Sam might have forgotten to shut the shed earlier. And Merlin might have wandered inside. And the wind might have blown the door shut behind him.
It just seemed to Molly that there were an awful lot of ‘mights’ in the scenario…
‘WAITING up so that you can tell Father Christmas personally that you’ve been nice rather than naughty?’ an all-too-familiar voice drawled mockingly as Molly sat alone in the kitchen two hours later, drinking a mug of coffee.
She had drawn in a sharp breath at the first sound of Gideon’s voice, and released that breath in a heavy sigh as she registered the deliberate insult in his words. ‘My mother always told me that if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all!’ Molly snapped impatiently, leaning back in her chair to look at Gideon where he stood in the doorway.
Sam had settled Merlin down in the kitchen before going up to bed when they had all come in a couple of hours ago, and Molly and Gideon had followed him up the stairs to their own bedrooms. But, having undressed and gotten into bed, Molly had found herself unable to sleep. Finally she had given up the effort half an hour ago, in favour of pulling on a pair of denims and an old rugby top of Sam’s to come downstairs and make herself a pot of coffee.
From the look of Gideon he had also gone to bed. He was no longer wearing his dinner suit, but a pair of faded blue denims and a dark blue tee shirt, his hair slightly tousled.
In fact, he looked altogether too approachably attractive for Molly’s peace of mind.
He moved farther into the dimly lit room, the light over the Aga their only illumination. ‘Having now met Caroline, I appreciate what a graciously beautiful woman she is, and I stand corrected,’ he drawled, pouring himself a mug of coffee from the pot and pulling out the chair opposite Molly’s to sit down at the table.
Molly eyed him defensively. ‘Hard to believe such a “graciously beautiful” woman could be my mother, isn’t it?’ she snapped disgustedly.
Gideon gave a humourless smile. ‘I didn’t say that.’
‘You didn’t have to,’ Molly scorned. ‘You—’
‘Molly, I didn’t come down here to argue with you,’ he cut in quietly.
She eyed him warily for several long seconds, and Gideon steadily returned that gaze. ‘Then why did you come down?’ she finally prompted slowly.
He shrugged. ‘For the same reason as you, I expect; because I couldn’t sleep.’
Her mouth twisted derisively. ‘Worried in case Father Christmas doesn’t think you’ve been nice this year, either?’
He smiled as she neatly returned his jibe. ‘There is that, I suppose,’ he allowed. ‘But, actually, no.’ He sobered, frowning. ‘Molly, what do you think is going on?’
She gave him a startled look. Was it so obvious that she was in a complete turmoil concerning her recently realised feelings for this man? If it was, then she—
‘I’m talking about those telephone calls,’ Gideon continued evenly.
Molly glared at him. ‘I’ve already told you—they are not, as you suggested earlier, from any mistress of Sam’s!’
He nodded. ‘I’m beginning to agree with you.’
‘Big of you!’ she snapped scathingly.
Gideon gave a sigh. ‘Molly, whatever the argument might be between the two of us, let’s just forget it for a moment and concentrate on this other matter, hmm?’
Whatever the argument might be between the two of them…
It wasn’t exactly an argument any more, was it? Gideon either insulted her or kissed her. And as for her own feelings…
‘What other matter?’ she prompted impatiently, wishing she had never come down here for a mug of coffee. The last thing that was going to help her get to sleep was another of these heated conversations with Gideon!
‘The telephone calls—don’t jump in again, Molly,’ he said wearily. ‘Just hear me out, hmm?’ he suggested firmly. ‘You have to admit those telephone calls are odd, to say the least.’
‘Yes,’ she allowed abruptly.
‘Then Merlin disappeared and we found him shut in the garden shed,’ Gideon murmured frowningly.
‘Somehow,’ Molly confirmed.
‘Exactly.’ Gideon nodded. ‘What is it?’ He eyed Molly searchingly as she chewed on her bottom lip. ‘What else has happened?’ he guessed shrewdly.
Was her face really that easy to read? If it was, in view of the way she had discovered she felt towards this man, she had better start guarding her expression a bit more!
She shrugged. ‘It could just be nothing…’
Gideon sat forward tensely. ‘What could?’
She grimaced, not sure that the two of them weren’t just becoming paranoid. ‘There was a car in the driveway earlier. When you were all at church. But whoever it was they didn’t stay there—just turned around and drove away again,’ she added quickly as Gideon’s frown turned to a scowl. ‘It could have been Diana Chisholm, I suppose,’ she said suddenly, brightening slightly. ‘Maybe she got her house-call over quite quickly and thought she could join us in going to church, after all, and then she saw how late it was and changed her mind?’ She trailed off weakly as she realised she sounded as if she was grasping at straws.
‘Maybe,’ Gideon acknowledged slowly, not seeming to think she was grasping at straws at all. ‘It might be worth calling her tomorrow and checking that out.’
Molly frowned when she saw how grim Gideon still looked. ‘Gideon, what do you think is going on?’
‘I have no idea,’ he answered her honestly.
But the fact that he did think something was going on only reawakened Molly’s earlier feelings of unease—just when she had been prepared to dismiss her fears as being late-night jitters and tiredness.
There was no denying that it hadn’t only been thoughts of Gideon that had been keeping her from sleeping earlier.
Only thoughts of Gideon…
It was like saying it was only an iceberg—when you knew very well that ninety per cent of it was below the surface of the water, and—like Gideon—extremely dangerous to the unsuspecting.
But she had also been wondering if there was any connection between those telephone calls, the car she had seen earlier, and Merlin’s disappearance. Why she had been wondering that, she had no idea, but if Gideon’s thoughts and concerns were anything to go by she wasn’t the only one with a vivid imagination.
‘It’s probably nothing, you know,’ she told him ruefully.
‘Probably,’ he agreed unconvincingly.
Molly gave him a sharp look. ‘I don’t think you should mention any of this to Crys and Sam,’ she warned softly.
He gave her a piercing look. ‘I’m not completely stupid.’
She had never for a moment thought he was in the least stupid—many other things, but stupid certainly wasn’t amongst them.
She gave a deep sigh, standing up to place her empty mug in the dishwasher. ‘I think I’m ready to go back to bed.’
Gideon raised a dark blond brow. ‘Is that an invitation?’ he drawled mockingly.
It hadn’t taken him long