“I think that is a splendid idea,” he replied, his deep voice thick with emotion.
George’s face, already alight with a smile, practically glowed upon hearing Damien’s praise.
Why anyone would abandon such a pure child was beyond Damien’s comprehension. For the first time, he wondered about stopping his investigation into George’s parents. What if they did not deserve him? What if they did not understand how wonderful the little boy was?
This way, I could keep Caroline by my side for longer.
“Hey now, this looks like fun!”
George and Damien both turned to see Jeremy walking toward them, looking quite a bit better than he had before their picnic and his nap.
“It is!” George exclaimed. “Did you have a good nap, Jeremy? I always feel better after a nap.”
Damien smiled as Jeremy chuckled.
“As a matter of fact, I do,” Jeremy replied. “And I see that you have learned how to get your kite in the air.”
“Damien taught me,” George explained.
Jeremy turned to Damien with an amused look and a smirk, and Damien simply shrugged.
“Well, he is a great teacher. He taught me when I was little,” Jeremy said, turning back to George. “What do you say we take the kite on a run? See if we can get it to go a little higher?”
George excitedly agreed, and as the two began running through the grass, Damien walked back to the blanket and sat down next to Caroline. Relief flooded through his chest when her smile did not wane, and when he plucked a grape from the picnic basket, tossed it into the air, and caught it in his mouth, she even giggled at him.
“That is quite a trick,” she teased.
“Who said bad dogs cannot learn good tricks?” he teased back.
Caroline grimaced, though her smile remained in place, as she put aside her embroidery.
“I am sorry about that,” she offered softly.
Damien shrugged.
“I really do not mind, and you and I both know I have been called much worse,” he replied, looking off to George and Jeremy. It had only been a minute, but it already looked as if poor Jeremy was out of breath and struggling to keep up with the boy. Damien chuckled and shook his head.
“They only call you those things because they do not know you,” Caroline said, pulling his attention back to her.
Damien cocked his head curiously.
“I am surprised to hear you say such a thing,” he confessed. “I thought you felt differently about me.”
A look of guilt shadowed her face as she anxiously nibbled at her lower lip again.
“In truth, I do not know how to feel about you,” she confessed. “My heart, head, and body all have different opinions.”
“Tell me,” he softly implored, scooching closer to her. “Tell me how I can make things better.”
Caroline gave him a helpless look as she shrugged her shoulders.
“I do not know,” she whispered.
Damien’s fingers itched to touch her. To reach out and caress her cheek and bring her comfort—but he had gone too far the last time, and she had made it clear she was not interested in that kind of relationship with him. He was trying to respect that. Even if his body was pleading with him not to. It had been days, but he could still taste her on his lips; the scent still lingered in the air when he let his mind wander back to that preciousmoment.
Caroline cleared her throat, effectively jolting him out of his intense longing, and he noticed that she had pulled a letter from the picnic basket.
“I wanted to show you this,” she said, offering him the letter as Jeremy and George returned to the blanket, both red-faced and panting. “It is a letter from Miss Willa. She has been able to find a new, better building for the orphanage with the funds you gave her, and there was enough left over to buy new beds and bedding for the children, and so much more.”
