‘Are you going to tattoo someone?’
Jaz glanced briefly at him, then back to Mel. ‘Yes.’
He wondered why she sounded so reluctant to admit it. One thing was clear—she did not want them here.
Her sadness beat at him like a living thing. He remembered what had happened to Frieda. She has her friends.
‘Can I watch?’
Jaz crouched back down to Mel’s level. ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea, Melly, and—’
‘I don’t mind.’ The man called Jeff spoke quietly, but somehow his words filled the entire room.
‘Are you getting the tattoo?’ Mel breathed, awe audible in every word.
‘I’m getting a picture of my little girl tattooed here.’ Jeff touched a hand to the top of his left arm.
‘Where is she? Can we play?’
He shook his head. ‘She’s a long way away.’
Melly bit her lip. ‘Is it going to hurt?’
‘Yes.’
‘Will it help if I hold your hand?’
‘Yes, it will.’ With a glance at Connor, Jeff picked Melly up in his great burly arms. Connor sensed that with just one word or look from him, Jeff would release Mel in an instant, but something in the man’s face and manner, something in the way Jaz regarded him, held Connor still.
Then they all moved to the back of the shop.
The tattoo took nearly two hours. Connor had never seen anything like it in his life. Beneath Jaz’s fingers, a young girl’s face came alive.
This wasn’t just any simple tattoo. It was an indelible photograph captured on this man’s arm for ever.
It was a work of art.
Mel watched Jaz’s movements quietly, solemnly. She held Jeff’s hand, stroked it every now and again. Finally she moved to where Connor sat, slid onto his lap and rested her head against his shoulder. He held her tight, though for the life of him he couldn’t explain why. Her relaxed posture and even breathing eventually told him she’d fallen asleep.
At last, Jaz set aside her tools and stretched her arms back above her head. She held up a mirror for Jeff to view the finished tattoo. ‘Thank you,’ he said simply.
Jaz leant across then and placed a kiss in the centre of Jeff’s forehead. ‘May she live in your heart for ever,’ she whispered.
That was when Connor realised why he held Melly so tight.
That tattoo wasn’t a work of art. It was a memorial.
‘Cherish her,’ Jeff said with a nod at the sleeping child.
‘I will,’ he promised.
Then Jeff left the room, closely followed by Mac, and Connor expelled one long breath. He reached out and touched Jaz’s hand. ‘That was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.’ He didn’t smile. He couldn’t. But he wanted her to know how much he admired her skill and generosity.
When she turned, he could see the strain the last two hours had put on her—the overwhelming responsibility to do her absolute best work, not to make a mistake. It showed in her pallor, the lines around her eyes and mouth.
He adjusted the child in his arms, rose and put one arm around Jaz’s shoulders. ‘Let me take you home.’
For a moment he thought she would lean into him, but then she stiffened and edged away. ‘Mac will take me home, thanks all the same. Enjoy the rest of your day, Connor.’
Before she could move fully away, Melly stirred, unwrapped an arm from around her father’s neck and wound it around Jaz’s. It brought Jaz in close to Connor again—her arm touching his arm, his scent clogging her senses. The more of him she breathed in, the more it chased her weariness away.
‘That was way wicked!’ Melly said.
A spurt of laughter sprang from Jaz’s lips at the sheer unexpectedness of Melly’s words. She tried to draw back a little to stare into Melly’s face. Melly wouldn’t let her draw back any further than that. ‘Where did you pick up that expression?’
‘Carmen Sears. She looked after me for a couple of hours yesterday and I think she’s way wicked too.’
Jaz grinned. She couldn’t help it. Although she kept her gaze on Melly’s face, from the corner of her eye she could see Connor’s lips kick up too. Her heart pounded against the walls of her chest as if her ribcage had shrunk.
‘Can we go on our picnic now, Daddy?’
‘Your wish is my command.’
‘I want Jaz to come on our picnic too.’
Jaz stiffened. She tried to draw away but Melly tightened her hold and wouldn’t let her go. Oh, heck! Connor had told her he didn’t want her as part of Melly’s life. She should imagine that included attending picnics with her.
‘Princess, your wish is my every command,’ Connor started.
‘You’re going to say no.’
Melly’s bottom lip wobbled. It wouldn’t have had such a profound effect on Jaz if she hadn’t sensed Melly’s valiant effort to hide it. Connor’s Adam’s apple bobbed.
‘Sweetheart, Jaz isn’t anyone’s to command. She’s her own princess. We don’t have the right to tell her what to do.’
Mel leaned in close to her father and whispered, ‘But Jaz might like to come.’
He hesitated. He nodded. Then he smiled. ‘I guess you’d better ask her, then.’
‘Princess Jaz, would you like to come on a picnic with us?’ She turned pleading eyes on Jaz. ‘Please?’
Thank you, Connor Reed! So she had to play bad guy, huh? She wondered if she could lie convincingly enough not to hurt Melly’s feelings. The hope in the child’s face turned Jaz’s insides to… marshmallow.
‘I would love to come on a picnic with you, Princess Melly…’ That wasn’t a lie. ‘But I’m very tired.’ That wasn’t a lie either. ‘And I really should get back to the bookshop.’ That was only half a lie.
‘But you’re still sad!’
Melly’s grip eased, but she didn’t let go. Her bottom lip wobbled again, making Jaz gulp. If Melly cried…
‘Please come along with us, Jaz.’
Connor’s voice, warm and golden, slid through to her very core. Her decidedly marshmallow core.
‘I’d like you to come along too.’
She had to meet his gaze. Those words, that tone, demanded it. Her breath hitched. His autumn-tinted eyes tempted her…in every way possible.
She shouldn’t go.
He couldn’t really want her to tag along.
‘Bonnie and Gail have the shop under control,’ Mac said from the doorway. ‘Go on the picnic, Jaz, it’ll do you good.’
Three sets of eyes watched her expectantly. ‘I…’ Exhilaration raced through her veins. ‘I think a picnic sounds perfect.’
‘Good.’
If anything, Connor’s eyes grew warmer.
Oh, dear Lord. What had she just agreed to?
Melly struggled out of her father’s arms to throw her arms around Jaz’s middle. ‘Yay! Thank you.’
She smoothed Melly’s hair back behind