All She Wants For Christmas. Annie Claydon

son was so like his father, blond and blue eyed, but so unlike him as well. Jack was lively and open, his thoughts and feelings easy to read. ‘Not much of a secret around here, Jack. Everyone knows how to sign.’

      ‘Yes, but my dad doesn’t.’ Jack flashed Matt a look of reproach.

      ‘Well, perhaps you’ll teach me, then.’ Matt rumpled his son’s hair, his easy warmth surfacing again.

      ‘Beth could teach you.’ Jack stretched up towards his father confidingly. ‘Beth’s got a bionic ear.’

      Jack looked at her for approval and Beth grinned. One of the things she liked about children was their ability to refer to her cochlear implant as if it was something to be proud of.

      ‘It’s pretty neat, isn’t it?’ Matt sounded as impressed as Jack had been. ‘All the same, I want you to teach me what you’ve learned today.’ His jaw tightened and Beth wondered again whether he had heard any of her conversation with Jack.

      Jack heaved a theatrical sigh and waited at Matt’s side while Beth pulled her coat on and dumped the display boards outside the door, fishing in her handbag for her keys. Before she’d even slid the key into the lock, Matt had picked up the boards, tucking them under his arm along with his heavy-looking case. ‘Let me carry these to your car.’

      ‘No, that’s okay. My car’s in the garage, so I’m on the bus.’ The way he’d picked her things up, without asking, had put her on edge. If she had needed any help she would have said so.

      ‘In that case, let me give you a lift home. Where do you live?’

      He gave her a ‘don’t argue’ look and Beth wondered how many people in Matt’s life contested his decisions. Probably not that many. ‘Easington. The bus goes from the hospital grounds practically to my door.’

      ‘And we go past Easington and can drop you off right at your door. Jack, pick Beth’s gloves up and bring them along.’ Beth looked down to where her gloves lay on the floor, realising that she must have dropped them out of her coat pocket. Before she could retrieve them, Jack had pounced on them and was rolling them up in the end of his father’s dark blue scarf.

      She might have had few scruples about arguing with Matt, however lofty his position, but Jack was a different matter. From the smug look on Matt’s face he had obviously been banking on that very fact and was pleased to have been proved right. Beth swallowed her reservations, locked the doors of the hearing therapy unit and followed the two of them to the staff car park.

      It was already dark and sleet was bouncing off the windscreen of the car. Out of the shelter of the city, the roads were thick with ice and Beth began to be thankful that she wasn’t waiting at a windy bus stop or sitting on a bus as it wound its way around all the neighbouring villages before finally reaching her own.

      She’d be home soon. Safe and sound in the protective cocoon she’d made for herself after Pete had left. And Matt Sutherland would be driving away, taking his disturbing smile with him, along with all the reactions it provoked in her.

      Without thinking, she brushed his arm to get his attention. The gesture, so automatic among the deaf, seemed suddenly too intimate and she snatched her hand away. ‘Turn left here. There’s a row of cottages a little way down. Mine’s the one at the far end.’

      She was scrabbling for the doorhandle almost as soon as he drew up. He turned the engine off with a decisive motion and went to get out of the car. ‘Stay put, Jack, I’ve just got to talk to Beth for a moment.’

      What now? She shivered impatiently in the cold night air as Matt retrieved her display boards from the boot, propping them up against the wheel arch instead of giving them straight to her.

      ‘Jack doesn’t talk much about his mother,’ he started stiffly. ‘I heard you talking with him and wanted to thank you.’

      So he had heard. Beth licked her lips nervously. ‘I didn’t mean to pry into your business.’

      ‘You didn’t. Jack has every right to say whatever he likes to whoever he likes, he doesn’t need my permission. He doesn’t do it enough.’

      ‘I’m glad he felt he could talk about her today, then. I really did enjoy spending the afternoon with him, he’s a great kid.’

      He nodded. ‘I … I hope we’ll see you again. It would be nice if you could join us for lunch some time. As a thank you. You’ve given him a way to express his feelings, and I’m truly grateful for that.’ She was pretty sure he had that engaging smile on his face again. Out here in the darkness it was difficult to tell.

      ‘Sometimes things that can’t be said one way can be said in another.’ Beth ignored Matt’s invitation and concentrated on Jack. ‘I’ve got some wall charts that show the finger-spelling alphabet and some simple signs. If he’d like one, I can drop it in to Phyllis next week some time.’ That seemed safe enough.

      His voice warmed with enthusiasm. ‘Thank you, I’d really appreciate that. It won’t do him any harm to learn another language and …’ He was suddenly lost for words.

      ‘I know. Anything that gives him a voice. I understand, I used to do the same thing myself when I was little. All my secrets were signed.’ Apart from the one she’d told Jack. Beth flushed. If he’d heard that then no wonder he hadn’t taken her refusal of his offer of a lift too seriously.

      He grinned and then the smile slid from his face. He was looking intently over her shoulder and Beth turned to face her cottage.

      ‘Do you leave a light on when you’re out?’

      Through the front window she could see a light, glimmering unsteadily inside the house. As she strained to see where it was coming from the porch light flickered on and back off again as if it was trying to signal something. Her hand flew to her mouth as she caught her breath.

      ‘Obviously not. Give me your keys, I’ll go and take a look. It’s probably an electrical fault of some sort.’

      ‘Thanks, but I think I can manage to avoid sticking my fingers into any dodgy light sockets. I can handle it.’

      ‘I dare say you can. But if someone’s broken in and they’re still there you’re not handling that alone. I’ll just go and make sure.’

      ‘Perhaps—’

      He gave a little huff of impatience. ‘Perhaps nothing. Here.’ He grabbed her hand and put his keys into it. ‘Stay in the car and if I’m not back in five, you drive to the nearest police station. Please—someone needs to look after Jack.’

      His final words were tacked on almost as an afterthought, but the command in his tone had slipped away. Beth followed his gaze to the back seat of the car where Jack was twisting around fretfully, trying to get out of his seat belt.

      She pulled her keys out of her bag and pushed them into his hand, before getting into the driver’s seat of the car. Matt shut the door behind her, indicating with his thumb that she should lock the doors, before turning and heading up her front path.

      CHAPTER THREE

      SHE shouldn’t have let him go. Now that she was alone here in the car with Jack, there wasn’t much she could do about it, though. She kept up a steady stream of conversation with Jack, at the same time straining to see as Matt swept the beam of the torch over the front door and the windows, looking for signs of forced entry before letting himself in. The torch beam flicked back and forth in the hallway, then in her tiny front room and then disappeared.

      What if there was someone in there? What if they hurt him? Matt was tall and imposing but if there was more than one intruder they might get the better of him. She squinted at her watch in the darkness. Had he really only been gone for three minutes?

      Tears of relief pricked at the side of her eyes as she saw him hurry down the front path. Motioning to her to unlock the car doors, he slid into the passenger seat. ‘Looks as if you have a burst