Page 25 of Innocent Salvation

Julianne gaped like a fish and turned suddenly, spinning on the heel of her stupidly high boots as she did.

Sebastian couldn’t help it; he threw his head back and laughed before wrapping his arm around Snow and kissing her head. “Marry me!” The words were said as a joke but as she looked at him with wide eyes for just a split second, he wondered what a life with a woman like her would be like.

“Ha-ha, you couldn’t handle me, buster.”

He released her with a smile and put some space back between them. “I think you might be right.”

Fleur, who’d been oblivious to most of what was said, was getting bored, so they headed to the reptile enclosure where she proceeded to beg him for an alligator as a pet. That had involved tears when he’d said no, and he realised she was probably hangry.

Like him, when his niece got hungry, she became irrational and as she tucked into chicken nuggets and chips and he ravaged a bacon burger, he reflected on how much he was enjoying his day with them and how he wished it wouldn’t end.

“Uncy Seb, are you going to marry Snow?”

His niece looked up at him with innocent eyes and he almost choked on his burger as his eyes flew to Snow who was trying to hide a laugh behind her napkin. Her twinkling eyes telling him he was on his own with this one.

Sebastian chewed his food to buy himself some time and then wiped his mouth before facing his niece who was looking at him too intently. “Well, um, no. Snow is your nanny and my friend.”

Fleur cocked her head to the side. “But you asked her, I heard you.”

Shit, he’d thought he’d got away with that stupid throwaway comment but now it was biting back hard. “Yes, I did say that, but it was more of a joke.”

“Don’t you like Snow, Uncy Seb?”

He could see the sheen of tears in her eyes now and felt himself flailing to make her understand without breaking her little heart. “Of course I like Snow, she’s very nice.”

“And pretty.”

Sebastian nodded, feeling like a bear caught in a trap. “Yes, and pretty.”

“And you kissed her head like you do me, which must mean you love her too.”

A strangled sound came from Snow, and he glanced across to see her almost crying with laughter at his predicament. He scowled at her, and she laughed harder, and he wondered why, when grown men were terrified of that look, she had no fear in her whatsoever. Maybe it was because she knew he’d never lay a finger on her in anger.

“It’s different, Fleur.”

“Why?”

God, why did his niece have to be so damn smart?

“Your Uncle Seb and I are friends and sometimes friends joke and show affection. It doesn’t mean he wants to marry me or that he loves me the same way he would a wife or girlfriend.”

“But he asked you.”

“Yes, he made a bad joke, which I’m pretty sure he’s regretting right about now.” Snow took Fleur’s hand in hers and traced a pattern over her palm making her laugh, the threatening tears forgotten. “It was just his way of saying thank you for getting him out of a tough situation.”

“You mean making the bad lady leave?”

“Yes, I helped make the bad lady leave and he was glad, so he made a bad joke.”

“Adults are funny.”

Snow laughed and hugged Fleur. “Yes, we are.”

“Will I be funny one day too?”

“No, you’ll always be perfect, my little angel.”

As Sebastian watched the two together, relieved that once again she’d hauled his arse out of the fire. He wished she wasn’t his nanny and he was the marrying kind because a lifetime with Snow in his bed and by his side sounded like something he wanted.