Too Charming (29 page)

He glanced over at the slim body curled up on the sofa opposite. ‘Thanks.’ Then he laughed. ‘Jesus, what a totally inadequate word. I mean it though. Really. If Dad were here now, he’d be giving you the strongest hug you’d ever known.’ Slowly he put down his cup and walked towards her. ‘Will you accept one from his son, instead?’

Megan swallowed as Scott’s arm reached out towards her. Refusing would be rude, so she stood and allowed his good arm to circle around her. Accepting it wasn’t a hardship.
Far from it. For a brief moment she rested her head on his chest and allowed herself to feel. As the warmth of his body enveloped hers, she filled her nostrils with the fresh, masculine smell of him. It felt too good. Too right. Too utterly perfect. She took a step backwards.

Scott let out a deep sigh. ‘There you go again, pulling away from me when I know damn well you want this as much as I do.’ His eyes searched out hers, locked and held them. ‘Go on, Megan,’ he demanded roughly. ‘Tell me you don’t want me to touch you. Tell me you don’t want me to make love to you.’

Feeling like a cornered animal, she backed further away from him. ‘You know I can’t tell you that,’ she whispered. ‘But it’s irrelevant, Scott. We’re over.’

He shook his head. ‘No. It can’t be over, not when all this heat still exists between us.’

She’d known he wouldn’t let go without a fight. His ego wouldn’t let him. But she had to be strong. ‘Heat soon turns cold, Scott. Surely your vast experience with women has shown you that. All I’m doing is saving us both the bother of having to go through that angst when it does.’

‘So cynical.’ He took a step back himself and thrust his free hand into his pocket. ‘Why do you assume what is between us won’t last? It isn’t all about heat, Megan. Not on my side. I’ve fallen in love with you.’

His quietly spoken words knocked her totally off her stride and for a heart-stopping moment she felt a rush of sheer pleasure. Then she remembered how good Scott was with words; how he could use them to his advantage to suit his needs. ‘You say that now, Scott, but what will you be saying a month from now? Two months? Words are meaningless. That’s one useful thing I learnt from my sorry time with Luke. Words slip easily from the tongues of men like you and him. How long would you want me, Scott? How long before you found yourself wanting someone else instead?’

Scott swore, loudly and angrily. ‘Christ, Megan.’ He walked over to the mantelpiece and put one hand on either side, gripping it until his knuckles turned white. ‘I’ve told you before that I won’t be compared to any other men you’ve known.’  Pushing himself away from the fire, he went to stand before her, his eyes blazing. ‘I love you, damn it,’ he told her fiercely, uncaring of who might overhear.
Desperate for her to understand. ‘Don’t you trust me enough to believe me? Whatever happened to a man being innocent until proven guilty?’

‘Megan, is there a problem?’

Her father stood in the doorway, hands on his hips and a worried look on his face.

Scott let out a deep breath. Bloody fantastic. That was absolutely what he needed right now.
er
Her father, coming to protect his daughter from the angry boyfriend. ‘I was just leaving,’ he replied through gritted teeth. With his heart shattering in his chest, he ignored Megan and strode out of the house.

Megan turned to her father and burst into tears. 

Chapter Thirty-One

‘Mummy.’

Megan glanced over to her daughter, currently playing with the breakfast cereal in her bowl, swirling it around with her spoon. In her experience, when Sally was distracted like that, she was on the verge of asking a difficult question.

‘Don’t you like Scott any more?’

And yes, there it was, right on cue. ‘Why do you say that, darling?’ She’d been around lawyers enough to know the best way to answer a hard question was with another question.

‘I heard you shouting at each other last night.’

Another one for the increasingly long list of why it was impossible for her to have a relationship while she lived with her daughter and parents. They heard and saw everything. ‘Sorry, did we wake you?’

She shook her head. ‘I wasn’t asleep. I heard Scott’s car and I thought he might come up and say hello, but he didn’t.’

Sally looked so crestfallen, Megan knew it wasn’t fair to leave it at that. ‘Oh, honey, that was my fault. He wanted to, but I said you’d be asleep.’

‘Why were you fighting?’

Lord, why did she have such an inquisitive daughter? ‘We weren’t really fighting. It was just a difference of opinion.’

‘Different how?
What did he mean by innocent until … something guilty.’

The questions were tumbling from her daughter’s lips and Megan didn’t have a clue how to answer them.

‘The word you’re looking for, my darling granddaughter, is
proven
.’

Megan looked up to see her mother enter the kitchen. Inwardly, she thanked God. Hopefully she could help her out here. 

‘What Scott was trying to say was that your mother was accusing him of something even though she didn’t have any evidence, any proof, that he would actually do that.’

Megan caught the pointed look her mother shot in her direction and abruptly changed her mind. Her mother wasn’t going to help the situation at all. In fact, if she wasn’t careful …

‘That’s not very nice.’ Sally was now looking scathingly at her.

‘No, it’s not, is it.’

Exactly as she’d feared. Her mother was also on Scott’s side. Typical. The man was relentless when it came to getting women on his side. ‘Now, wait a minute.’ They both arched an eyebrow, almost in unison. ‘Neither of you knows the full story, so I don’t think you’re in a position to judge.’

‘So what are the facts, Megan dear?’ Her mother poured herself a cup of tea and sat down at the table across from her. ‘Is it correct that Scott told you he loved you last night?’

‘My God.’ She shook her head in disbelief. ‘Did you hear
everything
?’

‘Well, not everything, but towards the end, when voices were raised, we couldn’t really help but hear.’ She sipped her drink. ‘So, did he or did he not say he’d fallen in love with you?’

Megan looked from her mother to Sally. Both were staring at her expectantly. ‘Yes, he did.’ And even though he hadn’t meant it with a capital
L
, Megan’s heart still flipped as she recalled his quietly spoken words. And his louder follow up.

A gleam of triumph snuck into her mother’s eyes. ‘To which you replied how, exactly?’

She groaned and glanced warningly over at Sally. ‘Mum, come on, give me a break here.’

‘I think it’s important for us both to understand what’s happening. After all, in some ways it affects us all. So when Scott told you
he’d fallen in love with you …’

‘I told him they were nice words but I’d been told them before and I knew they were meaningless,’ she finished quickly.

‘Why did Scott say words he didn’t mean?’ Sally asked, clearly puzzled.

Right now Megan knew exactly how it must feel like to be in the dock. ‘It’s not that he
didn’t
mean them. He probably thought he did, but—’

‘You thought you knew better?’ her mother interrupted. ‘Even though these are Scott’s feelings, you thought you knew how he felt better than he did?’

Megan stared at her mother. ‘Heck, Mum, did you ever consider a career in law?’

They all laughed, releasing some of the subtle tension that had built up. They both loved her, she knew that, but right now they weren’t on her side. Then again, they hadn’t been let down before, not like she had, not so badly that her heart had been ripped from her chest. So perhaps it wasn’t too surprising that they’d sided with the handsome lawyer.

Her father chose that moment to come in search of his breakfast, and Megan let out a sigh of relief. Finally, she had an ally. Someone who understood the importance of self-protection.

‘We were just finding out from Megan what happened last night,’ her mother explained as she ferreted around for the cereal bowls.

‘Even though you apparently heard it all anyway,’ Megan murmured to nobody in particular. Deciding to keep her head down, she focused on eating her breakfast. Maybe if she was lucky her mother would leave this alone now.

‘We’d just got round to the interesting question of why she assumed that Scott didn’t mean it when he told her he loved her.’

Then again, maybe not. She sighed in exasperation. ‘That’s not exactly what I said.’

‘Isn’t it?’ Having found the bowls, her mother turned to give her a quizzical look. ‘I’m sure it was how he heard it.’

Her father took one look at the two of them facing up to each other and calmly went to sit next to his granddaughter, who was watching the conversation unfold with increasing confusion. He patted her on the hand. ‘Sally, you know that your Mum loved your father very much, but that he left her? Left you both.’

Sally nodded.

‘Well, your mother is worried that every man she falls in love with will do the same thing. That they will leave her. That, I think, is why she’s scared to believe what Scott says.’

‘But that’s silly,’ Sally replied. ‘Just because one of the girls at school stopped being my friend, it didn’t mean that all the others would stop, too. They didn’t.’

Her father chuckled. ‘She’s smart, your daughter,’ he replied, glancing over to Megan before tucking into his breakfast.

Watching her family go through their morning rituals, Megan felt the first twinges of doubt. She’d been so sure that she was doing the right thing by pushing Scott away. Her heart couldn’t take another hammering. Once in a lifetime was enough for anyone. And now there was Sally to consider, too. She was old enough to know what was going on. To be heartbroken, too, when Scott left them both, as he would surely do. Wouldn’t he?
But that was what you thought before he confessed his feelings for you
, a voice in her head was shouting.
Before he told you he loved you
.

She turned to stare out of the window, gripping the sides of the worktop. Shit. Had she just made the most God-awful mistake? Could he really and truly love her?
With a capital L? And was she brave enough to take the chance that he might?

Scott looked around the room that would be his mother’s home for the next few months and said a silent prayer of thanks that they’d chosen to go private. The place had more than a hint of a luxury hotel about it, and was much more welcoming than some of the more functional places he’d viewed. It was going to be tough enough for her to get through the programme. At least here she would have some dignity while she did it.

So far, he’d liked all the
counsellors and nursing staff he’d come across. Along with the professionalism and dedication that he expected, they seemed warm and compassionate. In fact he’d had a strong sense that this wasn’t just a job to them. It was a vocation.

‘Do you think you’ll be okay here?’ he asked as they sat in her room.

‘Scott, for the hundredth time, yes. Stop fussing. You’re making me feel like the child here, not the parent.’

He acknowledged her gentle rebuke with a sheepish grin. ‘Sorry.’

She reached over and kissed him gently on the cheek. ‘You know you’ve spent far too much time with me these last few days. Bringing me here. Staying the night. Clucking over me like a mother hen.’ She smiled, softening her words. ‘Anyone would think you were trying to escape from something. Or someone.’

‘I just want to make sure you’re comfortable,’ he protested, evading her eyes. She was definitely getting more like her old self every day. When she hadn’t been riddled with alcohol, she’d always had an uncanny knack of being able to see through people. Him especially.

‘You just want to take a few days to recover from your latest argument with the cute detective, more like.’

He shook his head but had to laugh. It served him right for confiding in his mother. Then again, he’d been so hurt he’d had to talk to
someone
. ‘Yeah, okay, there is a bit of that in there, too.’

‘She’s a clever lady. She’ll work it out in the end.’

‘Work what out?’

‘That you’re meant to be together.’

He sighed. ‘Perhaps. At the moment she’s convinced herself that I’m just playing with her. That in a few months’ time I’ll have had enough and want to move on.’

‘And will you?’

‘Jesus, Mum, of course not.’ He stretched his legs out in front of him and moved his shoulder so that it was more fully supported by the sling. ‘I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve done a lot of playing in my time, but with Megan …’ He shook his head. ‘Megan is very different. She’s got to me so much that I can’t think straight. All I want is to be with her.’ He paused and looked his mother in the eye. ‘I’m in love with her.’

‘And have you told her that?’

He recalled their angry conversation a few nights ago. The way she’d effectively taken his words and shoved them right back in his face. ‘Yeah, I told her.’

‘And?’

‘She wasn’t interested.’

‘Is that really the case? Or was she just not convinced you meant what you said.’

Scott shifted forward so he could rest his head in his hands. ‘How the hell should I know? I did mean it. Either she didn’t care, or chose not to believe me. What am I supposed to do now? Keep telling her I love her till I’m blue in the face? Browbeat her into falling for me?’

His mother smiled.
‘I doubt that will be necessary. Maybe she just needs more than words, Scott.’

If he closed his eyes, he could picture Megan’s face as she told him she’d heard words like
I love you
before. There had been anger, yes, but also pain. He looked over to his mother. ‘What do you suggest?’

‘If you’re really serious about her, then show her that you mean what you say. Ask her to marry you. Nothing says I love you more than that. Of course she’s been badly let down before, so she might feel it’s too early to accept, but at least by asking her you’re showing your intent. Declaring that you want to spend the rest of your life with her.’

Scott stared at his mother open mouthed. Marriage? A chill ran through him. Now that was a scary step. An enormously scary step. Then again, wasn’t that what he’d been moving towards, in his mind? After all, he couldn’t actually imagine
not
spending his life with Megan. Or with Sally. The word marriage might sound terrifying, but the implications didn’t.

‘Well?’

He got up and, crouching down on to his knees so that he was at her level, kissed her resoundingly on the cheek. ‘God, I’ve missed you, Mum.’

She chuckled. ‘Is that a yes, you’ll ask her?’

‘It’s a bloody hell, why didn’t I think of that.’

‘Because you’re a man, honey.’

As he made to leave, she walked with him to the door. ‘Remember to give me a call. Let me know how you got on.’

He kissed the top of her head. ‘I will. Who knows, if all goes well I could be bringing your future daughter-in-law to see you next weekend.’

‘I hope so, Scott. I really hope so.’

He walked back to his car with a skip in his step. Suddenly the pain in his shoulder didn’t ache as much. He was going to ask Megan to marry him. Prove to her that he was serious. She had to have feelings for him, didn’t she? This couldn’t all be on his side. An image popped unwillingly into his head. One of the look of horror on Megan’s face when she’d first glimpsed Sally’s picture of the three of them on the beach. He thrust it out of his mind. That look could have been for any number of reasons. It didn’t automatically mean that the thought of him as a husband and father was thoroughly repugnant to her. Of course it didn’t. Megan wasn’t one to be put off by his dodgy family background. She was made of better stuff than that. And she’d learn to accept what he did for a living, wouldn’t she?

When he finally climbed into his car, his mood was decidedly more pensive.

Megan tried Scott’s mobile phone number several times but it was switched off. There was no answer at his home. Where on earth was he? Was he screening his calls so that he didn’t have to talk to her? Had she hurt him that badly? Or was he now acting true to type: he’d got what he’d wanted off her, hadn’t he? He’d wriggled his way on to his mother’s case and made sure that Megan had seen his point of view on it all.