decided he would survive until Maeve’s mother left. He’d lived with worse people and his lips twitched. Could just imagine Maeve’s mother’s downturned mouth if she knew he was comparing her to a cellmate.
‘There you are, Rayne.’ The object of his thoughts appeared and he plastered a smile on his face.
‘Connor is crying and Maeve asked for you. Though I can’t see what you can do that I can’t.’
‘Thank you.’ Excellent reason to escape. ‘The wedding was great but I think everyone is tired now. I’d better go and see.’
When he gently opened the door to their room he found Maeve with tears trickling down her face as Connor screamed and kicked and fought the breast.
‘Hey, Connor, what are you doing to your poor mum?’
Maeve looked up tragically and he crossed the room to sit beside her on the bed. He dropped a kiss on her head. ‘He won’t feed. And Mum keeps telling me to put him on the bottle.’
‘Bless her,’ Rayne said, tongue-in-cheek and Maeve’s eyes flew to his, ready to hotly dispute that, until she saw his smile.
Her own smile, while still watery, gradually appeared. ‘She makes me crazy.’
‘Really? I hadn’t noticed.’ He leaned forward, kissed her, remembered again how each day he felt more blessed, and took the unsettled Connor from her. Tucked him over his shoulder and patted his bottom. ‘It’s been a big day. And you’ve been busy making sure Tara had a fabulous time so you’ve run yourself into the ground. Why don’t I take Connor for a drive and you can have a rest before tea?’
‘No, thanks.’
Maeve looked even sadder and he frowned. ‘What?’
‘Can’t I come with you both?’
He grinned. ‘You mean escape? And leave your mother here without us?’
Maeve looked guilty at the disloyal idea. ‘She means well.’
‘I know. Maybe we could get Louisa to look after her. Your mum’s probably tired too. It’s a long flight and she only got here yesterday.’ He had a vision. One that he’d been building up to for days now but had wanted to leave until after the wedding. ‘I’d really like to take Connor to the duck pond. Would you like to come with us for an hour until sunset?’
Maeve nodded, looked brighter already, so he left her to get ready, and sought out Louisa first, begged a favour he promised to repay, then found Maeve’s mother.
Gently does it, he warned himself. ‘What do you think if I take Connor for a little drive. Just to get him asleep in the car?’
A judicious nod from the dragon. ‘That’s an excellent idea.’
Now for the smooth part. ‘Maeve wants to come but she feels bad about leaving you on your own.’ Desiree opened her mouth but before she could invite herself he said, ‘But I see Louisa had just made you a lovely afternoon tea and is dying to have a good chat with you. What would you like to do?’ Opened his eyes wide.
Desiree slid gracefully into the trap and relief expanded in his gut. ‘Oh. Poor Louisa. It would be rude not to stay for that. Of course.’ She looked pleased. ‘How thoughtful. She really is a lovely woman.’
‘One of my favourite people.’ And wasn’t that true. Then he escaped to his family and bundled them into the car.
Ten minutes later Maeve sat on the bench in front of the lake, holding Connor in the crook of her arm. Their son had decided he preferred to feed alfresco and was very happily feeding. Every now and then Maeve would throw breadcrumbs to the ducks with her free hand.
Rayne stood behind her, gently rubbing her shoulders. They both had smiles on their faces.
Maeve said, ‘I don’t think I could bear to lose a man who rubs my shoulders like you do.’
Rayne felt the happiness expand inside him. ‘Does this mean you want me to stay?’
She twisted her neck to look at him and pretended to consider it judiciously. ‘Yes, I think so.’
Rayne had waited for just this opening and unfortunately in the euphoria of successful strategies he rushed it. ‘Only if you’ll marry me.’ The words were out before he could stop them and he cursed his inability to be smooth and romantic when she deserved it all. He’d done everything the wrong way around here.
She opened her mouth to reply and quickly he moved around to face her and held up his finger. ‘Wait.’
‘So bossy,’ she murmured, and he smiled as he went down on one knee beside her—right there in front of the ducks.
‘Please. Wait for me to do it properly.’ He took her free hand in his, brushed the crumbs off it and kissed her fingers. Maeve leant back against the bench and Connor ignored them both as he continued with his afternoon tea.
Rayne drew a deep breath and let it go. Let everything go, let the past, the mistakes and the pain and uncertainty all go so they could start fresh and new and perfect. Because the three of them deserved it. ‘My darling, gorgeous, sexy …’ he paused, smiled at her ‘… impossible Maeve—’
Before he could finish she’d interrupted. ‘Impossible?’
‘Shh.’ He frowned at her and she closed her mouth. ‘Darling Maeve—’ and he couldn’t keep the smile off his face ‘—will you do me the honour, please, of becoming my wife and share with me the rest of my life?’
Her face glowed at him, a trace of pink dusting the high cheekbones that were still far too pale. ‘Now, that, as a proposal of marriage, was worth waiting for.’
‘An answer would be good. Come on.’
She teased him. ‘My darling, strong, sexy as all get out Rayne.’ Leaned forward and kissed him while he knelt before her. Connor still ignored them both. ‘Yes. Please. Pretty please. I would love to be your wife and share your life.’
His relief expanded and he squeezed her hand. ‘You won’t regret it.’
Her face softened. ‘I know I won’t. But my mother wants a big wedding.’
He smiled. He could do that. It was a small price to pay for the world he now had. ‘I thought she might. As long as Connor is pageboy and you are my bride, I will agree to anything.’ He stood up and hugged her gently again and smiled into her hair. ‘It’s not going to be dull.’
A month later Maeve woke on the morning of her wedding in her parents’ house huge in Boston. Down the hall Tara was sleeping without her new husband because Simon had gone to support Rayne on the night before his wedding. She wished she’d been able to stay with Rayne but they would never have got that past her mother.
Connor stirred beside her and she sat up with a warm feeling of relief in her stomach and reached for him. Rayne would be missing Connor and her as much as they missed him.
How could life change so dramatically in just two months? The answer was simple. Rayne loved her. Which was lucky because her mother had put
