Page 34 of A Cornish Wedding Retreat
‘I didn’t. I merely gave her an equally snooty look in return and tapped my finger against my nose politely, making it clear she needed to mind her own business.’ Chad’s warm laughter rumbled through her. ‘So, are you up for an adventure tonight?’
The old Maggie would’ve thought about it, weighed the pros and cons and come down on the side of caution but the chance of spending the next twenty-four hours being loved and fussed over was too enticing to turn down.
‘Good.’ He hugged her.
‘But I haven’t answered yet,’ Maggie protested.
‘You don’t need to. I watched you decide and your eyes went all soft and misty.’
‘Could you possibly sound any more self-satisfied?’ She tried to pull away but he wouldn’t loosen his hold.
Chad smirked. ‘Oh, I could, but then you might damage me irreparably and neither of us would have any fun tonight.’ He brushed a lock of hair out of his eyes and went back to nuzzling her neck, murmuring how good she tasted before going into explicit details about what he planned to do to her later. Listening to him heated her blood. ‘Why don’t you go and get packed so we can escape as soon as you’re done with the Demon Bride? You won’t need much. You won’t be going far.’
For a few brief moments Maggie wondered what on earth she thought she was doing.
‘Hey, don’t fret, I’m only having a bit of fun with you. There’s nothing wrong with us enjoying being together, Maggie, in whatever way we choose. The crucial word ischoose, honey.’
She let out the smile she’d been fighting. ‘In that case Ichooseto go with you and Ichooseto have a good time.’
‘You’re an amazing woman, Maggie Taylor.’
You’re pretty amazing too. She’d tell him that later, when the time was right.
* * *
Maggie had said several times how much she admired his innate confidence, but there was a fine line between that and arrogance, something he never wanted to be with her or anyone else. She had the crazy idea it’d been a tough week for him but didn’t appear to realise how much he’d enjoyed being a part of her life. It didn’t matter if he’d been emptying the trash or running Emily to a whole raft of shoe shops while Maggie was busy making the wedding cake.
Tonight he’d try his best to tell her.
‘You’d better go now and do whatever you need to do. I’ll fix myself a cup of coffee while I wait.’ He shooed her out of the kitchen. With the kettle turned on Chad found a mug and a jar of instant coffee. He opened a drawer in his search for a spoon. Thenext one he tried was one of the catch-all variety everyone had in their house and before he could close it back up a crumpled photo stuck in the back corner caught his eye. Chad couldn’t resist pulling it out.
A smiling woman with Maggie’s brown wavy hair but Emily’s tall, slender build stared back at him. She was crouching down on the grass with her arms wrapped around two little girls in matching blue dresses.
‘Our mother was an incredibly special person.’ Emily’s soft voice startled him and he turned to stare at her, standing in the kitchen doorway with her eyes full of tears. ‘Did Maggie tell you about her?’
He couldn’t lie. ‘Only a little.’
Emily’s trembling hands smoothed down the front of her yellow sundress. ‘I’m sure she mentioned how our mother died.’
‘Yeah, she did.’
‘I blamed her for the longest time.’
‘And she let you. So did your father.’ Chad murmured. ‘It wasn’t fair.’
‘I realise that now. Our father should’ve stood up for her but he didn’t.’
‘Because your behaviour made it impossible for him to do so.’ Maggie would hate him if he made things worse but he needed to be truthful.
‘You don’t pull any punches, do you?’ Emily half smiled. ‘Jonathan doesn’t either these days and that’s good for me. No one ever did that before. They let me get away with being thoughtless and badly behaved.’
Chad nodded. ‘Do you know the best gift you could give Maggie?’
‘My head on a platter?’ she teased.
‘Nothing as extreme. A genuine apology would do.’ Her eyes narrowed and he worried he’d gone too far. Emily needed toknow he wasn’t firing a shot in the dark. ‘I called my brother last week and did the same thing. He’s a lot older and we’ve never been close. I wasn’t there when he needed my support and I want things to be different between us. Maggie helped me get it straight in my head.’
‘Maybe I’m not as brave as you,’ Emily ventured.
