squared his shoulders. It was a risk he wasn’t prepared to take. No matter how attracted he was to Hannah, she was off limits.
CHAPTER THREE
IT WAS just gone six when Hannah arrived at the nursery to collect Charlie. Simon had insisted that she and Tom should split her evening list, which meant she had managed to get away earlier than expected. Now, as she rang the bell, she found herself wondering why she had been so reluctant to let Tom help her. After all, the world hadn’t come to an end because he had seen some patients for her!
‘Oh, hi, Hannah. Come on in. Charlie’s in the playroom—we can’t get him out of the sand tray. He loves it!’
Lucy Burrows, one of the nursery nurses, laughed as she opened the door. Hannah briskly dismissed the thought that she had overreacted as she followed Lucy inside. The sooner she accepted that Tom was just someone she worked with the better. Now, as she paused in the doorway and watched Charlie giggling happily, she was overwhelmed with relief.
Taking Charlie away from everything he knew had been a gamble. Children thrived on stability and she’d been afraid that the move would unsettle him, but so far everything seemed to be working out surprisingly well. He seemed to have settled into the tiny cottage she had rented down by the harbour and he seemed equally happy here at the nursery. After what they had been through in the past year, it was hard to believe that their lives might be changing for the better. If only Andrew had stuck around, surely he would have realised that having a child with talipes wasn’t the disaster he imagined?
Hannah’s mouth compressed as she went over to her son. The likelihood of her ex altering his views was zero. From the moment they had discovered during her pregnancy that there was a problem with Charlie’s feet, Andrew hadn’t wanted anything to do with him. He had wanted a perfect child and he had made that clear.
‘Hello, darling. Are you having a lovely time?’ Hannah crouched down beside the little boy. With his dark brown curls and deep blue eyes, Charlie looked a lot like Andrew. It had hurt at first to see the resemblance, but she had learned to harden her heart. It took more than shared genes to be a real father.
Charlie gurgled in delight when he saw her. Hannah picked him up, inhaling his lovely warm baby smell. Even though she needed to work to support them, she missed him so much whenever they were apart.
‘He’s been as good as gold,’ Lucy told her. ‘You’d think he’d been coming here for ages, not that it was his first day.’
‘That’s a good boy.’
Hannah gave Charlie a kiss as she hitched him more securely onto her hip. Although the casts on his legs were lightweight ones, they were still cumbersome and made carrying him rather awkward. She collected his bag and took him out to the car. Digging into her pocket, she tried to ease out the keys but, with Charlie straddling her hip, it wasn’t easy. She groaned when she ended up dropping them on the ground.
‘Here, let me get them for you.’
All of a sudden Tom was there and she jumped. He smiled as he picked up the bunch of keys. ‘I’ll get the door for you as well.’
He unlocked the car and opened the rear door, standing back while she strapped Charlie into his seat. She straightened up, forcing herself to smile when he dropped the keys into her hand. Maybe it was the shock of seeing him when she’d least expected it, but her heart was racing again.
‘Thanks. You could do with an extra pair of hands when you have a baby,’ she said, lightly.
‘So I can see.’ He smiled back, his deep blue eyes crinkling attractively at the corners. With his tanned skin and athletic build, not to mention that air of confidence he exuded, he must have women fighting to go out with him, she thought, then wondered why the idea made her feel so dejected.
‘Well, I’d better get off,’ she said, opening the driver’s door before any more foolish thoughts could infiltrate her mind. She didn’t want to go out with him—it was the last thing she wanted! ‘Charlie will want his tea.’
‘Of course.’ He glanced at his watch and grimaced. ‘I’d better get my skates on too. I was supposed to be at the lifeboat station for six and it’s five past already.’
Hannah paused. ‘Are you part of the lifeboat crew?’
‘No. I’d love to be, but the fact that I spend most of my time working abroad means it isn’t possible.’ He shrugged. ‘I’m filling in for Simon tonight. He teaches first aid to the crew. There’s a couple of new guys who’ve just started and they need to complete the course as part of their training.’
‘Oh, I see.’ Hannah hesitated but there was no way she could avoid offering him a lift when she was heading that way. ‘I’m going that way so why don’t you hop in? It’ll save you some time.’
‘Oh, I wouldn’t want to take you out of your way…’
‘You aren’t.’ She summoned a smile when she realised how sharp she’d sounded. However, his reluctance to get into the car had stung. ‘I’m renting a cottage down by the harbour so I’m going that way.’
‘Oh! Right. Then thank you.’
He strode around the car and slid into the passenger seat. Hannah started the engine and pulled out into the traffic. Although the roads were nowhere near as busy as they were in London, she was surprised by the number of vehicles there were about.
‘It’s a lot busier than I expected,’ she observed, easing round a car and caravan combination that was partially blocking the road.
‘We’re coming into the holiday season. By the middle of July, you won’t be able to move in the town centre—it’ll be one big traffic jam.’
‘Really?’ She frowned. ‘I had no idea that Bride’s Bay was so popular with the tourists.’
‘All the towns along this stretch of coast are tourist magnets.’ Tom smiled at her. ‘You’ll learn to live with it, as everyone does. Yes, it does get hectic at times, but the plus side is that the holidaymakers bring a lot of money into the town.’
‘Which can only be a good thing,’ she concluded. ‘Without the extra income then people would need to move away to find work.’
‘Exactly. As it is, most of the folk in Bride’s Bay have lived here all their lives. That’s what makes it so special.’
His tone was warm and she glanced curiously at him. ‘You obviously love the town.’
‘I do. I’ve been coming here since I was a child and I can honestly say that it’s my favourite place to be.’
‘So why didn’t you opt to become Simon’s partner?’ She slowed to let an elderly couple cross the road and glanced at him. ‘I’m sure he would have been delighted.’
‘I like variety, which is why I prefer to take short-term contracts.’
It was a reasonable answer yet Hannah doubted it was the whole truth. If Tom loved the town so much then the logical step would be for him to settle down here. She was about to point that out when a loud bang made her jump.
‘What on earth
