other night.
Real caring.
Love.
Yes. Alex took a long, deliberate inward breath and let it out very slowly. It might take time to get used to feeling this way but new determination was being born. Determination to continue this journey with Susie Jackson and to see where it might lead them all.
It wasn’t because of the way Susie felt about his daughter. That had simply opened a door he had considered locked. Made it a possibility that he could trust again. Allowed him the undeniable thrill at the prospect of more of what he had shared with Susie last night.
He wanted her.
He wanted her more than he had ever wanted any woman and allowing himself to consider the possibility that it could work was fuelling a spark of passion that felt as if it could become…huge.
Big enough to last a lifetime?
He would be stupid not to make sure he found the answer to that question.
Susie had been for a swim. A gloriously refreshing, cooling swim out beyond the breakers. The stresses of the day were pushed to one side for the moment and now, blissfully, she lay on her towel, letting the warmth of the afternoon sun dry her body. So relaxed she was half-asleep.
When she saw Alex approaching, the image misted by the lashes of her almost closed eyes, Susie thought she was slipping into that delicious, pre-sleep state where you could trick your mind into making fantasy seem real. Then desire kicked in and she pushed herself up onto her elbows. Her body knew this was no fantasy. Alex was walking towards her.
Smiling.
With an expression that made her feel as though she was the only person he was interested in.
As though the only thing on his mind was taking her into his arms and kissing her senseless.
Susie twisted into a sitting position, reaching for her T-shirt with the intention of shaking out the sand and putting it on, despite the fact her bikini was still wet. Funny how she felt so exposed when Alex had seen far more of her body last night.
Seen it. Touched it. Tasted it.
Oh, Lord! The T-shirt was caught under Stella’s crutches and Susie’s tug made them rattle. Glancing up, she found the sound had diverted Alex’s attention.
‘Where’s Stella?’
‘Walking.’
‘On sand? Without her crutches?’
‘She’s got some help.’ The T-shirt was forgotten as Susie pointed down the beach to where Stella was walking, slowly, on the damp sand left by the receding tide.
‘It’s that boy again.’ Alex’s stare was intent. ‘Theos! They’re holding hands!’
‘To help her keep her balance,’ Susie said serenely. ‘That’s all.’
Alex made a growling sound and Susie’s lips twitched. ‘It’s OK,’ she said. ‘They like each other, Alex. Stella’s going to do more to impress Jamie than she would for me. Or even you, I suspect.’
‘She’s far too young for that sort of carry-on.’
‘She’s nearly fourteen. How old were you when you thought you were in love for the first time?’
‘Oh, God!’ Alex groaned, folding his long frame to sit on the edge of Susie’s towel. ‘I was fourteen.’
‘There you go, then.’ Susie wrapped her arms around her legs and grinned at Alex. ‘Runs in the family. Memorable, isn’t it, that first love?’
‘Yes.’
‘You wouldn’t have been too impressed if your father had told you you weren’t old enough. Or, worse, forbidden it.’
‘He tried to.’
‘And what happened?’
Alex shook his head but he was smiling. ‘I married her a few years later. When I was eighteen.’
‘Oh…’ The answer had been unexpected. It was hardly the adolescence of someone who had all the hallmarks of being a skilled player. ‘Was that…Stella’s mother?’
‘Yes. Helena. The girl next door. Or from the next village, anyway.’ Alex was still staring at the slowly receding figures of the teenagers. ‘Where does that boy live?’
‘I don’t know.’ Not that it would make much difference these days, anyway, with the way mobile phones and the Internet made it so easy to stay in touch. ‘But right now he’s here and Stella thinks he’s wonderful and…life has suddenly become rather different for her. Better.’
‘Yes…’ The words were almost a sigh. ‘For me, too.’
And me, Susie thought. Big time. She couldn’t say it out loud, though, could she? She barely knew Alex. If she confessed she thought she was in love with him, she probably wouldn’t see him for dust.
On top of that, she needed a little time to get her head around the fact that he’d married his childhood sweetheart. To push aside the ridiculous jealousy she felt towards someone who had captured his heart so completely.
Stella had told her she couldn’t remember her mother, who had died when she’d been a baby, but Alex obviously remembered. Was some of the poignancy she could hear in his voice now because Stella was maturing virtually before his eyes? Did she look like her mother had at the same age? When Alex had fallen in love with her? Was he thinking about finding—and losing—the love of his life?
Changing the subject seemed like a very good idea.
‘How’s Danny?’
‘Still very drowsy, but that’s hardly unexpected.’ Alex clearly had the ability to put aside anything personal and focus immediately on a professional matter. ‘He’s post-ictal after the seizure and he’s had a sedative. I’ll go and check him in an hour or so and will try a more comprehensive neurological examination then.’
‘Has he got flu?’
‘Seems likely. He’s running a temperature of just over forty degrees centigrade, which is quite high enough to explain a febrile seizure.’ Alex paused, and then continued as though thinking out loud. ‘I’m not that happy about him.’
‘How come?’
‘It’s very rare for a six-year-old to have a febrile seizure and there are other, worrying possibilities.’
‘Like his history of cancer? Could he have secondary involvement of his brain?’
‘It’s possible. Meningitis or encephalitis is also on the list. I don’t want to do a lumbar puncture on him until I’m satisfied his ICP isn’t raised.’
‘ICP?’
‘Intracranial
