I nodded. “We've done a kids room for Eli’s nieces and there's a spare bed in there, if you think she'll be okay. If not, we can put a camp bed up in my room.”
“Let's see how she gets on with making friends.”
I nodded, still holding onto her hands and not wanting to let go. “You haven't come here to break my heart, have you?”
“No.” She shook her head. “I think that's the last thing I would ever want to do.”
I pulled her in close again, not caring if anyone was still watching, which they probably were. The kiss, this time, was softer, with less need and more of a promise. I kept it short, completely aware that any more and I'd need to take it private quickly.
“Let's go get your stuff.” I put my hand on her back and we walked round to where she'd parked, Rose still completely occupied with the other children that she’d discovered.
Ten minuteslater and we'd moved all of her luggage into my room. She pulled Rose in from outside and got her into her swimming costume. Once she was changed there was no chance of stopping her from running back out again and heading into the pool where two of Eli’s nieces were.
My room was on the ground floor of the Chateau, and the patio doors opened up at the end of the building looking onto the corner of the pool. It was more private than the other rooms on the ground floor, but from where it was we could still hear the noises from outside, which now included Rose’s laughter.
“Shall we talk now or talk later?” Georgia sat on the end of the bed, still wearing the clothes she’d travelled in.
“When do you want to talk? I'm just glad you're here and you're planning to stay.”
Her eyes filled up with tears, only this time they didn't manage not to fall.
I sat down next to her, and put my arm around her shoulders, pulling her into me. “There isn't anything to cry about.”
“I think it's just relief.” She giggled. “I'm so surprised I didn't get pulled over for speeding. Rose even commented to my mother about how fast I was driving.”
“The police would’ve let you off. They'd have totally got why you were having to drive fast to get to me.”
She laughed again, a little more loudly this time, and lightly smacked my chest. “Don't ever change, Seph.”
“Not if you don't want me to, and only if that doesn't include pants.”
There was another laugh, and then I felt relief that we seemed to have passed the tears, because I really wouldn’t have had a clue what to do with her tears.
“Do you want to get everything off your chest now?”
Georgia nodded. “I was worried we were going too fast, heading for something serious, and that when you realised what taking on me and another man’s daughter actually meant, you'd get cold feet. And that would have left me and Rose broken-hearted. I didn't think I could take that risk.”
“So what changed?” Because something had, and I didn't just think it was anything to do with three pictures I had sent yesterday.
“I don't think anything did. Apart from Olivia saying that I wasn't giving you credit for knowing your own mind. You're not stupid, and you're not cruel. I had to trust you to not hurt us.” She rested her head on me, but she didn't look up.
Part of me felt angry that she hadn't trusted me not to hurt her. Even when I'd been the manwhore that my family had accused me of, I'd always been straight with the girls I dated. I didn't lead people on; I didn't make false promises, or give false hope, because I would have hated that myself and that was kind of what I got from Cassie.
So I definitely wouldn't do that with someone I’d felt strongly about from the word go. And I definitely wouldn't do that with a little girl who even I could see was precious and delicate, even if she was fierce. All this made me want to do was to get hold of the man who had donated his sperm to make Rose and plaster him into a wall with my fist. Because it was him and not me who had planted doubt in Georgia’s mind.
“I can't promise I'm never going to cock up. I can't say that there won't be times when you don't want to throttle me, or I do something wrong. But I can promise you that I'll never do anything deliberately to hurt you or Rose. In fact, Georgie, it'll be the opposite.” I manoeuvred us so she was sitting on my lap, her head buried into my bare chest, my dick thankfully getting the idea that this was not a good time to be hard.
She felt soft in my arms, soft and like forever. She had nothing to be worried about; this idea of me suddenly getting cold feet about being part of a family and taking on more responsibilities – because that was what it entailed – didn't scare me at all. In fact, I couldn't think of anything better.
“But what if one day you change your mind?” Now she looked up.
“And what if one day you change yours? No one's got a crystal ball, Georgie. Victoria could finally get fed up of Max tomorrow, or Killian could see sense and realise that Claire is a psychopath. No relationship’s got any guarantee, but there's also no guarantee that it will end either.”
I felt her laugh rather than heard it. “None of your family realise you're this wise, do they?”
“It's better if they don't. Then they keep their expectations low, and I manage to pleasantly surprise them. Just promise me one thing.” I lay back on the bed, taking her with me, just holding her like I had wanted to do for the past few weeks.
“What's that?”
