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He nodded. A beat of silence passed by before he spoke again. “And how does she feel about you being gone for Christmas?”

Claire pulled the ribbons around her heart that she’d allowed to become loosened by her texts, securing them in a tight knot she always held firm when thinking or speaking of her parents. “She’s fine with it. She and my dad are actually on a cruise right now, so it worked out really well for me to come here.”

She felt his gaze on her, but she wasn’t willing to share anything else. Instead, she focused ahead on where the road curved off to the right.

“So where are we headed now?”

* * *

Liam studied Claire for a minute, doing his best to hold his tongue. Clearly, she didn’t want to talk anymore about her parents, or she wouldn’t have changed the topic so abruptly. But what he couldn’t understand was why she didn’t want to.

Still, it wasn’t his place to push or prod. Instead, he motioned to the street they were coming up to. “We’ll be taking a right on Horse Guards Road,” he explained. “Then a left onto Great George Street. That will take us to Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey.”

Claire nodded, her eyes continuing to move all around them, as they’d been doing since the moment they’d left his mum’s house.

He’d refused to spend the day with Claire when his mother had first asked him to take her, waking him up early on one of her many trips to the toilet that morning.

“Both of you will be better off outside of this house with Melody and I like this,” Mum had said, attempting to appeal to his senses. “And I don’t wish for Claire to be alone. She’s gone through so much already this Christmas.”

Liam had no idea what hardships Claire had been exposed to apart from him being a halfwit, but Mum had continued before he could ask. “Whatever this feud is between you two, you have to overcome it. Forgive and forget, just like your dad and I always taught you.”

Of course his guilt had overcome him then, and he’d promised he’d stay with Claire.

“You’ll have a good time,” Mum had said, then she’d run back to the toilet.

To his utter relief and surprise, he was having a good time.

There was nothing so exciting as seeing something from the eyes of someone who’d never witnessed it before. But with Claire, the excitement was manifested over and over again throughout London in such copious amounts, Liam found it hard not to constantly stare at her. She seemed amazed by the simplest of things—from the Underground whirring forward to the gates of Buckingham being opened for the palace guards.

It was charming, really. Made her almost endearing. But that was probably just the excitement of the morning talking. There was no chance he could ever consider the woman who’d been so snippy with him the day before to be endearing.

And yet, as they made their way toward Big Ben, the large golden clocktower soaring above them, Claire was exactly that.

Her baby blue eyes rounded like a child’s in a Christmas sweet shop, ready to gobble up as many red, boiled sweets as she could.

“Oh, wow,” she breathed, her mouth propping open as she stopped in the middle of the pavement, clearly unaware of the people huffing past her as they were made to move around her.

Liam had already stepped to the side, allowing passage to the others as he watched her. All morning, she’d turned away from him when her smile had grown, as if she wanted to hide just how greatly she was enjoying her time in London. She’d also waited until she thought he wasn’t looking to snap pictures of herself, though he’d done his best to make her selfies a degree better by stopping at each site wherever she’d have the best lighting and the best backdrop and view.

With how much she’d tried to hide her behavior, he figured she didn’t want to reveal this side of herself to a perfect stranger whom she’d argued with probably more than anyone in her life.

But now, from his viewpoint on the side of the pavement, she was so taken with the clocktower that she had clearly forgotten all about attempting to hide her enthusiasm.

Of course, Liam couldn’t blame her. Big Ben was one of the greatest prides of London, and for good reason. Yet, instead of admiring the tower again, his gaze dropped to Claire. For some reason, her expression pulled his attention even more than the clock did.

“Excuse me,” someone said as they brushed past her.

Finally, her eyes were torn from Big Ben, and she glanced around her, a clear panic in her eyes. Did she not see him?

Not wishing for her alarm to continue, he stepped forward, his eyes remaining steadily on her. “It’s a good job I have your number,” he said, unable to stop himself from toying with her.

Relief flooded her features at the sight of him, and Liam was left to wonder why that fact made his heart warm.

TEN

Claire blew out a relieved sigh as she caught sight of Liam. She really thought she’d lost him then.

Before she could respond in some sarcastic way—“Did you hide on purpose just to make me freak out?”—Big Ben caught her eye once again.