Reunited by the Tycoon's Twins

Finn frowned. Really, this mind-reading ability was getting kind of annoying. ‘You haven’t taken your eyes off Big Ben for a full five minutes.’

God, why did he have to be so perceptive?

‘You studied politics, right? I’m sure Jake told me that.’

Madeleine made a noise that she hoped sounded vague enough not to prompt any questions. But Finn was a talker. How had she not noticed that before? Because she’d never given herself a chance to. She’d dodged conversations with him for as long as she could remember.

‘You know, the more you avoid my questions the more curious I’m going to get.’

She glanced up at him, finally taking her eyes off the view.

‘I’m not going to push you. But if you want to talk, I’m right here.’

Right here.

He was. So close. The crush of people around them only served to push them closer to one another.

‘I know.’ But she couldn’t talk about that. About university or her career—or lack of it. The spectre of what might have been. A weird sadness for how things might have turned out. It was too painful to touch. Especially with him; he had a way of looking at her that made her feel raw. Exposed. She wasn’t going to volunteer to peel off another layer of skin for him.

She wrapped her arms around her body as she turned deliberately away from the river and pasted a sunny smile on her face. She waited for it to reflect on Finn’s lips, but he just kept staring at her in that unnerving way. Well, he was either a sociopath or he could see straight through her fakery. At this point she couldn’t be sure which of those two possibilities was the scarier.

‘What do you want to do next?’ Finn asked, and she breathed a sigh of relief at the change of subject. ‘We could find somewhere for our picnic. Or choose one of the restaurants or cafés we walked past, if you’ve changed your mind.’

‘No, a picnic sounds good. If these monsters wake up, I think I’ll be glad of the lack of people staring.’

‘Oh, people can still stare in the park,’ he informed her with a laugh. ‘Especially if they both get going.’

‘Well, that’s something to look forward to.’

She followed Finn as he pushed the pram out of the pod and down the ramp, and they weaved their way through the disorientated tourists standing around the exit gate. With barely a clipped ankle, he had them away from the crowds and exploring the streets winding away from the river.

‘Where are we headed?’ she asked as she lost track of where they were.

‘I heard there’s a little park down this way,’ he said. ‘I thought it might be quieter than staying by the river. You don’t mind?’

A literal change of scenery was exactly what she needed after ruminating on the failure of her career. And her failure to come to terms with it in the decade that had passed since.

When they reached the gardens, she let out a long breath. Emerald grass was dappled with sunshine filtered through lush trees. Spring flowers lingered in the shady spots and the grass was yet to be scorched by a harsh city summer. But, most delicious of all, it was silent. Somehow, in the walk away from the riverside, the bustle and noise of the city had fallen away, leaving only a blissful quiet. She heard herself let out a long deep breath and for the first time since she had arrived on Finn’s doorstep, tense and angry, she felt her shoulders relax.

‘Oh, my God, this place is amazing,’ Madeleine said, dropping to the grass and lying flat on her back before she could even be bothered to get the picnic blanket out. Finn laughed and dropped to sit beside her, his forearms resting casually on his knees.

‘Starved of grass?’ he asked with another laugh.

‘God, I didn’t even realise I was.’ She feathered the blades between her fingers, letting them tickle against her palm and slip through her hands. ‘And silence. I can’t believe how quiet this place is. How did you find it? Tell me your secret.’

She kept her eyes closed as she realised how intimate that sounded. There was safety in closed eyes. But vulnerability too. If he was watching her, she didn’t know it. She assessed her body, trying to sense whether his eyes were on her. But all she could feel was the sunshine, hot on her heavy limbs, and she decided she could live with that. She didn’t need to know if he was looking at her. She was happy not knowing, just soaking up the heat and the light and feeling the ghosts of the past twenty-four hours melting away.

She heard Finn stand, then the flap and rustle of the picnic blanket. Then he was lying beside her again. And with the tension gone from her body, awareness crept in.

They had lain side by side in the sandpit before. But they had been protected by the noise of the crowds along the riverside cafés and the squeals of children playing in the fountains. In this private garden they had lost that safety net. They had left home that morning for the protection of being out in public, to escape the heightened tensions of their temporarily shared home. But now they were alone again.

She opened her eyes and glanced across at Finn, only to find him propped up on one elbow, watching her as if she were a puzzle he was trying to solve.

‘What?’ she asked, suddenly self-conscious, lifting herself onto her elbows. Too late, she realised what that did to her chest, but Finn’s eyes never headed south of her nose.

‘Nothing.’

‘Then why are you staring?’