“No, no.” Ragvald squeezed himself out of the car, unfolding to his full height. He scrutinized the brightly lit diner as though expecting a pack of assassins to leap out at any moment. “Noble Leonie is right to remind me of my duty. This place is new to me, and I can take no risks with your safety. Please remain here, Princess. I shall not be long.”
“I’ll wait with you, Moira,” Leonie said, now busy on her phone. “I’ve got to answer this text, anyway. Paige, can you get us a table?”
By now, the alarm bells in Paige’s head had turned into full-scale air raid sirens. When she walked into the diner, she was thus not in the least surprised to discover Conleth, sitting alone at a large table in the corner.
“You!” After days of having to maintain a strictly professional attitude in front of the kids, she couldn’t contain her emotions any longer. Letting the door slam behind her, she stormed over to him. “I knew this had to be one of your schemes!”
His look of surprise was so good, anyone would have thought it was genuine. “I’m sorry?”
“No, you aren’t.” She poked him in the sternum. “You aren’t sorry in the least. You put Leonie up to this, didn’t you?”
“Leonie?” His bewildered expression cracked. “Ah. I’m afraid there’s been a misunderstanding.”
“Oh, no.” She jabbed him again, harder. The breath left his lungs with a small ‘oof.’ “I’m sure you have some carefully prepared explanation as to how youjust happento be here. I don’t want to hear it. This is Paige talking time, not Conleth talking time.”
“It really isn’t,” he muttered. “Listen, ah, Paige. I really need to tell you?—”
“Zip it.” She wasn’t about to give him a chance to confuse her with that quick, clever tongue. “We’re going to have this out, right here and now. I know what you’ve been doing. You think you’re so subtle, don’t you? Going around being all attentive and understanding, and always so sweet with the kids.”
He blinked at her. “Did you say… sweet?”
Paige ignored this, warming up to her theme. “You always have a plan. Did you seriously think I wouldn’t figure out youwere in cahoots with Ragvald? All that ripping off your shirt and getting dragged through the mud, that was allyouridea!”
His eyebrows shot up. “That seems unlikely.”
Which wasn’t a denial. The whole toga honk thinghadbeen part of some devious plot to drive her wild. It was almost a relief to finally have an excuse to get truly, properly angry with him.
“Well, you’ve overplayed your hand this time, Conleth.” She folded her arms, glaring at him. “You thought you’d softened me up with your little act, didn’t you? Well, I’m not falling for it. And I’m definitely not falling for you. So you can just take yourself straight back to camp and?—”
A toddler barreled past her, making a bee-line for Conleth. “Daddy!”
Paige’s train of thought derailed.
“Thank you for the rescue, Otis,” the man told the little boy. “Fascinating as that was.”
Paige gaped at the boy. The toddler looked back at her with big green eyes, pressing shyly against his father’s legs. His hair was black rather than red, but there was no mistaking the family resemblance.
“You have a kid?” she said stupidly.
“Actually, I have two.” He lifted the toddler onto his lap. “I believe you’ve already met the other one.”
“Honey, have you got Otis?” A woman hurried over to the table. “I swear, that boy is as fast as his uncle—” She stopped short as she saw Paige. “Oh, hello.”
Paige stared at the family. Then she looked toward the door, where Leonie was doubled over, biting her knuckles to hold back laughter. She looked at the man again.
“You’re not Conleth,” she blurted out.
“No. I’m his brother. Callum.” He flung Leonie a rather exasperated glance. “You might have warned her.”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Leonie gasped, wiping tears from her eyes. “Well, no, I’m not. It was too good an opportunity to miss. Your face, Paige!”
The woman—who Paige now realized must be Beth’s mom—gasped, a hand flying to her mouth. “Oh, my goodness. You’rePaige?ThePaige?”
At that precise moment, Paige would have preferred to be anyone else. She had a profound desire to sink through the floor. “I guess Conleth’s mentioned me.”
“Let’s just say there’s been a great deal of activity on the family group chat.” The woman’s dark eyes sparkled as she held out a hand. “Hi. I’m Diana, Beth’s mom. Callum here is my mate. It’s so good to meet you at last.”
Paige shook her hand, then Callum’s. He really did look just like his brother. “I don’t suppose we can all pretend the last few minutes didn’t happen?”
