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He swam until his shoulders ached and his eyes stung from the salt. Until his lungs shrieked for air and his legs felt leaden. He swam until his mind was calmer and his body should have felt soothed.
But it didn’t.
Finally he gave up and returned to the beach to find his brother standing on the shore. There was no sign of Kat or the boy.
‘Thought you were swimming across to France,’ Mac said mildly, handing Josh a towel. ‘Glad you changed your mind. Louisa’s made enough food for an army.’
Josh took the towel. ‘You need to tell that wife of yours to stop matchmaking.’ He dried his face and slung the towel round his shoulders. ‘I can arrange my love life without her help.’
And he didn’t want her driving Kat in the opposite direction.
‘Is she helping? Oh, dear.’ Mac turned to walk back towards the house and Josh fell into step. ‘That’s the end of you, then.’
Josh glared. ‘The woman interferes!’
‘Well, I know that.’ Mac stifled a yawn. ‘If she didn’t interfere, we wouldn’t be married now, as you well know. And if you hadn’t also interfered, I never would have met her.’
Josh kicked the sand moodily. ‘I don’t interfere.’
‘You arranged for Louisa to move in with me last Christmas,’ Mac reminded him dryly. ‘If that’s not interfering, I don’t know what is.’
‘That’s entirely different. I just knew you were right for each other.’
‘Kat’s not right for you?’
Josh thought of her green eyes and lush curves. He thought of her sharp brain and her quick tongue. ‘She’s fine.’
‘But?’
He looked at his brother. ‘I don’t mess with single mothers.’
‘So?’ Mac shrugged as if the problem had a simple solution. ‘Don’t mess with her, then. Take it seriously. For the first time in your life take a relationship further. Who knows? You might find that you like it.’
Josh stopped as though he’d been shot. Suddenly he felt as though he was suffocating. Take a relationship further? He never took relationships further, and that was when women had no ties. Kat had ties. She had Archie. What about Archie? The responsibility stifled him.
‘No.’ He shook his head and ran a hand over the back of his neck. He was sweating. It was the heat, he decided. Just the heat. ‘It’s too complicated. The risk is too great.’ He thought of Archie’s huge smile. ‘And I’m not about to upset a child.’
‘Well, that’s good to hear, but can you walk and talk?’ Mac jerked his head towards the house. ‘We need to get going if you want to eat this side of Christmas. That’s why I came to get you. When Kat and Archie reappeared without you, Louisa thought you’d drowned. And I don’t see why you’re so freaked out. The fact that you care about upsetting a child has to be good. It means you care about him. It means there’s hope for you.’ He slapped his brother on the shoulder. ‘You might even make a half-decent uncle with a bit of training.’
Josh stared at Mac. How could he care about Archie? He was just a kid.
But he already did care about him and the realisation stunned him. He’d never had a relationship with a child before.
Mac sighed. ‘Josh, get a grip. And wipe that soppy, distracted look off your face or you’ll never hear the last of it from Louisa and neither will I. She’s already choosing her hat for the wedding.’
The word ‘wedding’ exploded like a bucket of cold water over his head and Josh blinked.
Of course, that would be exactly what a woman like Kat would expect. A wedding. And he wasn’t the marrying kind.
There were other women with curves and green eyes, he reminded himself firmly as he strode off through the dunes towards his brother’s house. Other women with brains. Women who didn’t come with more baggage than a jumbo jet.
And the only way to be totally sure that he wouldn’t hurt Archie was to find one of them. Quickly.
* * *
The food was delicious.
Kat supervised as Archie filled his plate and then went to sit on the rug that Louisa had placed in the shade.
