“Your shirt.” She pointed at his sleeves. “May I?”
“Of course.” He dropped his arms to his sides and watched as Victoria rolled up each of his sleeves in turn until they sat beneath his elbows.
Her cheeks were pink when she looked back up at him. “This looks better.”
“Thank you.” And then he did something that stunned them both. He bent over and brushed his lips over hers.
For a second they stared at each other. The air frozen between them.
“Let’s go for a walk,” Lawrence said.
“Yes.” Chin up, back straight, Victoria turned for the stairs.
And Lawrence smiled. He hadn’t imagined the hitch in her breath. Or the tremble in her body. He hadn’t imagined the desire in her eyes.
Nor the anxiety.
Victoria Montgomery-Clark was a puzzle. And Lawrence loved a good puzzle. Grinning, he followed the woman who captivated him.
???
Abby spent Friday morning berating herself. She should have known better than to get physical with Flynn Boyle—especially while her sister was still in town. She wished she could blame hormones, or a rampant horniness, but really there was no excuse. The man just drew her to him. Like a bear to honey. Even now, knowing what was at stake, she still wished he was with her.
She peeked out from behind the curtains in her living room. The woman with the baby was back. This time in a lime-green minidress. She stood in the driveway just shy of Flynn’s property boundary. The baby was currently being held and, from the looks of it, sang to by the shy woman who worked alongside Flynn’s producer. Abby had only spoken to the woman once, but she’d seemed nice. Far too nice to be working for her boss.
“Can I go see the baby?” Katy asked from beside her. She was peeking out the window too, as though it was a game.
“No, sweetie.”
“That’s not fair.” Katy frowned up at her. “I like babies.” Her face transformed into the falsely innocent look she got when she wanted something. Abby waited for the other shoe to fall. “I’d really like a baby sister. Can I get one, Muma? Can I?”
“You need a Muma and a daddy to get a baby sister.”
Katy’s little nose scrunched up. “I need a daddy fast, don’t I?” She let out a heavy sigh. “Can you still marry Uncle Matt?”
“No, he’s married to Jena.”
“What about Uncle Harry?”
“He’s getting married to Magenta.”
“Huh.” Katy fell silent while she thought about it. “Can you marry Uncle Dougal?”
Abby blinked down at her. “Dougal?”
Katy nodded. “He’s in charge of the whole town. If he was my daddy, I’d be in charge of the whole town too. And I bet he’d give me free chips every time we had dinner in the pub.”
“I’m not marrying Dougal.” Abby tried to imbue the word with firmness instead of horror.
“Because you don’t want to kiss him, right?” Katy said solemnly.
“No, I don’t want to kiss Dougal.”
Katy let out a heavy sigh. “I’m just going to have to let Flynn be my daddy.”
“What? No!” Abby stared down at her determined daughter. “You can’t just pick a daddy. It doesn’t work like that.”
“I know, Flynn said you need to pick him. But you’re already kissing Flynn, so you might as well marry him.” She gave an exaggerated shrug. “He isn’t so bad. I can probably train him. Jonathan said you can train daddies just like puppies. Can I get a puppy?”