Aerin was conscious of the heat pooling in her cheeks, which did not bode well for the weekend charade. Or global warming. She would have to get used to people calling Drake her beau or boyfriend or...or lover. Gulp.
Mutley sniffed Drake’s leather shoes and looked up at him and gave a croaky bark, his tail wagging. At first, Aerin thought Drake was going to ignore the dog but after a moment, he bent down and gave Mutley a gentle scratch behind the ears. Something passed over Drake’s features—a flattening of his mouth, a tightening of his jaw, a rapid blink of his eyes. Then he straightened and glanced at her. ‘There’s no rush if you want to chat to Mr McPhee. I’ll take your luggage down to the car.’
‘Och, no, I’m going home anyway for it’s time for this wee chap’s supper,’ Mr McPhee said, whistling to Mutley to follow him. ‘Have a grand time, you two. I wish I was your age again. It’s times like these I miss my Maisie. But we had sixty-one years together, so I should be grateful, eh?’
‘That’s a lovely attitude to have, Mr McPhee,’ Aerin said. ‘But it must still be terribly hard for you.’
‘Aye, lass, it is, but that’s what you sign up for when you love someone. If you’re lucky you grow old together but then one day they’re no longer with you and all you have are the memories.’
‘It was nice to meet you, Mr McPhee,’ Drake said, and extended his hand again.
The old man shook it warmly. ‘Take good care of her, eh? She’s one in a million.’
‘I will.’
A short time later, Aerin was sitting in Drake’s showroom-perfect sports car, her luggage stowed in the boot along with his.
‘Mr McPhee is rather a sweetheart,’ she said to fill the silence. ‘I hope it didn’t embarrass you when he mistook you for my...erm...’
Drake sent her a sideways glance, his dark eyes glinting. ‘Lover?’
Another wave of heat flooded her cheeks. ‘I actually told him you were my lift to the airport, but he jumped to conclusions.’
‘Why haven’t you dated anyone?’
Aerin looked at her hands rather than meet his gaze. ‘I don’t want to make a mistake. Choosing your life partner is such an important decision. Your entire life can be shifted way off course if you get it wrong. I want to get it right the first time. I don’t want to have a trail of broken relationships behind me. I’ve had good role-modelling from my parents and grandparents of how a well-functioning relationship works, so I don’t want to waste time on dating men who don’t come close to my dream partner, my perfect soulmate.’
Drake started the engine with a throaty rumble and put the car in gear. ‘Is there such a thing?’ he asked with a note of cynicism in his tone.
‘A perfect soulmate? Of course there is. Look at my parents. They’re still madly in love all these years down the track. And then there’s Tom. He and Saskia are so perfect for each other in every way.’
A frown brought his dark brows closer together. ‘You think so?’
Aerin glanced at him with a frown. ‘Of course I do. I know things are a little tough on them now after Saskia’s last miscarriage but Tom adores her and she adores him.’
He didn’t respond other than give a non-committal grunt.
There was a lengthy silence broken only by the swish of the tyres on the wet roads on the way to the airport.
‘Drake? There’s something we need to discuss before we get to the reunion.’ Aerin took a deep breath and continued, ‘If we’re going to convince everyone we’re a couple, we have to act like we’re in love.’
‘How do you know a couple is in love? What signs do you look for?’
Aerin immediately pictured Ruby and Lucas and Harper and Jack in her mind. ‘Well, they usually touch each other a lot, hold hands or have their arms around each other.’
‘So, you’d be okay with me doing that with you?’
‘I guess...’ Aerin shivered at the thought of his muscled arms around her. He had a tall and rangy build with muscles taut and toned by endurance exercise. What would it feel like to have those arms gather her close? To have her chest pressed against the rock wall of his? To be so physically close she would feel the hard contours of his body against her softer ones? She had never been that close to a man.
‘What about kissing?’
Her heart skipped a beat. ‘What about it?’
‘Is that something you’d expect an in-love couple to do?’
Aerin licked her suddenly dry lips. ‘Yes, but not all couples are comfortable with public displays of affection.’
‘So, no passionate kissing in public, then.’