“They tried to stay awake for you, but they were tired out by all the excitement. They’ve been asleep for almost an hour. They didn’t even make it through their program.”
“Thank you, Kylee.” Serena put her arms around the girl and squeezed her hard. “You have no idea how much I appreciate this.”
“It’s no trouble, really. They were perfect angels.”
“Honestly?”
Kylee smiled. “Honestly. Even Max, though he convinced me to give him a piggyback ride through the house for an hour. I think I’m more tired than they are.”
“I’d believe it. I’m sure they had a wonderful time. You must allow me to pay you for your babysitting time.”
“No, you don’t have to do that.”
“I insist.”
Kylee’s eyes went to her uncle. “No, really . . . I . . .”
“I told Kylee if she did it, she could go to a music festival in June,” Malcolm said. “I think she’s proved she can be responsible.” He raised his eyebrows and gave his niece a pointed look. “Right?”
“Absolutely. I promise.”
“Well, a concert is better than cash, but you still have my thanks.”
Kylee gave her another shy smile. “Their clothes are in that bag over there.”
“I suppose we should wake them up,” Serena said.
Malcolm stopped her. “If you can carry Max, I’ll carry Em, and we’ll just put them straight to bed. It’s not that far between our houses.”
“Are you sure?” Em was small for her age, but she wasn’t that small, even if Malcolm did look as if he could lift plenty of weight without breaking a sweat.
“I’m sure.”
“Okay, if you say so.” Serena threw him a grin, then hooked the bag of clothes over one arm before lifting Max and his giraffe together. Even in his sleep, her son wrapped his arms and legs around her, burying his head against her neck.
Malcolm lifted Em, who flopped like a rag doll, and groaned under the deadweight.
“Still time to change your mind.”
“No, I’m fine,” Malcolm said, his voice slightly strained.
Serena chuckled to herself and carried Max out the front door while Malcolm struggled to find the most comfortable way of carrying her daughter. “I warned you she was heavy.”
“She’s not heavy; she’s just like carrying bags of cement,” he threw back as they crunched down the gravel driveway toward the paved road. “I can’t believe she hasn’t woken up yet.”
It was only about three hundred feet between the driveways, but his lack of conversation told her Malcolm was finding Em harder to manage than he’d thought. When they finally made it to the croft house, Serena shifted Max while she retrieved her keys and let them in. Kylee had even thought to leave the porch light on for them.
“Em’s room is on the right,” Serena whispered. “Just put her on the bed, and I’ll come tuck her in.” She veered off to Max’s room and placed him on his own mattress, where he immediately rolled over and clutched his giraffe.
When she emerged, Malcolm waited for her in the hallway, looking none the worse for the burden. She slipped into the other bedroom to wrestle Em’s unruly arms and legs beneath the covers, then shut the door behind her.
Out in the hallway again, Serena gestured for him to follow her to the kitchen, where she fell back against the countertop with a sigh. “Some day, huh?”
He thrust his hands into his pockets. “Yeah. You could say that.”
She wiped a hand over her face, and unexpected tears rose to her eyes. She swallowed hard and blinked them away.
“Hey, what’s this about?” Malcolm moved to her side and rubbed her arm reassuringly.
“It’s just—it was too much. I’m closer to Muriel than my own mother, and seeing her that way—”
“Makes you realize she won’t be around forever. I know. It’s hard.” He slid his arms around her, and Serena stiffened before she yielded to the embrace. For a moment she just stood there, soaking up the warmth from his body, appreciating being held for the first time in . . . she couldn’t remember how long. It was time to face the facts: she really had read Malcolm wrong. He was a good man. Responsible, trustworthy, caring. She let herself sink against him a bit, tightening her arms around his middle, and her heart started thumping harder despite her best efforts to stay detached. Just from personality alone, it would be difficult to keep him at a distance, but the fact that he was also attractive and strong and always smelled like an amazing mix of leather and cologne—
“Serena?”
“Mmm?”
“If you don’t want me to take advantage of the situation, I probably should be going.”
His voice was teasing, but when she looked up at him, there was no mistaking the heat in his eyes. “And if I ask you to stay?”
He chuckled. “You’re cruel.”
“I’m not cruel. I’m simply rethinking my earlier decision about you.”
He ran a hand through his already-tousled hair, messing it up further. She had the sudden urge to do the same. “Serena, you’re going to have to tell me exactly what you want from me.”
She slid her palm up his chest, feeling the hard muscle beneath her fingers, the heavy thud of his heart that matched her own. His breathing quickened, but his hand remained unmoving on her waist. He was waiting, she realized, letting her make the first move. To decide if this was the moment that their relationship was going to shift from flirtation to something more. Despite all his teasing, his love of innuendo, he was trying not to take advantage of her emotional state.
Serena gave in to the urge to comb her fingers through his hair, felt the tremor that went through his body at her touch, and at last, she knew exactly what she wanted. She stretched up and brushed her lips over his. He responded slowly and gently, and she sank into the kiss with a sigh, even as desire hummed to life throughout her entire body.
He pulled back much too soon, and a spike of uncertainty shot through her. Had she somehow misunderstood him? Had he just been trying not to hurt her feelings? “Malcolm, I—”
In one swift movement, he lifted her onto the countertop so they were level, his eyes darkening and his expression intent. And then his hands were in her hair, his mouth claiming hers completely, every last fear and uncertainty and conscious thought swept away in the power of their connection. It was all she could do to simply hold on, lost in the sensation of his hands, his lips, the frantic thump of her own heart.
Just before she lost herself entirely, Malcolm broke the kiss. He didn’t move away, though, instead pressing his lips to her cheek and her neck and the top of her shoulder, sending shivers over her skin with each movement.
Serena twined her arms around his neck, a little breathless laugh escaping her. “Had I known you could kiss like that, I wouldn’t have waited so long.”
Malcolm pulled back, humor flashing in his eyes. “Does this mean you’ll finally let me take you to dinner?”
“When?”
“Friday? Shall I ask Kylee if she can babysit?”
“I would love that. She did a wonderful job with them tonight.” Part of her was amazed she could carry on a normal conversation when she still felt lit up like a Roman candle from his kiss, when it was taking all her self-control not to grab him by the collar and do it again.
“I will.” He studied her face for a moment, then stole one more quick, soft kiss. “Maybe I should stay a little while longer.”
She laughed, even though she wanted to say, Yes, stay. Don’t leave when things are getting good. “I think that’s exactly why you should go.”
“All right, all right. Need to set a good example, don’t we?” Malcolm sighed, but the warmth in his expression radiated into her.
“Sadly, yes.” She slid off the counter and walked him to the door, where he took one more kiss from her before she half nudged, half shoved him out onto the stoop. “Good night.”
“See you soon. That’s a promise.” He gave her a devilish smile and
then clambered down the front porch. She waved before she shut the door. Quickly. Before she could invite him back in to snog in her lounge like teenagers.
The thought made Serena grin as she walked into the kitchen and set the kettle on the stove. Only then did she remember the boxes of belongings she had brought from home, still packed in the boot of her car. Never mind. She could get them tomorrow. Right now she just wanted to have a cup of tea in her quiet house and enjoy the fluttery little feeling she got from the promise of this new step in their relationship.
And no matter how much she was tempted, she would not think about the future.
Malcolm took his time walking to his house from Serena’s while he shook off the memory of that kiss. Or rather, he made his walk much longer than it truly needed to be by turning the opposite way down their road, around the back of the croft, and then across a well-worn path that ran alongside his property. By the time he let himself into his house, he’d managed—mostly—to shake the desire to turn around and kiss Serena some more, for as long as she’d let him.
Kylee was sitting at the table, books spread open in front of her, her head bent over a composition notebook. He pulled up a chair to the right of her. “Homework on a Saturday night?”
“I have a paper due a week from Monday, but I don’t want to be worrying about it when we go see Davy and Glenn.”
“That seems sensible.” He paused, then added, “You know, Kylee, I’m proud of you. You stepped up in a difficult situation, and you did great with Max and Em.”
“Muriel has been really nice to me,” Kylee said. “Is she doing okay?”
“She will be. I think she’ll be discharged tomorrow, and then it might be a matter of her being on medication for the rest of her life. But there are worse things.”
“Right.” Kylee swallowed, and he knew she was thinking of her parents. She closed the cover of her composition book. “I think I’ll go to bed now.”
“Wait. I have a favor to ask of you.”
“Yes?” A tinge of suspicion colored her tone.
He almost laughed. “Can you babysit again on Friday night?”
A crafty little smile came to her lips. “Why? You want to take Serena out on a date?”
No point in denying it. “Yes. I do.”
“Well, now. I guess that all depends on what it’s worth to you.” She leaned back and crossed her legs in such a perfect imitation of her mother that it made Malcolm grin even while his heart ached from the similarities.
“What exactly did you have in mind? You already got your festival.”
“You let us drive ourselves.”
“You go right for the throat, don’t you?”
“You’ve been here for almost a year, and she’s the first woman you’ve even looked at. You really want this date.”
He narrowed his eyes at his niece. “Since when are you keeping track of my love life?”
“First, eww. And second, I’d have to be blind to miss the embarrassing way women flirt with you. Seriously, you are really thick.”
Malcolm shook his head. This was not a conversation he wanted to have with a seventeen-year-old. And what women were flirting with him besides the waitress in Fort William? Yes, everyone was friendly, but this was Skye, and even more than twenty years away didn’t change his local status. “Does that mean you’d be okay with me dating someone?”
“I don’t care what you do,” she said, but she didn’t meet his eyes. “Less time to butt into my business.”
“You’re not exactly making a case for getting what you want here, Ky.”
“Fine. I already told you I’m okay with you dating someone, especially if it’s Serena. She’s really nice. And she likes you.”
“How do you know?” Not that the kiss had left many doubts about that fact.
Kylee shrugged. “Girls know these things. So what do you say? I’ll babysit on Friday, and you let me and Lane go by ourselves.”
“You drive a hard bargain.”
“You really like her.”
“Okay, now I’m not having this conversation with you. I’ll make you a deal. I still drive, but I’ll just drop you off and pick you up. There is to be absolutely no drinking and no drugs. If you look the least bit intoxicated, you will never leave the house again. I will follow you around your university campus and walk you to every class as punishment.”
Kylee looked at him in horror, but she finally shook his outstretched hand. She didn’t need to know that he’d already anticipated this argument and decided on a compromise. She would be off to uni by herself in a few months. He had to give her a little freedom sometime, and better she try it out while he was still there to watch over her.
She cleaned up her books and shoved them into her rucksack, then took the stairs two at a time up to her room. Even though it was still early, Malcolm took a moment to turn off all the lights and lock the doors before he went upstairs to his own room.
Only then did he allow his mind to wander back to Serena. He had no idea what he was doing with her, or what she wanted from him. She liked kissing him, clearly, and the feeling was mutual. But there was still the fact that she was here on Skye only temporarily.
Regardless, he had a date to plan on Friday. Now the question was, how did one impress a woman like Serena Stewart? There was nothing he could plan on Skye that she hadn’t done and nothing he could give her that she couldn’t buy herself.
In that case, he’d just have to give her something that money couldn’t buy.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
SERENA STAYED CLOSE to the croft house on Sunday morning in case Muriel called to say she was being discharged. She took advantage of the time to put away the items she’d brought from home while Max and Em played in the garden; all the while she thought of Malcolm. How sweet and supportive he had been. How if she closed her eyes, she could still remember the feel of his lips on hers.
How much she was looking forward to their date on Friday.
It had been inevitable, she decided, as soon as she’d seen him playing with her son on Muriel’s rug. Any man could put his best foot forward on a date, but one who would abandon his dignity to make a three-year-old laugh proved himself worthy of serious consideration.
Before she had much time to follow the thought to its inevitable conclusion, her mobile rang. She picked it up from the kitchen table and pressed it to her ear.
“I’m being discharged,” Muriel said immediately. “I’m just waiting for the doctor to sign the paperwork.”
“Let me get Em and Max cleaned up, and we’ll come get you. They’ve been playing outside all morning.”
“I owe my girl a special treat,” Muriel said. “Is Malcolm coming with you? I want to make sure I get to thank him too.”
“When I see him, I’ll be sure to tell him you’d like a visit.” Just hearing his name started a flutter in Serena’s stomach. She really needed to get that under control before she went to hospital. Her aunt had an uncanny way of reading her thoughts through her facial expressions, and she was pretty sure that right now she’d be giving away more than she wanted to share.
She hung up and hesitated over the phone for a moment before she dialed Malcolm’s number. What would it hurt? Muriel wanted him to know that she was being discharged.
But rather than the call going to voice mail as she expected, he picked up on the second ring. His quiet greeting gave her a jolt of pleasure. “You have excellent timing. We just got home from church.”
“You go to church?” Serena asked, startled.
“Don’t sound so surprised.”
“I didn’t mean . . . You just don’t seem the type.”
“If I weren’t the type, I wouldn’t have left so willingly last night.”
The sudden huskiness in his voice raised a shiver on her skin. She had to swallow to regain her ability to speak, considering the way her mind barreled down that track. “I called because I wanted to let you know Muriel is being discharged today.”
; His tone immediately changed. “That’s fantastic news. Do you want me to come with you?”
She was all set to say no, to tell him there wasn’t any reason to disrupt his day, but Muriel would be pleased if he was there. And if she were perfectly honest, she wanted to see him again. “Would you?”
“Of course. Give me a few minutes to change, and I’ll come over.”
Serena clicked off the line and shoved her phone into her pocket. He hadn’t even asked for details; he’d simply agreed. That shouldn’t have surprised her. That’s what normal people who were friends and maybe dating did, right? It had been so long since she’d been in this situation, it caught her off guard.
She called the kids in from the backyard, gave them a quick spray-off in the bathtub, and got them dressed in clean clothes. She was just finishing Em’s pigtails when a knock came at the front door.
“That’s Malcolm. Get your shoes on, and we’ll go.”
“Malcolm?” Em brightened so quickly, Serena wondered if she was the only one who had a little crush.
Em dogged her heels to the front door, shattering any hopes Serena had of a hello kiss. “Hi, Malcolm!” Em said brightly as Serena yanked open the door.
“Hello to you, Miss Emmy.” Malcolm smiled at Serena over her head. “Ready to go?”
“Let me get my handbag.”
“And Max,” Em said.
“That kind of goes without saying, cupcake.” She gave one of Em’s braids a tug, then smiled back at Malcolm. “I’ll just be a moment.”
“Take your time.” He stuck his hands in his jacket pockets and rocked back on his heels, perfectly comfortable in her foyer while her eight-year-old daughter smiled adoringly up at him.
She went to Max’s room, where her son had gotten distracted by a pile of cars on the rug. “Come on, my little monkey. Let’s go see Auntie, shall we?”
He held up a police car in one fist. “I’m going to give her this to make her feel better.”
Serena kissed him on the cheek. “I think that’s very sweet. She’ll love it.”
Out in the hallway, Malcolm’s and Em’s voices drifted to her. “. . . do you think about Kylee watching you two again?”
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