‘Thank you.’ Charlotte caught at his sleeve as he stepped back, letting Isaac go solo. ‘Thank you so much.’
Edward nodded in satisfaction. ‘Every boy needs a kite. I’m just going to make a few adjustments to mine and perhaps you’ll help me launch it again.’
A few knots, a little staring into the middle distance as Edward estimated airflow and wind speed, and the kite was up in the air again, this time flying more steadily. Charlotte ran back to Edward’s side and he looped his arms over her head.
‘Here, you try. Take hold of the reels.’
She pressed her hands over his, trying to stop her fingers from trembling. The wind around them buffeted her, but she was safe in his arms, her back against his strong body, his scent surrounding her and then blown away by the wind.
‘That’s right.’
His lips were almost touching her ear.
‘Pull it a bit to the right.’ He guided her arm and the kite dipped to the right, shooting back upwards as the breeze caught it again. ‘Ooops. Hang on tight.’
Suddenly he had left her, and was loping across to Isaac, who was struggling to keep his kite in the air.
Charlotte concentrated hard on controlling her own little bit of airspace while Edward restored Isaac’s kite safely back above their heads. He made sure that Isaac was happily in control again and then he was back.
‘What do you think?’ He was surveying the flight path of the kite.
‘It’s pulling really hard...’ Her arms were already beginning to ache.
Edward chuckled, looping his arms around her again. ‘Let me give you a hand with it.’
He wasn’t helping at all. All that happened was that she melted into his arms, turning to jelly and losing whatever strength she had left. He was controlling not only the kite but her as well. She let go of the kite strings and he strengthened his grip, catching them just in time. Turning in his arms, she faced him.
His rakish half-smile told her that this was just what he wanted. ‘Giving up already?’
‘You’re so much better at it than I am.’
‘Think so? You dip beautifully.’ He leaned towards her.
She couldn’t do this. Not with Isaac just yards away—even if he was paying them no attention.
She ducked out of the circle of his arms, feeling the wind suddenly chill her. ‘Are you hungry?’
Edward chuckled. ‘Ravenous.’
She fixed him with a glare. Even the thought of Peter’s quiet charm, and the way that had worked out, wasn’t enough to calm the insistent thunder in her veins. Peter was like a faded shadow of a man next to Edward. Edward was different. Different from pretty much everyone she’d ever met.
‘Would you like an apple?’ She gritted her teeth and doggedly refused to take any notice of the alternative interpretation of hungry that the curve of his eyebrow suggested.
‘In a minute. I’ve got my hands full at the moment.’ His gaze left her, flipping over towards Isaac. ‘Steady on, there, chief...’
Charlotte ran to her son, helping him to pull on the string so that the kite fluttered upwards again. ‘Enjoying yourself, sweetie?’ She whispered the words tremulously in his ear.
‘Yes, Mum.’ Isaac’s attention was on the kite, its tail shimmering and sparkling in the sunshine. He submitted to a hug for a moment and then wriggled free.
‘Good. I’m glad.’
She could have cried. The scared little boy who had clung to her when the debt collectors knocked on the door was gone. In his place a child who was enjoying himself so much that he had no time for his mother’s cuddles.
‘All right over there?’ Edward nodded over to Isaac.
‘Just fine. He loves this.’
‘Yeah. Me, too.’
* * *
Edward sat at the piano, his fingers wandering across the keys, playing a soft melody of his own composition. He’d had a great time. The kite had flown better than he’d expected once he’d made a few adjustments to the lines which had altered its angle of flight slightly. Isaac had liked his kite, too, and had insisted on taking it to bed with him. And Charlotte...
He’d planned to give her a great day—help her forget about the troubles of the past week. And she’d shone in the sunshine like a beautiful jewel, full of life and light. But however hard he tried to please her he seemed to end up only pleasing himself, as the echoes of her joie de vivre washed over him.
Charlotte. The chords seemed to sing out her name. A sudden slip into a minor key lent an element of yearning to the music that hadn’t been there before.
‘Why so sad?’
He hadn’t noticed her behind him, standing in the doorway which led from the kitchen. He stopped playing abruptly, aware that the music had given away much more than he had ever intended. ‘It’s a slow piece of music.’
A slight frown of disbelief. It seemed that he could lie to the rest of the world, but Charlotte caught him out every time.
‘I recognise it. You’ve played it before.’
When he’d played it before it had been just a dalliance with the keys. Now it was a full-blown, passionate love affair, full of all the conflicting emotions in his heart. ‘It’s a work in progress. It changes every time.’
She nodded. Walked over to him. ‘Will you play it again?’
‘No.’ She couldn’t lure him in like that. If the music insisted on betraying him, then he’d stick to other people’s compositions. ‘I mean...I need to think about it a bit more.’
She nodded and he beckoned her over. This time she sat down next to him on the piano stool as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
‘Would you like something else?’
‘If you want.’ She smiled. ‘Whatever you want.’
‘Your turn to choose.’
She grinned. ‘What was it you were playing the other night?’ She hummed a few chords, her voice clear and tuneful.
‘You’ve got a good ear. Most people don’t get that bit right.’ He reproduced the chords she’d sung and she smiled, singing along with the music.
He’d played this song thousands of times before. Kathy had liked this one, too, but it had never felt like this. Never as if he was caressing someone with the music. Never so head-swimmingly erotic.
He hadn’t thought about Kathy in years. If asked, he would have said that he’d forgotten her, but it seemed that she’d just lain dormant in his memory, waiting to emerge and reprimand him for having ignored the lesson she’d taught him.
‘What’s the matter?’
Charlotte was closer now, and Edward realised that he’d stopped playing.
He shrugged. ‘This song reminds me of...someone I used to know.’
‘Should I be sorry?’
He shook his head. ‘I don’t think so. It was a long time ago. When I was at university.’
‘Which time?’
‘The second. Kathy was a medical student.’
She nodded. ‘First love?’
He