For a moment she was hypnotised by the look in his laughing eyes and then she came to her senses. ‘Oh, don’t be so ridiculous!’
‘What’s ridiculous about it? I find you very attractive.’
Her heart was beating a strange rhythm. ‘Well, the feeling isn’t mutual.’
‘You’re a rotten liar.’ His voice was soft, seductive and very, very male. ‘I was hoping you were going to suggest some serious public canoodling just to keep Will happy.’
‘In your dreams, Sean!’
‘Well, that just shows how little you know about my dreams.’ His wicked grin faded. ‘Believe me, none of the dreams I’ve been having about you could ever be played out in public, Ally McGuire.’
She swallowed hard. ‘Sean, please…’
‘Please, what?’
‘Just leave me alone.’
‘No.’
‘Oh, for goodness’ sake!’ She bit her lip and threw him a look that was half impatient, half desperate. ‘There must be plenty of women out there who’d faint if you just smiled at them. Why not pick on one of them? Why me?’
‘Why?’ His eyes locked on hers. ‘Because you’re gutsy and beautiful and because you’re fighting me every inch of the way.’
In other words, she was the first woman he’d ever met who’d refused him. She lifted her chin.
‘Denting your ego, am I, Dr Nicholson?’
He threw back his head and laughed. ‘Oh, no, Dr McGuire. My ego isn’t that fragile.’
He was standing only inches away from her and she was finding it harder and harder to breathe normally.
‘I’m not interested in what you’re offering, Sean.’
To her relief he didn’t come any closer. Instead, he rested one strong thigh on her kitchen table and looked at her thoughtfully. ‘And what am I offering?’
She turned away, flustered, and started getting things ready for Charlie’s tea. ‘I don’t know—a quick fling, a roll in the hay.’
‘You want marriage?’ His dry tone made her blood boil.
‘Dammit, don’t you listen?’ She whirled round to face him, her heart thumping, her blonde hair wafting down over her smooth cheeks. ‘I don’t want anything! I don’t want a fling, I don’t want marriage, I just don’t want any sort of relationship. Not with you, not with anyone.’ She broke off, her breathing uneven, and he looked at her steadily.
‘That bad, hmm?’
Ally looked at him blankly. ‘What do you mean, that bad?’
‘Your relationship with Charlie’s father.’
Her shoulders stiffened. ‘My relationship with Charlie’s father is none of your business.’
‘I disagree.’ He studied her calmly. ‘If it put you off men for life then I have a right to know what he did to you.’
Ally turned away and dragged a saucepan out of the cupboard. ‘You have no rights. No rights at all. And what happened with Charlie’s father is history.’
‘History?’ She heard the sudden coolness in his tone. ‘You mean she doesn’t see her father?’
‘No.’ Ally slammed the saucepan down on the hob and glared at him. ‘No, she doesn’t.’
He was frowning. ‘You think it’s right to keep a child away from her father?’
She ground her teeth and anger blazed out of her eyes. ‘You’re doing it again, Dr Nicholson. Jumping to conclusions.’
He shrugged. ‘Wasn’t he interested in being a father?’
‘Rob? The only thing Rob was interested in was himself.’ Ally didn’t want to think about Charlie’s father and how much pain he’d caused her entire family.
Sean was watching her closely. ‘But you must have loved him at one time?’
Loved him? Rob the rat? He had to be joking! But, then, Sean didn’t know the whole story, and she certainly wasn’t about to tell him. She was keeping her distance.
‘Everyone makes mistakes,’ she said shortly, rummaging in the vegetable rack for an onion.
‘And the child pays the price.’ Sean’s voice was suddenly hard and she gasped at the injustice of his remark, slamming the onion down on the work surface and whirling to face him.
‘You always judge people before you know the facts, don’t you?’ She jerked her head angrily, her blonde hair flopping gently onto her shoulders as it finally escaped from the restraining plait.
He shrugged those broad shoulders, unconcerned by her outburst. ‘So tell me the facts.’
‘I have no intention of telling you the facts.’ She glared at him. ‘The facts are none of your business, Sean Nicholson, but don’t you dare imply that Charlie has suffered from being with me because I can assure you that I give her everything a child needs.’