AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘If it’s a girl puppy, I’m going to call her Tinkerbell,’ she said as she tugged him towards the breakfast table.
She continued to chatter at a staggering rate as Lacey served him breakfast. Luckily, his daughter didn’t seem to require any input from him—which was good, because he was actually speechless.
For the first time ever, though, he found himself more than happy simply to go with the flow.
Lacey eased the door shut to Ruby’s room, where her daughter had finally collapsed for a well-earned nap—after spending the morning with her father and her new Jack Russell puppy, Tinkerbell—and sent a careful smile to the man beside her...who was frowning as he stared at the door.
‘She’s exhausting,’ he murmured.
Brandon Cade looked shell-shocked—but somehow the perplexed expression as he turned that fierce green gaze on her only made her heart swell more.
He’d been so patient with Ruby today—thoughtful, attentive and utterly fascinated by everything Ruby did or said. He’d also seemed more than a little nervous, which was a new look for him. Lacey had sensed as soon as he had walked into their room four hours ago—and Ruby had treated him to one of her ‘special hugs’—he was completely and utterly out of his depth.
The puppy suggestion, though, had been nothing short of inspired. And she couldn’t help wondering where it had come from... Because, for a man who had told her he didn’t think he would be a natural at fatherhood, he had already found a direct route into his little girl’s heart.
‘She’s excited,’ Lacey clarified.
He nodded. ‘She really adores that puppy,’ he said. ‘I never knew someone could be so erudite and articulate on a single topic for four solid hours.’
Lacey chuckled, the warmth in her chest glowing. It felt good to be able to talk about her child with him.Theirchild. Who knew?
‘Yes, she already loves Tinkerbell,’ she replied. ‘She also likes you rather a lot.’
A flicker of surprise crossed his features. ‘I’m glad,’ he said, sinking a hand into his pocket. ‘I just...’ He hesitated. ‘I don’t want her to be frightened of me.’
‘She isn’t,’ Lacey replied, puzzled.
Why would Ruby be frightened of him when he had been so careful with her today? He’d answered all of her questions and listened intently to the endless stream of information on her new puppy. He’d even carried her back from the groundsman’s cottage after she’d begun to tire, holding Ruby securely as she dropped off to sleep with surprising confidence, given Lacey was sure it was only the second time he had held a child in his life.
‘I’m sure the puppy didn’t hurt,’ he added wryly.
‘Tinkerbell’s not the only reason,’ she said, determined to reassure him and knowing it was true. ‘What made you suggest the puppy?’ she asked, intrigued.
‘I’ve never been above using bribery when it comes to getting what I want,’ he said, his voice deepening as his gaze met hers. Even as a familiar reaction pulsed in her abdomen, she could hear the evasive tone. Was he trying to distract her?
‘True,’ she said, the provocative comment reminding her of last night’s kiss, as she was sure it had been intended to do. ‘But a puppy was a brilliant idea. I just wondered if there was a reason you thought of it,’ she probed again, determined not to be distracted.
He shrugged, but the movement was tense. He didn’t answer straight away. Instead, his gaze slid away from hers to contemplate the view, from the room’s huge paned window, of the mansion’s manicured lawns now drenched in sunshine.
Instinctively she knew there’d been more to the idea now. And that he was trying to decide whether to confide in her or not.
Her chest tightened as she realised how much she wanted to know the truth, because it might give her another crucial insight into his childhood.
At last, his gaze met hers, direct, unflinching, but filled with a depth of emotion she suspected he had not intended her to see.
‘Tinkerbell is the descendant of a puppy I once owned when I was a child here,’ he said. Something flashed in his gaze that looked bitter and angry, but beneath it she could see the shadow of hurt.
His voice, though, remained flat and hollow when he continued. ‘I adored that little Jack Russell. He was my best friend. Myonlyfriend, really,’ he said, then let out a humourless laugh. ‘I was brought up alone by the staff here ever since I was a baby. I didn’t see my father often, but on one of his rare visits he must have spotted me playing with my puppy. The head groundsman—John’s father,’ he added, mentioning the man they had met that day. ‘Had given him to me for my fifth birthday two months before. When I was called into my father’s study, I was excited. I had some childish notion he was going to give me a birthday present, even though he’d never given me one before. Instead, he told me it was high time I went to boarding school and that the puppy would be taken from me and rehoused—because the staff couldn’t look after it while I was gone.’
Lacey gasped. ‘But...how could he do something so cruel?’ she said, shocked not just by his father’s cruelty, and the decision to send his son away to boarding school at such a young age, but also by the lack of emotion in Brandon’s voice.
He shrugged, as if the incident was of no importance, the expression on his face blank. ‘He wanted to toughen me up, he said.’
‘Your father sounds like an ass,’ she said forcefully, suddenly furious with the man. Was this why Brandon controlled his emotions so carefully?
‘He was.’ He stared at her, a muscle twitching in his jaw. ‘But, to be fair to him, it worked.’
‘Did it?’ she asked, the compassion welling in her chest.
