Page 27 of Christmas at Sturcombe Bay
The moment she let Hobo off the lead he raced away joyfully, hirpling down the beach to splash in the shallows, where the waves rolled in gently, lazily unfurling their long ribbons of white lace over the wet sand.
She stood and watched him for a moment, smiling at his sheerjoie de vivre. Put him down? No wonder Diane had blown her top at that horrible man. He should have been put down himself.
A little further out she spotted a dark head moving through the water. Incredibly, someone was swimming out there. It must be freezing! But he seemed to be wearing a wetsuit and was carving through the waves with a powerful overarm stroke.
She watched as he swam across the width of the bay, then back. As he finally stood up and started to wade in towards the beach, Hobo barked ecstatically and bounced over to him, cannoning into him and licking at his face.
“Hobo!” As she had feared, he ignored her. “Hobo, here! I’m sorry, he... Oh!” She stopped dead. Paul Channing. “It’s you!”
A slow, lazy smile curved his well-made mouth. “Ah, what a wonderful warm greeting. It does so much to revive my poor bruised ego.”
“I doubt your ego needs much reviving,” she retorted tartly. “It seems to be in perfectly good health.”
He laughed, not at all troubled by her barb. “I really did get off on the wrong foot with you, didn’t I?”
“I’m not sure there’d be a right foot.”
Hobo was still splashing around him with boundless enthusiasm. Weren’t dogs supposed to have a sixth sense about people? The stupid Lurcher seemed to lack a brain along with his leg.
Though her own brain really couldn’t lay claim to much sense either. She couldn’t help but be aware of how good he looked in that wetsuit, all wide shoulders and tapered torso and taut butt. It was a very unforgiving garment, showing up any lumps and bumps, but when the package inside was that good it could be spectacular.
“Isn’t it a bit cold for swimming?” she remarked, to distract herself from the way her heart was thumping.
He shook his head. “Not if you swim every day — you get acclimatised to it.”
“Every day?” Her eyes widened in surprise. “Even during the winter?”
“Pretty much, whenever I’m home. It’s the best exercise in the world. Do you swim?”
“Yes. But only when the water’s warm.”
“Chicken.”
“Huh!” But she couldn’t quite suppress a bubble of laughter. He really did have more charm than was recommended under health and safety guidelines.
He laughed too, and picked up the towel he had left lying on the beach, indulging Hobo in a brief game of tug-of-war with it before scrubbing it over his hair and tossing it round his shoulders.
“Well, now that I’ve got a laugh out of you, perhaps I’d better quit while I’m ahead. See you around.” And he strolled away to the steps that led up to Cliff Road and the tall, elegant Victorian townhouses there. Was that where he lived? It seemed a rather incongruous choice for an ex-professional footballer.
But then she had to admit that Paul Channing didn’t entirely conform to the stereotype. Calling to Hobo, who was looking distinctly disappointed at losing his friend, she turned and walked back along the beach.
Chapter Eight
Shelley had been doing her best to keep out of Alex’s way since that awkward moment in Debbie’s café. She was familiar with his routine by now. He would usually go down to visit his grandfather at around ten o’clock, and sometimes stay for lunch with him, or sometimes he would go into town to eat, to Debbie’s or the pub.
Which left her plenty of time to clean his room extra thoroughly. Sometimes she when she was changing his pillowcase or tidying away one of his sweaters, she would let herself pause and breathe the unique male scent of his skin.
Stupid.But it was too tempting to resist. For that short time she could safely let herself indulge in foolish fantasies . . .
“Shelley?”
“Hi.” She turned quickly. “I’m in here.”
Tracey, the housekeeping supervisor, appeared in the doorway. “Ah, there you are. Lisa wants you to pop down to the office.”
“Oh, but . . .” She glanced back at the room.
“Go on. You can come back and finish off in here later.”
