He was a study in masculinity, his shoulders wide and powerful, his stomach flat and muscular.
Telling herself that it was the steam that was turning her cheeks pink, Stella stooped and retrieved his damp clothes. Her legs were wobbly and she was suddenly horribly aware of every female part of her body. ‘I’ll sort these out for you.’ Flustered and cross with herself, she started to retreat, but Daniel reached out and caught her arm.
‘Wait—’
She stopped because she had no choice, but she didn’t look at him. She couldn’t look at him.
His fingers tightened on her arm. ‘It hasn’t gone away, has it?’
She didn’t pretend to misunderstand him. ‘No.’ The only noise in the room was the hiss of the shower. ‘It hasn’t gone away.’
His fingers tightened on her arm. ‘We’re a very bad match.’
‘Terrible.’ Her throat felt dry. ‘The worst.’
‘So if we’re such a bad match, why does this feel so difficult?’
‘I suppose because it is difficult,’ she mumbled. ‘No one ever said that the right decision is always the easy one.’
Whether it was the intimacy of the enclosed space, his halfundressed state or the topic of conversation, Stella didn’t know, but something had shifted between them. They were balancing on the narrow ledge of reason and common sense, with instinct and temptation reaching out to grab them.
And then Posy started coughing again and Daniel released Stella’s arm so that he could rub the child’s back. His hand was gentle and his voice soothing as he murmured soft words of reassurance. Posy’s eyes closed again but her breathing was still noisy.
Stella stood in silence, aware of how close they’d come to doing something that they’d undoubtedly both regret.
It wasn’t possible to be in the same room as him and not want him, she thought desperately, wishing she’d never volunteered to help.
‘She’s hot.’ Making no reference to what had passed between them, Daniel put his hand on the child’s forehead. ‘The problem with being in this hot, steamy room is that I’m raising her temperature. She’s probably had enough of this. I’ll dress her in a T-shirt and nappy and have her on my lap downstairs. Remind me to be more sympathetic next time a mother brings a child with croup into the ED.’
It was as if the moment of intimacy had never happened and Stella knew she should be grateful for that. The last thing either of them needed was a rerun of their old
relationship.
It was a good job they had the children to focus on, Stella thought weakly, leaving the bathroom and closing her eyes for a moment in an attempt to erase the disturbing image of Daniel almost naked. Her body still hummed with awareness and she forced herself to think back to Christmas two years previously, when he’d broken off their engagement. Forced herself to remember the misery.
Did she really want to put herself through that again?
No, she didn’t.
It was hard, yes. Mostly because Daniel Buchannan was more of a man than any man she’d ever met. Not because he was insanely handsome, but because his qualities ran so much deeper than the glossy dark hair and sexy blue eyes.
Gritting her teeth, Stella walked back into the living room and sat down next to Alfie who was glued to one of the Home Alone films.
‘Daniel scratched The Grinch so I can’t watch that.’
‘The rental shop have a machine that can fix that.’ Stella sat down on the sofa next to him. ‘I’ll take it over there tomorrow.’
She was here to help Daniel with the children, she reminded herself. And that was what she was going to do.
Daniel lay sprawled in the chair, watching Posy as she slept in her bed.
In the room along the landing Stella was reading a bedtime story to Alfie. Her voice altered as she spoke the lines of each character and Daniel smiled. That was typical of her, turning a bedtime story into a whole dramatic experience. He could imagine Alfie, too excited by what was coming to let her stop.
It was another half an hour before she appeared in the doorway. ‘Alfie’s light is out. He should be all right now. Two of the kittens are asleep in his bedroom but I’ve decided to overlook that. Are you going to go downstairs?’
Daniel looked at Posy. Her little hand was clutching a teddy bear and her eyes were closed. She looked utterly defenceless. ‘I’ll stay here. In case she needs anything.’
Stella frowned. ‘Daniel, you can’t spend the night in the chair. You’re too tall. You won’t sleep and then you’ll be exhausted tomorrow.’