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not an unreasonable person.”
    Simon stared at the wine in his glass, considering her words. “I don’t mean to be insensitive to what’s happened to her. I do wish Jenna a speedy recovery. But I imagine she’ll need someone to look after Hannah for some time yet, and I assume you’ll be the one continuing to care for her.”
    “Definitely. I’ve always assured Jenna that if anything should happen to her, I’d raise Hannah myself. I intend to keep to that promise.” Faye spoke with a firm tone, her chin raised resolutely. If he was leading up to the suggestion of taking custody of Hannah himself if Jenna proved unable to care for her, he’d have a fight on his hands. But surely it wouldn’t come to that.
    “It’s incredibly selfless of you, Faye, to help your friend raise her child like this,” he remarked. “Not only since the accident, but all along. Surely you’d like to settle down with someone, marry and start your own family.”
    “No prospects of that at the moment.” Faye hadn’t been in a serious relationship since before Hannah was born, and since then had been too busy to date much at all. “But if I do meet someone special, he’ll just have to deal with the fact that I’ve made a commitment to Hannah. Who knows, maybe Jenna will meet someone and get married herself. But I plan to be there for both of them as long as they need me.”
    “Even if you have children of your own?” Simon wondered.
    “Oh, I don’t plan on having kids.”
    His brows lifted abruptly. “You don’t?”
    “Why does that shock you? Does every woman necessarily have a burning desire to reproduce?” she asked tartly, resenting his apparent assumption that a thirty-two-year-old single woman must hear her biological clock as a deafening roar in her ears.
    “No, of course not. But you’re so devoted to Hannah. I assumed you had a maternal inclination.”
    “I do love kids,” Faye clarified. “That’s why I can’t stand the thought of putting them through what I went through growing up.”
    Simon eyed her curiously. “What’s that?”
    She paused, recognizing that the wine had loosened her tongue, chasing away her customary prudence with her words. “You don’t want to hear my sob story, do you?”
    “I’m interested, if you’d like to tell me.” He leaned closer, resting his elbow on the back of the sofa. The depths of his eyes shimmered with reflected firelight, warm and compelling as he held her gaze.
    Faye drew a deep breath before speaking. “My parents divorced when I was six. It was a very messy divorce, and I spend the rest of my childhood in the middle of a bitter custody battle. It was a nightmare I wouldn’t wish on anyone.”
    Sipping his wine, he studied her over the rim of his glass. “Couldn’t they work out an arrangement?”
    Faye’s shoulders lifted and fell listlessly. “My dad had an affair. Mom just couldn’t forgive him, and she wanted to keep punishing him. Never mind that it was me who ended up suffering.” She turned to face Simon, her words carefully measured. “Promise me you won’t do that to Hannah, no matter how angry or hurt you may be. Don’t make her suffer for Jenna’s mistake.”
    As she finished speaking she felt his hand curl over hers, gently enfolding her fingers in the warmth of his grasp. Surprised, she let her gaze drop, and then flicker back up to meet his, her eyes silently questioning.
    “All I want is to share custody,” he assured her. “I won’t ever try to take Hannah away from her mother. Or you. I do promise you that.”
    “It’s going to be tough. You live a good distance away,” she said slowly, struggling to maintain her focus. She felt too warm, as though his touch had heated her blood, sending a surge of liquid fire through her veins.
    “I’ll move to Vancouver if it makes things easier,” he offered casually.
    Faye stared at him in surprise. “You’d do that?”
    “Of course. I love this place, and I’d love Hannah to enjoy