“Jonas.” Stephanie experienced a sense of joy so strong she nearly choked on it. Just when she’d given up any hope of seeing him again, he’d come to her. But her joy quickly turned to regret as she heard Jan, Jim and Mark talking behind her. “What are you doing here?” she whispered fiercely.
Jonas stood stiffly on the other side of the door, his expression impossible to read. His grip on his cane tightened. “I came to see you.”
Jan apparently heard Stephanie’s exclamation of surprise and murmured something to Jim about Stephanie and Jonas.
“May I come in?” Jonas asked.
“Yes... of course. I didn’t mean to be rude.” She stepped aside, her hand still holding the doorknob. Jonas’s timing couldn’t have been worse, but she was so pleased to see him that she wouldn’t have cared if he’d arrived unannounced on Christmas Eve.
“Mr. Lockwood, how nice to see you again,” Jan said, tossing Stephanie a knowing look that was capable of translating whole foreign libraries.
Both Jim and Mark stood, and Stephanie made awkward introductions. “Jim, Mark, this is Mr. Lockwood.”
“Jonas,” he said, correcting her and offering them his hand.
“Would you care for a glass of wine?” Jan offered.
“Yes, please,” Stephanie hurried to add, her face filling with color at her lack of good manners. The heat threatened to suffocate her cheeks with its warmth. “Please stay and have some wine.” Before he could answer, she walked into the kitchen for another wineglass, filled it and handed it to Jonas, who had claimed the chair next to Mark.
Resisting the urge to press her cool hands against her flaming cheeks, Stephanie took a seat on the sofa beside Jan. The men were asking Jonas questions about the business of manufacturing small parts for airplane engines as though it was the most interesting topic in the world. Jonas answered each question with the same seriousness with which it was asked. While the men were occupied, Jan took the opportunity to jab Stephanie in the ribs with her elbow. “I thought you said he wasn’t interested,” she whispered under her breath.
“He isn’t,” Stephanie insisted. Glancing around, Stephanie wanted to groan with frustration. Although the small, one-bedroom apartment suited her nicely, Stephanie was intensely conscious that most of her furniture was secondhand and well-worn. She hadn’t been the least bit ashamed to have Jan and her friends view her mix-and-match arrangement, but entertaining Jonas Lockwood was another matter entirely. Oh, for heaven’s sake, what did she care? He hadn’t stopped by to check out her china pattern.
“I can see that I’ve come at a bad time,” Jonas said, standing. He set his glass aside, and Stephanie noted that he hadn’t bothered to taste the wine.
Stephanie stood with him.
“We were about to leave for dinner,” Jan explained apologetically. “But if you needed Steph for something at the office, we could change our plans.”
“That won’t be necessary.” He shook hands with Jim and Mark a second time. “It was a pleasure meeting you both.”
“I’ll walk you to the door,” Stephanie offered, locking her fingers together in front of her. He’d stopped in out of the blue, and she wasn’t about to let him escape without knowing the reason for his impromptu visit.
Instead of stopping to ask him at her front door, Stephanie stepped outside into the hall with him. For a moment, neither spoke. Stephanie was trying to come up with a subtle way of mentioning that she’d only met Mark a few minutes before, that the blind date had been Jan’s idea, and that she’d only fallen into it because she didn’t think that Jonas wanted to see her again. But she couldn’t explain without looking like a fool.
“I apologize for not calling first,” Jonas said finally.
“It... doesn’t matter. I’m almost always home.”
He cocked his brow as though he didn’t quite believe her.
“It’s true.”
He glanced at his wristwatch. “I must be going.”
“Jonas.” Her hands were clenched so tightly that she was sure she’d cut off the blood supply to her fingers. “Why did you come?”
“It isn’t important.”
It was terribly important to her. “Is it something from the office?”
“No.”
“Then... why?”
“I believe there’s a young man in there waiting for you. I consider it poor manners for you to remain in this hallway with me, discussing my motives.”
“What is this? Do you want to play twenty questions?”
He frowned.
“All right, you obviously want me to guess the reason you stopped by. Fine. Since that’s the way you want it, let’s start with the basics. Is it animal, vegetable or mineral?”
“Ms. Coulter.” He closed his eyes, seemingly frustrated by her tenacity.
“I’m not going back inside until you tell me why you’re here.”