Reunited by the Tycoon's Twins

But this morning she could see the bigger picture. She knew that there had been a spark there when she had arrived. And she knew what a fright she must have looked when she had freaked out about his bedroom. She didn’t want him to be attracted to her. God knew she didn’t want to be attracted to him. If they could go along with what he had said and just try and ignore these feelings, that would make life so much easier for the next few weeks.

As the car sat and idled in the London traffic she busied herself with fussing over the babies, glad that the four-by-four had enough space that she wasn’t pressed against Finn’s thigh. She wasn’t sure how long she’d be able to kid herself that she had absolutely no feelings about him if she had the firm press of his muscle against her skin.

Up in her room, she had agonised over what to wear. A visit to the beach didn’t usually see her at her most comfortable at the best of times, but she suspected that a visit to the beach with Finn by her side would make her more self-conscious still. The fact that the beach happened to be in the middle of London, the largest and most densely populated city in the country, was actually a godsend. There would be no room for relaxed, reclined sunbathing. She thought that they would be lucky to find somewhere to plonk the babies down on the sand, never mind find a space for them to sit.

And if there was no sunbathing there was absolutely no need for a swimsuit. She’d pulled on cropped culottes, a tank top and Wayfarer shades, sure that she would be grateful for the dark lenses to hide behind later in the day.

She couldn’t shake those words from her head. He was attracted to her. Why did that bother her so much? No, that was the wrong question. She knew why she was so bothered by them. It was because she felt the same. Having that information out in the open was meant to defuse the situation, but it didn’t feel like that right now. Once the shock of last night’s encounter had worn off, the knowledge that their attraction was mutual had left an electric fizz in the air.

Not that it mattered any more, because after what had happened there was no way that he would be interested in her. Attraction—liking her body and her face—was one thing. Being willing to take on her trunkful of emotional baggage was quite another. And it was clear from the look on his face last night—even without him stating it as clearly as he had—that he absolutely wasn’t interested.

And who could blame him?

Finally the car pulled up near to the pop-up beach, and she made herself busy fishing bags and sunshades and stray baby hats out of the boot of the car while Finn flipped out the pushchair with practised ease and started buckling Hart into one side. She fetched Bella from her car seat, stowed bags underneath and then took a step back to marvel at the sheer amount of stuff that they had brought with them.

‘I am never ever doing this on my own,’ she stated, only half joking. ‘Can I be one of those completely useless nannies that you have to take time off work to supervise because you’re worried they might leave the babies behind somewhere?’

Finn shrugged, all mock-casual in a way that had her softening towards him when she’d been so so sure that she could resist that charm of his. ‘Only if you don’t mind me telling Jake how useless you are.’

She laughed, her body instantly relaxing into it, despite her better judgement. ‘You know it’s really not fair to keep bringing him up like that,’ she said, swatting at him good-humouredly as they clipped the babies into their pram seats. ‘Pulling out sibling rivalry is below the belt. We left school behind more than a decade ago. We should really act like it.’

‘I’m only joking with you because you know you will be completely fine. By the end of the weekend you’re going to have the little ones wrapped around your little finger. You’ll be making up a bottle with one hand and drinking a cup of tea with the other and rocking the crib with your foot.’

‘Ha. I’m glad you have such faith in me.’ She couldn’t help but feel a little glow that his confidence in her was genuine. She knew that he wouldn’t take risks with his kids and if he said that he trusted her she knew that he meant it.

They walked along the river, Madeleine enjoying the feel of the sun warming the top of her head. She could hear the beach before she co

uld see it, the squeals of excited children building the closer they came.

‘I’m starting to think this might not have been my best idea,’ Finn said after a particularly piercing shriek.

‘Ah, come on, it’ll be fine,’ Madeleine said, nudging him with her shoulder. ‘And if it’s not, there are plenty of places to escape to.’ When they reached the beach—really just a huge sandpit—it wasn’t as busy as Madeleine had feared. The summer holiday rush still hadn’t hit, she figured, and there were just a few boisterous pre-schoolers making most of the noise.

She shook out the picnic blanket while Finn tackled the straps on the pushchair, and soon they had Bella and Hart rolling on the blanket between them, while Madeleine kicked off her sandals and leaned back on the changing bag as a makeshift beach pillow.

‘This was most definitely an excellent idea,’ she said, feeling herself sinking a little heavier into the sand, heat coming up through the blanket and the sunlight filtering down through the leaves of a nearby tree. The babies were contentedly gurgling as they lay on the blanket and the pre-schoolers had made a hasty exit when she had subtly mentioned that there were fountains to be run through nearby.

‘I’m not going to argue with you. Good ideas are one of my many charms,’ Finn said, his voice treacly and relaxed as hers. She didn’t need to open her eyes and look over at him to know that he had adopted a similar position to her, stretched out on the sand.

Hart rolled over onto his tummy, nudging at her thigh with a fist, and she opened her eyes with a smile, her heart melting a fraction when she saw him grinning up at her with excitement in his eyes.

‘Have they played in the sand before?’ she asked Finn, rolling onto her side so that she could tickle Hart, and soaking in the sound of his gorgeous baby gurgle. Really, these kids were impossibly cute. No wonder Finn wanted to spend as much time with them as possible. If they were her kids, she wasn’t sure that she would be able to tear herself away from them either.

‘Nope. First time,’ Finn said, cracking an eye open and smiling at the sight of Hart on his tummy.

‘If only he would learn to roll back,’ he said. ‘In five minutes he’ll be bored and annoyed that he’s stuck like that.’

‘Better give him something to do then,’ Madeleine said, scooching him round so that he was at the edge of the blanket. Hart reached out into the warm sand, but then drew his hand back quickly in shock.

Finn laughed, and Madeleine couldn’t help but join in. ‘Maybe he needs backup,’ Finn said, moving Bella so that she could touch the sand too. She reached out but, unlike her brother, buried her hand and giggled as she found the cooler damp sand under the top layer.

‘I guess we know who the thrill-seeker is,’ Madeleine said. ‘Are they always like that?’

‘Hart’s definitely more sensitive,’ Finn said with a smile. ‘He’s braver when Bella’s around. It’s one of the more adorable things about them.’

‘Are there less adorable things about them?’

‘I’ll let you ask me that at three tomorrow morning. Hey, kidding,’ he added, and she wondered what had shown on her face. ‘You don’t have to get up in the night with them.’