not interested in casual relationships. Do you really think I’d put my daughter through that? Besides, I can do without male company. I can do without … without …’ Her eyes shied away from Fin’s penetrating glance with growing embarrassment. ‘I can do without the physical side of things. First and foremost I’m a mother, Fin. That’s my priority.’
A burst of heat warmed his blood at the sound of his name on her lips. He was getting in deep here and that was the last thing he’d ever planned to do when Nick had approached him about preceding him to the UK. ‘Keep an eye on her for me,’ he’d said, ‘don’t antagonize her. Sweet talk her if you have to. I know your powers of persuasion with women are legendary.’ Fin groaned inwardly at the memory. He liked women. He’d always liked women … even though there’d been no one special in his life since Sam. But he’d never persuaded a woman to do something she didn’t want to do in the whole of his thirty-six years and he wasn’t about to start.
‘You’re a woman too, Brenna,’ he told her now. ‘A very beautiful and very desirable woman, with needs to match.’
‘I don’t need the complications that kind of thing inevitably brings. Nancy is my priority. She didn’t ask to be here. I brought her into the world because I gave into needs I should have controlled. Because I let Nick Balcon flatter me and cajole me, let him make me think I was important to him when all the time … all the time he was just using me. He was a clever, educated man and I fooled myself I was his equal because I had his regard … big mistake.’
Disparagingly discarding her stole, Brenna dropped tiredly down into the armchair. Pressing her fingers into her brow, she glanced up at Fin, unable to disguise the hurt that she knew must show in her eyes.
‘Please don’t think for one second that I’ve ever regretted having Nancy. I’ve loved her from the moment I first set eyes on her. She means everything to me. That’s why I can’t let Nick use his money and influence to get joint custody. Back then, he told me in no uncertain terms that he had no room in his life for children. He had plans, he said. He didn’t want to be encumbered by too much emotional baggage. I felt like he’d ripped out my heart then spat on it when he said that. I hadn’t exactly been thinking wedding bells, but I’d had hopes. What young woman wouldn’t? Anyway, I’m sure you don’t want to hear all this. It’s enough for you to know that I’m hurt and confused about what Nick may have planned. I just don’t understand why he would want to stake a claim on Nancy after all this time, I really don’t.’
Fin knew part of the answer and wished he didn’t. But it wasn’t his place to tell Brenna. That particular ball was definitely in Nick’s court. The fact that Fin was now having second thoughts about the wisdom of his friend’s decision was neither here nor there. He’d wait until Nick arrived tomorrow and then be on his way. Why stay here and probably buy more trouble than he needed? There was no need for him to linger. He had a month’s leave ahead of him and intended to tour around for a while and see some of the famed European sights.
‘Hey. I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry. It’s not too late to go down and get dinner. I had a word with the maître d’ on the way up here. What do you say we call a truce for now and just enjoy a meal together? It can’t hurt, can it?’
‘Okay.’
‘Just okay?’ His lips quirking in amusement, Fin couldn’t contain his surprise. ‘What? No fight?’
Getting to her feet, Brenna shrugged. ‘Shocking, isn’t it? Who would have thought that a girl like me could be so compliant?’
Fin almost strained his stomach muscles with the fierce rush of need that tore through him just then. If only … he thought with an inward groan, his eyes drifting helplessly from the gorgeous raven-haired beauty in front of him towards the door of the bedroom and back again. There were other types of hunger he’d like to feed right now but that could only happen with Brenna’s willing cooperation and it wasn’t something he envisaged happening easily, if at all. Still, he imagined the fantasy would keep him nicely warm all the way through dinner …
‘More wine?’
‘No thanks. I feel light-headed enough as it is.’ Brenna watched Fin replenish his own glass. Truth to tell, she was feeling replete and relaxed after the fabulous meal they’d just eaten, more relaxed than she would ever have dreamt was possible given the gravity of her situation – and that was due to the fact that Fin Malone was a surprisingly entertaining dinner companion. He’d regaled her throughout the meal with both humorous and breathtaking tales of his years as a stuntman and Brenna had been so transfixed by his stories that she’d scarcely spared Nick Balcon a thought.
Leaning back against his seat as he cradled his wineglass between long tanned fingers, Fin gave her a lazy smile. ‘Now it’s your turn,’ he told her.
‘What?’
‘I mean for you to tell me something about yourself. What prompted you to become a dance teacher, for instance?’
‘Love of music and movement. My mum says I was dancing almost before I could walk. It was something that came very naturally to me so when it came to deciding what to do as a career, it seemed the perfect solution.’ Reaching for the water jug, Brenna poured herself a glass. Now that the meal was over and she seemed to have commanded Fin’s full and undivided attention, she was suddenly uneasy.
‘And that’s how you met Nick? When you were teaching?’ he asked.
‘I’m sure he’s filled you in on all the details.’ Her face grew hot at the very idea.
Her defences were up again – the ten-foot-high gates padlocked and the key thrown away.
‘Obviously not in the way that you imply.’ Fin returned his wineglass to its smart coaster, compelling her to meet his enigmatic gaze. ‘He told me you were beautiful, irresistible. He didn’t lie.’
The compliment tingled between them like little sparks of electricity as Brenna struggled hard not to let down her guard. ‘Well, clearly I wasn’t that irresistible or he wouldn’t have left,’ she retorted smartly.
‘Do you really believe he never regretted that?’ Fin questioned her. He’d already privately concluded that perhaps his friend wasn’t as smart as he gave him credit for.
‘I doubt it. Nick always knew what he wanted. He was very definite about going to America and making a name for himself as a director, and who could blame him? He had the talent and the drive. He’s amply proved that, hasn’t he? He’s got a very successful career so what’s to regret? That he left behind a twenty-two-year-old girl he had a meaningless fling with? I don’t think so.’
Lowering her eyes, she reached for her glass of water and took a sip. Please God, don’t let him see that my hands are shaking, she thought as she swallowed. I can’t keep coming undone like this at every single question he asks me.
‘He never told me it was meaningless. Having met you I couldn’t begin to imagine that for even a second. It must have been a real wrench for him to leave you behind – whatever he may have told you at the time.’
‘Well.’ Brenna shrugged, her expression carefully veiled. ‘It’s all water under the bridge, as they say. All that concerns me now is Nancy’s welfare. Why are you smiling?’
‘I’m wondering what that beautiful twenty-two-year-old dance teacher was like back then … wondering what she was like before she became prickly
