That’s what they were now, Ethan reflected. No matter how many promises he’d made to himself. It wouldn’t end with one night. Neither one of them was built that way, and it had as much to do with heart as it did with loins. They’d taken the step and that step involved commitment.

That’s what worried him most.

He would never be able to marry her, have children with her. She would want more children. She was too fine a mother, had too much love to give not to want them. Aubrey deserved brothers or sisters.

There wasn’t any point in thinking about it, he reminded himself. Things were the way things were. And right now he had a right, and a need to live in the moment. They would love each other as much as they could for as long as they could. That would be enough.

It took him barely five minutes to discover that Grace’s hot water heater was as small as the rest of the house. Even the miserly trickle of water turned cool, then cold, before he’d managed to rinse away all the lather.

‘‘Cheap bastard,’’ he muttered, thinking of Claremont. He switched off the spray and wrapped one of the bright-pink towels around his waist. He intended to go back and dress in the dark, but when he opened the door, he could see the light from the kitchen and hear Grace’s still sleep-husky voice singing about finding love, just in the nick of time.

While the first drops of rain pattered against the windows, he stepped into the scent of bacon frying and coffee brewing. And the sight of Grace wrapped in a short cotton robe the color of spring leaves. His heart gave such a hard bounce of joy he was surprised it didn’t simply leap out of his throat and land quivering in her hands.

He moved quick and quiet, so that when he wrapped his arms around her, pressed his lips to the top of her head, she jolted in surprise.

‘‘I told you to go back to sleep.’’

She leaned back against him, closing her eyes and absorbing the lovely thrill of a kitchen embrace. ‘‘I wanted to fix you breakfast.’’

‘‘You don’t have to do things like that.’’ He turned her around. ‘‘I don’t expect things like that. You need your rest.’’

‘‘I wanted to do it.’’ His hair was dripping, his chest gleaming with wet. The sparkling gush of lust both delighted and shocked her. ‘‘Today’s special.’’

‘‘I appreciate it.’’ He bent, intending to give her one soft morning kiss. But it deepened, lengthened until she was on her toes straining against him.

He had to pull himself back, block off the rushing need to tug off the robe and take her. ‘‘The bacon’s going to burn,’’ he murmured, and this time pressed his lips to her forehead. ‘‘I’d better get dressed.’’