Page 26 of The Caress

Bless her heart. How many times has she heard us arguing? How much does she know, in spite of our best efforts to keep all of the conflict and drama as far away from her as possible?

"No," I say, forcing a smile. "Nothing like that, sweetheart. Your dad and I are getting along great. Really, we are."

At least I’m not lying. Not this time. While it might be a little bit of a stretch to say we’re getting alonggreat, things have been mostly calm and peaceful between Keir and me while we’ve been in Malta.

If it weren’t for his mom and the paparazzi and the psycho security guard, who almost certainly tried to kill us, things really would be pretty great all around.

"Okay, so what is it?" she inquires, approaching me with a mixture of curiosity and concern on her face. "You’re acting funny."

"How am I acting funny?" I keep smiling, avoiding her question with another question as I reach down and give her a hug. "I was just coming in to check on you. Nothing funny about that, is there?"

"But you didn’t knock. You always knock before you come in here."

Damn.

Forget being smarter than I was as a child. This kid is smarter than I am right now.

"I wasn’t thinking," I say, which is also completely true. "I just wanted to check on you and see what you were up to. Are you hungry? Because I’m starving. Should I have some food brought up here for us?"

Oh God. Now I’m rambling. I really am terrible at lying and pretending nothing is wrong when it feels like my whole world is falling apart.

Or maybe Isla just knows me too well after all this time. Maybe it’s because kids only deal with emotions, not logic. She can see right through my babbling and my diversions. But I have to keep this charade going for a little while longer, at least until Keir comes back inside. I’ll leave it up to him to reassure meandIsla that everything is going to be okay.

A knock on the door behind me makes me jump nearly a foot into the air as a startled squeak escapes the back of my throat. "Who is it?" I demand, scooping Isla up into my arms and moving away from the door as fast as I can.

"It’s me," Keir’s voice is deep and calm as he opens the door and peeks inside. "Everyone good in here?"

I nod, exhaling as I set Isla back down on her feet. "Why is everyone acting so funny?" She looks from Keir to me and back again. "Tell me!"

If this were any other situation, I’d probably be laughing at her impatience right now. She definitely inherited her father’s temper and his imperious attitude, traits that will no doubt serve her well in the cutthroat world she’s been born into.

"We aren’t acting funny," Keir says, offering the same denial I gave just a few moments ago. "But I do have some exciting news for both of you."

His tone is excited and animated and obviously forced, but it’s enough to distract Isla. She might be smart, but she’s still a kid. "What exciting news?" she asks, bouncing over to him. "Are we getting a puppy?"

I can’t hold in my laughter this time. The sheer look of horror that crosses Keir’s face at the thought of a puppy running around the house is comedy gold.

"Not a puppy," he says quickly, shaking his head. "But still something fun. I think we’ve spent enough time at the ocean, so we’re going to the mountains!"

The room is silent after his too-loud, too-enthusiastic statement. I can tell from the scrunched up look on her face that going to the mountains wasn’t on Isla’s short list of things to do.

"Skiing?" Keir adds, tossing me a pleading look. "And there’s a spa…"

I kneel down next to Isla and smile. "We can build a snowman and have hot cocoa by the fire. That’ll be fun, right?" I have to admit that I’m warming up to the idea as I continue. "And we’ll have snowball fights and make snow angels, too."

"Snowball fights! Snowmen!" Isla cheers. "Yeah! Let’s go!"

"Thank you," Keir mouths silently as I stand up and walk over to him. "You saved my butt on that one."

"Glad I could help." I nod toward the door. "What about the situation downstairs?"

"Everything is fine for now. I’ll tell you more later." He leans in closer and drops his voice even lower. "Right now, I need you to help Isla pack her things. then get your stuff packed as well. We’re leaving for Switzerland as soon as the police get here."

That’s all the information I need.

I trust Keir, and I know he’s going to take care of us, but I’ll feel a lot safer once we’re on the plane and heading as far away from this little island as possible.

I’m reluctant to step off the plane when we touch down in Gstaad, Switzerland, but my hesitation has nothing to do with the freezing cold weather or the strong winter storm heading straight for the resort where we’ll be staying.

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