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'Hi.' She managed a fairly steady smile. He had had a haircut and he took her breath away.
'Hi, yourself.' He grinned easily and then, as Tabitha shot past Candy to wrap herself voluptuously round his legs, they both looked down at the little cat in surprise.
'She remembers you.' Still, what female wouldn't?
'Hallo, puss.' He bent down and stroked the sleek fur which felt like silk before straightening again and walking, with Tabitha weaving in and out of his legs with amazing dexterity, to stand in front of her.
'Before I offer you a coffee, this isn't to say you've found her owner, is it?' Candy asked with careful control.
'What?' And then, as he realised, 'No, no, of course not Hell, is that what you thought? I'm sorry, Candy. No, this is to ask you a favour, actually.'
'Right.' The relief was overwhelming.
Once inside the warmth and brightness of the cottage Quinn bent down and scooped Alfie up into one large hand as the kitten attempted a kamikaze dive through the front door just as Candy went to close it behind them.
'Nimble little fellow, isn't he?'
The tender amusement with which he spoke about the kitten brought all sorts of feelings to the fore, and none of them were helpful. Candy looked into the hard, handsome face and reminded herself he wasn't here to see her. Candy Grey. He was here to ask a favour; he'd said so.
'I'll put the coffee on,' she said evenly.
Quinn nodded, glancing down at Tabitha and her two daughters, who were sitting prettily beside their mother. 'I'll just have a look at this lot while you do that and then we can have a chat,' he said nonchalantly.
'Fine.'
She watched him from the kitchen as he examined each small feline and their mother, and by the time she poured the coffee Quinn had pronounced them all well and thriving.
'When are you going to start looking for homes for them?' he asked as he came to join her at the breakfast bar and she passed him his coffee and a plate of chocolate-chip cookies.
'I'm not.' The dark eyebrows raised themselves, and in answer to them she said, 'Tabitha deserves to keep them all after what she went through, and this place is perfect for animals. I'll come to you soon to get the kittens vaccinated, and perhaps we'd better make sure Tabitha doesn't get romanced again, but I like the idea of having them around.'
'They could prove expensive.'
She shrugged. 'I can manage.'
'And what about when you go home to Canada?'
Candy's stomach contracted, and it was only in that moment she realised she was planning to stay in England for some time. 'I'll take them with me if I go,' she said quietly, 'but I like it here. I might be staying for quite a while.'
'You'll get homesick after a few months,' Quinn said expressionlessly.
She raised her chin slightly. It almost sounded as though he wanted her to go, she thought grimly. 'I don't think so.'
'Well, you're the best judge of that.' It was dispassionate and detached.
Yes, she was, she thought militantly, taking a gulp of the scalding hot coffee and then trying not to choke as it burnt her throat and made her eyes water. And it was nothing to do with Quinn one way or the other either, irritating man that he was!
Quinn munched his way through the plate of rich, crumbly cookies with a dedication that left no time for conversation, and when the last morsel had gone he put down his coffee mug, his expression unreadable. 'I expect you're wondering why I called,' he said quietly.
Candy shrugged elegantly. After that remark about her returning to Canada she was proffering nothing, she told herself tightly. She could match him for cool remoteness any day. 'Not particularly,' she drawled blandly. 'I was used to friends dropping by all the time back home.' Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Quinn Ellington! And she didn't care a jot about Philippa!
He nodded, his hand lifting to rake back his hair and then pausing halfway. The new shorn style of the raven-black crop wouldn't move in a hurricane. 'I got it cut,' he said in explanation. 'I keep forgetting.'
She inclined her head, allowing a slight smile to touch her lips. 'It suits you.'
'Yeah, well, I told them I probably wouldn't be back for another six months so they needed t
o do a hatchet job.'
