She didn’t feel like one of his kids. She felt imperiled.
There’s a dumb thing to think, she told herself crossly. Just because he’s so…male.
‘I’ll make you some cocoa,’ he said, turning his back to her, which was a relief. When he wasn’t smiling the pressure dropped. Just a bit. ‘You shouldn’t take those pills on an empty stomach. Cocoa and chocolate cookies coming up. I can strongly recommend the cookies, and there’s nothing like a nice hot cup of cocoa to make you sleep.’
‘Thank you, grandpa.’
‘Hey, we both have pyjamas on,’ he retorted. ‘If I’m grandpa, you’re grandma.’
She should make some smart retort. She should. But the first six retorts she made in her head were all classified dangerous after the very barest of examination. She subsided into what she hoped was dignified silence while he filled the kettle.
‘We can go to the beach tomorrow,’ he told her. ‘I’ve had no less than five phone calls offering to take care of the cattle any time I need a break. Thanks to you.’
He was smiling at her too warmly. Much too warmly. She was starting to colour.
‘What are you working on?’ she asked, as much for something to fill the silence as for interest. In truth her shoulder was hurting so much she shouldn’t be interested in anything but pain relief. The fact that, despite the pain, she was very interested indeed in a man in blue pyjamas was a bit of a worry.
Actually, it was a very definite worry, and it was growing more definite every second.
‘A railway station,’ he said. ‘Want to see?’
‘I…Yes.’ She went to rise, but he was before her, hauling the table sideways so it was in reach. He lifted the first set of plans and laid it on her knee. ‘This is the overall concept. The rest is detailed working plans.’
He went back to his cocoa making. She tried to turn her attention to the plans.
Which suddenly wasn’t difficult. These were…
Amazing.
‘This is huge,’ she whispered. ‘A major metropolitan hub. A whole new network. I think I saw this advertised in London. Didn’t they run a competition for ideas?’
‘They did. We won.’
‘We?’
‘My company.’
She whistled. This was almost enough to make her forget her shoulder. She lifted plan after plan, looking at the meticulous detail as well as the truly astounding master plan.
‘But you’re brilliant,’ she whispered at last.
‘I know,’ he said laying cocoa, chocolate cookies and two blue pills before her. ‘And handsome and rugged and strong and heroic, and so humble you wouldn’t believe.’
She choked.
‘Take your pills,’ he ordered.
‘Yes, sir.’ She did.
‘Ruby says you’re no halfwit yourself,’ he said.
‘Ruby says the nicest things.’
‘She does, doesn’t she? Oh, and speaking of Ruby and her boys…’ He turned and rustled under the pile of papers on the table. ‘I rang Blake tonight-Blake’s another of Ruby’s boys-about the dreaded Mike and his use of your shared credit card.’
‘Hey.’ What was he doing interfering in her life? ‘You have no right…’
‘I don’t,’ he said regretfully. ‘That’s what Blake said. He says maybe Mike acted unlawfully, but he wouldn’t know unless you let him have access to your details. He faxed me a permission form for you to fill in. If you want to sign it he’ll look into it.’
‘There’s nothing Blake can do.’
‘He’s a Ruby’s boy,’ Pierce said modestly. ‘Between us, Ruby says we’re going to rule the world. A Ruby dynasty.’
‘It’s no good establishing dynasties if none of you intend to have families,’ she said absently. She ate a chocolate cookie, absently read Blake’s form, thought what the heck, filled it in, signed it and went back to considering Pierce. She shouldn’t. But he really was well worth considering. ‘But maybe you could form a foster dynasty,’ she suggested. ‘A world run by people without mothers.’ She thought about her own and glowered. ‘It might just work.’
‘Hey,’ he said, guessing where her thoughts had gone. ‘They only sublet their house.’
‘You want us to organise a Susie Belle hit? Armed men, at dead of night, sweeping in, “Nobody move, the doll’s ours.”’
She grinned. ‘You want to try?’
‘Sam works for the SAS. We’d put him in charge.’
‘Sam, as in Ruby’s Sam?’
‘I told you-we’re a dynasty.’
‘So you are.’
She gazed at him, for just a moment too long. Suddenly flustered, she turned away, gazing into the flames through the open fire-door.
Much safer.
She was aware-or she thought she was aware, but there was no way she was checking-that Pierce was looking at her, but she didn’t look back. Flames. Right. Concentrate.
‘You should go back to bed,’ he said, and his voice sounded a bit strained.
She should. But this was great. The room still smelled faintly of the wonderful beef curry Dwayne’s mother had appeared with at dinner. Two cakes and the remains of an apple strudel sat on the bench waiting for tomorrow. This was a lovely, warm, food-laden kitchen, with a fantastic fire-stove, and a man working at the kitchen table on plans that were amazing. A really nice man…
‘I’ll go back to bed as soon as the tablets work,’ she said. ‘Go back to your plans.’
He did. He focused on his work with absolute attention. After a bit he seemed to forget she was there, which suited her. She could watch him surreptitiously, taking stock.
He really was the strangest mix.
He was about as different from Mike as it was possible for a man to be. Mike would have jumped her by now, she thought. Despite the pigs.
Pierce seemed totally oblivious.
Which was just as well, she thought, if she had to spend the next couple of weeks with him…
She shouldn’t go to the beach. He wouldn’t need her at the castle.
‘I will need you,’ he said, and she blinked. He was writing on the side of the plans. His hand didn’t pause. How could he know what she was thinking?
‘Why will you need me?’
‘Because Donald trusts you.’
‘Donald?’
‘He’s a strange kid. He’s been watching me for a year now, and yet I don’t think he trusts me. He’s waiting for me to ditch them or something. He tries to take care of them all himself, and he tries to pretend they don’t need me. But in one fell swoop he’s figured that you’re okay.’
‘Clyde was good for something.’
‘I guess he was.’ He sighed. ‘Poor old man.’
‘Clyde, you mean?’
‘Yeah. He’s quiet as a baby tonight. I put him in the girls’ paddock. It’s a bit early for joining, but I thought a bit of sex might take his mind off his trauma.’
‘You worry about them all,’ she said softly. ‘Even Clyde.’
‘Yeah. Some bachelor,’ he said grimly, and went back to his drawings.
The pills were kicking in a little. Or maybe it was the warmth and the cocoa and the company. She felt sleepy
