“I wanted to punch that man, Lord Spotty, for annoying you, and I don’t feel things like jealousy, Kate.”
“I wanted to punch him too,” she whispered, leaning toward him. “Rory, I don’t understand this.”
“This?” He ran a finger down her cheek.
“Yes, that.”
Kate was mesmerized by the heat now in his golden eyes. She wanted to lean into him, anything to ease the tension climbing inside her. Tension that if she was honest had been inside her since that day on the beach when she found him.
He gave her a little tug, and she lost her balance and ended up pressed to his chest.
“Your shoulder—”
“Is fine.”
His hand cupped her cheek and then he was kissing her again, but this one was different. Soft, and achingly sweet. It made her want to weep; instead she lifted her hand and cupped the back of his neck, holding him close.
She didn’t know how long they sat there under that tree kissing. Where one stopped, another started. It was exquisite, blissful, and a million other words. His hand moved to her neck, gliding over the skin as it traveled lower, his fingers easing beneath her scarf to trace the line of her gown.
“So beautiful.” He kissed her neck. “So very sweet. We have to stop now, Kate.”
“I know.” She rested her cheek against his. “The plum pudding contest is about to start.”
He laughed, a low rumble beneath her cheek.
Lifting her head, she looked at him. Studied the heat in his eyes and tension in his jaw. He wanted her as she wanted him?
“I don’t know what any of this means… and there is much to discuss between us.” He pressed his finger to her lips to stop the words she wanted to speak. “I cannot make promises to you, and for that I should not have done what we just did, but God alone could not have stopped me. You unsettle me, Kate Sinclair, and that has not happened before.”
Kate touched the seam of his lips, a light stroke of a finger. She’d known, of course, that this was not a man who would commit to her. Known that his life had been so very different from hers, and then there was his sister, and of course all the family he now had.
He’s made no promises to you, and as you only just met, you should not expect it.
Of course, the problem now was that she loved him. Strange how she knew that unequivocally. No holds barred love, with all of her. She’d known he was special the day she rescued him, but when she’d seen him standing in that line at the kissing booth, holding Meredith, Isabella pressed to his leg, she realized the true depth of what she felt for this man.
He’d not wanted this, family and everything that came with it, but he’d not turned away from the little girls when they approached him, she’d seen that too. Rory Huntington was a good man; he just didn’t know it.
“You look sad suddenly.”
“Not at all. I was just thinking.”
His smile was gentle. “Care to share your thoughts?”
“I was hoping that Josiah Hemple won the plum pudding competition.”
He knew she lied but did not challenge her.
“I must go.” Kate wiggled out from under the tree, and he followed.
“Why did you feel the need to sit under there, Kate?” He took her arm as they moved to the open door.
“Peace is not easy to find with my family. I found it here until you joined me.”
“I’m sorry I disturbed your peace then.”
She wasn’t but kept that thought to herself.
He followed silently as she walked back downstairs and outside to join their families. Her thoughts were on what they’d shared, and his… well, he alone knew what occupied them.
