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‘That’s right.’
His lips were almost touching her ear.
‘Pull it a bit to the right.’ He guided her arm and the kite dipped to the right, shooting back upwards as the breeze caught it again. ‘Ooops. Hang on tight.’
Suddenly he had left her, and was loping across to Isaac, who was struggling to keep his kite in the air.
Charlotte concentrated hard on controlling her own little bit of airspace while Edward restored Isaac’s kite safely back above their heads. He made sure that Isaac was happily in control again and then he was back.
‘What do you think?’ He was surveying the flight path of the kite.
‘It’s pulling really hard...’ Her arms were already beginning to ache.
Edward chuckled, looping his arms around her again. ‘Let me give you a hand with it.’
He wasn’t helping at all. All that happened was that she melted into his arms, turning to jelly and losing whatever strength she had left. He was controlling not only the kite but her as well. She let go of the kite strings and he strengthened his grip, catching them just in time. Turning in his arms, she faced him.
His rakish half-smile told her that this was just what he wanted. ‘Giving up already?’
‘You’re so much better at it than I am.’
‘Think so? You dip beautifully.’ He leaned towards her.
She couldn’t do this. Not with Isaac just yards away—even if he was paying them no attention.
She ducked out of the circle of his arms, feeling the wind suddenly chill her. ‘Are you hungry?’
Edward chuckled. ‘Ravenous.’
She fixed him with a glare. Even the thought of Peter’s quiet charm, and the way that had worked out, wasn’t enough to calm the insistent thunder in her veins. Peter was like a faded shadow of a man next to Edward. Edward was different. Different from pretty much everyone she’d ever met.
‘Would you like an apple?’ She gritted her teeth and doggedly refused to take any notice of the
alternative interpretation of hungry that the curve of his eyebrow suggested.
‘In a minute. I’ve got my hands full at the moment.’ His gaze left her, flipping over towards Isaac. ‘Steady on, there, chief...’
Charlotte ran to her son, helping him to pull on the string so that the kite fluttered upwards again. ‘Enjoying yourself, sweetie?’ She whispered the words tremulously in his ear.
‘Yes, Mum.’ Isaac’s attention was on the kite, its tail shimmering and sparkling in the sunshine. He submitted to a hug for a moment and then wriggled free.
‘Good. I’m glad.’
She could have cried. The scared little boy who had clung to her when the debt collectors knocked on the door was gone. In his place a child who was enjoying himself so much that he had no time for his mother’s cuddles.
‘All right over there?’ Edward nodded over to Isaac.
‘Just fine. He loves this.’
‘Yeah. Me, too.’
* * *
Edward sat at the piano, his fingers wandering across the keys, playing a soft melody of his own composition. He’d had a great time. The kite had flown better than he’d expected once he’d made a few adjustments to the lines which had altered its angle of flight slightly. Isaac had liked his kite, too, and had insisted on taking it to bed with him. And Charlotte...
He’d planned to give her a great day—help her forget about the troubles of the past week. And she’d shone in the sunshine like a beautiful jewel, full of life and light. But however hard he tried to please her he seemed to end up only pleasing himself, as the echoes of her joie de vivre washed over him.
Charlotte. The chords seemed to sing out her name. A sudden slip into a minor key lent an element of yearning to the music that hadn’t been there before.
