‘Can we thread some popcorn now, Kitty?’ Jonas threw himself down next to them. Adam hadn’t noticed him getting up. Not that he had been paying any attention to anybody but Kitty. ‘We can loop it around the tree like you said.’
The interruption should have relieved the tension that had been building up between them, but when Adam glanced over at her again, Kitty was staring right back at him. She had her bottom lip pulled between her teeth. He could see the reflection of the big screen in her shining eyes, as James Stewart threw a lasso around the moon, promising to bring it down for his sweetheart.
In the movie, George wanted to give the girl of his dreams anything she wanted.
Even if Adam had a rope long enough, he never could have done the same.
13
Beauty is bought by judgement of the eye
– Love’s Labour’s Lost
Kitty lay awake in her bed long after the rest of the family had gone to sleep. She’d listened to the sounds of the creaking house, hearing the clicking pipes, the groaning shingles, and a collection of other noises that formed the soul of the mansion. Each house she’d lived in had its own soundtrack, as distinctive as a fingerprint would be to a human, but this was the closest she’d ever heard to her childhood home. It could have been the age of the house, or the fact it was filled with people. Or perhaps it was simply a coincidence that the tap-tap of the water in the old pipes seemed to have the same rhythm as her father’s London house.
There was another similarity, too. As a child she’d lived in the attic room, part of the house originally intended for servants. Now here she was again, nestled under the roof of another house, feeling thoughtful and alone. Unlike this one, though, her London bedroom had been cramped, with a low roof, but the magical feeling of being on top of the world grabbed a young Kitty every time she climbed the three flights of stairs to get up there. It was a refuge from her family, from her noisy, nosy sisters who could sometimes be too much. It was her haven from problems at school, and somewhere she could hide from her kind yet befuddled father, who when he was busy concentrating on his work would often mistake her for Cesca or Juliet.
Right now her bedroom was somewhere she could lie and think about what happened earlier, when Adam had kept grabbing her hand and stealing her popcorn, wearing a huge grin that stole her breath away. She’d called him annoying but he was anything but. Everything about him had been alluring.
Even when Jonas came and sat with them, she could still feel Adam’s stare. It burned her skin and sped up her heartbeat, and she hadn’t wanted it to end.
Of course it had, and he’d stood up to kiss his now-sleeping mother, telling Annie he had to leave because he had ‘something waiting for him’ back at the cabin. They’d all known he was talking about the dog, well, all of them save Jonas, yet Kitty couldn’t help but feel disappointed at his departure. He’d shot her a final look, and mouthed that he’d see her in the morning, and her chest constricted all over again.
It was hard to understand how somebody so infuriating could also be so completely attractive. When they’d sat together watching that movie it was as though a chemical reaction was taking place between them. It left her breathless and aching, wondering if he was going to touch her every time he reached for more popcorn. And if she was honest, every cell in her body was hoping he would. He was like an addiction.
She spent the night tossing and turning with nervous anticipation, replaying the scenes of the evening in her mind into the early hours. Was it really only a few days since she’d first met him? She’d been so afraid as he’d grabbed his gun and stalked towards her, his face grim even though his only concern had been for the suffering animal. Then so angry when he chewed her out by the lake, his mouth drawn into a tight, bleached line.
From the first moment they’d met, the two of them had clashed, like they were drawn together by a magnet. And now she didn’t seem able to escape the attraction.
Maybe she didn’t want to.
She slept through her alarm, not waking until it was gone six. Panic immediately gripped her chest as she realised the hour. In a tangle of fresh clothes and toiletries she somehow managed to make herself look decent, before running downstairs to find Jonas colouring at the old kitchen table. Crayons were scattered over the table, red, green and yellow scrawls across the paper. He was filling in the outline of a Christmas tree, drawing the baubles, making the star stand out. Why did he have to be up so early today of all days?
‘There you are. We weren’t expecting you so early.’ Annie’s smile was warm as she looked up from the table. ‘We figured you deserved a lie-in after all your hard work.’
Kitty reached out to ruffle Jonas’s hair. ‘I should have been up earlier,’ she said, then shot Annie a pointed look. ‘I’ve got that errand to run, and things to do this morning.’
Annie beckoned Kit
ty over to the corner of the kitchen, pulling her into the pantry and closing the door so Jonas couldn’t hear them. ‘If you’re going down to the cabin, I found a box of decorations we didn’t use yesterday. Could you take them down and offer them to Adam?’
Annie knew all about the arrangement between Kitty and Adam, and the fact she was due to go down to the cabin each day. Though her eyebrows had risen up when Kitty recounted the story, it had seemed more in surprise than in judgement.
‘Does he want to decorate his house?’ Kitty couldn’t disguise the disbelief in her voice.
Annie grinned. ‘He may not realise he does, but with a little gentle persuasion…’
Kitty’s eyes widened. She’d heard all this before. What made Annie think she could make Adam do anything? ‘He won’t listen to me. The last time I went down there the dog had messed all over his floor.’
‘You’d be surprised.’ Annie was having none of it. ‘You persuaded him to look after the dog, not to mention getting him to agree to a movie night with his mother. I’m thinking bringing a little festive cheer to his cabin is all in a morning’s work for you.’
Were they talking about the same person here?
‘You’ve got it wrong,’ Kitty protested. ‘He doesn’t like me at all. Remember how he treated me when I totalled my car on the way here? He made me walk up the drive in the most useless pair of shoes.’
Annie shook her head. ‘I saw how he looked at you last night. Believe me, there’s nothing that can make Adam do something he doesn’t want to. But when he was looking at you, oh boy, there were some serious pheromones flying through the air.’
Kitty spluttered with laughter. ‘Pheromones?’ She wasn’t expecting that. Annie had a way of surprising her.