Too Charming (30 page)

With a curse of annoyance she turned off her computer. Thinking like that wasn’t helpful. Especially as she knew Scott wasn’t like that. She’s seen the private side to him.
The real side. The straight, honest side. The case was over, but he’d still come to see her last night. Come to tell her he loved her. At the memory, her heart did a little dance. It was time she stopped being so insecure.

On the off chance that Scott was working and had turned off his phone, Megan decided to drive by his chambers on her way home. After all, she told herself, it was only a couple of days since he’d been injured, trying to protect her. She had a right to be concerned for his welfare. To make sure he was okay and not lying in a crumpled heap of pain somewhere, unable to reach the phone.

‘Looking for Scott?’

Her head swung towards the voice. Great. Of all the people for her to bump into, it had to be Nancy. ‘Yes, as a matter of fact, I was.’ She returned the woman’s inquisitive stare with one of her own.

‘He’s not here. I’ve just been to drop off some papers.’

‘Oh.’ It was on the tip of her tongue to ask if she knew where he was, but she stopped herself. She wasn’t going to give Nancy the satisfaction of knowing that she was that interested. ‘Never mind, I’ll catch him some other time.’

As she turned to walk away, Nancy’s voice halted her. ‘He’s a hard man to pin down in many ways, our Scott. You’ve been dating him, haven’t you?’

Calmly she stopped and looked back. ‘Yes.’ It was true. She had. No point in saying she wasn’t dating him any longer.

A slight smile came to the older woman’s face. ‘Well, watch your step, Megan. Don’t let all that gorgeous charm fool you. He’s not a keeper.’

‘I know.’ Megan bit her lip.
She mustn’t let Nancy rile her, she was probably fishing. Trying to bait her. To dig a barb into her soft, vulnerable underbelly. She couldn’t let her see she’d struck home. ‘I don’t want to keep him. Just to play with him for a while.’

Nancy shook her head. ‘You don’t have to pretend. Not with me. You see
, I’ve been in your shoes. I know what it’s like to want something that the other person is incapable of giving you.’

Megan watched a flicker of pain run across Nancy’s face and
realised she wasn’t telling her this to be cruel. She was trying to be kind, to warn her. ‘You loved him, didn’t you?’ she whispered.

Nancy’s lips tilted in a sad smile. ‘Foolish, I know. He was young, dynamic and beautiful. I was older and totally besotted. I should have known better.’ She shrugged her shoulders. ‘I wish you luck, Megan.’

With that she turned and headed back down the corridor. As Megan watched the slim figure of the retreating solicitor she finally saw her for what she was. A glamorous lady in her forties, still pining away for a man she could never have. She felt her heart tighten as she wondered if that would be her in fifteen years’ time, too.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Unbeknownst to Megan, while she was looking for Scott, he was knocking on the door of her home.

His heart sank when
it was opened by her father. ‘Good afternoon. I wonder, is Megan home yet? I was hoping to have a word.’ Inwardly Scott cringed at his wooden formality: he’d only just stopped himself from adding Sir.

‘I’m afraid she’s still at work.’

The reply was polite but not unfriendly. If only the man would smile warmly at him for once. ‘Do you mind if I wait?’ He’d plucked up the courage to come all the way here. He wasn’t about to leave without achieving what he’d come for. At least not without a fight.

Stanley briefly nodded and opened the door wider to let him in. Scott was led into the living room where he was motioned to sit down, Stanley sitting in the armchair opposite. As Scott shifted uncomfortably on the couch, he noticed her father stretch out his legs, his pose relaxed. Why wouldn’t it be? He was the one in the driving seat; Scott was the one in the hot seat. Again. Megan’s father had that uncanny ability of making him feel like a boy instead of a man. But now that he thought about it, he
realised the problem was actually all on his side. Megan did more than simply love her father. She worshipped him. Scott knew that if he was to have any hope with her, he needed to win her father’s respect. And that went a long way towards explaining why his gut churned every time he spoke with him.

Scott cleared his throat.
‘About last night. I’m sorry if we disturbed you.’

‘You didn’t. We were awake.’

Okay. Scott drew in a deep breath and said what he knew the other man had been thinking last night. He would have been, if it had been his daughter facing an angry male. ‘I wouldn’t have hurt her.’

‘I know.’

Well, that was something, at least. ‘Good,’ he replied, automatically standing up. ‘Then you should know this, too. I want to marry your daughter.’ Before Stanley could say anything, Scott rushed on. ‘The way I see it, I’m not a bad prospect. I own my own house and earn a decent living, even if it is doing something that Megan can’t quite understand. That doesn’t matter to me. In fact I can see where she’s coming from. I can see how, when she works on a case, it gets personal. Having worked with her on this last one, I sure as hell don’t want to defend the accused parties. So I’m happy for us to agree to disagree. If she wants, we can even argue about it every day. As long as it’s for the rest of our lives, because I’m not prepared to settle for anything less. Then there’s Sally.’ He looked Stanley in the eye, his face earnest. ‘I can’t promise that I’ll be a great father. I’ve not had any experience with children so it will be a huge learning curve for me. But I can promise that I’ll always be there for her. That I’ll treat her as if she were my own. She won’t want for anything. Neither of them will.’

Stanley held up his hand. ‘Whoa, stop there, son. You’re not addressing a jury here. Just the father.’

Scott paused and took stock. Without being aware of it, he’d started pacing up and down the living room, just as he did in court when he was summing up his case. In Scott’s mind, that’s what he’d felt he was doing: presenting his case. No wonder Stanley was mocking him. He’d gone into flaming barrister mode. ‘Sorry,’ he said tightly, feeling the heat of a flush creep over his face.

‘Look Scott, all I want to know is the important part. Do you love her?’

Feeling more than a little ridiculous, Scott slumped back down on to the sofa and let out a laugh. ‘That’s the easiest question I’ve ever had to answer. Yes, of course I do. With all my heart. Sally too. In fact I think I fell in love with her first, though it was a pretty close-run thing. Perhaps falling in love with Sally just felt easier because she didn’t insist on keeping me at arm’s length all of the time.’

Stanley chuckled. ‘Megan has never been the shy, pliable type.
Strong-willed and stubborn as a mule more like. At least you know what you’re letting yourself in for.’

‘I’ve fallen in love with stubborn and strong-willed.’

At last her father laughed. A real warm, rich, belly laugh. ‘Then all it leaves me to say is good luck. For what it’s worth, I think you’ll suit Megan very well. You don’t take any nonsense and you’ve proven already that you’ll protect her even when she doesn’t want protecting. Most of all, you love her. I can see that. A man’s got to be in love if he’s prepared to put up with a girl’s family.’

Slowly, Scott started to relax. Her father had as good as given his blessing. It felt like he’d leapt one giant hurdle.
Only two more to go. ‘Speaking of family, is Sally in? I’d like to see her.’

The look Stanley gave him was full of understanding. ‘She’s out in the garden with her grandma. I’m sure she’ll be pleased to see you.’

Feeling a lot better than he had when he’d first arrived, Scott opened the back door and stepped out into the garden. He immediately spotted the mini whirlwind that was Sally, dressed in pink and running rings round her grandmother. As soon as she saw him, she stopped, but didn’t immediately rush towards him as he’d been expecting – as he’d been hoping. Burying his concern, he walked towards her.

‘Hey pumpkin, how are you doing?’

‘Okay.’ She hung back and eyed him suspiciously. ‘Why haven’t you been over very much? Have you and Mum had a row? She said you hadn’t but I think you must have.’

He heard Dot chuckle as she came up behind her granddaughter. ‘Hello, Scott.’ She, at least, greeted him warmly, kissing him on both cheeks before ruffling her granddaughter’s hair. ‘I think I’ll go inside and leave you to your inquisition.’ Then she grinned. ‘Good luck.’

He was left alone with Sally and an uncomfortable feeling that he might need every ounce of that good luck. Her beguiling blue eyes were letting him know she was waiting for an answer to her question, and that she’d continue to wait until he provided one that she was happy with. ‘We haven’t had a row, exactly,’ he replied cautiously as he drew her towards the garden bench. ‘But I do need to persuade her that I love her.’

Sally didn’t bat an eyelid. Taking a seat next to him on the bench she simply nodded, as if his declaration of love was old news. ‘She thinks you don’t mean what you say. That you’ll leave her, like my dad did.’

Ouch. ‘Do you think I’ll do that, too?’ he asked in a voice that sounded distinctly scratchy and raw, like his emotions.

She stared into his eyes, assessing him with the simple
candour of a six-year-old child. He found himself holding his breath, as time appeared to stand still. ‘No,’ she finally replied. ‘I think you keep your promises.’

Instantly his shoulders sagged with relief and the breath rushed out of his lungs. ‘Good. Good.’ God, he felt emotionally exhausted. And he hadn’t even tackled Megan yet.

‘Are you going to marry Mum?’ Sally wasn’t finished and she was still giving him that careful, watchful look.

Blinking, he stared back at her and suddenly found himself laughing.
The delightful innocence of a child’s question. He’d give anything right now for a handbook on how to deal with them.  ‘I’m afraid I can’t answer that. It’s something I need to discuss with your mother. I would like to see a lot more of her though. And of you. Would that be okay?’

‘Does that mean we could go to the beach again?’

‘If you both wanted to, yes.’

Finally she smiled.
A big, beaming smile that went straight to his heart. ‘I’d like that.’

He felt those damn tears begin to prick again.
He was floored by the depth of emotion the simple words of this pretty, pint-sized version of her mother stirred in him. ‘Of course, first I have to convince your mum that’s a good idea. How do you think I should do that?’

Sally cocked her head to one side. ‘Ask her, I guess. Course if you were asking her to marry you, you’d have to go down on one knee and give her a big sparkly ring.’

Ring. Bugger. Scott’s heart sunk. He really hadn’t planned this at all. The confidence that had been slowly building since the conversation with Megan’s father was now rapidly receding. What had he been thinking? Wait, that was the trouble, he
hadn’t
been thinking. As soon as his mother had suggested he propose, that was all he’d had in his mind. He’d dashed straight over, convinced that this was the answer. All Megan needed was to hear the four words
will you marry me
and she’d dance with joy and then leap into his arms, weeping with happiness. But this was Megan Taylor he was talking about. Stubborn, wilful, hard-headed. She’d need more than a few stumbling words from him to be persuaded to marry him. The least he could have done was give himself a few advantages. Romantic meal, candlelight, music. Damn.

The moment she caught sight of Scott’s car on the driveway, Megan’s heart picked up its pace, pounding so hard inside her chest it almost rattled her ribs. Wherever he’d been, whatever he’d been doing, he was back – which didn’t mean she was going to rush over to him with arms outstretched. She might desperately want to, but she couldn’t. Partly because she was spitting mad at him for disappearing without a trace. If he’d bothered to let her know where he was, he might have received an apology for the way she’d spoken to him the other night. But he hadn’t. He’d left her dangling, which brought her to the second reason why she hung back. If he did truly love her, as he’d claimed, why hadn’t he called?

It was with these conflicting thoughts in her mind that Megan strode out into the garden to find him. Wouldn’t you know, he was deep in serious conversation with her
daughter. Heaven only knew what that was all about.

‘Ah, the elusive Scott Armstrong.’ She’d meant the words as a joke, but they’d come out as harsh and cutting. Clearly she was more upset with him than she’d thought.

Scott turned to Sally. ‘What do you think, Sally? Beneath her unfriendly greeting, is your mum secretly pleased to see me, or not?’

Sally, her traitorous daughter, giggled.
She looked at her, and then back at Scott. ‘She’s pleased. She’s always happy when she sees you, even if she doesn’t show it. Her eyes go all sparkly and gooey when she talks about you.’

‘Sally, that’s quite enough, thank you.’ Megan could feel herself blushing furiously. Since when had her daughter noticed things like that? And she’d like to bet that she
didn’t
go gooey-eyed. She’d never gone gooey-eyed. It wasn’t her. At least it hadn’t been. Scott had her in such a tangle she was no longer sure what
her
was any more.

Sally turned to whisper something to Scott, who laughed and replied in the same hushed tone. Sniggering like the schoolgirl she was, Sally then wriggled off the bench and darted towards her. Oblivious to the fact that she’d just dropped her mother right in it, she proceeded to wrap her arms around Megan’s mortified body and squeeze tightly.

‘I’ll deal with you in a minute,’ Megan warned her daughter as Sally skipped inside the house. Then she turned her attention to Scott, who was sitting back casually on the bench, his jean-clad legs stretched out in front of him, his eyes lit up with amusement. ‘What’s going on?’

He shrugged his delectable shoulders. ‘I don’t know. You tell me. You seem to be the one with the attitude.’

‘Attitude?’ She stared at him wide-eyed. ‘How do you expect me to react when you tell me you love me—no, wait, you didn’t tell me, did you? You angrily shouted that you’d fallen in love with me and then disappeared off without a trace.’

‘I didn’t disappear. I went to settle Mum into a new clinic.’

His calm, softly spoken reply sucked all the heat out of her anger. She was left with only a terrifying uncertainty over why he’d come round. ‘Oh, sorry.’ Swallowing hard she gingerly perched on to the side of the garden table. ‘How is she?’

‘Good, thank you.
I really think this time it’s going to work out.’

She managed a smile. ‘I’m pleased. For both of you.’

He inclined his head slightly in acknowledgement. ‘So, feeling a heck of a lot more positive about life than I have done in a long while, I came round to talk to you, only to find myself greeted with all the warmth of a polar ice cap.’

Once more she flushed. ‘I’m not sure how you expected to be greeted. If I remember correctly, the last time we spoke, we argued.’

‘I remember that, too.’ He regarded her steadily, his grey eyes darkening. ‘I also remember telling you that I’d fallen in love with you, but you dismissed it. Apparently it was the sort of thing somebody like me would say. It didn’t mean anything.’

Megan winced. When he put it like that, so bluntly, in the cold light of day, it made her sound very harsh. ‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered. ‘I didn’t mean it to come out like that.’ She caught herself chewing at the flesh by her nail and thrust her hand away. ‘Why didn’t you phone me? Let me know where you were these last few days.’

‘Ah, so you did try to contact me then?’

‘Yes, I did,’ she replied stiffly. ‘To
apologise.’

‘Is that why you’re cross with me now? Because I didn’t tell you where I was? Because you don’t like
apologising?’ He smiled, his eyes glinting. ‘Or because you missed me?’

The last point was too close to the truth for her to answer honestly. ‘I’m cross because I’d worked myself up to
apologise for my rudeness the other night, but your phone was turned off, so I couldn’t. After the third attempt to get hold of you, I started to wonder why I was apologising. If you couldn’t be bothered to put your phone on or let me know where you were, then maybe this was all just a huge game, after all.’