'No!' she said, shaking her head from side to side. 'I can't...'
'Nonsense!' he said bracingly.
Easy for him to say, she thought resentfully. 'It sounds like you're of the "throw 'em in the deep end" school of thought. We had a teacher like that at school—I was his Waterloo.'
'Don't be such a defeatist, Hannah. Everybody should learn a basic skill like swimming. You want to set a good example to the children, don't you?'
'That's moral blackmail!' she accused.
'If it works, who cares?'
'Not you, obviously. I can't swim; I don't want to swim.'
'Why?'
'I'm scared,' she burst out. There, satisfied? Go ahead and laugh at my athletic incompetence. I'm a physical coward—always have been.'
'Cowards don't throw themselves out of moving vehicles.'
"That was desperation, not bravery.'
'I know you're scared,' he said calmly, placing both his hands flat on her shoulders. He wasn't laughing at all. 'I'm with you; you don't need to be frightened. I won't let anything hurt you.'
It was foolish to read anything deep into his calm words, but she couldn't prevent the warm glow of pleasure that instantly filled her.
'I'll make a fool of myself.'
'You'll have fun.'
Hannah glanced at the glittering depths lit by a very elaborate display of underwater lights. 'I suppose you think I'm a wimp?'
'Don't tell me what I think,' he said firmly, patting the side of her nose.
'I don't suppose Catherine was scared of anything.' She could have screamed with vexation as the words slipped out. It hadn't been her intention to flaunt her insecurities. She could almost hear him wondering how to be tactful without telling huge whoppers. She couldn't imagine he'd be pleased at the implicit invitation to massage her ego.
'We're all scared of something.'
'I know—in this instance, water. Nothing you can do is going to make me brave and fearless.' Or give me long blonde hair and legs that end at my ears, she added silently.
'Do you think I'm trying to turn you into a Catherine clone?' A frown wrinkled the wide sweep of his brow. 'Is that what you imagine this is all about?'
'I think you're too much of a realist for that,' she replied bluntly. Her eyes slid away from the suspicion in his, because his words had exposed some of her very real fears. What did they have in common other than the children? The answer to this question was all too obvious—-nothing. Right now he found her a novelty, but today's joke would become tomorrow's embarrassment and he'd start trying to change her.
'Don't say I didn't warn you,' she muttered, when his regard and her own gloomy thoughts became too uncomfortable. 'I suppose there are swimsuits here somewhere?'
'Afraid not. You have to remember this pool was Adam's ultimate seduction device. Swimsuits would have ruined the ambience, from his point of view,' he added virtuously. 'Myself, I find the idea of peeling away those scraps of clingy Lycra quite...stimulating.'
'You're degenerate,' she said firmly. 'And as for the man who lives here, he must be pathetic.'
'Not pathetic—a professional bachelor, who, alas, is no more.'
'He's dead?' Hannah said, shocked by his callous attitude.
'Married,' Ethan corrected mournfully. He ducked as she aimed a blow at his head. 'For some reason his wife refused to live here,' he observed with wicked laughter in Ms eyes. 'Strange girl. He's altered beyond recognition these days—she's even weaned him off the Mickey Mouse ties. The flat's in the hands of an agent and we have permission to use it.'
'I suppose you said you wanted somewhere private for your...your...'
'I told him I wanted to teach my wife to swim. Adam's bed does everything short of play the national anthem, and personally I find gadgetry a little distracting. Besides, I've got a perfectly good bed at home.'
'I can't swim without clothes,' she said firmly.
"That's where you've been going wrong—you'll find it much easier without them,' he promised.
'What are you doing?'
'Taking my clothes off.'
'I can see that.'
'I think it must be a gender thing. You wouldn't find a man asking totally irrelevant questions.'
He was completely unselfconscious about his body. Lips slightly parted to draw air into her tight chest, she watched the muscles of his strong back ripple as he bent to kick off his shoes. His clothes were folded into a neat pile and his moleskin trousers slid to his feet. He stepped out of them.
Turning around, he made it clear for the first time that he was well aware of her interested gaze. She gave a small sharp inhalation as he removed his boxers.
'When the shutters are down you have very articulate eyes,' he said by way of explanation, before he turned and dived into the water, his body hardly creating a ripple. He took a couple of lazy strokes before he slid beneath the surface. After a moment's panic she could see him moving.