Christmas Eve: Doorstep Delivery (Lakeside Mountain Rescue 7)

‘Uncle Daniel is going to propose to Stella. Tomorrow.’

Patrick made a choked sound and suddenly sat upright. ‘He is what?’

‘He is going to propose to her.’ Smug now he had his father’s attention, Alfie slowly finished his yoghurt. ‘He told me. I saw the ring. He’s putting it in her Secret Santa—you know, you buy a present for someone at work, and—’

‘I know what Secret Santa is.’ Patrick interrupted him impatiently. ‘What’s this about a ring? Since when has my brother decided to propose and how come you know about it?’

‘I helped him decide. He wanted to marry her, really, but Stella wants lots of babies and Uncle Daniel is worried he won’t be a good dad. So I sort of helped him out with some tips.’ He saw his father’s astonished look and shrugged. ‘It wasn’t that hard. Uncle Daniel was OK when he looked after us when you were in America. Posy and I liked being with him. I just told him that. And he listened.’

Hayley couldn’t hold back her laughter. ‘So your brother is getting married?’

‘So it would seem.’ Patrick ran a hand over the back of his neck and looked at his son as though he were a stranger. ‘Where do you get all this information?’

‘Uncle Daniel and I had a long talk this morning. And, anyway, I see things.’ Alfie dropped the empty yoghurt pot in the bin. ‘I know about se—I mean, you know what. I can’t say the “s” word in front of Posy because she’s too young.’

‘Quite right,’ Patrick said faintly, ‘and so are you, frankly’

‘Dad, you’re behind the times. Two of the boys in my class have girlfriends.’

Patrick closed his eyes. ‘Alfie, you are ten years old. You are not having a girlfriend.’

‘It’s all right,’ Alfie said kindly, ‘you can stop panicking. All the girls in my class are pretty yucky, to be honest. I wouldn’t want to kiss any of them. At the moment I prefer football.’

‘I suppose I should be thankful for small mercies,’ Patrick muttered under his breath, casting Hayley a look of comical disbelief. ‘How did we get onto this subject? I thought we were talking about your family?’

‘My family is boring by comparison.’ She laughed and Alfie looked at her closely.

‘But they’re the reason you moved to America? Because they made you feel like you couldn’t do anything? If you ask me, they’re dumb. And anyone who can cook like you shouldn’t have to prove anything to anyone.’ Having made that announcement, he strolled out of the room, leaving Hayley staring after him.

Patrick cleared his throat. ‘I apologise for Alfie. He’s always been pretty direct. Probably my fault.’

‘I think he’s very special.’ Hayley rescued the bread sauce, desperately wishing that Alfie hadn’t left the room. Without him she was too aware of Patrick.

Oh, God, she shouldn’t be here.

She’d taken a risk—exposed her feelings—and now she felt like an utter fool because she had nowhere to hide.

He knew how she felt about him.

And she knew how he felt about her.

She stirred the bread sauce vigorously to avoid having to look at him.

He’d taken advantage of being away from his children to have some easy sex. And she’d been easy sex. And she was angry and humiliated that she’d allowed her dreamy personality to turn a steamy encounter into something more.

Even though she was trying to be pragmatic about the whole thing, his assumption that her reason for tracking him down must be because she was pregnant had crushed her. His reaction was so far removed from the one she’d expected. She’d honestly thought he’d felt the same way about her as she did about him. Of course she had or she would never have travelled all this way and risked making a fool of herself. It hadn’t occurred to her that she was making a fool of herself.

Alfie bounced back into the room. ‘Come and see your room, Hayley. You’ll love it. It has a sloping ceiling and a really cool bathroom with a drench thing.’

Hayley looked down at him for a long moment and then turned her head to look at Patrick.

He held her gaze and something flickered between them.

Hayley dismissed it as her imagination. She wasn’t making that mistake again. Wasn’t assuming there was a connection where there was none.

‘I’d like you to show me my room,’ she said to Alfie, and he grinned happily.

‘Your room is right next to mine. If you’re lonely, you can sleep in my spare bunk.’