like a good idea to me.’ David nodded. ‘Lead on, MacDuff,’ he invited lightly.
Somewhere between opening the red wine Diana had brought with her, pouring it into glasses, and helping Crys prepare the vegetables for lunch, Molly’s decision to leave was forgotten by all of them.
Deliberately so by the others, Molly was sure. But with Diana’s arrival it seemed churlish to pursue her plans to leave. Besides, Crys had prepared her delicious trout dish for lunch—a culinary experience that no one should miss.
‘It was a pity you didn’t get back the other evening to join us in going to church.’ Gideon spoke lightly to Diana as the six of them sat around the dining-table, eating their main course.
Diana, sitting to his left, grimaced slightly. ‘I don’t know what it is, but babies always decide they want to be born on Christmas Day. This one also decided it couldn’t wait for the ambulance to arrive and take its mother to hospital, and I ended up delivering it myself, just after midnight. A healthy little boy, I’m glad to say, and mother and baby nicely tucked up in bed shortly after one o’clock. A home birth has to be the most wonderful experience,’ she added softly.
Molly gave Gideon a sharp glance, sure that he had deliberately mentioned Christmas Eve in an effort to see whether or not it had been Diana’s car in the driveway that night. From what the doctor had just told them, it obviously hadn’t.
But if that had been Gideon’s intention Molly could see he certainly wasn’t going to share that knowledge with her—unless she was very much mistaken, once again he was deliberately avoiding meeting her gaze.
In fact, he had been noticeably aloof towards her during the whole meal as she’d sat across the table from him, while at the same time warmly considerate to Diana Chisholm.
Encouraged by Crys, she had to acknowledge. Her friend, having taken Molly’s uninterest in Gideon literally, now appeared to be deliberately encouraging a friendship between Gideon and Diana.
Jealousy wasn’t an emotion that Molly had known for a long time, and never as she felt it now—aware of every word spoken between Gideon and Diana, every laugh they shared.
‘What are you up to now?’ she demanded of Crys as she followed her friend into the kitchen to help carry in the desserts.
‘Sorry?’ Crys looked at her blankly.
Deliberately so, Molly was sure, when she saw the mischievous twinkle in her friend’s laughing grey eyes. ‘Don’t play the innocent with me.’ She grimaced wryly. ‘Gideon and Diana?’ she said pointedly as Crys continued to look at her blandly.
‘Oh, that.’ Crys nodded slowly.
‘Yes—that!’ Molly snapped tersely.
‘Aren’t you being a little dog in the manger, Molly?’ Crys came back knowingly.
Molly could feel the blush in her cheeks at her friend’s correct assessment of the situation. ‘Don’t be ridiculous, Crys,’ she bit out shortly.
Crys gave a husky laugh. ‘Is that what I’m being?’ She raised blond brows as she moved briskly about the kitchen, preparing the whisky cream to go with oranges that had been marinading in liquor overnight.
Molly sighed heavily. ‘You know that you are. Gideon is—Crys, you simply can’t be this blind—you must know it’s you Gideon loves!’ she burst out forcefully.
Crys came to an abrupt halt, giving Molly a stunned stare. ‘Now who’s being ridiculous?’ she finally said incredulously. ‘Of course Gideon isn’t in love with me.’ She shook her head. ‘He’s James’s brother,’ she added dismissively.
‘So?’ Molly returned exasperatedly. She couldn’t believe her friend was unaware of how Gideon felt about her.
‘So he’s James’s brother!’ Crys repeated impatiently, her smile rueful. ‘Really, Molly, I don’t know how you came to such a conclusion, but I can assure you—’
‘Gideon himself,’ Molly cut in frustratedly.
‘What?’ Crys gasped incredulously.
‘From watching Gideon whenever he’s with you,’ Molly said tersely. ‘He adores you, Crys—’
‘I hope that he does,’ Crys cut in. ‘Because I adore him, too. After James died, and then my parents six months later, Gideon was the only family I had left. But that’s all it is, Molly,’ she added frowningly. ‘All it’s ever been.’
She shook her head with certainty. ‘Not on Gideon’s side.’
‘Yes, on Gideon’s side,’ Crys insisted evenly. ‘Molly, is this the reason you’ve been staying clear of Gideon? Because if it is—’
‘I’ve been “staying clear of Gideon”, as you put it, because he doesn’t like me,’ she came back impatiently.
‘Rubbish!’ Crys came back, just as firmly. ‘If you want my opinion, Molly, then you haven’t given him a chance to like or dislike—’
‘I don’t,’ she cut in firmly.
‘Okay.’ Crys shrugged. ‘In that case, carry the oranges and cream through for me while I bring the crème brûlées.’ She gave an exasperated shake of her head. ‘I really don’t know what you were thinking of, Molly,’ she added reprovingly as she picked up the tray. ‘Gideon is the big brother I never had.’
But just because that was the way Crys felt about the relationship, it still didn’t mean that Gideon felt the same way…
‘Move, Molly,’ Crys ordered determinedly. ‘And if I’m wrong, and you do want Gideon, then I advise you to start showing it a little more,’ she advised. ‘Otherwise Diana may just pip you to the post,’ she added wryly.
If she wanted Gideon…
She wanted Gideon more than she had ever wanted anything or anyone in her life before. But—
There was always a ‘but’ in her dealings with Gideon.
And Molly still thought Crys was wrong in her dismissal of Gideon’s feelings towards her…
‘YOU never did answer my question earlier.’
Molly tensed at the sound of Gideon’s voice, turning slowly to find that he had joined her where she sat on the hearthrug in the sitting-room, playing with baby Peter’s toes while the other adults all sat in chairs—or lay on the sofa in Crys and Sam’s case—dozing after the filling lunch they had all eaten. Until this moment she had thought Gideon asleep in a chair, too.
‘You like babies, don’t you?’ Gideon murmured huskily before she had a chance to answer his initial statement, gently touching Peter’s hand as he sat on the rug beside them.
She frowned, keeping her voice low so that
