Read Online The Aristocrat and the Single Mom by Michelle Douglas - Free Book Online Page B

morning sunlight that spilled into the room at every window. In fact, the room was more window than wall. It made him blink, but Kate and Jesse, faces alive with animation and at home in the sunlight, chattered away to each other about…birds? Simon had never wanted to sit himself down and join a conversation with as much hunger as he did now.
    The chattering abruptly stopped. Two faces turned to the doorway as one, as if they’d sensed him there at the same time, both faces wary. Kate’s wary and shadowed, as if she hadn’t slept.
    ‘Good morning,’ she said, but her lips didn’t lift into yesterday’s ready smile.
    ‘Good morning,’ Jesse said, following her lead.
    He had a feeling that as far as children went, Jesse was a good one. Which was another reason Simon had best keep his distance. ‘Good morning,’ he managed in return.
    Kate pointed to the breakfast bar and an array of cereal boxes. ‘Help yourself. There’s bread in the breadbox for toast. Coffee’s in the pot.’
    ‘Thank you.’
    Then she promptly turned back to Jesse and resumed their conversation, excluding him. Simon’s stomach filled with acid. Yesterday, for a while there with this woman he’d felt a part of something bigger than himself. It had probably been a mirage—a product of jet lag and relief…and a kiss that had blown his mind.
    He rolled his shoulders and glanced at Jesse. He had to forget about that kiss. He didn’t want to be a part of something this big.
    He poured himself a coffee, hesitated at one end of the kitchen table, but as Kate and Jesse’s conversation skittered to another halt and Kate’s shoulders stiffened, he forced his legs to carry him all the way to the sliding glass door and outside to the shabby but obscenely comfortable outdoor setting.
    For some reason this eclectic collection of chairs around a scuffed wooden table—round so nobody sat at the head—made him smile. He’d seen enough of Kate’s remarkable home to know she wasn’t the kind of woman who would fit in at Holm House. He had a feeling she’d despise the fuss accompanying valuable antiques, the exaggerated care taken not to scratch or damage them, and the painstaking restoration of fabrics for sofas as stiff and uncomfortable as stone. Kate’s house was feet-up-on-the-furniture comfortable.
    It suddenly occurred to him that in his private apartments he didn’t need to put up with the antiques either.
    Kate stuck her head around the door and anticipation fired along each and every nerve-ending before he could stamp it out. If only she’d sit down with him for a minute…
    ‘If you still want to come out on The Merry Dolphin today—’
    ‘I do.’ The words shot out of him too quickly, but he couldn’t hold them back. He couldn’t mess with her. He couldn’t kiss her or make love with her—his skin tightened at the thought—or flirt with her or try to woo her or do any of the things his body urged him to do. But at least he could go out on her boat.
    ‘Then we leave in half an hour.’
    ‘I’ll be ready,’ he promised.
    She glanced at his mug of coffee and he waited for her to tell him he should eat something, but she didn’t. She disappeared back inside and she hadn’t smiled. Not once.
     
    ‘Ready?’
    Simon leapt up from the outdoor table. ‘Yes.’ He followed Kate and Jesse down to the bottom of the garden to a set of wooden steps he hadn’t noticed earlier. They led down into apark lined with flame trees and jacarandas, and around to a perfect crescent of golden sand.
    Simon’s steps faltered as he took in a picturesque sheltered bay. ‘This is…’ he glanced back the way they’d come to see if he could glimpse a cave sparkling with gold and gems, and turbaned men whizzing around on magic carpets ‘…amazing.’
    ‘This is Dutchman’s Beach,’ she said, matter of fact. Jesse raced down to the beach. She kept to the path and didn’t lead him down to the sand. ‘Around the point is the marina, which