The Aristocrat and the Single Mom

by Michelle Douglas

  ‘When was the last time you did something like this with Felice?’ She tried to keep the question casual.

  The tension shot back into his shoulders. His grey eyes speared hers.

  ‘It was just a question,’ she said gently. ‘Instinct tells me a bit of a rift has developed between the two of you.’

  He drew himself up and glared at her and, although he wore board shorts and a T-shirt, he looked as formidable as if he wore a suit of armour. ‘I’m not prepared to discuss my relationship with Felice with a…’

  ‘Stranger?’ she finished for him. ‘That’s okay. You don’t have to. Let me tell you what I think has happened instead.’

  ‘I don’t—’

  ‘As you’re ten years older than Felice,’ she rushed on, talking over the top of him, ‘I expect you’ve always felt a certain amount of responsibility for her. As Felice is ten years younger than you, I expect some time in the last few years she’s rebelled against your…authority.’

  She glanced at him. He didn’t say anything. His lips were clamped shut, but shadows haunted his eyes.

  ‘She’s spread her fledgling wings and that’s probably scared the beegeebies out of you because how on earth can you keep tabs on her when she’s flitting all over the place?’ She glanced at him again. He stared straight out to the front. ‘The short answer, of course, is you can’t. So you’ve become bossy and critical, she’s become defiant and defensive, and suddenly, instead of having fun together, all you do is fight.’

  He stopped dead in his tracks and she knew she’d struck the proverbial nail. ‘You don’t know me. This is all…supposition!’

  Supposition that had his hands clenching into fists, she noted. ‘I know Felice.’ Felice was family now. She wondered how Simon would react to that news when he heard it. He glared at her. ‘I know,’ she agreed. ‘I’m just a nosy colonial.’ But her brother had married into this man’s family and she wanted things to be right for Danny and Felice.

  She wanted things right for Simon too.

  ‘I think there’s just enough of you in Felice for her to really get sick of your attempts to control her. Pushed too far, she’d up stumps and take off. Cut her losses.’

  The colour leached from Simon’s face and Kate suddenly wanted to hug him. ‘But she’s a nice girl at heart,’ she continued, pretending not to notice his pallor. Pretending not to have noticed anything at all. ‘If my hypothetical situation ever occurred, I think a heartfelt apology would go a long way towards mending fences. An apology and a promise to butt out and let her make her own decisions.’ She lifted her face to the sun, welcoming its warmth. ‘After all, Felice is a competent young woman, more than capable of taking care of herself.’

  The colour slowly returned to Simon’s face. They resumed their walk. The tension didn’t leave him, but she could sense that it had subtly shifted—seemed to be directed outwards rather than inwards now.

  ‘So,’ he finally said, ‘Felice has been enjoying her stay here?’

  She sent him a deliberately droll look, then flung her arms wide to indicate the bay and its surrounds. ‘What do you think?’

  He glanced around and a reluctant grin tugged at his lips. ‘I think she’s probably had a ball.’

  ‘Bingo.’

  Sauntering along the water’s edge like this with Simon was strangely companionable. Kate pulled in a breath, filled her lungs with air, and beneath the salt tang lay the cool, crisp scent that was Simon—wood shavings, a hint of pine and something that was purely male.

  ‘Does your brother—Danny—live in Nelson’s Bay too?’

  ‘He does. We run the dolphin tour business together.’ She glanced up at him and smiled; she couldn’t seem to help it. ‘My father started the business over twenty years ago.’

  ‘And you enjoy it?’

  ‘I love it. Most of the time.’ She frowned. ‘Except on those days when staff call in sick—like this morning—and I have to run around like the proverbial headless chicken to get a replacement.’

  His lips twitched. ‘Was that before or after the goldfish burial?’

  ‘During.’

  He was silent for a moment. ‘And what do you and Danny do to have fun together?’

  She tripped and almost fell flat on her face. But she righted herself almost at once and hoped her surprise didn’t show. ‘We share a passion for surfing and B-grade horror films. What about you and Felice?’

  When he didn’t say anything she nudged his arm. ‘C’mon, there has to be at least one thing you guys like to do together. You have to have at least one good memory of hanging out with her.’

  For heaven’s sake, he was a lord. Which probably made Felice a lady. They must’ve had the best toys, the best holidays…the best of everything.

  He straightened and glared down his nose at her. ‘There are many.’

  Boy, could he do haughty when he wanted to? ‘Then pick a stand out,’ she ordered. ‘When was the last time you made her laugh? Really laugh.’

  He considered her words, then a slow smile spread across his face. ‘The time I taught her to walk on her hands.’

  No toys. ‘Where?’

  ‘On the lawn at the Holm estate.’

  No exotic location. ‘When?’

  His grin broadened. Kate didn’t want to ask why it gladdened her heart so much.

  ‘It would’ve only been five years ago.’

  ‘Five years!’ She grabbed his arm and pulled him to a stop. ‘You can walk on your hands? Show me,’ she demanded. ‘All my life I have been trying to walk on my hands.’

  So he did. He turned himself upside down and walked on his hands. His biceps bulged, the muscles in his forearms flexed, his T-shirt fell down to cover his face, and Kate’s mouth watered as she took in an impeccable six-pack. He took five or six steps on his hands—Kate wasn’t sure how many, she’d lost the ability to count—then he righted himself with a flourish. ‘Ta da!’ And then he bowed.

  She stood there and gaped at him, then realised perhaps that wasn’t very cool so she executed a perfect cartwheel instead.

  He nodded. ‘Nice.’

  ‘I’ll teach you to do a cartwheel if you’ll teach me to walk on my hands.’

  ‘I hate to break this to you, Kate, but cartwheels are a girl thing.’

  ‘Male gymnasts do them!’

  ‘Mmm…I’m still thinking they’re a girl thing.’

  ‘How about a back flip?’ she offered. ‘I can do a back flip.’

  She did a back flip.

  So did Simon.

  And then it was on—the trying to impress each other, outdo each other. Showing off, pure and simple. Kate knew it was ridiculous and childish, but there was no denying it was fun. She laughed until her stomach ached. Then she laughed until it stopped. Finally, after another botched attempt on her part to walk on her hands, and Simon’s attempt to save her, they fell to the sand in a tangle of limbs.

  Kate lay back and stared up at the bluest of blue skies and tried to catch her breath. She turned her head a fraction to feast her eyes on Simon’s profile. As if he could feel her gaze, he rolled to his side and propped his head on his hand. His eyes travelled over her hair, her face, and she could tell he liked what he saw. A thrill shot through her.

  She tried to douse it with a dose of cold hard reality. She should pull back—turn away. Simon was a tourist. Nothing could happen between them.

  ‘Tell me,’ he started with a smile that could tempt a saint, ‘exactly how scandalised would that accountant of yours be if you showed up to your meeting a tad…damp?’

  She pretended to consider it. ‘In all honesty, on a day like today, I expect he’ll be a tad damp too.’ And it wouldn’t hurt her to cool off.

  Simon didn’t need any further encouragement. He picked her up, raced to the water’s edge and tossed her in. Her laugh was cut short as water closed over her head. She bounced up, spluttering, to find him grinning and barely wet. So that was how he wanted to play it, huh? She grabbed him, ho
oked a leg behind his knee and dunked him.

  He burst out of the water, seized her around the waist and kissed her. Hot and hard. Before she could catch her breath. Then he pulled back, but he didn’t let her go and Kate knew this was what she’d been waiting for from the first moment he’d smiled at her.

  He didn’t move. Not forward. Not back. As if giving her a chance to pull away, to stop what was about to happen from happening.

  He had to be joking, right? She wasn’t going anywhere. Oh, she knew she should turn tail and run. But she couldn’t…wouldn’t.

  One of his hands came up to cup her cheek—his eyes reflected her own confusion and wonder. Then his head dipped to hers and her lips lifted to his and she fell into him. But that seemed okay because his arms came around her and held her safe while his lips and his mouth and his tongue teased and tantalised and tempted.

  Sensation spun inwards, then outwards, fizzing up through her like uncorked champagne. But still Simon held her safe. And the kiss deepened and grew until her arms twined around his neck and his hands splayed across her back, pulling her nearer, and even the gentle swell of the water propelled her closer and closer to him.

  In his arms, all things suddenly seemed possible.

  When Simon lifted his head, Kate didn’t know if it was seconds or minutes that had passed.

  ‘I…’ He blinked, slowly, as if waking from a dream.

  ‘Wow,’ she breathed.

  He grinned. A low, sexy grin. ‘That’s the word I was looking for.’

  She eased away from him a bit because, plastered against his chest like this, she found it next to impossible to think. And she had a feeling that thinking might become crucial in the next few minutes.

  ‘I didn’t mean for that to happen,’ he said, watching her carefully.

  ‘I know.’ She believed him.

  ‘Are you…okay?’ He drew back too, till they were no longer touching. Perversely, she wanted skin on skin again.

  ‘Yes.’ She wrung out her hair. Of course she was okay. She was in one piece, wasn’t she? The blood might be pumping around her body with more vigour than it normally did and her lips tingling as if they’d been thoroughly kissed—which was perfectly reasonable because, of course, they had been. But the sun still shone and the seagulls still squawked and somewhere children laughed and…

  Everything felt different and she didn’t know why.

  ‘Are you?’ she asked. ‘Okay, that is.’

  ‘Yes.’ But he drew the word out slowly as if he wasn’t entirely sure and she was glad.

  ‘What I think we should do…’ she started, and his gaze shot to hers. She had to gulp back Kiss some more and replaced it with, ‘Find a nice shady tree to dry off under.’ She pointed to the strip of green beyond the beach and set off towards it without waiting for his answer.

  She found a tree, sat under it and tried to talk sense into herself.

  Simon lowered himself down beside her and she could feel him watching her. ‘Do you want me to apologise?’ he asked cautiously.

  ‘What?’ She swung to him. ‘No! No, of course I don’t want you to apologise.’

  She wondered if his world felt turned upside down too.

  ‘I mean, that…’ she motioned to the water, to the spot where they’d kissed ‘…was…’

  His lips twitched. ‘It was,’ he agreed, motioning to the same spot.

  ‘It’s just—’ she turned to face him more fully, tucking her hair behind her ears ‘—that was just about the best kiss that I’ve ever had.’ There was no probably about it!

  He sent her another of those low, sexy grins that brought cheek creases and eye creases into play. ‘There’s plenty more where that came from.’

  Her stomach rolled over and over on itself. Simon had hit holiday-maker mode with a vengeance and she liked it. She liked it a lot. ‘Wouldn’t that be reckless and irresponsible?’ She deliberately used the words he’d applied to Felice.

  His face grew thoughtful and he drew back. ‘It would.’

  ‘Simon, I don’t do reckless and irresponsible.’

  ‘Nor do I.’

  The longer she studied him, the greater the longing that built inside her. She hadn’t been with a man for a very long time, and normally she avoided any kind of romantic entanglement with tourists. Could she make an exception for Simon? The thought filtered into her mind and lodged there.

  The next moment she tried to oust it. That hadn’t been a holiday fling kind of kiss. It had been a…for ever kind of kiss.

  She and Simon for ever?

  Oh, for heaven’s sake, get a grip. He lived on the other side of the world. She’d known him for a couple of hours. A sensible person did not make lifelong plans with a person they’d only known for a couple of hours. She’d obviously had too much sun. A sensible person wore a hat.

  ‘I can see what you’re thinking.’

  Good God. She hoped not. She lifted her hands to her suddenly blazing cheeks. ‘What’s that?’ she managed to croak.

  ‘You’re thinking how you hardly know me.’

  ‘Bingo!’ The heat in her cheeks started to abate. ‘It’s true.’ She hadn’t even had the benefit of getting to know him by proxy through Felice.

  He reached out and took one of her hands, held it between both of his. ‘It doesn’t feel true.’

  She knew exactly what he meant. But…‘You live a million trillion miles away on the other side of the world.’ She didn’t pull her hand from his.

  ‘Well, yes…or at least ten thousand miles, but what’s a trillion miles between friends, right?’

  She managed a smile.

  ‘I am, however, for the next fortnight or so based here in Nelson’s Bay.’ His hands tightened around hers. ‘And I’d very much like to get to know you better.’

  Her heart gave a joyful leap. She tried to curb it. Impossible. So she tried to talk sense instead. ‘Simon, what’s the point? I mean—’

  He reached out and placed a finger against her lips. ‘Some things don’t have a point, Kate. They just are.’

  His words shouldn’t make sense. They shouldn’t feel right.

  But when he eased back and grinned at her, she grinned back and they both remained exactly where they were.

  Carefully she detached her hand from his. ‘So you are going to wait for Felice?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘And you want to spend the next fortnight here in Nelson’s Bay?’

  ‘That’s right.’

  ‘The room Felice was using is free at the moment,’ she blurted out. ‘You can use it until she returns, if you like.’

  Simon drew back and stared at her. ‘Stay with you…in your house?’

  Good Lord, what was she doing? She gulped and swallowed and started to cough. ‘I mean, that’s not an invitation to…’ She gestured to that spot in the water again and found it impossible to meet his eye. ‘I mean, I don’t do…do…’

  He reached out and touched her knee, his smile kind. ‘I think what you’re trying to say is I’ll be firmly ensconced in the guest room.’

  She nodded because her throat had closed over at his touch and she couldn’t speak. When he removed his hand she wanted to sigh, but whether in relief or disappointment she didn’t know.

  ‘I would be honoured to accept your hospitality. And, Kate?’

  She glanced up, met the clear grey of his eyes. They’d lightened until they resembled the colour of mercury—the same colour as the bay at dawn.

  ‘I promise I will behave like a gentleman. You can trust me.’

  Could she? Yes, she had the distinct impression that she could. But could she trust herself?

  ‘And, to thank you for your hospitality, but also because I’d very much like to, may I take you out to dinner one night soon?’

  She pointed to the spot where they’d kissed. ‘That can’t happen again.’

  He met her gaze steadily. ‘It’s just a dinner invitation, Kate.’

  She should say no. ‘I’d lik
e that,’ she found herself saying instead.

  ‘The date ends,’ he said gently, ‘when you open your front door.’

  It made her smile. He wanted to provide boundaries that would make her feel comfortable. She had a feeling that, despite their best intentions, one kiss would shatter those boundaries. It should make her feel wary. Instead, it fizzed her blood through her veins and made her want to throw her head back and sing.

  ‘Are you free tomorrow night?’ he asked.

  Tomorrow was Saturday. Reluctantly she shook her head. ‘The weekends are our busiest days on The Merry Dolphin.’

  He frowned. ‘The what?’

  ‘My boat—The Merry Dolphin. Look—’ she pointed ‘—there she is.’

  She watched The Merry Dolphin glide through the entrance to the marina before glancing back at Simon. His jaw had dropped. ‘That’s your boat?’

  ‘It is.’ She couldn’t contain a surge of pride. ‘Lovely, isn’t she?’

  ‘Yes.’

  But he was looking at her, not the boat. She tucked a nonexistent strand of hair behind her ear self-consciously. ‘If you like, you could spend the day on the boat with me tomorrow.’

  ‘I’d like that. And Sunday?’

  ‘I’m working a half day this Sunday. I should be finished by two o’clock. I’m free in the evening.’

  There was that sexy grin of his again. She scrambled to her feet before she could do something stupid—like kiss him again. ‘And now I have to meet with my accountant.’ She needed to get away, give herself a sensible talking-to.

  They arranged to meet back at her office in a couple of hours and, although she did have a long overdue appointment with her accountant, although she knew she needed to give herself a darn good talking-to, she found her feet dragging as she walked away from Simon in holiday-maker mode.

  CHAPTER THREE

  SIMON couldn’t keep the anticipation out of his step as he turned into the arcade that led down to Kate’s office. On cue, as if she’d sensed him near, she stepped out of her door and locked it.