Grayson stared at Jamie, hardly believinghow amazing she was. If Imogen were here, she would havethrown the entire picnic in thedustbin, and insisted he take her to an expensive restaurant tomake up for ruining her day. Not that Imogen would have neveragreed to a simple picnic in the first place.
He banished all thoughts of the vileshe-wolf from his mindand sat cross-legged on the other side of Jamie. Cujo jumped on hislap and he patted the dog dry with his towel.
Jamie served up the food and Alice returnedwith four mugs of steaming hot chocolate. “Perfect, thanks,Alice.”
And it was perfect. Jamie was perfect.
The four of them tucked into the deliciousfood. Five, if he counted Cujo, who after finishing the titbitsGrayson fed to him, had settled down, lying half on his leg andhalf on the throw, and was now asleep.
When they’d finished,Jamie smoothed her hair.“Is your hair still wet, Luna? Mine is.”
She nodded.
“Would you like me to dry it? I’m a dab handwith the hairdryer.”
Luna’s face lit up. Grayson had never beenany good at doing his daughter’s hair, despite trying his best.Alice managed to getLuna’s thick hair in a ponytail, but that was all, and his daughterwas always going on about having different styles.
“Hair I can do,” Jamie went on. “Not makeupthough, hence the orange face when I first came here.”
Grayson grinned. “I never noticed,” he saidto be polite.
“Liar.” She grinned back. “I looked like anOompa Loompa. In my defence, I didn’t do it. Willow was practisingwith some new foundations and I forgot I was wearing it.”
“Can you make my hairstraight like yours,Jamie? I’d love to have straight hair but mine goes frizzy most ofthe time.”
“You have lovely curls, Luna, you just haveto know how to dry it the right way. Do you have a roundhairbrush?”
“I have a set of brushes upstairs, but Idon’t know how to usethem.” Luna leapt up. “I’ll get them. Won’t be a sec.”
“I think you’re about to make a little girlvery happy, Jamie,” he said.
“She’s not that little. She’s turning into ayoung lady. Luna wants to grow up—you can see it in her face.”
Yet again she challenged him with how he saw fit to bring up hisdaughter.
“Don’t worry, I won’t make her look like oneof those dreadful beauty pageant kids.”
Somehow, he knew she wouldn’t.
Chapter Ten
Luna skipped back into the lounge, herarms full of hairbrushesand makeup bags.
Jamie chuckled. What have I let myself infor?
The girl sat in front of her on the throwand they rummaged through the bags together. Jamie found a suitablebrush, plugged in the hairdryer, then used them to style Luna’shair, smoothing thefrizz into soft, bouncy curls.
When it was dry, Jamie brushed it through andasked, “Would you like me to put some plaits in it? I think yourhair would look really pretty if we do a half-up, half-downstyle.”
“Ooh, yes, please. I’ve tried toplait it myself, but Ican’t do it. Dad tries, but he’s rubbish at doing myhair.”
“And what about me?” asked Alice from herchair by the fire.
“You do brilliant ponytails, Auntie Alice.”She whispered to Jamie. “She can’t do plaits either.”
“Okay, plaits it is.” She got to work styling Luna’s gorgeousthick hair, so like her dad’s. The girl talked non-stop, but Jamiefound it oddly relaxing.
Grayson watched them for a while, thenwent over to a side table and brought out a sketchpad and pencils.He sat on the floor,leant his back against the sofa and began to drawsomething.
“There, all done,” she said, securing thelast plait with a hairband.
Luna fetched a hand mirror from one of themakeup bags and admired her hair. She gasped. “I love it, Jamie;thank you!” She threwher arms around Jamie, the move so fast they both lost theirbalance and landed on the floor in a fit of giggles.
Grayson laughed too, the sound a deep rumblesomewhere in his chest.
“I’m glad you like it, Luna. Thanks forstaying so still.” Shesat back up.
“Can you teach me how to do plaits,please?”
“I’m not sure if I can. It’s difficult toexplain. I need to show you.”
Luna leapt up, her eyes alight with mischiefas she grabbed a brush and stood by her dad. “You can show me onDad’s hair.” She brushed his long hair. “You won’t mind if Jamieplaits your hair, will you, Dad?”
Grayson put down his sketchpad, pulledLuna down on top of himand tickled her. “Don’t be so cheeky, little pup. You know I’d doanything for you, but Jamie might not want to do myhair.”
Jamie couldn’t work out if that was aninvitation or not. Get her hands on that sexy mane of his? She’d beup for it in a flash.“No, it’s fine. I don’t mind if you don’t,” she said, attemptingnonchalance.
“Okay then, but I hope you’re gentle.”
She could be gentle… or rough,even—whatever Grayson wanted. A vision of her grabbing a fistful ofhis luscious locks as he kissed her passionately flashed to the forefront of hermind. Stopit, Jamie, there’s a child present.
Jamie glanced at the sketchpad; he’d drawna picture of her and Luna playing at being hairdressers, capturingthe image perfectly with just a few pencil marks. “That’s lovely, Grayson. You’re abrilliant artist.”
“Thanks. Come on then, make me look like afool with plaits in my hair before I change my mind.” He shiftedaway from the sofa.
She didn’t need a second invitation. Jamieknelt behind him and ran her fingers through his soft, wavy hair, trying her best toconcentrate when she had a sudden urge to bury her face in thelocks and breathe in the scent, like the earth after a summershower.
Luna watched avidly while Jamie showed herwhat to do.
Jamie laughed.
“What’s so funny?” Grayson asked, feeling theplaits in his hair. “Do I look ridiculous?”
No, he looked dead sexy.
“If someone told me I’d be doing an alphawolf’s hair before I came on this date, I would have thought theywere mad.”
“What do you think now?” His voice was husky.
“I think that maybe I am mad, but I haven’thad this much fun, or been this happy, in goodness knows how long.Thank you, all of you, for welcoming me into your home. I’ve hadthe best day ever.”
Grayson
