Trusting a Stranger by Kimberley Brown

to the silverware at the table was at once obviously expensive and elegantly unadorned. Whoever had decorated had very good taste.
    She looked from the place setting to Ethan’s face and regarded him for a moment. He was eating with relish, obviously appreciating the simple, tasty food as much as she did.
    â€˜You look like you’re sizing me up,’ he said, noticing the direction of her gaze.
    Hayley rested her knife and fork together on her plate and touched the corner of her linen napkin against her lips.
    â€˜I’ve been wondering about a couple of things,’ she admitted.
    â€˜Yes?’
    â€˜Well, there’s your piano. Do you play?’
    â€˜It was my mother’s. And her mother’s before that. Do you play?’
    â€˜When I can. Like photography, it’s a hard skill to earn a living from. And I’ve wondered who did the rest of your interior decorating. Everything else here looks a lot more modern than the piano.’
    â€˜Interior decorating?’ Ethan repeated, sounding surprised. ‘You mean who bought my furniture? I did that myself.’
    â€˜You have good taste.’
    His surprise intensified. Apparently, this was something he had never thought about before.
    â€˜I just bought the furniture I needed. I like to surround myself with things I like.’ He turned his head to one side, looking at her speculatively.
    Hayley felt herself blush again. It was as though he were sizing her up, working out if she was something he might feel he needed and liked. The feeling of attraction between them, a feeling that had sizzled outside, and begun to send out sparks in the kitchen, was making her decidedly uncomfortable.
    She was not ready for heat like this, not with a man who she had only just met, who she still had lingering feelings of resentment towards, because he might be one of those men who had ruined her father, and whom she was never likely to see again.
    â€˜I think it’s time for me to go to bed,’ she said, standing. She didn’t generally like doing what she was told and it was important to her that she did something, even if as small a thing as choosing a bedtime of her own volition.
    â€˜The room on the second floor? Just past Katy’s?’
    He had explained to her that the little girl was still asleep, and often had early nights.
    â€˜I’ll walk quietly.’
    He stood, gentlemanly, and held the dining room door open for her.
    â€˜There’s a bathroom next door with fresh towels and a spare toothbrush in the cabinet,’ he said as they began to climb the stairs. ‘Help yourself to anything you need.’
    They paused at her door, Hayley’s hand on the knob. She was acutely aware of Ethan standing before her so closely that her eyes were level with his shoulders. He was warm and at once strong and secure, at home in this place that she had already realised was the perfect setting for him.
    â€˜Well,’ she said. ‘Goodnight.’
    For one stupid, long moment she was sorry she had insisted that her agreeing to stay was not the same as her agreeing to sex. Life had been a bit dull recently and if she was honest with herself, in coming here she had been after adventure as much as she had been after money to help with her father. If she had said something else, might she and Ethan be about to walk into this room, together?
    She swallowed. Why was she allowing these thoughts, here where some trace of them might appear on her face? She wasn’t the sort of woman that had one-night stands, and with her imminent departure back to Australia, and Ethan’s pressing need to remain here, there was nothing else that they could have.
    Ethan leaned towards her. She smelled his aftershave. Tangy and slightly woodsy, reminiscent of the cypresses through which she had prowled this afternoon. He brushed his lips against her cheek.
    â€˜Goodnight,’ he murmured.
    Against her wishes, Hayley felt her body