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“And I think it is not. So that is the last we’ll say about it tonight. Come on. Back to bed with you.” She took her daughter’s hand and began leading her down the hall, but Lily was her father’s daughter, and she wasn’t willing to give up her dream.
“Can we go there and visit? Maybe we can find his crown. Then we’ll know he’s really a prince.”
“No, we can not. Mr. Sinclair is a busy man. He doesn’t have time to entertain us.”
“But—”
“Listen, my sweet, don’t the princes in fairy tales always ride white horses?”
“Yes.”
“And have you seen any white horses around here?”
“No.”
“Then there can’t be any princes around, either, can there?” It was twisted logic, but if it worked, Honor would use it.
“Maybe—”
“Maybe we should stop talking and go to sleep.”
“But I’m not tired.”
Honor shook her head and pressed a finger to her daughter’s lips. “Maybe you aren’t, but I am. I worked for a very long time today, remember?”
“Yes.”
“And now it’s time for me to sleep so that I can be ready to do lots of fun things with you and Candace later on.”
“Like go to the library?”
“Exactly like that.” Honor started down the hall again, stopping when Candace peeked out of her room.
“Is everything okay?” Candace’s voice was husky from sleep.
“Yes. Lily just needed to talk to me.”
“Not about Prince Sinclair, I hope.” Candace wrinkled her nose, and shot a disgruntled look in Lily’s direction. “Didn’t I tell you not to bug your mother about that?”
“I wasn’t, Aunt Candy. Really.”
“Yeah? So why are we all awake when we should be sleeping?” Candace ruffled Lily’s hair and met Honor’s gaze. “Sorry about this.”
“Why should you be sorry? You weren’t the one waiting up for me with dreams in your eyes.” Honor smiled at her sister-in-law and pushed open the door to the room she shared with Lily.
“Yeah, but I am the one who keeps bringing books of fairy tales home from the library. Listen, why don’t you sleep in a little today? I don’t have school, so I can watch Lily until you’re ready to get up.”
“Candace, you’ve watched her every night this week. I can’t ask you to do more.”
“You’re not asking. We’re family. Helping each other is what we do.” She smiled, the shadows in her eyes speaking words she wouldn’t say. Words about what real family meant to her. About the time she’d spent without the kind of love every child deserves.
“Maybe I will, then, but the rest of the day will be yours to do with as you please.”
“Being here pleases me.” She smiled again, stepping back into her room and closing the door before Honor could comment.
Honor resisted the urge to knock on the door, make sure Candace was okay, that the shadows in her eyes were gone. Though she’d tried to broach the subject of Candace’s childhood many times over the years, what she knew about it could fit on half a sheet of paper.
Jay’s mother had inherited a fortune from her father and the family had lived a high-society life in Houston. Money hadn’t bought the family happiness, though. Jay’s stories of the abuse he’d suffered as a kid had torn at Honor’s heart. When his mother had called to ask if Jay’s troubled sister could stay with him for a while, Honor had been quick to agree.
Five years later, she didn’t regret the decision. Though she wished Jay had been around to see how much his sister had grown, how mature she’d become.
The melancholy thought brought the sadness that always came when Honor thought of Jay. He might have been a happy-go-lucky dreamer with more ideas than plans for achieving them, but they’d been good friends before they married, and had continued to be friends until the day he’d died. “Come on, Lily-girl, let’s lie down until the sun comes up.”
“When is that?”
“A few hours.” Honor tucked Lily under thick blankets, pulling them up around her chin and leaning down to kiss her daughter’s forehead.
“Maybe we should have a snack first so we don’t get hungry while we sleep.”
“I don’t think so. Snacks are for times when the sun is up.”
“Later?”
“Yes, later. Good night, sweetheart.”
“Good morning, Mommy.”
Honor smiled and shook her head. Lily was a funny little girl. Advanced for her age and filled with imagination, she kept Honor and Candace on their toes. For now, though, she seemed to be content to lie in bed quietly. Perhaps she was hoping that would get her an extra snack later on. Whatever the case, Honor was thankful for her daughter’s quiet cooperation. Sharing a room with Lily could be difficult. Especially when Honor was tired and her daughter was not. Unfortunately, the bungalow only had two bedrooms, and it had seemed more important for Candace to have her own room than for Honor to have one.
Exhausted, Honor dropped onto her bed, kicking off her rubber-soled shoes and stretching out on top of the quilt. She should get up and change, wash her face, go through her normal before-bed routine, but she was too tired to do anything more than lie there.
A few hours of sleep. That’s all she needed.
Then she’d be ready to tackle the chores and the unpacking with the energy and enthusiasm the jobs required. If she worked efficiently, her three days off would be plenty of time to get the house under control and regain the routine she and the girls had thrived on when they were in St. Louis. By the time Honor returned to work on Tuesday, she’d have the last of the moving boxes unpacked, the backyard would be free of debris and the little bungalow she’d rented sight unseen would feel more like home.
FOUR
“Hey! Mister! Hey! Can you hear me?” The muffled voice drifted into Grayson Sinclair’s dreams, pulling him toward consciousness. Exactly where he didn’t want to be.
He bit back a groan and threw an arm over his eyes, refusing to open them. He’d spent most of the past forty-eight hours catching up on work and calling contractors to try to line up workers who could make his parents’ Lynchburg rental property handicap accessible. Jude would be staying there once he was released from the hospital.
It had taken ten phone calls to convince his brother of that. Only by threatening the unthinkable—their mother staying with Jude in his New York apartment while he recovered—had Grayson been able to achieve his goal. He wanted his brother close to family during the long recovery ahead. Eventually his brother might thank him for that.
“Mister?” The little kid’s voice intruded again, and this time he couldn’t ignore it.
Grayson scowled and dropped his arm, glancing around the sunny solarium, searching for the speaker. He spotted her quickly, the Day-Glo pink coat and bright pink tutu she wore standing out in stark relief against the grays and browns of early winter. Face pressed against the glass, dark hair spilling out in wild ringlets, Honor Malone’s daughter looked just as impish as she had two days ago. Not that he’d thought much about the Malone family since then.
Liar.
He’d thought plenty about them. Especially Honor. If he hadn’t been so busy, he might have given in to temptation, stepped through the shrubs that separated their property and knocked on the bungalow’s door.
“What are you doing out there, Lily?”
“Looking for a horse.”
“Well, you’re not going to find one here.” Grayson strode to the door and pulled it open, the blast of icy cold air nearly stealing his breath.
“Are you sure? Because I was thinking maybe you had one inside your house. It’s a big house. Really big enough for a horse to live in.” She stared up at him, her eyes a deep shade of blue, her cheeks pink from cold.
“Sorry. I don’t keep horses in my house.” He grabbed a jacket from one of the fancy coat hooks his ex-fiancée had insisted be installed.
“But Mommy said you had to have one.”
“Did she? And did she say you were allowed to come over here to look for it?” He slid on the jacket and put a hand on Lily’s shoulder, steering her toward the back of his property as he spoke.
“No.”
“Does she even know you’re out here?”
“Lily? Lily Mae Malone, you’d better come out from wherever you are. Right now!” Honor’s shrill voice carried across the cold backyard and answered Grayson’s question. Obviously, she hadn’t known her daughter was outside, and obviously Lily was about to catch some major trouble.
He glanced down at the little girl, almost feeling sorry for her. Almost, but not quite. The world was a dangerous place. A kid like Lily should never be wandering around in it alone.
“She’s over here,” he called out to Honor. They were still fifty yards from the back edge of his property when the thick shrubs parted and she raced into view, dressed in what looked like red nurse’s scrubs. Her straight black hair gleaming in the sunlight, her skin glowing pink from exertion or cold, she ran across the yard and pulled Lily up into her arms.
“Thank goodness you’re all right. Candace and I were worried sick. What were you thinking leaving the house by yourself?” The words flew out in quick, frantic pants of breath, fear flashing in her eyes as she met Grayson’s gaze.
Green eyes. Much brighter than he’d remembered. Flecked with blue and gold. Rimmed with black lashes that were striking against Honor’s creamy skin. For a moment, Grayson felt caught in her gaze, pulled deep into a world he’d stayed away from for months. When he looked in Honor’s eyes, he forgot why.
“I’m so sorry, Grayson. I hope Lily wasn’t bothering you.” Honor’s voice shook slightly as she spoke and her arms were tight around her daughter as if she planned to hold the little girl close forever, keeping her safe from the ugliness that existed in the world.
If only life were that simple.
If only a person really could keep a loved one safe by sheer force of will. “She wasn’t.”
“I’m not sure I believe you. Lily has a one-track mind about certain things. Though I have to say, she’s never pulled a stunt like this before.” She paused, looking her daughter in the eyes. “And she never will again. Will you, Lily Mae?”
“I just wanted to see if he had a horse, Mommy. A white one. Like you said. Remember?”
Honor’s brow furrowed and she frowned. “I remember. Just as I’m sure you remember our rules about going outside without permission. Don’t you?”
“Yes.” Lily lisped the response, her face a mirror of Honor’s. Both were pink-cheeked with freckles dotting their noses. Lily’s hair was a few shades lighter than her mother’s, her eyes blue rather than green, but she possessed the same heart-shaped face and high cheekbones. And the same indefinable quality that would make people want to take a second look.
They made a pretty picture as they frowned into each other’s eyes, barely aware of Grayson. If he’d had a camera with him, Grayson would have snapped a picture. It was the kind of moment he’d thought he’d see a lot of as he watched his wife and children blossom in the large house his exfiancée, Maria, had insisted on…before she’d informed him that kids weren’t in her plans for at least another five years.
He frowned, wondering why he was thinking about something he’d decided months ago to put out of his mind.
“If you knew the rules, then why did you break them? You could have been hurt, or gotten lost. Anything could have happened. We’ve talked about this before. You know how important it is never to go out alone.” Honor’s words broke into his thoughts, and he was glad for the distraction.
“I’m sorry, Mommy. I just needed to know.” There were tears in Lily’s eyes, and Grayson felt his heart melting.
“What did you need to know?”
“If he was a prince. A real one with a white horse. Because if he is, he can slay the dragon. And then everything will be okay.”
“Sweetheart, we’ve been over this a hundred times before. There are no princes in Lakeview. And there are no dragons, either.” Honor spoke with weary resignation, and Grayson wondered how many times and in how many ways she’d said the same thing.
“But, Mommy—”
“Lily, enough! Just for a while, let’s stop talking about it.” Honor brushed a hand over Lily’s cheek, shivering a little as she set her daughter on the ground. The nurse’s scrubs she wore were short sleeved and her feet were bare. She must have run from the house without thinking of anything but finding Lily. That kind of desperation, that kind of fear was something Grayson understood only too well. When he’d received the call about Jude, he’d left the house unlocked, left the lights blazing, left cases that were going to trial. He’d driven to New York with nothing but his wallet and the clothes he was wearing. And he’d stayed there until his brother was on his way to recovery.
“Here.” He shrugged out of his jacket and dropped it around Honor’s shoulders. For a moment she met his eyes again, the worry and fear in her gaze making him want to tell her that everything would be okay. That her imaginative little girl would stay safe. That the world would be as kind to Lily as it should be.
Then she looked away, the contact between them gone, the moment spent. “Thank you, but now you’ll be cold.”
“I’m wearing a sweater. I’ll be warm enough.”
“My mother would call you a true gentleman.”
“Yeah? And what would you call me?”
She eyed him carefully, her gaze touching hair he knew needed a trim, the beard that he hadn’t taken time to shave, the thick sweater his sister Piper had bought at a county craft fair a few months ago and given to him because, she’d said, it matched his eyes. “Trouble.”
Her answer surprised him, and Grayson laughed. The first honest-to-goodness laugh he’d had in weeks. Maybe longer. “I guess you get points for honesty.”
“And I guess you get points for not denying the truth.” Honor took her daughter’s hand. “We’ve got to get back home, Lily Mae, or Candace will have the police out here looking for you.”
“But, what about the dragon? We need to find a prince to slay him before he gets us.”
“There is no dragon, so there’s no way he could get us.”
Really, Grayson should stay out of it. Go back inside the house, close the door and let Honor and her daughter work things out without an audience. Unfortunately, staying out of things wasn’t something Grayson had ever been good at. “Listen, Lily, I don’t have a white horse. I don’t have a horse at all, but if a dragon does show up, I’ll do my best to slay it. I promise.”
Honor stiffened, shooting Grayson a censorious look. “Promises are a dime a dozen, Grayson. As easily broken as they are made. Besides, there are no dragons. And if there were, I would figure out a way to slay them myself.” Obviously, he’d touched on a sore point, but Grayson didn’t plan to apologize.
“I’m sure you would, but a little help wouldn’t be amiss in a situation like that.”
“Besides, Mommy, the princess never slays the dragon. Only a prince can do that.” Lily had broken away from her mother and was spinning around in circles, her tutu as bright as the flowers that had bloomed last spring.
“Who says princesses never slay dragons?” Honor continued walking across the yard, Grayson’s coat falling past her thighs. She looked smaller than he’d remembered. More delicate.
“All the books, Mommy. Every single one.”
“And we know how true those books are, don’t we?” There was amusement in her words and in the fond gaze she settled on her daughter.
“They are true. They really are.”
“Oh, Lily, what am I going to do with you?” Honor spoke so quietly, Grayson almost didn’t hear.
