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Why does he keep asking me that?
“Umm… it’s my house.” Dudley chose that moment to hop up onto the sofa and settle into the crook of my arm.And the award for the world’s worst guard dog goes to…
Malcolm’s eyes flitted to Dudley and then to my sprawled position. Perhaps it was the way his blue-grey eyes dragged over me, because we both seemed to realise simultaneously what I was wearing… or rather, not wearing might have been a better description. My T-shirt was shucked up around my waist leaving my full beige briefs on display. Swallowing, he backed up a step, cheeks burning a deep scarlet.There—that was the Malcolm I remembered. Instead of sitting, I stretched a leg out and watched his gaze track the movement.
I found I rather liked his eyes on me. I always had.
Jumping like he’d walked in on me changing, Mal righted the chairs we’d toppled and I finally noted the material dangling limply from his fingertips. My bra. The skimpy white lace one I’d left drying on the radiator. My mind hit replay on the last sixty seconds and a laugh tore from my chest. I’d just had a physical fight with Malcolm Macabe. I’d jumped him like a goddamned spider monkey and shoved my bra into his mouth. This was quickly taking the top spot as the strangest night of my life.
Pushing to sit, I wiped the tears from my cheeks and quickly found the source of the second barker: a gorgeous golden retriever now sitting at Malcolm’s heel. Next to his very surly owner, they were night and day. The dog’s entire body vibrated, his tail whipping jubilantly on the tile. Malcolm continued to glower, lips I knew from memory ridiculously full, half hidden by an impressive but neatly trimmed beard. His mouth was pressed in a firm line and made the surgery scar that had always stretched from his left nostril to the centre of his top lip more pronounced. Time had faded it from a fleshy pink to white.
Noticing where my attention strayed, Mal looked down at his feet.Fine, I’d look at the dog instead.“Hey gorgeous,” I said, holding a hand out.
Malcolm issued a gruff“Boy!” but the dog was already moving, diving straight for the offered affection. Not one to be ignored, Dudley flopped on his back, pawing my arm until I stroked him with my free hand.
Malcolm watched the entire exchange through puffy, albeit wary eyes, as if my hand were a serpent about to choke the life from his beloved pet. Perhaps a fair assessment given the situation, so I went straight for the elephant in the room.“Look, I’m so sorry for jumping you and spraying you in the face… and the whole‘bitch’comment. If I’d known it was you I never would have—”
“—almost blinded me?”
I continued to stroke the dogs.“The deodorant is non-toxic, it never would have blinded you.”
“I couldn’t give a shit if it were bloody fairy dust.”
I had to bite my lip against my brewing laugh.“The fate of our planet is everyone’s responsibility, Malcolm.”
“April.”His tone held a warning. If it weren’t for the bra he still ignorantly clutched, I’d feel as though I was in the principal’s office.
“Okay, fine, I’m sorry. Just let me explain… it’s kind of funny really. I was upstairs in my bedroom when I heard you break in through the window. And like any woman faced with a predator—”
“Predator?” He looked seconds from blowing a blood vessel.
“—my mind instantly flew to the worst conclusion.” I stood and the dogs danced excitedly at my feet. Just like teenaged Malcolm, he didn’t meet my eyes and instead continued to stare at his boots.
“I didn’t break in, I only came through the window because the safety latch was on.”
“You mean the safety latch a lone woman might put on for, I don’t know… safety?” I grinned brightly. It got zero reaction,nada,zilch. Not even a crack in his icy exterior.Strange, that smile usually worked on everyone.“Malcolm, I’m not blaming you. I clearly misread the situation and I’m sorry, so so sorry—I’m just trying to explain.”
“How did you get in?” he cut in. Leaning back against the dining table, he folded his arms encased in dark blue plaid across his chest until the seams stretched. That unnoticed scrap of lace still right there.Right. There.I could swear to the goddess Meryl Streep I tried my best not to stare at it.“Tonight. How did you get in?” he asked again.
“Oh… the kitchen window.” I gestured over my shoulder.“It’s actually pretty strange now you think about it, we both used the exact same route to break in—wait, did you split your pants too?”
He merely raised a brow at that.“Wouldn’t that makeyouthe intruder?”
“Me?” I drew back. Why did this feel like a gotcha moment?“I grew up here, I’m Kier’s granddaughter, that makes the manor mine.”
“Granddaughter?” He scoffed darkly, the sound not at all aligning with the Malcolm I remembered. Apparently he didn’t need to look at me to go for the jugular because he continued to stare at his boots as he spoke the words that flayed me right open.“Wouldn’t a granddaughter stop playing dress-up for a few days to attend her grandfather’s funeral?”
I knew my mouth hung open but I didn’t have the faculties to close it. As a teenager, Malcolm was shy, painfully so, but never cruel. I hadn’t expected a hug and an invitation to dinner—though I absolutely would have accepted—but perhaps a smile and a“hi April, nice to see you,” or even a“let’s catch up over coffee.”
What on earth was going on? Perhaps we really were in Opposite Land. Or I’d hit my head during the scuffle and this was all an odd hallucination.“Malcolm—”
He strode toward me, bending just a fraction closer than appropriate, and gave his dog two soft pats on the rump followed by a muttered,“Home time, Boy.” The dog gave Dudley an almost humanlike forlorn look but followed obediently. I watched the entire exchange in stunned silence.
Before he was out of sight, Malcolm tossed one final parting shot. A grenade really, disguised in gentle brogue.“Go back to London, princess. No one will be happy to see you back here.”
I stared until I heard the front door close. Then I did the one thing I was good at… I acted. The quiver in my lips stretched into a smile, and a false brightness that had become so effortless melted into my voice as I said to Dudley,“Well… that was odd, but no matter, he probably had a really bad day. Tomorrow’s going to be great, you’ll see.” I went about setting the kitchen to rights, crawling on my hands and knees until I’d retrieved every last carrot cube. Finally, when I ran out of reasons to stay downstairs, I trudged back up to my room that smelled too much of home and slipped into my freshly made bed, Dudley curled to my chest.
3
