She tipped up her chin. ‘When are you going to tell me you love me?’
He met her gaze uncertainly. ‘I thought I’d been saying it all evening.’
He had.
Her great-aunt and her grandmother came bustling into the kitchen.
‘My dear, I do believe it’s terribly poor form to just leave the table like that.’
‘Yes—listen to your grandmother. We raised you better than that.’
‘I agree. But I’m afraid there are puppies to attend to. Unless you’d rather deal with the puppies yourselves?’
‘Maybe Malcolm could...?’
‘Not in a caterer’s job description, I’m afraid,’ Mac said, edging Jo towards the back door.
‘Puppies?’ asked Great-Aunt Edith.
‘Come along, dear, and I’ll tell you about them. Malcolm brought one for me and...’ she glanced at Jo ‘...one for you, Eadie dear.’
Grandma had just given away her puppy!
‘There are more puppies back at the beach house,’ Mac whispered in her ear.
Jo let out a breath. Okay.
Before Grandma and Great-Aunt Edith could form another argument, Jo took Mac’s hand and led him outside.
‘You left the puppies behind,’ Mac said.
‘But I do still have hold of my dessert.’
She released him to eat another spoonful. She took a step away from him so she could breathe and think.
She lifted her plate. ‘This is divine.’
‘You’re divine.’
* * *
Mac stared at the woman he loved and wondered if he’d done enough to win her.
If he hadn’t he’d just do more. He’d do more and more and still more if he had to—to convince her that they belonged together, to prove to her that he could make her happy.
She led him down to an old swing set and sat on the swing. He leaned against the frame and feasted his eyes on her. He burned to kiss her, but while it killed him he had no intention of hauling her into his arms until he was one hundred per cent certain it was what she wanted.
She had questions. Rightly. It was only fair that he answered them.
‘You somehow managed to manipulate my grandmother into asking you to come here today?’
‘Guilty as charged.’
‘Because you were worried I might fail with the macarons?’
He had no intention of lying to her. ‘I came here today to help you in whatever capacity you needed me to.’
She’d outdone herself with those macaron towers, though.
She pursed her lips, staring at him. ‘So you worked out early on that I was trying to get Grandma and Great-Aunt Edith arguing on the same side? Against me?’
‘It was a good plan. But it seemed only fair that someone should argue on your side too.’
If she’d let him, he’d always argue her case.
‘Why is Ethan at your beach house?’
She sat in the moonlight, eating pineapple upside-down cake in that sexy little purple and orange number, and for a moment he couldn’t speak. The urge to kiss her grew, but he tamped it down. After all this time away from her just being able to look at her thrilled him.
The night was mild for this time of year, but not exactly warm. He slipped his jacket off and settled it around her shoulders.
The flash of vulnerability in her eyes when he moved in close stabbed at him.
He eased back, his heart thumping and his mouth dry. ‘Everything you said to me before you left was a hundred per cent on the money.’
He closed his eyes. What if he hadn’t done enough? What if his best wasn’t good enough? What if she simply wished him well and turned away? How would he cope?
‘I don’t want to play games, Mac.’
His eyes flew open.
She rose. ‘If you don’t want to talk then I’d like to go back inside.’
He was being pathetic. Spineless. Waiting for a sign from her first.
A real man wouldn’t hesitate.
Earn her!
‘Please don’t go, Jo. I was just gathering my thoughts. It’s been a crazy couple of months and I’m trying to work out where to start.’
She searched his face. Slowly she sat again. ‘Tell me what happened after I left.’
He leant back against the swing set’s A-frame. ‘I threw myself into finishing the cookbook. I finished it in record time.’
‘Congratulations.’
‘And then, with nothing to keep me occupied, I had a lot of time to think.’
‘Ah.’
‘And some of the things you said tormented me—like trying harder where Ethan was concerned. So I started wondering what more I could do to help him.’
‘And...?’
She stared up at him and her lips glistened as if she’d just moistened them. Hunger roared through him.
‘It took me longer to work out than it should’ve.’