We arrived back at the house just after two p.m. Joanna was in the utility room, loading up the washing machine.

She took one look at me and Luke and widened her eyes. "Is everything ok?"

Luke chuckled. "Everything is fine. I stopped in town and saw them heading back so gave them a lift. That's all. Nothing to worry about."

I let out a breath I didn't realise I'd been holding. The girls giggled and cooed at their mum, loving her attention as she bent down to fuss them. I mouthed 'thank you' to Luke who gave me a warm smile in return.

"Ah, Cat. I've been waiting for you."

I turned around to see Dad stood in the kitchen, smiling like a goofball. "What have I done now?"

"I just had a call from our lovely friend, Mr Davenport. He says you've accepted his proposal."

My heart skipped a beat. "Of dating, Dad. Nothing more."

He grinned. "I wasn't implying anything more."

I raised an eyebrow and tilted my head to one side, giving him my look of 'really?'

"Obviously I am delighted that my daughter is now courting the town's most eligible bachelor, but I do need to put a slight dampener on things I'm afraid."

I glanced at Luke. He'd leaned back against the dishwasher, his huge arms folded across his chest and his thick legs crossed at the ankles. However, despite his initial relaxed look, his entire body was rigid and tense. A muscle twitched in his neck every few seconds. He didn't return my wish of eye contact, keeping his eyes pinned on my dad.

"Go on," I said to Dad, my pulse racing at what he could possibly say.

"You may think I'm being an old fart saying this, and I know it's going back on what I said when you first moved in, but I'm afraid I'm going to have put a curfew on you after all."

I calmed down instantly. "Is that it?"

"Yes," he said, frowning. "It seems Marcus' car is rather...loud. I'm sure he drives it as quietly as possible when it's late at night, but it's woken up several of the guests, and myself, a couple of times now. I know the whole point of your room was to give you some freedom, I'm sorry, pumpkin."

I held my hands up. "It's perfectly fine, I completely understand. I'm sure Marcus will oblige to have Cinderella home before midnight."

Dad pulled his lips into a grimace. "Actually, I was thinking more like ten or ten thirty."

I smiled. "It was an expression, Dad. Not a statement of the time. Whatever time you say, I'll abide to."

He fell silent for a couple of seconds then said, "Can we agree on ten p.m. to seven a.m.? Is that reasonable enough?"

"Dad, this is your livelihood, your business, your home. There is no negotiating. Just tell me the rules and I'll stick to them."

A cheesy grin unfolded across his face. "If only you'd been so happy to please in your younger years."

I rolled my eyes and laughed. "Really, Dad?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Just saying. I know ten p.m. seems early for someone your age but most of the guests are not of your generation."

"You don't have to explain yourself to me. It's fine. Just to be clear, is that strictly for Marcus' car or a blanket rule?"

"What do you mean?"

"What if he dropped me off down the road and I walked back so his car didn't come near the house?"

"Ah, yes. The corridor still has the old access doorway in it. A couple of the first-floor guests claimed they heard you closing the door and it rattled the old door in the kitchen."

"I can remove it," Luke said. "It'll be a few days' work bricking up the doorway but it's not a problem."

Dad shook his head. "Thank you, Luke, but no. I want to keep the original entrance in case we ever need to use it. Once Cat locks the door from the inside, no one can get in, so if something happened to her and we didn't have that old doorway, we wouldn't be able to get in."

"I can rectify that. Don't think there isn't a solution to a problem because I'll always find one."

"It's ok, Luke, really. Thank you but you've already done more than enough."

"It's fine," I said. "I'm happy to abide by Dad's rules. Being home by ten p.m. isn't bad enough to warrant brickwork and whatever alterations you had in mind, but thanks anyway."

"Ok," he said. "No problem. Just remember the offer is there if you change your mind in the future."

"Thanks, Luke," Dad said. He looked at me and smiled. "That was easier than expected, I have to say. What are you wearing this evening?"

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"For your meal with Marcus. He's taking you to Jolene's."

I sucked in a deep breath. This was news to me. "You can't be serious?"

Jolene's was a very expensive suave restaurant at Staithes, about a twenty-minute drive north from Whitby. It sat on top of a cliff top, overlooking the sea. The views whilst eating a five-star meal were infamous.

"I am," he said, grinning. "Your reservation is at eight. I explained about my desire for a curfew and whilst he said he'd try his best to have you home by ten, it may not happen."

I held my breath. He wasn't done. I knew his love for dramatic pauses.

"So we came to an agreement whereby if meeting the curfew isn't possible, he will offer you his guest room for the night."

My jaw dropped. "Are you joking?"

"I most certainly am not," he said, clapping his hands together. "My daughter is not only courting Marcus Davenport but staying overnight." He threw me a cheeky wink and flashed a mischievous grin.

"Dad! No, just no. Any thoughts like that you can get right out of your head."

He pouted. "But I was hoping for grand babies before I—"

"I'm done," I said, putting my hand up and turning around. I marched back outside and yelled over my shoulder, "Not having this conversation."

Shaking my head in disbelief, I shut myself away inside my room. What on earth was wrong with him? Then I remembered the whole debacle I still had to face about the letter and his timeline being a lot nearer than he had told everyone.

A wave of sadness hit me like a brick wall then. He was nothing more than desperate and eager to see me happy and settled before his time came to an end. As much as I really wanted to give him what he desired, I wasn't prepared to potentially ruin my life in pursuit of it.

I flopped face down on my bed and flicked my magic TV into life. Judge Judy appeared on the screen, ranting at some chihuahua dressing pensioner about being petty. I rolled over onto my back and sighed. How had my life become so complicated in just a matter of days?

I sent Marcus a quick text to let him know I was child free.

Marcus: Excellent. May I come over?

Me: Sure

Considering we were apparently going for dinner this evening, I wondered why on earth he wanted to come over now. No sooner than Judge Judy had dismissed the chihuahua pensioner's claim for reimbursement of her trampled flowerbed, Marcus was knocking on my door.

I jumped up and ran to open it, a rush of relief surging through me when I saw his handsome face smiling back at me.

"Hello," he said. "How are you?"

"Good. You?"

"On top of the world."

I stepped aside and motioned for him to come in. He waited for me to close the door then gently took my hand in his. With careful and methodical moves, he entwined our fingers together, lifted my hand to his mouth, and brushed a kiss across the back of it. My heart skipped several beats and warm tingles flooded my insides from head to toe.

"I thought we could chat," he said, walking down the corridor, still holding my hand. "About the finer details of our arrangement before this evening. I would like to avoid an intense conversation over a delicious meal."

That made sense. It would ruin the vibe a little. "Ok. Kind of takes the edge off tonight, I guess. By the way, you know Dad has told me where we're going?"

He grinned. "I suspected he may do, yes."

"I've always wanted to go there. I'm so excited. Is it as posh as everyone says? I need to choose what to wear."

Leading me to the sofa, he said, "You could wear a rubbish bag and still steal the room's attention."

I laughed. "Yes, because I'd be wearing a bin bag."

He chuckled. "You know what I meant."

We sat on the sofa, a little way apart but still joined by one hand. My heart started pounding like crazy. What exactly were we supposed to discuss here? I wished I'd done some research so I could have been prepared.

"You look panicked," he said, stroking his thumb across the back of my hand. "Don't be. There's nothing to be scared of."

"I feel like I need a trip back in time to see how this would normally work because I feel way out of my depth here."

"It's nothing more than stating what we expect from this, that's all. Let me go first. I expect you to have no other romantic interests."

I nodded. "Ok. I expect the same from you."

"Of course. I would like to see you at least every other day, exclusively."

I didn't know how to take that. "That's...intense."

He shrugged his shoulders. "Perhaps. We've seen each other three days in a row and it wasn't too much was it?"

I frowned. "Well, no, but that was different. We were just going with the flow, not scheduling things in advance."

He pulled his lips into a thin line. "Ok, tell me your first thought when I said that."

"Claustrophobic."

"Interesting. May I ask a personal question?"

"Sure."

"Have you had a boyfriend before?"

I felt immediately defensive, like I had to explain myself, but then I remembered he wasn't the enemy here. He was merely trying to understand me. "No."

"I did suspect. Ok. Can we commit to two days a week, exclusively? Is that better for you?"

"When you say exclusively, you mean...?"

"Just me and you. No friends, no family."

"Basically what we've already done."

He nodded.

I sighed. "Ok, I can do two days. That's not so intense. Wednesdays and Saturdays."

"Good. I believe the modern term would be 'date night' or 'nights' on this occasion."

"I know what they are," I said, grinning and thinking of the comedy film 'Date Night'. "Ok, my turn. You need to be accepting of my friendship with Luke."

He stilled. His eyes clouded over with a darkness I'd never seen before; it actually gave me goose bumps. After several seconds, he finally said, "I do not like it. I always keep my partners safe and protected and if you insist on being around him, I cannot do the very thing that feels natural to me."

"He's nothing to be afraid of. I judge people based on how they treat me, Marcus. He's done nothing to me that makes me think anything untoward. In fact, just today when I was out with the girls, something happened and he was at my side in like, three minutes. It was crazy."

His darkness vanished, immediately replaced with concern and worry. He squeezed my hand. "What happened? Are you all ok?"

"Yes, we're fine. I just got a little spooked by some crazy old lady, that's all."

"Why didn't you call me?"

I opened my mouth but couldn't think of the sentence that I wanted to speak. After a few tense seconds I said, "We hadn't spoken or anything for a few days and he was just the first person I thought of."

"Regardless of what our situation is, if you ever need help, I'll be there. Do you understand that?"

The sincerity etched into his eyes pierced my soul. I started to feel guilty I hadn't called him. "Ok, thank you. I understand."

"I mean it," he said. "If you ever feel the slightest bit scared or worried about anything, need help with anything, you call me. It's what I'm here for. It's my job to provide and protect."

"I..." I frowned. I didn't know quite how to take that. "You are aware we don't live in caves anymore, aren't you?"

He smiled. "I understand the whole feminist movement, Caitlyn. But that doesn't mean that some of us men can't still be chivalrous. I have very specific views on how genders should act."

My heart sank. Here it comes. He's going to expect me to wear big poufy dresses, worry over my nails, and dress a toy poodle in matching clothes to mine. "Such as?"

"Men provide and protect for their woman. The woman nurtures the home and the children. Basically, I believe women should be women and men should be men."

I snorted. "So you're expecting my future to be pregnant and barefoot in the kitchen? That's not for me."

He laughed. "No, I'm not that antiquated. What I mean is I don't find masculine women attractive. If you were a...mechanic for instance, that's not very feminine. Or if you were a lorry driver. That's not my idea of a woman's job."

I tried my best not to smirk. "And why can't a woman drive a lorry? It's just a giant car. And why can't we understand a few nuts and bolts that make wheels go round?"

"I'm not trying to stereotype or say women can't do those things at all. What I'm saying is, I personally don't find it attractive in women. What's unattractive to you in men?"

I thought about that for a moment. I hadn't ever really considered such a thing. But then one thing did spring to mind. "Drainpipe jeans. I cannot stand men, boys, whatever, in drainpipe jeans. It's just wrong. I don't want to see skinny legs and knobbly knees, guys should have fitted clothes but not skin-tight, it's just wrong."

Chuckling, he nodded. "I agree. But your dislike for that is no different than my dislike for seeing women covered in grease or trying to be an alpha in a man's world."

"Ok, I understand, I think. When I mentioned to you the other night that I see horses in my future, what's your view on that? I'm pretty sure being covered in hay, straw, and manure isn't feminine."

"Actually, I do think that horses are more of a woman's world than they are a man's. Girls are always dreaming of ponies or asking Father Christmas for one whilst boys are asking for quad bikes and cars."

I pursed my lips. "You're very old fashioned."

"Does it put you off?"

"Not right now, no, but that's not to say that something won't crop up in the future where I find it uncomfortable or strange."

"Then we'll cross that bridge when we come to it." He cleared his throat. "You should know my father is a lot worse than me. I have very modern views compared to him."

Great, I thought to myself. Can't wait to meet him. "That's um...nice."

Marcus tipped his head back and laughed. "He's not scary if that's what you're thinking. He doesn't expect modern women to entertain his outdated views. That's most likely the reason he's never had another partner."

"Oh. Do you mind if I ask what happened to your mum?"

He fell silent, a serious shadow falling over his handsome face. When he looked away from me, I knew it was something bad. "She...disappeared years ago. We've never given up hope of finding her but up until now, we've had no luck whatsoever."

"I'm so sorry," I said, squeezing his hand. "I can't imagine how awful that must be."

"It's easier to live with as time goes by. We have had some information recently though that may lead us to find her. My father is researching it as we speak."

"Oh wow, that's fantastic news. Are you hopeful?"

A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth and he turned back to look at me. "More hopeful than any other lead we've followed."

"I hope it works out. It must be exciting but nerve wracking all at the same time."

He lifted my hand to his lips and planted a firm kiss on the back of it. "You have no idea."

A shot of heat burst inside me and I couldn't help but blush. "I hope it goes without saying that my dad is my priority at the moment. If he's having a bad day and it happens to be one of our date nights, I won't hesitate to cancel."

He nodded. "Of course. Is there anything else we need to discuss?"

"I do have to ask something, and you might not like it."

"Go on. You won't know the answer unless you ask."

I wrung my hands together and asked, "Are you just doing this because you're making some weird male move to make sure Luke knows I'm off limits?"

He chuckled. "I can see why you might think that but no, Caitlyn. Luke doesn't even come into the equation. Unless you're telling me he does?"

I shook my head. "No, of course not. He's nothing more than a friend."

"Good. Ok, I will leave you to enjoy the rest of your afternoon. I'll pick you up at seven fifteen."

I nodded, already planning a power nap before a bath. "Sounds good to me."

We said our goodbyes, with another gentle kiss on the back of my hand. Maybe tonight I might get a proper kiss. I skipped back to my bed and fell asleep to fantasies of Marcus' soft pink lips on mine.