LITMIR.BIZ

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stiffened. ‘No,’ he rasped harshly. ‘I feel guilty for leaving that spider in your room when you obviously are an arachnophobic. That doesn’t mean I’m about to let you try to convince me that I didn’t see that morning what I definitely did see.’

      Hard. Unyielding. Judgemental, Molly decided frustratedly. How could she reason with a man like that?

      She couldn’t, came the unpleasant answer. Although that wasn’t going to stop her from trying.

      ‘However,’ Gideon continued hardly before she could formulate a reply, ‘what I am willing to do is call a truce on the subject over the Christmas period.’

      ‘Big of you!’ she snapped impatiently.

      His mouth tightened ominously. ‘It’s the best offer you’re going to get,’ he bit out harshly. ‘In fact,’ he continued grimly, ‘as far as I’m concerned it’s the only offer you’re going to get.’

      In other words, take it or leave it! And in the circumstances—not wanting to spoil Christmas for the others, if any of them should pick up on the barbed warfare between herself and Gideon—Molly knew she would have to take it.’

      Her mouth twisted humourlessly. ‘I take it this “truce” will cease being in effect the moment midnight strikes on Boxing Night?’

      His own smile was just as humourless. ‘Actually, I’m staying until the morning of the twenty-eighth—think you can manage to be polite for that long?’ He quirked dark blond brows at her.

      ‘I’m not the one being impolite!’ she returned waspishly.

      Gideon gave a shrug of broad shoulders. ‘I’m willing to give the alternative a try.’

      Molly bit back the angry retort she would have liked to make, on the basis that it wasn’t a very good way to begin a truce—but that didn’t mean she didn’t still have murderous tendencies towards this arrogant man.

      ‘Fine,’ she bit out between gritted teeth.

      He turned to give her a mocking glance. ‘So, what are you going to buy me for Christmas?’ he taunted.

      Molly’s eyes widened at his astuteness in guessing what her ‘last-minute shopping’ actually was, and then she gave a rueful shake of her head. ‘I did have a bottle of arsenic in mind—but then I decided that might be a little too obvious!’

      To her surprise. Gideon gave an appreciative chuckle. And once again it transformed his whole face, giving him a boyish look, turning his blue gaze warm rather than arctic.

      Which, considering Molly’s total awareness of him probably wasn’t a good idea…

      ‘Maybe a little,’ he finally conceded, still smiling.

      ‘What would you like me to get you?’ she prompted interestedly, having no idea what this man’s interests or preferences were.

      In any subject!

      He was here alone, so he obviously wasn’t involved in a relationship at the moment; he would be spending Christmas with whoever it was if that were the case. But that posed the question: what sort of woman was he attracted to? Obviously not petite redheads who happened to be frightened of spiders.

      Now why on earth had she had that thought? Molly wondered crossly. It was bad enough that she should have allowed herself to be attracted to him, without wishing he might find some redeeming attraction in her.

      Besides, she already had an idea that Gideon’s attraction lay towards fragile silver-blonds with haunting grey eyes. Crys…

      ‘Well, I don’t like chocolate, and I have enough aftershave already,’ Gideon answered her slowly. ‘Would a book be impersonal enough, do you think?’ he prompted softly.

      Molly felt her cheeks flush; did this man know everything? ‘I’m sure that it would,’ she bit out tersely. ‘What sort of book did you have in mind?’ Something erudite and learned, no doubt, Molly reasoned wryly.

      Gideon shrugged. ‘There is a book I’ve been meaning to buy for some time. I was waiting for it to come out in paperback, and then I just forgot to buy it…’

      ‘Yes?’ Molly prompted dryly, wondering if her bank account had enough in it to cover the cost of a book this man hadn’t yet got around to buying for himself.

      The move from America back to England had worked out quite expensive, what with shipping her few personal belongings back here and finding herself a flat to live in. But, on the bright side, at least she was one of the ten per cent of actors who were in work at any one time.

      Gideon eyed her frowningly. ‘Perhaps you already had something in mind? Besides the arsenic, that is,’ he taunted.

      She gave a shake of her head. ‘Not a thing.’ She doubted the one-way ticket to the North Pole would have been any better received. ‘In fact, I would more than welcome any useful advice you could give me in that direction,’ she assured him briskly, knowing she had no idea what to get for David, either.

      She was also wondering what Gideon had got her for Christmas…

      Obviously he had already known he would be staying for Christmas, and who the other guests were to be, so he would have purchased something for each of them before coming up to Yorkshire. Knowing how he felt about her, she dreaded to think what he would have as a gift for her.

      Gideon nodded. ‘Okay, then. One of my favourite comedians is Billy Connolly, and—’

      ‘I don’t believe it!’ Molly protested incredulously, and colour flooded her cheeks as she realised what she had said. ‘I mean—well…Billy Connolly is—’ Whatever she had been trying to say, she gave it up as a bad job to stare at Gideon dazedly.

      Billy Connolly? He was her absolute all-time favourite comedian, and had proved himself to be an exceptional actor in recent years, too. She would just never, ever have thought that Gideon Webber would like him, too…

      ‘An acquired taste,’ Gideon acknowledged dryly, obviously mistaking her surprise for censure. ‘One that I acquired during my university days and have never lost,’ he added ruefully.

      Molly had already read the book Gideon was referring to, written by the comedian’s wife, and had found it to be moving, tragic. But ultimately the often outrageous Scottish comedian’s gift of humour had shone through all the hardships suffered in his childhood. She was just having difficulty coming to terms with having that like shared by Gideon Webber, of all people.

      ‘One that I acquired years ago, too,’ Molly told him evenly, deliberately masking her surprise at his preference. If asked, she would have sworn that she and Gideon had absolutely nothing in common. ‘And it’s a great book,’ she assured him. ‘What do you think I should get David?’ She deliberately changed the subject, still slightly rattled by discovering that she and Gideon had the same sense of humour.

      ‘That’s easy,’ Gideon answered smilingly. ‘We discussed the book last night, and David hasn’t read it yet, either.’

      David sharing her slightly offbeat sense of humour she could more readily understand…

      Although wasn’t it just a little too impersonal to buy both men the same gift? It might look as if she had been out and bought a job lot to attain a discount.

      Gideon glanced at her. ‘I can assure you that we will both be more than pleased with the gift.’

      ‘Fine with me,’ Molly accepted briskly, deciding that impersonal was definitely the way to go with both these men when taking into account Sam’s warning of Crys’s attempts at matchmaking.

      Something to keep constantly in mind, considering Crys’s satisfied look as she’d stood in the driveway and watched the two of them drive off together earlier.

       CHAPTER

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