He was stirring, then his eyes opened and he smiled sleepily. ‘Hello, beautiful.’
‘Good morning.’ She snuggled against his chest, kissing his sandpaper chin. ‘You look like a kid when you’re asleep.’ She traced her fingers across his forehead. ‘Everything smooth...no crinkles.’
‘Crinkles?’ He knitted his brows together then laughed. ‘You mean my frown lines...?’
‘Maybe they’re laughter lines.’
His eyes twinkled. ‘Only when I’m with you. You make me laugh, Mia. You bring me joy...’
Something behind his eyes; endless depths. She took a breath. ‘You bring me joy too.’
For a heartbeat he held her gaze and then his hand cupped the back of her neck, drawing her in for a kiss. It was slow, warm, gently arousing, a loving kiss that was tugging her into the warm shallows of desire, but she couldn’t let him love her again. Cleuso would be hungry; she had to go home.
She pulled away gently. ‘I can’t...’
His eyes narrowed. ‘Why?’
She felt her lips twitching upward. ‘Because of my dependant.’
‘Your dependant?’ He broke into a smile. ‘Ah... You mean you’re turning me down for a cat?’
She nodded. ‘He’ll be hungry.’
He threw her a deeply suggestive look. ‘So am I...’
‘I’m sorry.’ She wriggled out of his arms and sat up, looking at him over her shoulder. ‘I can come back later.’
He rolled up smoothly and swung out of bed. ‘I’ve got a better idea. I’ll walk you home.’
She eyed his naked buttocks wistfully. ‘You might want to get dressed first.’
The sound of the door being closed shattered the quiet for an instant, and then the hum of not-quite-silence resumed, broken only by the soft scuff of his shoes on the path as he walked towards her. She liked him in jeans and a tee shirt, his hair mussed, the planes of his face softened with stubble. He smiled. White teeth, green eyes...making her senses swim. She looked away, squinting into the low sun. ‘Isn’t this just the nicest time of day?’
He slung an arm around her shoulder. ‘It’s why I go running early. No one around. So quiet. It’s like a different city.’
She wrapped her arm around his waist and they started walking, slowly. ‘It’s like there are two different cities: the early morning one, then the crazy, busy one. I love them both.’ She tilted her face to catch his eye. ‘Have you always lived here?’
‘No. I was born in Delft.’
‘And...?’ Silence. ‘Then...?’
A shadow crossed his face. ‘I’m sorry, Mia. I don’t mean to be...’ He stopped walking, turned towards her. ‘I’m not trying to shut you out. It’s just that I find it hard to talk about my childhood.’ He folded her hand into his, his eyes full of gentle compassion. ‘I know you had a hard time too, losing your parents without warning, not knowing what really happened... That must be so hard to live with, but somehow you do. The great thing about you is that you seem to have accepted it. It’s part of who you are—that’s what you said.’
She gave a little shrug. ‘It’s not like I had a choice...’
‘No, but you wear it, and I admire that in you.’ His gaze seemed to turn inward. ‘I don’t feel that way. I don’t want anything from my past to be part of who I am.’ His eyes dimmed. ‘I’m ashamed.’
That raw edge in his voice; childhood sores still weeping. Her heart ached for him. ‘But it’s not your fault, Theo—what your father did. You’re not him; you’ve got nothing to be ashamed of.’ She could tell from his eyes that he needed more than platitudes. Maybe she could steer him to a fresh slant on things. ‘Look at what you’ve achieved! MolTec’s a global business! Maybe some of the drive and determination it took to build it grew out of what you went through as a child—and think about Madelon. You’ve both done so well.’ She took her hand out of his, slipping her arms around his neck. ‘Sometimes adversity breeds strength... You can’t change the past, but maybe you need to look for the good in it.’
A smile touched the corners of his mouth. ‘You’re good at doing that. I can’t...’
‘You can.’ She released him, tugging his hand so they were walking again. ‘When we were in London, you told me about the planetarium in Franeker.’
‘You remember?’
‘Of course I do—you went there when you were a boy. So...who took you? How old were you?’
‘Six, maybe.’
‘And...?’
He sighed. ‘My father took us.’
‘You and Madelon and your brother? Does your brother have a name, by the way?’
He nodded. ‘Bram.’
Progress!
‘So, was your father into astronomy?’
Another nod.
A bicycle slid past, wheels humming rhythmically. She watched it growing smaller and smaller, counting the seconds, counting their footsteps: seven, eight, nine, ten...
‘He was a university lecturer.’
For some reason that surprised her—a reaction he must have read on her face because he let out a short, bitter laugh. ‘I know. Such a respectable profession!’
There was no point going into that; she was after something else. ‘What was his subject?’
‘Physics and maths.’
Theo’s strong suits too... Perhaps he owed his intellect to his father, which was a sort of positive. It was worth a try. ‘So he took you to the planetarium when you were six...and now you have your own observatory.’
He smiled faintly, then his mouth became a line. He released her hand, went to stand at the side of the canal. She gave him a moment then followed. ‘Did I say something wrong?’
‘No.’ He shot her a glance and moistened his lips. ‘I’m sorry.’ He hooked an arm around her shoulders, kissed her hair. ‘It’s just that, when it comes to my father, there’s no right thing to say.’ He sighed, shuddered. ‘You meant well but I don’t like being reminded of the things I have in common with him.’
She stared at the water, tears thickening
