It was strangely sexy to see him in her kitchen, laughing with her daughter. His broad shoulders stretched the confines of his white T-shirt as his hip rested casually against her counter. Even more sexy was the way he signed and talked without conscious thought, as if it was completely natural.
Like he’d been doing it all his life.
Perversely though, it irritated her – must the man beperfect? Leaning against the jamb she said, ‘Making yourself at home, I see.’
It was meant sarcastically but the man was impervious to insult, smiling as his gaze turned to her, bathing her in warm heat. It roved over her face and dropped to take in her bare shoulder where the shirt had slipped off, lingering on the bony ridge of her collarbone.
Or maybe the lack of bra strap?
‘McKenzie is very helpful,’ he said, signing as his eyes finally met and held hers.
McKenzie grinned at her mother, and Peyton’s heart rose in her throat. Her daughter never took to anyone this quickly. Trust her to take to a guy who, like her father, was only going to be a temporary fixture in her life.
Peyton watched as Valentino removed the still warm baguette from the bakery bag. ‘Ah,’ he murmured as he held it to his nose and inhaled the yeasty fragrance.‘Quello sente l’odore di buon.’
He offered it to McKenzie to smell, which she did, mimicking him perfectly. ‘You like?’ he signed, and McKenzie nodded. He located a knife in a drawer near his hip and sliced the bread into thick discs before arranging them on the plate next to the olives.
‘Is there somewhere we can eat this?’
Another spike of irritation needled somewhere behind Peyton’s left eye. ‘Will the deck be good enough for your lordship?’ she enquired with saccharine sweetness, also signing as she spoke.
Valentino winked at McKenzie, who giggled. ‘Perfect.’ Gesturing to Peyton, he said, ‘Lead the way.’
Scooping McKenzie off the bench, he placed her feet on the ground and Peyton was conscious of her skipping just behind as she made her way outside, passing through their airy living room cluttered with children’s toys and framed photographs. Annoyingly, she was also aware of Valentino, bearing the food and wine on a tray he’d managed to locate, lagging up the rear. She could feel the heat of his gaze on her back just as it had been the night of the wedding as he’d followed her to the dance floor, and her stupid heart skipped several beats.
Stepping through the sliding doors to the deck, Peyton indicated for him to put the food on the sturdy wooden table as she settled into a seat, making room for McKenzie on her chair.
Unfortunately, he didn’t take the seat opposite but the one at the head of the table. The oneclosestto her.Naturally.Which did nothing for the erratic cant of her pulse. ‘Does she know about tomorrow?’ he asked, not signing this time.
Peyton rolled her eyes. ‘Of course.’ Did he think she’d justspringan operation on her daughter? Hell, the two them had been counting this day down for the past several months.
He nodded as he handed her a glass of wine. ‘Okay.’ He busied himself removing the plates from the tray as he said, ‘Do you want to tell her who I am?’
Peyton, who had taken the glass automatically, looked at it blankly as she mulled over the perfectly sensible suggestion. She’d put off telling McKenzie that Dr Harry wouldn’t be doing her surgery until bedtime. Now, though, particularly as McKenzie seemed quite enamoured with Valentino, seemed like the best time.
‘McKenzie?’ Peyton touched her daughter’s arm to get her attention. ‘This is Dr—’ She tapped the flats of her joined index and middle fingers of her right hand on the outer wrist of her left hand, making the sign for ‘doctor’. ‘Lombardi.’ She spelt out each letter of his name.
McKenzie looked at him curiously as he re-signed his first name and said, ‘Valentino.’
Peyton bristled. McKenzie understood about doctors. About what they did. Sadly, she’d seen too damn many of them. She knew about Harry being a doctor, a special doctor who helped kids hear, so it was important that McKenzie understood that Valentino was also a doctor.
‘DrValentino,’ she corrected, her voice firm, as she re-tapped her fingers with deliberate emphasis. ‘Dr Harry had to go and visit his grandson who is very sick so he can’t do the operation to make you hear,’ she signed. ‘Dr Valentino is going to do it instead.’
McKenzie looked from her mother to Valentino and back to her mother. ‘He’s going to make me hear?’ she signed.
‘Yes.’ Peyton nodded confidently, even though she was worried how McKenzie would take the news. SheadoredDr Harry. Trusted him. He’d been her specialist for over three years now, since her diagnosis in the NICU, and she loved it when he came to visit her in hospital.
Big blue eyes turned to study Valentino, and Peyton held her breath. It looked like he was as well despite his encouraging smile. After a beat or two, McKenzie transferred her attentionback to Peyton. ‘Okay,’ she signed, and reached for a piece of bread.
Peyton blinked. That had been easy. Too easy. She glanced at Valentino, surprised by her daughter’s easy acceptance of the changed circumstances. He shrugged his shoulders slightly. He clearly hadn’t thought it would be this easy either but also, just as clearly, he was willing to take it at face value, his dimples on high beam as he smiled.
McKenzie tugged her arm and she dragged her gaze from his. ‘Can I watchBluey?’ she signed.
Peyton nodded and said, ‘Sure.’
McKenzie climbed off the chair and Peyton followed her inside to dial up the ‘Turtleboy’ episode that had incorporated an AUSLAN interpreter and was her daughter’s favourite thing to watch on TV. Being profoundly deaf and not yet able to read was a double whammy for kids like McKenzie. Captions just weren’t an option for them which meant they had limited choice of televised entertainment.
As if they weren’t already limited enough.
