Sweet Seduction Shield(35)

"And if anyone has a witty comeback for that, keep it to themselves," Abi suggested. Yep, she'd make a good mother one day.

I laughed, despite my emotional turmoil of moments ago. It was so easy to forget my worries with these women. So easy to pretend we were part of their world.

"So, you heading out now?" Adam asked, directing his question to me. "Ben's just gone to touch base with Pierce, but I think everyone's ready."

"I'll just go say good-bye," Abi said, placing her paintbrush on the side of a can carefully. "Back in a tick."

"Yeah, right," Kelly snorted, receiving a flick of the Abi's fingers as she passed, making dots of blue paint splatter across Kelly's white t-shirt.

"Agh, I knew this was a bad idea," Kelly complained.

"Don't worry, Kels. I can hose you down outside afterwards," Adam offered with a wink.

I shook my head. "Are you guys always like this?"

They looked at each other, shrugged, then both said at the same time, "Pretty much."

A snort escaped me before I could stop it, which made Daisy laugh, quickly followed by Kelly and then Adam. Before long we were all clutching our stomachs and laughing loudly, only to be interrupted by a clearing of a masculine throat.

We all swung around to see Pierce standing at the door looking unimpressed.

"If you're ready, Marie," he announced, and then left. Nothing else, just a statement that was definitely not meant to be a query, but rather a reprimand.

"What's got his boxers in a knot?" Kelly asked, retuning her attention to the wall and her iceberg.

I shrugged, Adam chortled and Daisy said, "He likes Mummy, but Mummy's not being nice back."

Oh, and there went the whole idea of keeping my emotional turmoil and the reason for it out of my daughter’s sight.

"Daisy," I said in soft reprimand. "What on earth do you mean?"

She huffed out an exasperated breath, turned her back to her penguin, crossed her arms over her little chest, while still holding her paintbrush, and then cocked her hip. Such sass.

"I know he likes you," she said, lifting her chin in challenge.

"He likes all of us," I pointed out.

"But he really likes you."

I sighed. Relationship advice from a five year old?

"It's not what you think, sweetheart." I took a step towards her to give her a farewell hug, and she immediately turned her back on me and lifted her paintbrush to the wall. It hovered over her penguin, as though waiting for me to act.

I'd never had Daisy turn away from me before. I'd never experienced my daughter's disdain. I wasn't quite sure what to do.

I reached out a hand to touch her hair, but halfway there, hanging in mid-air, Pierce shouted from the front of the house, "Marie, let's go!"

And I dropped it, clenched my fist, blinked back tears and whispered instead, "Be back soon, Daisy-girl. Love you."

Then left the room before Adam or Kelly could remark on my poor parenting skills.





Chapter 11


And The World Turned To Utter Chaos

I was fuming.

Pierce hadn't said a word on the entire trip to my home, and I hadn't remedied that. He either knew I was mad, seething mad, or he was just as upset as me. But for entirely different reasons.

It wasn't enough that we were displaced, in danger, fearing for our lives. But his interest in me had been noticed by my child. Who at five years old was throwing her first tantrum at her mother. Because I wasn't being nice back.

I let a long frustrated breath of air out and saw Pierce flick his gaze across to me briefly. His lips flattened into two thin lines.

I curled my fists in my lap and stared out at the familiar scene that sped by the car.

Minutes passed. The silence stretched.

Finally our flat came into view. Police tape criss-crossed over the doorway. I hadn't expected that. I sat forward in my seat, my hand coming up to rest on the dashboard before me, my eyes straining to see what else had changed since we were last there.

"I didn't know the Police had been here," I said, stunned.

"Your house was broken into," Pierce replied quietly from my side. "Forensics needed to see if the perpetrator had left any evidence behind."

I shook my head. "But I didn't say you could go do that?"

Pierce blinked back at me, then shrugged his shoulders.

"You'd already agreed to make a statement about it, this was just the next step. You want us to catch him, don't you, Marie?"

God, he was right. And I was being pig-headed. Not nice, as my daughter had already pointed out.

"Of course," I mumbled, opening my door and slipping outside.

Pierce was beside me in an instant, just as a uniformed cop approached from a marked police car I hadn't even noticed off to the side.