She was so at peace she found herself yawning at one point and flushed when she saw Ian looking.
“Sorry,” she mumbled.
“You put in long hours,” he said with a smile. “We should get you home.”
She didn’t want the night to end but knew he was right.
“Do you mind if the children stay overnight at our cottage?” Margaret asked. “We would love to have them. You said you were going out on the lake early in the morning and this way Mrs. Gilbert can sleep in.”
“Oh, may we, Dad?” Amelia asked, looking as if she would be crushed if he refused.
Ian looked trapped for a moment but ultimately shrugged. “If you’re sure it’s no trouble, I’m sure Mrs. Gilbert will be happy if she doesn’t have to wake early. Someone here likes to be up at first light.”
Thomas raised his hand with an unashamed grin, making all the adults smile.
“I don’t mind if you’re up early, either of you,” Henry assured his grandchildren. “I wanted to take a hike to that waterfall you were telling me about in the morning. As you’ve already been there with your father and Samantha, you can point me in the right direction.”
She hoped Henry knew what he was doing, relying on the children as his wayfinders. As she remembered, Amelia and Thomas hadn’t paid much attention to where they were going and had constantly wanted to explore some of the side trails during that trip. She had to hope they all didn’t end up hopelessly lost.
“We’ve things they can sleep in,” Margaret said. “Don’t worry about that. And we can run them back around lunchtime tomorrow.”
“All right,” Ian said. “Good night, darling children. Don’t keep your grandparents up all night.”
Amelia and Thomas both giggled as they hugged their father.
Only as she and Ian headed out to his SUV did Samantha realize the children’s sleepover with their grandparents would mean Thomas and Amelia wouldn’t be available to provide a buffer between the two of them on the drive home. It was only a short distance, she told herself. She could handle being alone with Ian for the time it would take them to make the trip.
His entire family walked them to his vehicle, as if the two of them were heading out on a grand trek instead of merely driving across town.
He hugged his children again, admonishing them once more to behave for their grandparents, and shook his father’s hand.
Samantha was astonished when Margaret hugged her as if they were old and dear friends.
“I’m so happy you could come to dinner,” Margaret said. “It’s been a delight getting to know you better. What a stroke of luck that Ian ended up renting a house next door to yours.”
Good luck or bad? She wasn’t sure about that yet. “Thank you for including me in your family dinner,” she said.
“Nonsense. It was all in honor of you, for that beautiful dress.”
After another round of goodbyes, Ian opened the vehicle door for her and she slipped past him to climb inside, chiding herself for the sudden acceleration of her heartbeat as the scent of him tantalized her senses.
When he climbed into the vehicle, she was again reminded that they were alone, truly alone, for the first time since that devastating kiss the day before.
“Thank you for making time to have dinner with my family,” he said as he backed out of the driveway and began driving around the lake. “I know how busy you are. I think it meant a great deal to my mother to be able to raise a glass to you in thanks for your work on Gemma’s gown.”
“I’m the grateful one,” she assured him. “If not for your mother’s dinner invitation, I would have been stuck with a frozen dinner and then likely would have spent the evening at my sewing machine and cleaning up after puppies otherwise. This was a vast improvement.”
“You work extraordinarily hard.”
Was that a criticism or merely an observation? She couldn’t quite tell. She decided to take it as the latter. “I feel incredibly lucky to have clients who need wedding dresses and who have asked me to design and sew them.”
“Can’t you hire someone to help you? Don’t you worry about burning out from the sixteen-hour days?”
“Right now, I’m happy to have the business. I have to hustle while I can. It’s probably the same reason you’re working on research while you’re here with your family.”
He looked as if he wanted to say something but they reached her driveway before he could, making her wish she lived a little farther away from Gemma.
He started to turn into her driveway but she held out a hand to stop him. “No need to drop me off here. Park where you usually do and I can walk next door to my house. It makes more sense than you having to move your car again in five minutes.”
He appeared reluctant but did as she suggested, parking in his driveway, then walking around to let her out. The night was soft, sweet. Intimate. She found she didn’t want to go inside just yet to deal with puppies and work and reality.
He seemed to feel the same reluctance for the night to end. Instead of walking directly next door to her house, they both seemed to move as one toward the dock between their houses.
“Forgive me if this question is out of bounds,” he said after a moment. “You can tell me it’s none of my business. But do you and Josh have some kind of past?”
“Did he say something to you?” she asked, suddenly mortified.
“No. Nothing,” he assured her. “I just thought I picked up some kind of vibe. You were almost overly polite when you talked to him,
