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pleasure as Faye strolled around the piano, admiring its flawless glossy surface from all sides.
    “It’s stunning,” she said. “I assume you play?”
    “Now and then. I might have gone farther with it, had I practiced enough as a child. You?”
    “I took lessons when I was a kid. But I didn’t practice much at all, so that was that. Now I kind of regret not taking it more seriously.” Faye reached out to touch the keys, then drew her hand back, afraid to leave finger marks on the pristine surface. Hannah would make short work of this, she thought with amusement. “Is this what you wanted to show me?” she asked Simon, pleased to have seen the exquisite piano but a little puzzled.
    “Not exactly. It’s this.” Turning, he gestured toward the empty space behind them, bright with sunlight that slanted through the window.
    “It’s a gorgeous view.” Faye stepped closer, taking in the panorama of pebbled beach and calm ocean water that glimmered in the late-afternoon light. Across the strait, Thormanby Island jutted up against the horizon, overlaid in soft shades of indigo.
    “It is, but what I wanted to show you was this space,” Simon told her. “I’d like to offer it to you as a workspace, if you’d like to use it while you’re here. Not necessarily this weekend, but anytime you need a place to draw or paint. I can bring in a table or an easel, or whatever you need. I mean, if you’re going to bring Hannah again, and I hope it will be often, you can bring your work with you if you need to.”
    She turned to him, observing his expectant expression. “Thank you. That’s very kind.” She hadn’t thought that far ahead, but of course he had, and the fact that he’d taken her needs into consideration stirred her heart.
    Favouring her with an easy smile, Simon held her gaze, the intensity in his steady blue eyes sending a warm shiver through her. Sucking her lower lip between her teeth, she held onto her breath, savouring the thrum of awareness that shimmied down her backbone.
    “We should relieve my mother of babysitting duty,” he said, breaking the spell. “Or we may have to pry her away. She’s offered to make a traditional English roast-beef dinner.”
    Faye nodded, offering a tremulous smile. “I can’t wait.”
     
    * * *
     
    The slow, deep rhythm of Hannah’s breathing told Faye the little girl was sleeping. Finally . Rising from the bed, Faye yawned and stretched her arms. Her normal routine was to read Hannah a story, tuck her in bed with a song and then leave her to fall asleep on her own, but in this unfamiliar house the toddler had had no intention of falling asleep without company.
    Knowing that Hannah missed her mother, Faye had to admit that being here provided a welcome diversion from the void of Jenna’s absence at home. Approaching the crib with careful steps, she gazed down at the tiny form lying motionless there, curled up on her stomach with her limbs tucked under her, the blanket askew. Faye gently slid the blanket over Hannah’s back, and then lightly stroked her mass of dark hair, her heart swelling with affection for the tiny, vulnerable person left in her care. Faye loved Hannah as she would a child of her own, and she fervently hoped that bringing her here had been the right thing to do; it certainly felt right every time she saw Simon and Hannah together, getting to know each other and growing comfortable as father and daughter.
    The trouble was, Faye was beginning to have difficulty distinguishing what felt right for Hannah from what was pleasing for herself.
    She’d simply have to keep her focus on Hannah’s needs and block out those unbidden emotions and sweet desires that seemed to tumble through her whenever Simon Blake came near.
    Creeping silently past the crib, Faye eased the door open and slipped out into the hallway, blinking against the light. Though it was only eight-thirty, the roast beef and Yorkshire pudding she’d consumed, along with two glasses