Molly frowned at this mention of Gideon’s younger brother, Crys’s first husband. Her gaze narrowed and she looked sideways at David in search of any hidden meaning in his words. But he was totally engrossed in the rugged beauty that surrounded Falcon House, and was apparently just making conversation as they walked.
‘Yes, I met James at university,’ she said evenly. ‘In fact, I introduced him to Crys,’ she added wistfully. The guilt she felt at having ultimately caused Crys such unhappiness when James had died only months into their marriage had never been completely erased, despite Crys’s now happy marriage to Sam.
David turned to her with raised brows. ‘So you must have known Gideon, too? After all, the two brothers worked together.’
Thankfully, Gideon Webber, ten years older than his younger brother, had never been included in their group of friends. In fact, Molly had only met him the once. But that once had been quite enough, thank you!
She gave David a reproachful grimace. ‘You really are wasting your time fishing in that particular direction, David—Gideon Webber and I dislike each other intensely.’
He made a face. ‘Does Crys know that?’
She frowned. ‘Of course not,’ she dismissed abruptly. ‘Why should she?’
David shrugged. ‘Oh, it’s only that… Ah, here they all are.’ He nodded in the direction of the battered Land Rover coming up the driveway. ‘Excuse me, won’t you?’ he added hastily as he turned back towards the house. ‘But I don’t think Merlin has made his mind up yet as to whether I’m friend or foe!’
Molly chuckled appreciatively as David beat a hasty retreat to the house; Merlin could appear quite intimidating until you got to know him. Or, more precisely, until he got to know you.
Having known the dog from when he was a puppy, Molly felt no such hesitation in waiting for her stepbrother and Crys to get out of the car. Baby Peter was lifted from the back of the vehicle by his father, and Merlin followed quickly behind him.
‘I thought I saw David with you.’ Crys looked around frowningly after taking her son into her arms. She was ethereally lovely, with her silver-blond hair loose down her back, and the beauty of her face dominated by misty grey eyes. She was boyishly slender, in spite of having given birth to Peter James only months ago.
‘You did.’ Molly nodded, grinning. ‘He seems to think Merlin needs a little more time to get used to him.’
Sam gave a rueful shake of his head as he absently stroked the huge dog behind the ears. ‘I’ve assured him that Merlin won’t bite him as long as he doesn’t bite Merlin!’
‘I’m sure that helped to convince him of Merlin’s tameness.’ Crys chuckled huskily. ‘Time for breakfast, I think,’ she announced briskly, placing the sleeping baby in Molly’s arms. ‘Pancakes all round!’ she decided brightly as she walked towards the house.
Molly followed slowly behind Crys and Sam. Ordinarily she would have been one of the first to appreciate Crys’s pancakes—they were to die for, light and fluffy, delicious with maple syrup or sugar. But not today. Not when the dark green Jaguar parked in the front driveway clearly told of Gideon Webber’s presence inside the house still.
‘Perhaps he’ll choke on one of Mummy’s pancakes,’ Molly suggested hopefully to baby Peter as he opened his lids to look up at her with alert blue eyes. ‘I know, I know, he’s your godfather,’ she accepted apologetically. ‘But you do have another one—and I can hope, can’t I?’
‘Talking to yourself?’ drawled a mockingly recognisable voice.
Molly looked up sharply to find Gideon Webber approaching the kitchen door from the front of the house, having moved so quietly she hadn’t heard his footsteps on the gravel. Merlin obviously had, and was walking at the man’s side, the two of them obviously happy in each other’s company.
He raised dark brows derisively, obviously aware of her surprise at seeing him there. ‘I had to get something from my car.’
Perhaps it was too much to hope that he had been putting his suitcase in the boot at the same time.
‘I was talking to baby Peter, not myself,’ she told him stiffly.
Gideon gave a mocking smile. ‘Well, I suppose talking to a three-month-old baby has its pluses; at least he can’t answer you back!’
Unlike this man, who seemed to have an answer to everything!
Molly eyed him scathingly. ‘Unusual in a man,’ she acknowledged dryly.
‘In my experience, even more unusual in a woman,’ Gideon murmured softly, before opening the door for her to enter the kitchen ahead of him, effectively cutting off any sharp retort she might have liked to make at this arrogantly sexist remark. And there were several she would have liked to make.
But the laughter and warmth in the kitchen, with Crys busy mixing pancakes, Sam and David helping to lay the table, the three of them talking as they worked, made her desire to snap a reply seem churlish.
Falcon House was a large, three-storey-high building, but Crys and Sam both loved their privacy, and they preferred to do most things in the house themselves. A woman came in from the village three afternoons a week to take care of any heavy housework that might need doing, but Crys did all the cooking herself.
Despite its obvious size, it was definitely a family home, full of warmth, love, and laughter, and Molly usually enjoyed her visits here enormously. Usually…
Why did Gideon Webber have to be here to ruin it all?
Although she had a feeling she was in the minority in feeling that way. David and Sam were obviously enjoying the other man’s company, and Crys and Gideon were standing close together as he helped in the cooking of the pancakes, the two of them moving with an easy familiarity that spoke of a long friendship.
But was it just friendship, or did it go deeper than that? Molly wondered as she sat slightly apart from everyone else, still holding baby Peter as she silently watched them all. Certainly there was nothing more than that on Crys’s side—Crys’s love for Sam was absolute—but Gideon was definitely more at ease with Crys than Molly had seen him with anyone else. The two of them were talking softly together, Gideon smiling openly, his gaze warm as it rested on Crys—
Now what was she imagining? That perhaps Gideon was secretly in love with Crys? A man she had previously believed wasn’t capable of feeling love for anyone?
Ridiculous, she admonished herself impatiently. Gideon had known Crys for years, he was her ex-brother-in-law—of course he had feelings for her; it was only Molly’s own resentment towards the man that saw it as possibly being anything else.
‘All right?’ Sam prompted softly, having come to stand beside her without Molly even being aware of it.
She pushed her troubling thoughts firmly to the back of her mind, looking up to smile at her stepbrother. As well as being a highly successful screenwriter, Sam was the epitome of tall, dark and handsome, and Molly had adored him from the moment she’d known her mother was to marry his father seventeen years ago.
‘Of course,’ she assured him brightly. ‘How could I not be when I’m holding my favourite nephew?’ she added teasingly.
Sam came down on his haunches beside her, briefly touching his son’s cheek in wonder. ‘Your only nephew—unless you know something I don’t?’ He looked lovingly across the room to where Crys was laughingly serving pancakes.
‘Not at all,’ Molly chucklingly assured him as he turned back to her.
‘Does it make you feel in the least broody yourself?’ Sam asked shrewdly.
That was a little harder to answer. She wasn’t even involved with anyone at the moment, had severed what had only been a casual relationship