With a careless wave, she walked gracefully away, leaving Ryan so furious that he wanted to hurl his chair across the room. But his anger had nothing on the fury flashing in Kelly’s eyes when he turned to see her standing in front of her seat, her fists clenched and pressed to the top of the table.

CHAPTER 7

Ryan gripped the back of his seat with one hand and ran a hand through his hair with the other. “I’m sorry.”

“I’ve lost my appetite,” she stated flatly as she pushed away from her seat.

“Kelly, don’t,” he protested. “You have to eat. Don’t let that cat ruin our dinner.”

Her lips tightened in fury. “That cat seems to know an awful lot about our situation, wouldn’t you agree?”

She turned from the table and stalked toward the entrance of the restaurant. As soon as she hit the lobby, she turned down the long corridor leading to their suite. Angrily, she jammed the card into the lock, swearing when the light didn’t immediately flash green. She slammed the card in again and yanked at the handle when the telltale whir sounded.

Once inside, she bolted the door behind her and went into her bedroom. She perched on the edge of the bed, and in the distance she heard knocking and then Ryan’s angry voice through the door.

She was too angry to give a damn that he’d have to walk all the way around to the patio glass doors to gain entrance.

She’d had enough of this farcical…hell, she didn’t even know what to call it this time around. Whatever it was, she wanted out.

It was enough that she’d been humiliated by Ryan and his brother, but now she had to put up with some brainless airhead piling on as well? They could all go to hell.

Her head came up when her bedroom door flew open, revealing a livid Ryan. Yeah, well he wasn’t the only one, and she wasn’t backing down. She got to her feet and faced him head-on.

“What the hell is wrong with you, Kelly? It isn’t like you to go to such extremes. What do you hope to accomplish by locking me out? Ignoring our problems isn’t going to make them go away.”

“How would you know what isn’t like me?” she retorted. “It would seem you never knew me at all.”

His eyes flashed and he nodded. “That much is certainly true.”

Pissed at the innuendo in his response, she fixed him with a cold stare. “I want out of here. I want the first flight out I can get. This is ridiculous. It’s a waste of time. It’s never going to work between us, Ryan.”