Page 17 of Rufus

Her grin was confident. “But you love me anyway.”

“I do,” he confirmed without hesitation.

She sobered. “Go be with Molly, Dad. And if you go later today, and she has Angus with her in her apartment, just act as if that’s normal too, okay?”

“Is that something she would do?”

Mia nodded. “He adores her.”

“She is very adorable,” he allowed.

“Yes, she is.” Mia chuckled. “And if what you say is true, then she might be leaving soon, and then you will have lost your chance.”

Rufus believed telling Molly he’d done as he’d said he would and started the search for her brother might delay that departure for at least a short time.

There was no reason for him to also tell her that so far, Linus hadn’t been able to find a single male in the country born seventeen years ago with the name Ronan Harper. His cousin had now widened his net to identify all the male babies born in the area where Molly and her mother had been living in that particular year, and he was currently tracking where each of them was now.

It was a long and no doubt tedious job, but Rufus had no doubt Linus would eventually track down the whereabouts of Molly’s brother.

In the meantime, as Mia advised, he intended to see Molly again this evening, at least.

“Don’t tell Molly we’re going to ask her to be godmother. We’re going to invite her over after the weekend and do it then.” Mia moved up on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. “Otherwise, go get her!”

Rufus wished he could deny that was exactly what he intended doing. But the past two days of not seeing Molly but wanting her every minute of the day and night told him he was just a man, not a bloody saint. A man who very much wanted to see and kiss Molly again.

Who wanted to do more than kiss her.

* * *

Molly heaved a sigh of relief as she stood in the doorway taking a last look round, keys in hand, as she prepared to lock up after the last of the workers and volunteers at the animal shelter finally left for the day. After which, she fully intended to go up to her apartment to take a shower, and then order some food to be delivered. She was just too tired to even think about cooking dinner tonight.

It was the first of the two open days, and it had been as busy as the ones the previous month. Almost a hundred people had been allowed through the doors to see the pens at the back of the building where the animals for adoption were housed.

It had been a beautiful sunny day, and some of the friendlier dogs had been put out in the open yard for the people and children to pet.

There was also a basket of small kittens for them to ooh and ah over, but not to touch. The kittens were only four weeks old, and it would be at least another six weeks before Mia thought about separating them from their mother.

In all honesty, Molly had been glad of the rush and bustle today. It had kept her physically occupied after Darius had arrived this morning to take Honey home to be reunited with Mia and to meet her new human.

Darius had stayed only long enough to assure her that Mia and the baby were both fine and that Rufus was staying with them while he came to the shelter. Molly had had to bite her tongue to stop herself from asking Darius how Rufus was.

The only contact she’d had with him since the kiss at the maternity hospital had been his phone call the following day to see if she’d needed any help at the shelter. He certainly hadn’t mentioned the kiss then or repeated his invitation for her to go to his home or for him to come to her apartment. Nor did Molly have any intention of reminding him of it.

There was no point, absolutely none, in allowing this attraction between the two of them to progress any further when she knew in her heart that her time here was coming to an end.

That was depressing enough, but inwardly aching to have Rufus’s arms about her again and to feel the press of his lips against hers was a recipe for heartache.

“Did you have a busy day?”

Molly was so startled, she immediately threw the keys in her hand up in the air, fingers fumbling, and failing, as she attempted to catch them on their way down again.

“What the hell…!” She straightened from picking up the keys to turn accusing eyes on Rufus where he stood a few feet behind her.

He wore casual clothes again. A fitted black T-shirt and faded blue jeans that rested low on his hips. Black biker boots added to his bad-boy look.

He grimaced. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“Maybe next time, you could try clearing your throat or giving a cough before speaking,” Molly grumbled.

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