CHAPTER TWELVE

      FLYNN COULDN’T WAIT for the party to be over. It was a slow, miserable torture watching the Ravensdale siblings with their partners. It was a painful reminder of what he had lost. No one was looking at him with love shining in their eyes. He had no one he could slip his arm around and draw close. No one to exchange a look with that spoke of love, hope, the future.

      He was alone.

      Miranda approached with a plate of nibbles. ‘Shame about Kat not coming.’

      ‘Yeah, well, can’t say I didn’t try.’

      ‘Maybe she just needs more time.’

      ‘How much time?’ Flynn couldn’t keep the frustration out of his tone. ‘When you know, you just know, right?’

      Miranda’s eyes rounded. ‘You asked her to marry you?’

      He swiped a hand down his face as if to swipe away the memory of his failure. How could he have got it so wrong? ‘Maybe I need proposal lessons or something.’

      ‘It’s probably not your proposal that’s the issue,’ Miranda said. ‘It’s your timing.’

      Flynn looked down at her heart-shaped face with those big Bambi eyes brimming with concern. Had he mistimed it? Would he get a different answer if he asked again? ‘Maybe. Maybe not.’ Maybe I’m destined to be alone.

      ‘Dad’s party was always going to be an issue for her,’ Miranda said. ‘She saw it as your mission. She probably couldn’t separate it from her feelings for you.’

      Hope flicked a match inside his chest, the warmth spreading as it took hold. ‘You reckon she has feelings for me?’

      Miranda gave him a ‘get real’ look. ‘You men can be so blind at times. Of course she loves you. All the signs are there.’

      ‘She hasn’t said anything... I mean, she never actually said the words.’

      ‘In the best relationships you don’t need to.’

      As if to confirm it, Leandro looked at Miranda from across the room where he was standing next to Richard. His look said it all: ‘I love you and I can’t wait for this evening to be over so we can be alone’.

      Miranda’s cheeks blushed a dusky rose. ‘I’d better rescue him. That’s the third soliloquy he’s suffered tonight about Dad’s brilliance.’

      Flynn’s chest cramped when he saw Leandro’s arm slip around Miranda’s waist and draw her close. Flynn shifted his gaze and saw Julius and Holly, and his heart squeezed again. Harder. Like a vice squashing an over-ripe peach. One of the waiters passed with a tray of drinks and Holly shook her head, one of her hands going protectively over her abdomen. The look Julius gave her was so proud, so full of love, it made Flynn feel all the more achingly alone.

      Jaz appeared by his side with her usual impishness. ‘Why the long face?’

      He sent her a look that told her to back off. ‘Where’s Jake? Chatting up one of the waitresses?’

      She laughed a tinkling-bell laugh. ‘No, he’s still recovering from meeting me in the cloakroom. Here he comes now.’

      Jake strutted into the room, straightening his tie, his eyes meeting Jaz’s with a satisfied gleam. He pulled Jaz to his side. ‘Find your own girl. This one’s mine.’

      Flynn gave him a rictus smile. A been-dead-for-a-month rictus smile. ‘I’m working on it.’

      Jake swept his gaze around the room. ‘No Kat?’

      ‘Nope.’

      ‘Pity.’

      ‘Yeah.’

      The silence stretched.

      ‘You’re really serious about her.’ Jake didn’t say it as a question, more of a statement. An observation of truth.

      ‘Yes. I am.’

      ‘You going to ask the big question?’

      ‘I already have.’

      Jake’s dark brows shot up. ‘You did?’

      ‘Yep. She said no.’

      Jake’s chin went back against his neck in disgust. ‘You asked her before the party? Are you out of your freaking mind?’

      He was out of his mind. Out of his mind with love. Out of his mind with impatience for this wretched party to be over so he could go to Kat and sort this out. ‘I know, I know, I know. Bad timing.’

      ‘You could skip the speeches and head back to London,’ Jack said.

      ‘I made a promise to your father.’

      ‘Yeah, well, does it look like he’s disappointed his love child didn’t show?’ Jake’s tone was cynicism on steroids. ‘At least Mum’s here.’

      Flynn looked across to where Elisabetta was working the floor like the superstar she was. She was never happier than when she was centre-stage. Even though she’d threatened not to turn up, she couldn’t help herself. Any chance to take the spotlight off Richard and shine it on her instead was too tempting.

      A thought took hold. What if Kat couldn’t stop herself from attending? What if she had changed her mind? What if her desire to meet her half-brothers had overridden her desire to distance herself from her father?

      Flynn swept his gaze over the crowded room. There was no sign of her. But for the last few minutes the back of his neck had prickled, like radar picking up a faint signal.

      But then he heard something... Cricket was barking outside on the terrace with the smokers, where he had ordered him to stay. Barking madly. Joyfully.

      Flynn smiled. He knew what that bark was.

      It was a bark of recognition.

      * * *

      Kat had decided to gatecrash the party but not as herself. She wanted to see her family without them seeing her. She wanted to see Flynn too. To see if he had moved on in the two days since she had rejected his proposal. Would he be flirting with one of the beautiful people at the party? Or would he be feeling like she did? Miserable and empty, as if someone had scraped out her heart and her belly?

      But she hadn’t factored in Cricket.

      Her disguise had fooled the paparazzi hanging around the entrance to Ravensdene. It had fooled the catering staff manager when she’d signed on for duty in the kitchen. She hadn’t tested it on Flynn because she had been assigned the back half of the house for the first half of her shift. But she was no match for Cricket. As soon as she came outside with a tray of drinks for the smokers on the terrace, he recognised her. He danced around her ankles, spinning and leaping and panting in excitement. She put the tray she was carrying on a table and bent down to him. ‘Hush. Don’t blow my cover. I’m not meant to be here.’

      Then why are you?

      Because I might have been a bit hasty in my judgment.

      You’ve blown it. He said he was only going to ask you once.

      I know, but I need to see him. Just the once. Just in case I’ve got it wrong.

      Kat straightened once Cricket had settled down. Well, marginally, that was. He kept following her like a devoted slave, his tongue hanging out, his little beady eyes dancing as if he knew he was in on her secret.

      Kat was about to go back inside when Flynn came out on the terrace. ‘Cricket, leave the waitress alone.’

      The waitress?

      Of