‘I was young.’
‘Oh, and you’re so ancient now, poor old man. All of—what are you, six months older than me? That makes you thirty-one, right? Almost thirty-two? And you married a total stranger because you felt sorry for her? Man, you are nuts. And now you’re living here with Emily and she’s feeding your baby? And I thought I’d just pop home for a few quiet days!
Emily gave him a strained, apologetic smile. ‘Sorry. Of course, if you’d rung…’
She left it hanging, and he shrugged and reached for another handful of crisps and another glass of wine. ‘Last-minute flight,’ he said lightly, and she realised he still hadn’t said anything about Kate.
Well, they all had something they didn’t want to talk about. And she had no doubt he’d tell her in the end. He always had, but she just had to wait and bide her time. In the meantime, he was still grilling Harry.
‘So what did your boss say when you dumped this on him?’ he asked.
‘Her. And you don’t want to know,’ Harry muttered.
‘Let’s just say it wasn’t pretty.’
Dan threw back his head and laughed. ‘I’ll bet. So that’s it? No more crazily dangerous reporting from Harry Kavenagh in Timbuctoo?’
‘It’s still up in the air,’ he said evasively. ‘I’ve got a month.’
‘Three weeks,’ Emily put in. Not that she was counting. And she didn’t dare ask what the outcome of his deliberations would be, because she was hoping against hope that he’d pack it all in and stay there and things would…
Dan was letting his breath out on a long, low whistle. ‘That’s a tough one. It all backfired a bit on you, didn’t it? I mean, if you just married her to give her a better life, you didn’t intend presumably to be a father? I mean, not a real one. Not this real, at least. So what the hell are you going to do?’
Harry reached for the crisps and sat back casually. ‘We’ll see,’ he said, but there was nothing casual about the tic in his jaw or the way his free hand was crushing the crisps to dust, one by one in the palm of his other hand.
And for the first time in years, Emily realised she wasn’t actually pleased to see her brother, because his arrival would interfere with the dynamics between her and Harry, and the cosy little family unit she was trying to create felt suddenly very threatened…
‘So what’s the real story, our kid?’
Dan spoke softly, standing beside her and propping up the worktop, long arms folded across his chest, hazel eyes searching.
‘Real story?’
‘Harry. Why’s he back here?’
She shrugged, not sure she knew the answer. ‘He just turned up one day with the baby. He’d been sent home from the hospital with her, and didn’t know what to do. He came here.’
‘The only place he’s ever called home,’ Dan said quietly.
She met his eyes.
‘And you?’
He looked away. ‘Just needed space.’
‘From Kate?’
‘All of it.’
‘Business not going well?’
He shrugged. ‘Business is fine. I’m just not sure of my direction at the moment. Did Nick Barron tell you I ran into him in New York a few weeks ago?’
‘He did mention it. Said you were in good form.’
He chuckled. ‘It was the end of a long party. George had the baby yet?’
‘No—four more weeks, I think. We spent Friday on the beach with them. She’s looking good—coping well.’
‘Unlike Harry.’
‘Oh, Harry’s doing fine. It was a bit of a steep learning curve, but he’s great with her now and he’s wonderful with Freddie and Beth. Beth adores him.’
‘Isn’t that dangerous?’
She nodded, biting her lip. ‘She knows he’s just a friend—that he’s going again. I’ve told her.’
‘And you? Have you told yourself, little Em?’ he said softly.
‘Endlessly.’
‘And do you believe it?’
She shrugged away from the worktop. ‘I have to, don’t I? Because one of these days Harry Kavenagh’s going to pack up his bags and go, and I have to be ready for that.’
‘And Kizzy?’
She stopped, her heart aching. ‘I have no idea what he’s planning for Kizzy. It’s none of my business, and I’m keeping it that way.’
‘If you say so,’ he murmured.
‘I do,’ she said firmly, and headed for the stairs.
‘Sis?’
She turned back to him, reluctantly because she knew all she felt would be written on her face, and he gave a quiet sigh and shook his head. ‘I thought you would have got over him after all this time.’
‘I have,’ she said, her voice even firmer than before, and turning on her heel, she walked resolutely away.
Behind her, Daniel shook his head.
‘Oh, Harry, what have you done?’ he said under his breath, and went to find his old friend.
‘So what really brings you back to Suffolk? Em tells me you aren’t a frequent visitor.’
‘More frequent than you,’ Dan replied, but Harry wasn’t having that.
‘We aren’t talking about me, we’re talking about you,’ he said. ‘And I get the distinct feeling that you rocking up here out of the blue is rather more meaningful than you’re letting on.’
‘I could say the same for you—and since my sister seems to be very much at the heart of this situation, I would very much like to know why.’
‘Why what?’ he asked wearily. ‘Why I came back here? They told me to take my baby home. This came to mind. It seemed like a good idea at the time.’
‘And now?’
Harry met his eyes, then looked away, giving his hands an unreasonable amount of attention. ‘I’m not here to hurt her, Dan. We’re just friends. She’s helping me out of a jam—offering me and Kizzy a roof over our heads while the decorators are in and until the new furniture arrives. Nothing else.’
‘Except she’s feeding your baby.’
Harry felt his neck heat and ran his hand round it, letting out a harsh sigh. ‘That wasn’t meant to happen. Kizzy wouldn’t take the bottle. I was in London for the day, she didn’t know what else to do.’
‘So she got out the breast pump and fed her?’
He prevaricated for a second, then said, ‘Something like that.’
Dan’s eyes narrowed. ‘Hell! She breastfed her, didn’t she? Damn, I might have known. She’s as soft as lights, that girl.’
‘She’s a woman, Dan.’
‘Oh, I’ve noticed—and I might have known you had. Things were never the same after the summer she turned sixteen. I would have thought you’d both moved on from a teenage crush, but perhaps I’ve been naïve.’
Harry stabbed his hands through his hair and growled softly under his breath.
‘Dan,