What do you mean—when you fall in love? Haven’t you already?
Violet waited until they’d gone a few blocks before speaking again. ‘Cam? I have to do something about my flat tomorrow. I really should have done something about it today but I couldn’t bring myself to face it. But I can’t leave that mess for the girls to clean up on their own.’
‘Do you have to go back there?’
Violet glanced at him again. ‘What do you mean? It’s where I live.’
‘You could live somewhere else. Somewhere safer, more secure.’
‘Yeah.’ Violet sighed. ‘Somewhere heaps more expensive too.’
There was a silence broken only by the swishing of the windscreen wipers going back and forth.
‘You could stay with me for as long as you like,’ Cam said. ‘Until you find somewhere more suitable, I mean. There’s no rush.’
Violet wondered what was behind the invitation. Was it solely out of consideration for her safety or was he thinking about extending their relationship until who knew when? ‘That’s a very generous offer but what if you want to start seeing someone else after we break up after Christmas? Could be awkward.’
‘Everything about this situation is awkward.’
Violet looked at the tight set of his features. ‘Are you regretting...what happened this morning?’
He relaxed his expression and reached across the gear console and captured her hand, bringing it over to rest on top of his thigh. ‘No. Maybe I should, but I don’t.’
‘I don’t regret it either.’
His eyes met hers when he parked the car. ‘Your family is going to be hurt when we...end this.’
Why had he hesitated over the word ‘end’? Who would end it? Would it be a mutual decision or would he suddenly announce it was over?
‘Yes, I feel bad about that. But at least it’s not for long,’ Violet said. ‘Once Christmas is over we’ll say we made a mistake...or something and go back to normal.’
He studied her for a long moment. ‘Will you be okay with that?’
Violet gave him a super-confident smile. ‘Of course. Why wouldn’t I be? It’s what we agreed on. A short-term fling to get me back on my dating feet.’
His expression clouded. ‘You have to be careful when you’re dating guys these days. You can’t go out with just anyone. It’s not safe when there are so many creeps on the prowl. And don’t do online dating. Some of those guys lie about their backgrounds. Anyone can use a false identity. You could end up with someone with a criminal past.’
Violet wondered if he was cautioning her out of concern or jealousy or both. ‘You sound like you don’t want me to date anyone else.’
He paused before responding. ‘I care about you, Violet, that’s all. I don’t want you to become a crime statistic.’
‘I’m sure I’ll manage to meet and fall in love with some perfectly lovely guy, just like my sisters have done,’ Violet said. ‘I’m just taking a little longer than they did to get around to it.’
He opened his car door and came around to hers but, instead of tension, this time there was a self-deprecating tilt to his mouth. ‘Sorry about the lecture.’
Violet smiled and patted his hand where it was resting on the top of the doorframe. ‘You can lecture me but only if I can lecture you right on back. Deal?’
He bent down to press a kiss to the end of her nose. ‘Deal.’
CAM WOKE FROM a fitful sleep to find the space next to him in the bed was empty. He sat bolt upright, his chest seizing with panic. Where was Violet? When he’d drifted asleep she had been lying in his arms.
Calm down, man. She’s probably gone to the bathroom.
He threw off the bedcovers and, snatching up a towel, wrapped it around his hips and padded through his house, checking each room and bathroom upstairs but there was no sign of her.
‘Violet?’ His voice rang out hollowly. His blood chugged through his veins like chunks of ice. His skin shrank away from his skeleton. He was annoyed at his reaction. What did it say about him? That he was so hooked on her he couldn’t let her out of his sight? Ridiculous. She had a right to move about the house without asking permission first. Maybe she’d had trouble sleeping with him in the bed beside her. After all, she’d never been in a proper relationship before. Sharing a bed with someone took some getting used to, which was why he generally avoided it.
‘Violet?’
Where could she be? Had she gone outside? He tugged the curtains aside but the back garden was as quiet and deserted as a graveyard. It was three in the morning and it was bitterly cold. Had she gone back to her flat? No. She wouldn’t go there without backup. He flung open the sitting room door, then the study.
All empty.
‘Are you looking for me?’ Violet appeared like a ghost in the doorway of the study.
Relief flooded through Cam like the shot of a potent drug. ‘Where were you?’
Her eyes did a double blink at the edginess of his tone. ‘I was reading in the breakfast room.’
Cam frowned so hard his forehead pinched. ‘Reading?’
Her tongue snaked out and left a layer of moisture over her lips. ‘I was...having trouble sleeping. I didn’t want to disturb you. You seemed restless enough without me putting on the light and rustling pages.’
Cam forked a hand through his already tousled hair. ‘You should’ve woken me if I was disturbing you. Was I snoring?’
‘No, you were just...restless like you were having a bad dream or something.’
He had been having a bad dream. It was coming back to him now in vivid detail. He had been alone in a run-down castle. The drawbridge was up and there was no way in or out. Loneliness crept out from every dark corner, prodding him with tomb-cold fingers. The yawning emptiness he felt was what he had seen on Kenneth’s face when they’d returned him to his home last night: the absence of hope, the presence of despair, the bitter sting of regret.
But it was a dream. It didn’t mean anything. It was just his mind making up a narrative while his body rested. It didn’t mean he was worried about ending up alone in a castle with nothing but cobwebs and shadows to keep him company. It didn’t mean he was subconsciously regretting his stance on marriage and commitment. It meant he was dog-tired and working too hard. That was what it meant. That. Was. All. ‘Sorry for wrecking your beauty sleep. Next time just give me a jab in the ribs, okay?’
Violet’s shy smile tugged like strings stitched on to his heart. ‘It was probably my fault more than yours. I’ve never spent the night with anyone before.’
Of course she hadn’t. She might have felt all sorts of uncomfortable about sharing the night with him in his bed. Cam put his hands on her hips and brought her closer. ‘I’m not much of a sleep-over person myself.’
A flicker of concern appeared in her gaze. ‘Oh...well, then, I can sleep in one of the spare rooms if you’d—’
‘No.’ Cam brought his mouth down to within an inch of hers. ‘I like having you in my bed.’ More than I want to admit.
Her hint of vanilla danced over his mouth. ‘I like it too.’
Cam