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wanting to finish his task, he rested his hands on her shoulders and Ellie’s gaze drifted up. She stood still, night shadows dancing across her face. Did she feel what he did? His heart squeezed as he reached down and took her hand in his. “Better?”
    “Mm hmm,” she murmured.
    Then he looked over her shoulder. “Wait up, you guys,” he called, while he ordered his heart to slow and his body to regain its equilibrium.
    What had just happened? Had he imagined the thread of electricity dancing between them? Was the spark that had begun a slow-burning fire in his blood nothing more than wishful thinking?
    “Shh! We’re here,” Louis called from up ahead.
    Cy could make out shapes stopped on the track and gave a vote of thanks for the distraction. He pulled alongside Jonty and put a hand on his son’s shoulder and drew the boy to him.
    “Okay, everyone, on the count of three,” Fleur whispered. “Turn off your flashlights and look across to the banks of the stream. Don’t make any noise or their lights will go out.”
    Cy reached for his son’s hand and held it, warm in his own.
    “One, two, three.”
    As they were plunged into darkness, Jonty breathed in sharply and squeezed his hand before burying his face in Cy’s thigh.
    Cy knelt. “It’s okay, J.” And he took in a swift breath of his own as the sight in front of them came into sharp focus. “Look, Jonty, look.” Still the little boy’s face was squashed into his leg as Cy turned and stared at the millions of tiny lights twinkling like diamonds.
    “Wow, Jonty. Isn’t it cool?” Louis whispered.
    Jonty’s hands moved to his face and he slapped his palms over his eyes and began to rock backward and forward. Cold, piercing fear gripped Cy as he reached for his son’s shoulders and pulled him close. “Cy, is he okay?” Ellie was beside him in a second, her voice soft and full of concern.
    Cy turned to face her. “No, he’s not okay. I told you he was scared of the dark. I shouldn’t have let myself be talked into bringing him here.” He scooped up Jonty, turned the flashlight back on, and pointed it up the track. Jonty was stiff in his arms, hands still stuck to his eyes.
    “Cy, I’m sorry, I didn’t…”
    Cy rubbed his son’s small, warm body. What the hell had he been thinking? He’d let himself be talked into something because of what he wanted, not what was best for his son. Jonty’s needs were his priority, not his own physical desires.
    Aside from that, if Ellie were to change her mind about marrying him because he couldn’t keep focused on what was important, then he’d never forgive himself. The fact that he’d lost sight of that made him curse quietly under his breath.
    Starting tomorrow there would be no more touching, no more being tempted. From now on he’d be the gentleman he should’ve been all those years ago. He should have grown up in eight years—God knew he’d had plenty of reason to—and now was the time to start acting like it.
    No matter how much his body and heart told him otherwise.

Chapter Five
    The twenty-third had dawned cool and gray, and Ellie pulled a cardigan around her shoulders as she carried the milk up the beach from the store. New Zealand in December…it could be boiling hot one minute and freezing cold the next. Everything today—the sand, sea, sky—was silver, even the sound of the wind in the enormous macrocarpa trees was sharp and metallic.
    Her heart felt metallic too after last night. Why had she encouraged Jonty to go see the glowworms when Cy had told her he’d be frightened? She was going to be partially responsible for that little boy for the next year and the thought wasn’t getting any easier. Being around children scared her. She didn’t know how Fleur coped when Louis scraped his knees or came home crying because someone had been mean to him at school. What if she made things worse with Jonty’s mutism rather than better?
    She’d go and see Cy later. She’d apologize