Chapter 26
Twenty-six
Ewan knocked lightly on the old nursery door. When he heard no response, he quietly opened it and stuck his head inside. He’d been hoping he hadn’t missed the bedtime story—he’d grown fond of the routine over the last few nights—but after being held up by his parents, he feared he was too late.
The soft glow of the bedside lamp bathed the bedroom in a warm yellow light.
One small, dark head rested on the pillow next to a larger one.
They lay on their sides, facing each other, the smaller body tucked safely in the crook of the other’s arms. His throat tightened.
Never had he seen a more perfect picture of mother and daughter.
It was the essence of maternal instinct caught and held in time—a mother gently holding her child in sleep, protecting her.
He’d wanted to talk about what had happened tonight.
He knew Kenzie had wanted to wait until the right time before they told Poppy who he really was.
He got it. It was a huge deal. It was monumental even for him, and he was a grown-arse adult.
He couldn’t begin to imagine how confusing it would be for a little kid, although part of him was relieved the decision had been taken out of their hands.
It was like the whole band-aid theory—just rip it off and be done with it.
Poppy had taken it all in her stride, which made him chuckle. She seemed to have inherited his more laid-back, roll-with-the-punches kind of personality.
He’d never held much faith in the whole love-at-first-sight thing, but when it came to Poppy, all that went out the window.
He’d fallen for this kid—hard—and the emotion had caught him off guard.
His only real experience with kids had been as an uncle, and that had not prepared him for the kick in the guts he’d experienced after coming to terms with the fact he was a father and this was his child.
He wasn’t sure how they were going to work all this out. All he knew was that he would do anything to make it happen. He’d missed out on the first four years of her life—he wasn’t going to miss a single day of the rest of it.
He took the soft blanket from the end of the bed and gently covered them both. For a moment, he thought about waking Kenzie so she could go to her own bed, where she’d be more comfortable, but he didn’t have the heart to disturb them.
He turned for one last look before stepping out of the bedroom, closing the door softly behind him.
The next morning, when Kenzie woke up, she stretched and savoured the softness of the mattress beneath her—it was like floating on a cloud.
She made a note to search for the brand before she left so she could replace her bed at home.
As she opened her eyes, she remembered waking up in the early hours of the morning, having fallen asleep while putting Poppy to bed the night before.
She hadn’t remembered covering them both with the soft blanket and felt slightly unsettled, not knowing who else might have done it.
Shaking off the thought, she climbed out of bed and quickly got dressed.
Ewan wasn’t around when she ventured downstairs after once again finding her daughter’s room empty, but she knew where she’d find her now and had headed straight to the kitchen.
‘Breakfast?’ Peggy asked, looking up and sending a friendly smile.
‘No, thanks, I might just have coffee this morning,’ Kenzie said, glancing around and still finding no sign of Ewan … or anyone, for that matter. ‘Where is everyone?’
‘The terrible two are out in the garden,’ Peggy said dryly, nodding her head out through the doors in the breakfast room, to where Vera and Poppy had gone, ‘and Ewan went out for a run.’
A run? Yet another thing they didn’t have in common.
Kenzie had never run a day in her life. In fact, if she ever were running, it would only be because something terrifying was chasing her …
and even then, depending on how far she had to run, she would possibly consider that she’d had a good innings, lie down and accept her fate.
Vera was holding a long basket that she and Poppy were filling with tomatoes and leafy green vegetables.
‘Morning, Mummy,’ Poppy said as Kenzie approached carrying a mug of coffee.
‘I can’t believe I slept in again. I’m so sorry,’ she said, wondering if this woman considered her a terrible mother who left her child unsupervised each morning, although she had been up with Poppy the day before.
‘It’s the country air,’ Vera said with a smile. ‘It happens all the time when we have visitors.’
‘I’ll have to start setting my alarm,’ Kenzie said weakly.
Vera shooed her suggestion away. ‘You’ll do no such thing. Just enjoy the rest. We love our early morning girl time, don’t we, Poppy?’
Poppy nodded, holding up a carrot for her mother to inspect.
‘This really is an amazing garden,’ Kenzie said, admiring the fresh produce in the basket. ‘We tried to grow some tomatoes on our balcony in pots.’
‘They died,’ Poppy informed her grandmother in a dire tone.
‘Ah well. It just takes a little bit of practice,’ Vera replied.
‘And maybe some water occasionally,’ Kenzie added. She’d tried her best to remember to water the stupid plants every day, but mornings were just too hectic and by the time she got home, she was usually too busy with getting dinner sorted.
‘Who knows, maybe by the time you go home, we’ll have made gardeners out of both of you,’ Vera said cheerfully.
‘Actually, I was going to bring out my laptop and go through a few emails, and thought it might be nice to do it out here?’ ‘You can try, but there’s a bit of a black spot outside.
But feel free to work, you have the house to yourself,’ Vera said.
‘We were just going to potter about out here today, so we can stay out of your hair. Go work in peace.’
She did have work to do that she was having a small amount of anxiety about finding time to catch up on. ‘Are you sure it’s not too much trouble?’
Vera’s eyes sparkled, the same colour as her son’s and granddaughter’s. ‘Spending time with this wee one is no trouble at all.’
She could almost get used to these later starts, Kenzie thought, comparing these last few mornings of having her coffee made and a cook on hand to make her breakfast to the usual racing around searching for a lost shoe or trying to hurry Poppy through eating her breakfast while she gave an incredibly drawn-out and detailed recap of the dream she’d had the night before.
It didn’t matter how organised Kenzie was, there was always that element of rush that she hated.
Everything was always on a time limit. She loved these kinds of mornings, where Poppy was free to talk to her heart’s content without someone telling her to hurry up and eat because they had to leave in five minutes.
Maybe she did need to look at how she could better manage her workload so she didn’t have to constantly rush through life.
She made a note that when she got back to the office, she’d look into the possibility of cutting back some of her hours to free up more time to spend with Poppy through the week.
Some late starts and ending her work day in the early afternoons occasionally seemed like a luxury when long hours and early starts had always been the way she’d done things.
Kenzie washed up her mug and placed it on the sink when she came back inside, then headed for the stairs. She stopped when she heard her name, and saw Callum standing in the doorway of a room next to the formal sitting room.
‘Good morning,’ she said politely. Callum had usually left the house before she was up and about, so it was a surprise to find him still here.
‘I don’t believe you’ve seen the den yet,’ he said, gesturing with one hand inside the door.
Kenzie hadn’t seen the den, and she didn’t particularly feel like seeing it right now either, but there was no polite way of getting out of the invitation.
The room was almost as formal as the sitting room on this side of the house.
It was exactly how she’d envisioned a room that was Callum’s domain would look, with brown leather chairs and heavy mahogany furniture, carpet that was dark green with splashes of red and gold and a massive desk dominating the room, although she’d expected a bit more tartan and lots of animal heads on the walls.
‘How are you enjoying your stay?’ he asked turning back to face her.
‘It’s been lovely. Poppy’s enjoying herself.’
‘And the big announcement? We all thought that wouldn’t be happening yet.’
‘Yes, well, ideally, a little more time would have probably been better, but Poppy seems to be taking it all in her stride.’ ‘She’s a child.’ He shrugged. ‘They don’t fully grasp the situation like we do.’
‘I think she grasps the situation just fine,’ Kenzie said, wheeling out her professional smile. ‘Kids just adapt more easily to things.’
‘Well, unlike children, adults need to be a bit more careful. I’m sure you appreciate that this has all come as quite a surprise to all of us.’
‘I do.’
‘And my job as head of this family is to protect it.’
A tad medieval, but fair enough. ‘I understand that.’
‘Good. So you won’t mind if we insist on a DNA test, then?’
Yes, she very much would fucking mind. She may not have said it, but from the way he lifted his eyebrows, she was pretty sure her expression was mirroring it very clearly.
‘If Ewan wants a test, then he and I will discuss it. I have nothing to hide, but I won’t be putting my daughter through any unnecessary stress. ’
‘It’s just a simple cheek swab. No stress involved,’ he countered easily.
He’d obviously already looked into it, a thought that didn’t sit well with her.
Of course, it was probably natural that it might cross their minds that someone might be trying to pull the wool over their son’s eyes, but it didn’t make the insult sting any less.
‘As I said, if Ewan wants a DNA test, he and I will discuss it.’
‘Laire-Mor is a large business. A family business,’ he stressed pointedly. ‘Naturally, it would look like an attractive prospect.’
Kenzie narrowed her eyes. ‘I had no idea about Laire-Mor before coming here. I have no interest in your property.’
‘You aren’t the concern,’ he said with a dismissive scoff. ‘It’s making a claim through a child—a child that could be anyone’s—that’s the concern here.’ He was watching her carefully, like she would immediately confess to her dastardly scheme.
But he’d freed her; Callum had abandoned all pretences, now she could do the same.
‘No one’s making a claim on your property, Mr Campbell,’ she said acidly.
‘I can assure you, it’s completely safe.
’ She’d had enough. Kenzie took a step sideways to move around him, but his words made her pause momentarily.
‘Good. Because if you think my son is somehow coming into all this one day, you’re sadly mistaken.
’ She didn’t bother to dignify his remark with a reply, but the coldness of his tone sent a literal chill through her body.
Was he implying Ewan wouldn’t be inheriting anything from his father?
How sad. She didn’t know what had happened to drive a wedge between them, but excluding him from what was clearly supposed to be his right as this man’s child was heartless.
In her opinion, Ewan was better off without any of it.
She left Callum’s office without a backwards glance.
Once she was inside her bedroom, she gathered her towel and headed up the hall to the bathroom. Since she had the morning to herself, she decided she needed to take a long, hot shower to rid herself of the lingering negativity she swore she could feel on her skin.
Later, she dried herself and wrapped the towel around her tightly before brushing her teeth. Feeling a lot better, she opened the door and ran into a brick wall, letting out an oof as the breath left her body.
‘You okay?’ Ewan asked, his hands holding her upper arms tightly. When she nodded, he let out a small chuckle. ‘We need to stop meeting like this.’
‘It’s not on purpose,’ she snapped, regaining her senses and realising she was, yet again, practically naked in his presence.
‘Are you sure?’ he asked, a twinkle in his eye.
She failed to see the amusement in the situation. ‘I’m positive,’ she grated.
‘Sorry,’ he said, sounding slightly surprised by her irritability. ‘Is there something wrong?’
‘No. I just have some work I need to do.’
‘You’re angry that Poppy found out, aren’t you?’ he said, stepping back as she grabbed hold of the front of her towel protectively.
‘No … well, I mean, it wasn’t ideal. I wanted to prepare her.’ ‘Yeah, me too. But she seemed to take it okay, considering. But I did want to talk to you about it. We just didn’t get a chance last night.’
‘No. It was pretty full-on.’
‘I know it wasn’t the way we wanted to do it, but I’m kind of glad it’s out in the open.’
Kenzie had tried to put herself in his and his family’s shoes; it had to be hard for them to act like they were just friends instead of Poppy’s actual family, meeting for the first time, nonetheless.
But everything was suddenly feeling like it was unravelling, and she was losing control.
She didn’t need a psychologist to point out that, right there, was probably the crux of the matter.
Kenzie managed a slight nod. A drop of water from her wet hair splattered onto her shoulder and she remembered she was still standing in the bathroom doorway, in just a towel.
Ewan also seemed to notice, his gaze dropping to her shoulder and following the droplet’s progress as it slid over her shoulder and down across her chest into the cleavage hidden beneath where she’d tucked the towel.
A surge of warmth ran through her and goosebumps rose along her arms, as though his eyes had touched her skin.
The old house was silent except for the old grandfather clock at the end of the landing, and her heartbeat pounding in her ears.
She didn’t move away when he leaned forward.
Her eyes fluttered shut and she hardly dared to breathe as she waited for the touch of his mouth against her own …
only it didn’t arrive. Instead, a trail of heat ran lightly across her collarbone and up the side of her neck, sending a quiver of exquisite delight in its wake.
A small moan escaped her lips, and she melted into his arms, feeling them close around her tightly before he lifted his head and found her lips.
The kiss deepened and she found her back pressed against the cool tiles of the wall, her hands bunched in the front of his shirt as she rose up on tiptoes to kiss him back with equal force.
It was crazy, starting from nothing, but his touch sent her up in flames. She was consumed by him, burning from the inside out.