Ryan then insisted on being kissed as well, clutching Jez’s arm with a sticky hand and laughing when Jez, remembering a childhood game, walked his fingers up the child’s arm to tickle his neck.

Fat gurgles of laughter rewarded him and when he saw Jane nodding approval, he felt emotion well up and had to blink his eyes.

‘Can we order a proper breakfast now, Mr Winter?’

‘Jez. No one on my team calls me Mr Winter. I’m sorry. I should have told you last night that you can order anything you want from room service.’

‘I looked for a menu, but couldn’t find one. What do they serve here?’

‘Anything you ask for. When you pay this much for a hotel room, they fit in with you, not the other way round.’

‘Goodness. If it’s so expensive, we’d better hope that house of yours won’t be long. Shall I order something for you at the same time?’

‘I don’t usually bother with breakfast.’

‘Then you ought to. Everyone needs a proper start to the day. I’ll order boiled eggs with soldiers for the children, and how about the same for you? That way they’ll see you eating and make less fuss about finishing theirs.’

Amusement welled in him. ‘All right.’

There was a knock on the door and they heard Craig come out of his room near the entrance. ‘I’ll get it,’ he called.

‘Do you really need a bodyguard all the time?’ Jane asked with a frown.

‘Sadly, yes. They still haven’t caught the guy who attacked me.’ He fingered his face.

‘Eh, I don’t know what the world’s coming to.’

On the floor below, Tom woke with a start, remembering where he was and surprised to see he’d slept till eight o’clock. He got out of bed and had a quick shower, worried that the children might be disturbing Jez.

When he tried to get the lift to the top floor, it wouldn’t work and went straight down to the ground floor. The doors didn’t open for a minute or two and he was just beginning to wonder if it was malfunctioning when they slid back to show a concierge waiting for him.

‘Where were you trying to go, sir?’

‘To the penthouse suite, to my father’s, Jez Winter.’

‘I’ll just ring through and check that it’s all right, shall I?’

Donna, who had just entered the hotel, hurried across the foyer to join them. ‘I can vouch for Tom and take him up. Perhaps you’d arrange for him to have a key card issued?’

‘Only Mr Channing can do that.’

‘OK. I’ll speak to Kevin about it.’ She turned to Tom. ‘Did you sleep well? Good. I’m sorry you have to stay on a different floor and face all these restrictions when you want to see your children, but we can’t be too careful of Jez.’

‘My father’s had a hard year, hasn’t he?’

‘A hard few years, reading between the lines. His second wife sounds to have been a prime bitch-woman.’