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And the fact he wanted to say them was all down to Kate. His eyes were sliding to the slim, silent figure when Freya spoke.
Hands set on her skinny hips, his daughter gained his attention as she looked him up and down. ‘Papa, you have clothes on.’
His grin made Kate’s heart flip.
‘Not for long.’
As he stripped off his linen suit and shirt to reveal the pair of black swim-shorts he was wearing underneath Freya was clapping.
Kate’s reaction was less enthusiastic, morevisceral. Her internal temperature had risen several uncomfortable degrees as a shock wave of reaction hit her.
His body was...well,perfect. An overused term but in this instance... Long and lean, broad of shoulder and narrow of hips, his legs long and muscular, built for speed and not brute strength. There was not an ounce of excess flesh to disguise the corrugated muscles of his belly or the slabs on his chest.
He made her think of an anatomical diagram of perfect musculature brought to warm, golden, gorgeous, sense-sapping, carnal life.
‘Coming, Kate?’
She sat there frozen and shook her head. ‘I didn’t think, so I forgot my swimsuit,’ she improvised, even though it was actually in her bag, and she didn’t care if he knew it, there was no way in the world she was changing into it here, in front of him. She felt vulnerable enough as it was without exposing her imperfect body to someone with the most perfect body that ever existed. ‘You go and enjoy yourselves.’
‘Swim in your pants, Kate. I did when I forgot my swimsuit.’
‘Yes, Kate, swim in your pants.’
Her eyes narrowed on his beautiful mocking face. ‘Have fun, Freya. I brought a book. Go for your swim and then we should go back. The midday sun is very strong, lethal.’
It wasn’t the only thing, she decided, watching as Marco took his daughter’s hand and they ran down to the water’s edge.
In the car on the way back Freya fell asleep. ‘I have a meeting with the educational people next week. Will you come?’
‘Of course.’
‘They said pretty much what you did. I have let things slide with Freya. I have...that is going to change...she just...’
Kate waited.
‘She looks very like her mother.’ The guilt tightened its grip on his shoulders. It felt as if he were wearing a lead suit.
The woman he had loved. Kate’s heart ached for him. ‘That must be hard, not that I know but... I’m sure she has both of you in her, but Freya is her own person.’
‘Seeing her today in the playroom... At her fifth birthday there were no children.’
‘You were there.’
‘No, actually, no, I wasn’t. The only reason I remember at all is because there was an intruder that night and I upped security.’
‘You could be there for her sixth birthday.’
‘I don’t like making promises I can’t keep, even though I want to. Freya deserves a hands-on father, a loving father,’ he said fiercely.
Kate found herself staring at his beautiful hands, her eyes settling on the gold ring. The symbol of what he had lost.
‘I think Freya just wants you. And if anyone told me you don’t love her, I’d call them an idiot. My dad...’ She stopped, an image of her dad appearing in her head, the dad who loved her.
The dad she couldn’t forgive. Oh, God, she was an idiot!
‘I have sand in my knickers!’
The complaint from the back seat broke the tension in the air and Kate laughed. ‘Straight in the bath when we get back, then.’
