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As he finished one lone teardrop fell, which she brushed away hastily.
Rising on tiptoe, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kissed his cheek. ‘You shouldn’t have had to bear such a terrible burden all by yourself.’
‘I shouldn’t have kept it from you.’ It all seemed so obvious now. Why had he never seen what Ruby had spotted after only a day? ‘I wish I’d told you sooner.’
Maddy’s lips curved into a sweet, sunny smile. ‘So do I. But at least now you have.’ She looped her arm through his, fell into step beside him as they wal
ked back to the house. ‘Tell me, did Ruby have anything to do with your decision to finally talk to me about it?’
He gave a stiff shrug, just the mention of Ruby’s name sending his emotions spinning again.
She was the most infuriating, most impulsive, most reckless woman he’d ever encountered. So how did she manage to turn him inside out with lust? Make his head feel as if it were exploding with frustration every time she challenged him? And at the same time cut right through the control that he relied upon for his sanity?
‘I’m not saying a word, on the grounds it might incriminate me.’
Or push me over the edge into insanity.
Maddy sent him a wistful smile. ‘Sometimes I think you’re too clever for your own good, Cal.’
He slung his arm over her slim frame, gave her an easy hug as she pressed against his side. ‘I try to be,’ he said. Although right at the minute, he’d never felt more stupid.
He’d done what Ruby suggested, told Maddy the truth at last, so why didn’t it feel like enough?
As he stepped into the living room with Maddy at his side, he spotted Ruby chatting with Rye in front of the big picture window. She glanced round, and the light from the setting sun caught the red highlights in her hair.
Her eyes met his and Cal felt the foolish bump under his breastbone and the way his heart scrambled into his throat.
Blast, he hadn’t sorted out a damn thing.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
‘MADDY and Rye and Mia are wonderful,’ Ruby murmured, staring out of the Ferrari’s windscreen. The drystone walls and lush greenery of the Cornish countryside whipped past, the dramatic landscape only making the turmoil of conflicting emotions more acute. ‘Thanks for inviting me along. I had a great time.’
‘You and Maddy became fast friends,’ Cal commented. ‘I noticed she invited you to come down in October.’
His voice was gruff, laconic, and she wondered if she detected a note of censure in the tone. Was he concerned that she might be foolish enough to take Maddy up on the offer?
‘Yes, that was sweet of her. But I won’t be able to make it,’ she said, firmly. ‘The business is mental in October because of all the Halloween and fireworks parties we cater for.’
However much she might want to, she wasn’t going to visit Maddy again. She wasn’t an imbecile. Suppose Cal turned up too with a new woman on his arm? Talk about awkward.
Although somehow it didn’t feel like awkwardness or embarrassment making the leaden feeling in her stomach plummet to her toes when he remained silent.
‘I see,’ he said at last.
The ball of emotion in her throat grew. She swallowed it down, determined not to give in to the pointless weakness. What on earth had she expected? That he would suggest she come as his date?
That wasn’t going to happen. Just because he’d made love to her last night as if he couldn’t do without her. Just because she’d seen the astonishment on his face when Mia had given him a spontaneous hug after blowing out her candles. Just because she’d noticed that strangely unguarded look in his eye when he’d walked into the house with Maddy an hour ago. Just because he appeared to have spoken to his sister as she had suggested.
It did not mean a single thing.
Sex was what they did best. So of course the physical connection would be heightened on their last night together. She’d found a kindred spirit in Maddy—and she’d hit it off with Rye and Mia too—so why wouldn’t she be a little emotional knowing she would never see them again?
This had nothing to do with Cal. Or the idiotic hope that had blossomed inside her during the children’s party, and afterwards while they’d said goodbye to Maddy and her family, that there might be a chance they could continue their affair.
No way was she holding her breath, waiting for him to suggest they see each other again. She didn’t wait for guys to ask her out. She did the asking if she wanted. And she didn’t. All this weekend had proved was that she’d allowed herself to become addicted to Callum Westmore. His skill and stamina in bed were phenomenal so that was no big surprise. He was going to be a hard act to follow.
No pun intended.
