his hold and looked out the window again. The moon was finally rising, turning the snow into an incandescent light show.
“I thought he was more than he proved to be. I wanted to see who he was. This weekend was supposed to be the test.”
“It seems then, that your weekend was a success, even if not a happy one. You found him lacking. So now you are free to continue the search.”
And the knowledge that she was available made his heart glad, because he wanted to find out everything he could about Tina Cooper. He intended to pursue her, to see if the interest would turn into feelings that might become the love his parents had had for each other. He had never before pursued a woman with the intention of finding out if she might be the one he loved, but something in Tina’s bearing made her the flame he couldn’t resist. And he knew he needed to have a consort, a helpmate with him as he grew into his leadership role. Why not give this budding friendship a chance to become something more?
“I’m not really looking to start anything again for a while. I’ve had my fill of men for the time being. Besides, it’s not like I need a man to make me happy or anything silly like that.”
Her tone was as defiant as her look had been a few moments before. She was trying to let him down lightly, to call a halt to anything that might be growing between them. She was putting on the brakes, as Americans would say. He refused to let her dash his hopes.
“People need each other, Tina,” he said, turning back to the view as well. “There is no shame in admitting it.”
“That’s different. You know what I mean.”
“I do, but I wonder if you really believe that you will be as complete alone as you might be with the right man?”
“I have been alone all my life. I have no siblings, my parents died when I was very young. My grandmother is all I have left, and she is in an elder care facility. She rarely recognizes me as her grandchild anymore. I am Cora, my mother. Most times when I visit, she asks me where Leontyne is, and why I am keeping her from seeing her granddaughter.”
Max had to force himself not to touch her in that moment when she was most vulnerable. Not even when she had been most ill, and hardly able to stay alert had she been as wounded as she was in this moment. But something told him she would not appreciate any physical gestures from him, especially not with h
er distrust of men being what it was.
“It must be very painful for you, Tina,” he said instead. “I cannot imagine your grief.”
Her eyes when she turned to him this time were bright with the tears she refused to shed. “Thank you. I’m learning to deal with it.”
“Do you know how much longer she will remain like this?” He couldn’t ask her if she knew how much longer before her only living relative passed away. The very idea of his father dying before he had recovered from the loss of his mother was enough to shake his bruised heart. What must it be like to have no one in the world whom you could trust?
Unbidden, his deceit in not telling her who he was rose before him. What would it hurt to tell her the whole truth now, before things became more complicated between them? She did not seem to be the kind of woman who would try to capitalize on her knowledge, and if he chose to keep it from her, he was reinforcing her mistrust of men. But he so loved the way she was with him…to her, he was just Max, the man who helped her when she needed it, who was grieving the loss of a parent. When she thought he was an ambassador, he had seen a change in the way she viewed him, which was why he had been quick to put a stop to her using his supposed title to address him. Was it so wrong to want to be just Max?
Seduced by the Prince Page 6
