'You chose to go,' Ethan reminded her stiffly. 'And Hannah knows perfectly well she can do anything she wants to the house.'
From the expression on her face I'd say she might have felt more comfortable if you had told her that, Ethan.'
Hannah didn't have time to alter her expression before Ethan switched his attention to her. She breathed a sigh of relief when Emma's voice diverted him.
'Will you take me to Louise's party today, Daddy?'
"That might be managed.'
'Louise has a nice house,' she mused, playing with a plastic cartoon figure she'd extracted messily from the bottom of a cereal packet. 'It's not as big as ours. Is that why her mummy and daddy sleep in the same bed?'
"The stunned silence seemed to go on for ever.
Every one's a gem! Hannah swallowed a bubble of pure hysteria. She couldn't look at anyone, least of all Ethan. I’ll just go and bath Tom,' she babbled, unstrapping the toddler from his high chair.
As she whisked him out of the room she heard Faith say with great panache, 'I'm sure Louise's daddy doesn't snore like yours does, Emma. Tell me, are grannies invited to this party of yours?'
Today, for the first time, Emma's words hadn't been strictly true. The timing was ironic—the very morning after the night before! If only the childish curiosity had voiced itself when they'd been alone, or at least not in front of what had felt like half the county. Drew already thought they had a very weird relationship. Hannah gave a sudden laugh—they did have a very weird relationship!
Hannah sighed and trailed her fingers in the bubbly water of Tom's bath and smiled at his grave expression as he experimented with eating the bubbles.
'I could always have asked you to be my witness, couldn't I, champ?' she said, rubbing a sponge down Tom's back. After all, Tom had been in a perfect position to verify her sleeping arrangements when he'd slipped between their sleeping bodies that morning. He'd been surprised, but not displeased to find his father occupying the bed.
Ethan had glanced at the clock and groaned as he'd awoken with a toddler on his chest. 'Does he do this often?' he enquired, having coaxed his son under the blankets.
'Most mornings.'
'Good God!' Tom, unable to stay still for more than thirty seconds, bouncing on the bottom of the bed. 'We'll have to do something about this young man's body clock. This wasn't the way I'd intended starting the day.'
The quick glance from his eyes didn't speak of two-mile runs or aerobics. It spoke of things much more intimate and leisurely. Her skin began to tingle as heat surged through her body. For once they seemed to be on the same wavelength. Since she'd woken an hour or so earlier her imagination had been running rampant.
Even with her eyes tightly closed she'd been able to feel the heat from his body, even though he'd shifted to the opposite side of the bed. The muscles of her belly had gone into spasm as she'd breathed in the musky, masculine scent of his skin.
As she'd stretched she was reminded of the previous night. Her body ached from the vigour of his possession. A possession that she could only view with a slightly detached sense of wonder this morning.'
'I should get up and warn Mrs Turner we have guests.'
'How could I forget?' he remarked drily. He didn't turn away as she clumsily struggled to cover her nudity with a thick, shapeless robe.
Hannah was relieved when he didn't comment on her self-consciousness. 'You must be pleased to see your mother.' Didn't he realise how lucky he was to have one? She was constantly amazed at how people took their families for granted.
'Do I detect a hint of disapproval?'
'Well, you weren't very welcoming to her.'
'I didn't feel very welcoming, and under the circumstances I think I was a paragon of restraint. Marriage!' he snorted. 'She must be insane.'
'She didn't want you to marry me either,' she reminded him. 'I overheard something she said,' she added as his brows shot up in surprise.
'But I did, didn't I?' he said softly, an indecipherable expression flickering briefly into his eyes. 'Don't worry, my mother isn't going to lose any sleep over my disapproval—any more than I do over hers, Hannah. She makes her own rules up and changes them when they don't suit her any more,' he said with disgruntled disapproval.
Hannah couldn't help smiling.
'What are you thinking about when you smile so secretively?' he asked, lifting an arm over his head and rubbing his tousled hair. He hardly looked like the same person as the sleekly suited sophisticated animal who left the house every morning. She loved him so much she wanted to yell it out loud; being a cautious girl, she didn't.
'You don't want to know.'
'Try me.'
Oh, I'd like to, she thought, watching the muscles of his shoulders tighten and relax as he moved his head to a more comfortable position. Rather boldly, she let her eyes drop lower to where the sheet skimmed his narrow hips. She was mildly shocked, and much more than mildly aroused by the direction of her thoughts!