One-Night Baby. Susan Stephens

hesitation Kate removed her jacket, and then, because Santino was right about the heat, she opened a couple of buttons at the neck of her shirt too.

      They were soon seated in the corner with a mound of fresh crusty bread between them and a bowl of fat green olives slicked with oil. Santino had rolled up his sleeves and the sight of his powerful forearms tanned and shaded with black hair just as Kate remembered them was a worrying distraction. She had to get started on her concerns for Caddy right away and find something safer to think about, she decided.

      ‘That all sounds perfectly reasonable,’ Santino agreed after they had discussed everything in detail and agreed safety measures be put in place to prevent anything from upsetting Caddy in the future.

      But when the business discussion was over and Kate ran out of things to say she knew it was dangerous to attempt small talk. Who knew where it might lead?

      ‘We can move on to another place,’ he suggested after one protracted silence.

      Where did he have in mind? There was an air of innocence about him that put Kate immediately on her guard and Santino’s eyes were asking questions she didn’t want to answer.

      Her heart bounced against her chest wall as she considered the possibilities. She should have taken into account the fact that she would be pressed up hard against him in the tiny restaurant. She should have realised they would have to bring their faces very close together in order to hear each other above the noise. ‘I’m happy to stay,’ she said quickly, sitting back. ‘It was a brilliant suggestion. The food is delicious—’

      Santino accepted what she said with a faintly ironic smile.