She kept telling herself the attraction could fade as quickly, especially on his side, but that did nothing to damp down her feelings.

Anyway, she didn’t want to dampen them down. She felt fully alive again, for the first time in years.

But there was one obstacle still to be got over, one secret she had to tell him about, something that could only be said face to face, because she had to see how he reacted.

Would it matter to a man used to such beautiful women?

‘We can move in tomorrow, Jez, if you don’t mind workmen coming and going still,’ Donna announced when she returned to the hotel to report the day’s progress. ‘I think we’ve even got a housekeeper lined up.’ She grinned. ‘Actually, the housekeeper is a he, gay and very camp. He has a wonderful sense of humour and brilliant references.’

‘Sounds OK to me.’ Jez beamed at her. ‘How on earth did you get things done so quickly?’

‘Tom helped me quite a bit, actually, and you’ve paid through the nose for rapid service. There’s just one other thing we need to do today. We need beds for the children and I don’t know much about that sort of thing, I must confess. I wondered if Jane could come to the shops with me this afternoon, and Tom, could you watch the children?’

He nodded. ‘No worries.’

‘I’ll help you look after them,’ Jez said at once.

‘No playing horsies, though!’ Donna warned. ‘The physio said it wasn’t good for you.’

Jez pulled a face at her. ‘All right, Mummy dear.’

Hayley came across to lean casually against him. ‘Will you play me a song on your guitar today, like Daddy does?’

Jez stilled and looked at his son. ‘You play the guitar? Why didn’t you say?’

Tom shrugged. ‘I’m not in your league, but I do play reasonably. I learned at Mum’s church. They have some great music there.’

‘Gospel?’

‘Yeah. A few black people joined the congregation when I was in my teens and they made a huge difference. You should hear the choir sing “Just A Closer Walk With Thee”. There’s a woman who leads the singing and she’s top. She pours her heart and soul into it, makes me shiver sometimes, it’s so good.’

‘Gospel can be wonderful. You couldn’t get much better training in feeling what music’s about. What happened to your guitar? Didn’t you think of bringing it with you?’

Tom hesitated.

‘Mummy broke it,’ Hayley said. ‘Daddy cried when he threw it away.’

Jez saw Tom’s flush of embarrassment and his heart went out to his son. Imagine having your only musical instrument destroyed! ‘I’ve got a spare here. You can use that.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Of course.’ The way his son’s face lit up meant that however good or bad Tom was at playing, he loved it, and that delighted Jez.

As soon as Donna and Jane had left, he fetched the guitar for Tom.