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“Oh, shut up.”
Her eyes were closed by the time I reached the first set of traffic lights.
I laughed silently to myself and set off on the drive back home. It felt weird referring to Ellie’s old house ashome, mostly because I’d never known anything other than Greygarth House as being such a thing. Although her house had become a home away from home for me, and I was happy to be in London with her while she promoted her book.
Heck, I was even missing Winston. I’d become quite fond of the little bugger, although I really could do without the paw on my face at four a.m. because he could see the very bottom of his food bowl.
After an hour of London traffic, I finally pulled into the small driveway and looked over at Ellie. She was still fast asleep, and I hated that I had to reach over and wake her up.
“Ellie,” I said softly, gently shaking her knee.
“No.”
“Yes. We’re home.”
She pouted. “I wasn’t asleep,” she said right as she turned to me and looked at me with sleepy eyes.
“Come on.” I got out and walked around to her side where I opened her door and hauled her half-hearted arse out. She just about managed to sleepily rummage through her bag and pull out her keys before she looked up at me.
“Really have to get another one cut for you.” She sighed, opening the door, while I laughed.
She’d been saying it for six months.
She was never going to get around it.
I wasn’t mad. I didn’t care. If it came to it, I’d just ask Kevin to copy his key because his sister was the scatter-brained love of my life and kept muttering about that ‘goddamn fucking earl who just won’t co-operate.’
The Earl of Vanhorn existed entirely inside her brain, so I was sure she was right. He probably wasn’t co-operating.
“Go to bed and take a nap,” I told her, cupping her face with my hands. “I will take care of everything else.”
“Oh, I have to wash my underwear.”
“Ellie, darling.” I fought a laugh. “I’ve washed your gym clothes. Your underwear are small fries compared to that. I can work the washing machine.”
She sighed. “Fine. Okay.” She waved an arm in the general vicinity of the kitchen. “My knickers are in there.”
I stopped fighting my amusement and let a small chuckle out. “Oh, come here.” I pulled her into my arms and cradled the back of her head, savouring the feeling of her wrapping her arms around my waist and sinking into my touch.
She sighed, fully leaning into me, and let out a small laugh of her own. “Max?”
“Yes?”
“When we’re done here… do you think I can move into the big house? With you? Permanently?”
I bit down on my lip to stop my smile breaking my facial muscles. “Yes. I would love nothing more than to see you make Greygarth House your home.”
She smiled, and the dipping of her head as she shyly fought to hide it made my heart jump. “I love you, Max.”
“I love you, too,” I whispered into her hair, closing my eyes for a second. “Now go and take your nap.”
“Are you coming with me?” She pulled back and pouted—an expression that slowly morphed into a teasing smirk that sent a shiver down my spine.
“I have people to call.”
“All right.” She extracted herself from my arms and turned around, making sure to flick her dress up high enough that it exposed her underwear.
Fine.
Maybe I had an hour or so to go with her…
