Conor scowled at her. ‘I’ve already told you. Dublin was a one-off. It can’t happen again.’
He ducked down, snatched up his phone from the floor and shone it on the key lying in the corner of the porch. ‘Don’t move. I’ll get the key,’ muttered Conor.
He rose with the key in his hand and took a step back as he held it out to her as if determined to keep his distance. She eyed him, about to take it from his outstretched hand. ‘Thank you.’
‘My pleasure,’ he said smoothly before adding, ‘The key, I mean.’
‘Of course, I didn’t think you meant anything else,’ she purred with an insincere smile.
‘Hannah.’ He sighed and then thought better of what he was about to say, slotting the key into the lock as if to make sure he was seeing her in. Opening the door, he held out an arm ushering her in. ‘Goodnight.’
As soon as she stepped over the threshold, she turned but he was already walking down the path with brisk strides as if he couldn’t wait to get away from her.
Chapter Ten
‘Ireckon we just have to run in,’ said Izzy, looking at the sea rippling over the sand in wide, shallow waves.
‘It’s going to be cold.’ Hannah shielded her eyes from the sun and peered out across the water. ‘Next stop is America. This is the North Atlantic.’
‘I’m from Scotland – I’m used to being cold. There are plenty of people already in.’
‘Yes and half of them are wearing wetsuits.’
‘Don’t be such a Jessie.’
‘Who are you calling a Jessie?’ said Hannah, taking off at a run and shouting over her shoulder, ‘Last one in buys lunch.’
Izzy tore after her and the two of them ploughed into the sea, shrieking with the shock of the cold but both determined not to let the other beat them.
As soon as it was deep enough, Hannah threw herself in, gasping as she struck out with a strong breaststroke. ‘Flip it’s cold,’ she shouted to Izzy who’d followed suit.
‘Good for the soul,’ yelled Izzy, doing a clumsy crawl alongside her.
Gradually Hannah’s body acclimatised to the temperature and she swam out a little further, glad that she’d taken the plunge. Thank goodness she’d shoved her bikini in her suitcase at the last minute.
As it was such a gorgeous day, she and Izzy had agreed to put their cossies on and take towels down to the beach. They’d set up camp halfway along the beach, which was much quieter, away from the families and quite a few cars that were actually parked on the sand itself just in front of the dunes.
‘This is Heaven,’ said Izzy, floating on her back, her feet pointing up out of the sea. ‘No responsibilities, no worries. God, I wish I could stay here.’
‘Would you really want to stay here?’ Hannah surveyed the hills around them and the beautiful view with the houses dotted on the hillside.
‘Only in as much as it’s away from home. I lived in Edinburgh until three months ago. I miss it, although I do like living in the country. It’s just all the hassle that comes with living in a crumbling pile with my batty mother who is adamant we have to stay.’
‘Do you have to stay with her?’
‘I wasn’t exaggerating when I said she might burn the house down.’
‘Oh, is she a bit forgetful?’
‘Something like that. She’s not got Alzheimer’s or anything. There’s not a speck of common sense in her body. Flipping liability, she is.’
Hannah shook her head. She couldn’t imagine living with someone like that. ‘I’ve got the opposite. My rellies have too much common sense. It takes them forever to make a decision because they have to weigh up all the odds. They were horrified when I took a sabbatical to come out here.’
‘Why? It’s your life, isn’t it?’
‘They worry. My mother and father were complete adrenaline junkies. I think they’ve always had the slight worry that my sister and I might turn out like them. Mina is quite impulsive, so I’m the sensible one. I’ve always been at pains not to worry them. To try and do the right thing. The sensible thing. I thought learning to cook properly was being quite sensible but it sent my boss, my aunt and uncle, and half my colleagues into a complete tailspin. I almost chickened out.’
‘Glad you didn’t. It’s nice to have someone the same age who isn’t a shit-hot cook.’
