‘This is my daughter, Charlotte.’
‘Known as Charlie, no doubt.’
Charlie stared at him. ‘How did you know that?’
Sean’s eyes were still on Ally. ‘Call it intuition.’
‘What’s intu—?’
‘Just go next door, Charlie,’ Ally interrupted quickly, stooping to pick up the abandoned schoolbag in an attempt to conceal her flushed face. ‘We’ve finished in here anyway, so I’ll just get Dr Nicholson the keys and then he can move in when he likes.’
‘Great.’ Charlie bounced out in front of them. ‘Wait till Karen sees that motorbike.’
Ally locked the door with trembling hands, aware that Sean was still watching her. When she risked a glance in his direction her heart tumbled frantically. Dear God, why did the man make her so nervous? She’d met attractive men before and not even given them a second glance. Why was Sean Nicholson different? Why did he affect her so badly? Still, at least this time she hadn’t dropped the keys. With a huge effort she pulled herself together. He was just a man. A handsome one maybe, but a man nonetheless, with all the selfish, self-centred attributes that went with the territory. She could handle him. She could.
She unlocked the door of the barn and Hero bounded up, tail wagging. Charlie immediately shot off to her bedroom, dragging the dog with her, leaving her alone with Sean.
Her heart thudding in her chest, Ally walked briskly over to the kitchen and tugged open one of the drawers.
‘You’ll need a set of keys.’
Sean lounged in the doorway, his eyes flickering briefly to the keys that she dropped onto the kitchen table. ‘So you’re happy for me to move in, then?’
‘Happy?’ Ally closed the drawer with a thump. ‘No, I’m not happy. I’m letting you move in because of Will so let’s be clear about that right from the start.’
Sean straightened and his firm mouth moved slightly. ‘Because of Will?’
‘Yes!’ Damn the man. How dared he stand there, looking so arrogantly handsome and amused? He obviously thought she couldn’t wait for him to move in. ‘I happen to owe Will a lot and I don’t want to hurt his feelings.’
Sean scooped up the keys and jangled them in his palm. ‘And what’s me moving in got to do with Will’s feelings?’
Ally glanced at him briefly and then coloured and bit her lip. ‘Because he thinks he’s matchmaking and I haven’t the heart to disillusion him.’
‘Ah, now I see.’ Sean pocketed the keys and his eyes gleamed. ‘You’re saying that you’re prepared to have a wild affair with me to spare Will’s feelings.’
‘Oh, very funny.’ She gritted her teeth. ‘You know very well that’s not what I’m saying.’
‘You’re not?’ He raised an eyebrow, his eyes dancing wickedly, and she resisted the temptation to thump him. Instead, she wrapped her arms round her slim body and glared at him.
‘This isn’t a joke, Sean!’
‘Am I laughing?’
‘Yes,’ she growled fiercely, ‘and you have no idea what it’s like to be constantly on the receiving end of everyone’s matchmaking attempts.’
‘Well, that’s where you’re wrong.’ He gave a short laugh and dropped onto one of the kitchen chairs, his legs stretched out in front of him. ‘I know exactly what it’s like.’
‘You?’ She shot him a look of pure disbelief. ‘You must have women coming out of the woodwork.’
He shrugged and pulled a face. ‘Maybe. But I certainly don’t intend to marry any of them just to please my friends.’
She stared at him. ‘And that’s what they want you to do?’
He nodded ruefully. ‘Especially Will. Which is why I don’t visit them as often as I should.’
Ally removed a wisp of blonde hair from her eyes. ‘Right, well, in that case it should be easy. Once Will sees we can resist each other perhaps he’ll give up interfering.’
Sean rubbed his dark jaw and frowned thoughtfully. ‘There’s just one problem…’