smile dimmed and he glanced away, looking uncomfortable. Jeez, this guy really needed to loosen up. If smiling made him feel bad, he needed to practise more often.
‘Sounds like you’re in a bind.’
His gaze returned to hers and he frowned again, the angry indentation between his brows slipping into place with ease. While nothing short of disastrous plastic surgery could mar his good looks, he appeared so much friendlier when he wasn’t glowering at the world.
‘Yeah. Though it’s the kids I feel for. They’ll be terribly disappointed if the Easter Bunny doesn’t show tomorrow.’
And nobody could relate to how they’d feel better than her. The nuns at the orphanage had talked up Santa’s impending visit for an entire month before Christmas, and though she’d been barely old enough to grasp the whole concept she’d looked forward to his arrival with the fervent passion of a child who had nothing else to look forward to.
Of course the man in the red suit with his treasure trove of presents had never arrived, and she still remembered the acute emptiness that had made her sob her little heart out.
‘Anyway, enough of my troubles. It’s not like you’re going to volunteer to help me out or anything.’
Okay, so she was being more than a tad cheeky—but, hey, she was desperate, and if laying down a challenge to her grumpy neighbour in the hope that he would run with it could get her out of a fix, she’d do it.
His frown deepened as he fixed her with a surly stare. ‘You’re right. Seems like you’ve got me all figured out. So, on that note, I’ve got a lunch date with my daughter.’
Molly! She’d almost forgotten the whole reason behind this conversation, what with meeting the ogre—the very ogle-worthy ogre.
‘Speaking of Molly, I’d love it if she came over to play. She seems like a lovely little girl, and I’ve got loads of stuff she can check out in my garden—plus lots of stock from the shop.’
He shook his head. ‘I don’t think so. Now, if you don’t mind, I really must go in.’
She did mind! What was with this guy? Didn’t he know when to loosen up? When to let his daughter have a little fun?
Granted, he didn’t know her, but anyone in town could vouch for her.
And, just like that, an answer to the placate-the-dad-help-the-daughter problem popped into her head.
‘Okay, I won’t keep you, but why don’t you bring Molly along to the Easter pageant? All the local kids will be there, and you can witness my kid-friendly skills first-hand. It’s at my shop in the main street, eleven o’clock tomorrow morning. It will give Molly a chance to meet and mingle with some new friends.’ And it might give you a reason to chuckle. Though, seeing the intense frown which deepened at her words, she doubted it.
‘I don’t know. I’m probably busy tomorrow.’
For Pete’s sake—Ouch! Poor choice of P word. Would she ever get through to him?
‘Eleven o’clock. Fey For Fun. Molly will love it.’ She wanted to add be there or be square, but didn’t think he’d appreciate a bit of high-school frivolity. In fact, she had a feeling her brooding new neighbour wouldn’t go in for frivolous at all.
‘Now I need to find me an Easter Bunny. See you tomorrow.’ She sent him an airy wave and walked away, biting back a grin at the final glower he sent her way.
So Brody Elliott was a grumpy grouch? She’d handled worse—like her adoptive father—and come away unscathed. She just hoped he’d do the right thing by Molly.
Though she’d only just met the little girl, it looked as if Molly could do with some TLC—and she’d happily volunteer to inject some fun into her life.
Now all she had to do was hope big, bad Brody would come to the party. Literally.
CHAPTER TWO
‘DAD! Wow, look at all the fairies and stuff. Isn’t this shop the coolest?’ Molly bounced through the front door of Fey For Fun and Brody followed reluctantly, wondering what on earth had prompted him to do this.
He had enough to worry about without wasting time with a bunch of kids he’d never met. Maybe he should be using the time to figure out how to raise his own child rather than secretly enjoying the brief taste of freedom from responsibility that the day would bring.
Glancing at his surroundings, he took in the filmy pink gauze draped around the shop, the silver stars spangling on a midnight ceiling and the staggering array of fairies, elves, goblins, wizards, frogs and princesses in every shape, texture and size.
If he’d been a kid he wouldn’t have wanted to leave this place. As a grown-up, he was intrigued by the enigmatic woman who ran it—and already berating himself for it. His meeting with Carissa Lewis yesterday had been brief, and he’d been his usual prickly self, yet something about her had piqued his interest and he’d found himself spending far too many hours last night thinking about his nosy neighbour.
He didn’t have the time or inclination to waste on another woman. Molly was the only female in his life these days, and he intended keeping it that way.
He sighed and looked at Molly, who flitted from one item to another in the shop, her face alight with delight. His precious daughter was a bundle of energy and a constant source of amazement, consternation and worry in his otherwise drab life, and he loved her to bits. He knew he fell short as a parent, and his constant guilt at causing the death of her mother was a burden that manifested itself in many ways—most of them directed at his beautiful daughter.
He’d turned into a taciturn grump, and as much as he’d like to change his ways he couldn’t. Guilt did that to a man—a terrible, all-consuming guilt that ripped at his soul on a daily basis, draining him till he had nothing left to give, no matter how much he wanted to.
Poor Molly. He sure as hell wouldn’t win any Father of the Year contests.
Now, to complicate matters, that interfering woman next door had practically challenged him to turn up here today and he’d jumped at it. How stupid could he be?
Real stupid, if his gut reaction was any indication as he caught a glimpse of his neighbour through a rear window, smiling and chatting with a group of kids as they sat on giant toadstools.
Carissa Lewis had a smile that could light up a room and, combined with the soft blonde curls framing her heart-shaped face, the guileless blue eyes and a cheeky dimple that could tempt a saint, she had him focussing on a woman in a way he hadn’t in a long time.
He’d initially been annoyed that she’d befriended Molly. His daughter had suffered enough loss in her brief life without growing attached to a woman who obviously could only offer a day’s entertainment. However, when he’d confronted Carissa, he’d been totally unprepared for his own reaction to the woman.
Awareness had flooded his body for the first time in years, making him more terse than usual. But instead of being scared off, as his abrupt manner made most people, she’d stood up to him with something akin to challenge in her fathomless blue eyes, and he’d been prompted to do all
