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Alec put his finger under her chin and saw tears on her cheeks again. "Rose, let me help you? I want to be there for you and Camille, you've both become very important to me, you know that? She does not have to grow up without a father but for now, I will just be around when you want me to."

Rose managed a nod and buried her face in his shoulder but he made her look at him, not knowing what it was doing to her. She was sad about loosing James but being comforted by his double was a bit disturbing. He leaned to kiss her and this time, she didn't resist as he tried to pull her closer. She put her arms around his neck and he put a hand under the shoulder of her dress, moving her bra strap out of the way as the kiss deepened and Rose found herself getting lost in the moment.

He moved his hand to under the bra fastener but kept it there as he touched her breast through the dress then down the neckline, touching bare skin at the top, placing a kiss there when their lips parted.

"Rose, tell me one thing though," he asked as she leaned back on his shoulder again and he put his arm around her. "Why do you have no photos of him around the place? There are just one or two of you and Camille. Did you take them down so I would not feel I was intruding?"

"No Alec, I have photos upstairs, in albums and some back at my mother's house. They make me sad so I only look at them from time to time but I know I can get them out when I want. I'm gonna show them to Camille when she gets a bit older, like my mum used to show me photos of my real dad. I was lucky, she found someone else and we're a family again."

"Yes, you were and Camille can have that too Rose. I know it will take time but since she is already used to me being around, that will help and she's too young to understand but I don't get one thing."

"What's that?" Rose asked, going for another button on his shirt.

"Hey, you are getting to like that, maybe I should not have bothered with the t-shirts eh?" he smiled. "Well most youngsters are a bit off when they meet someone, I saw Camille when you were with Beth Latimer, she was acting all shy around her but with me, she let me pick her up and carry her around."

"She just took a liking to you Alec, she's just a baby, they can be off with some people but not with others. She goes to Chloe, when she wakes up."

"Yes but it still puzzles me, that and the lack of photos, like you don't want to remind her of her father. Is there something you are not telling me? What was the real reason James kept himself out of the press Rose?"

Rose sat up and looked at him. "I told you, I was in the papers all the time, I wanted to keep him out of them."

"Rose, it has to be more than that, more than James working with you. Why were you protecting him? Did he think someone would recognize him? Rose, did he look like someone famous or something and he didn't want to it cause any problems?"

Rose knew he'd have worked it out sooner or later, now she would lose the man she had grown to trust. She sat up properly, trying to put her shoes back on.

"Yes, he looked like someone, he didn't want the press to get them confused. Does it really matter?" she asked, trying to hold her tears back.

She knew at any moment he would get up and leave, just as they had about to become more intimate but who was she kidding, he was a detective.

"No, that depends who he looked like Rose. Tell me he didn't look like that Scottish actor I used to get teased about? That explains how Camille came to me so easily though. Is that who he looked like Rose?" he asked, fastening his shirt buttons.

He got up, placing one hand on his hip and fingering his beard.

"I tried to stay away from you Alec," Rose replied, almost loosing it. "Yes, James hid himself away because the actor had got more famous when James came back but who did people say you looked like Alec? It could have been someone else."

He hoped he was wrong about this but things were now adding up in Alec's mind. He'd had an excuse for not seeing a killer under his nose and Tess was seeing someone else but not now he was well again. So that was the reason Rose had let him make friends with her and Camille thought he was her dad? Even at such a young age, babies knew their parents.

"I need to think about this Rose," he told her as he reached for his jacket and taking her spare key out of the pocket. "You thought seeing me would help you get over James but did you think about how I would feel about it?"

"Alec, that's not why I wanted to be friends with you."

"Really? No wonder you had that look on your face the first time we met, you thought you had seen a ghost. Yes, I know who that actor is but no-one ever even mentions it to me now he spends more time abroad than he does here and yes, my daughter teases me about it sometimes, that I can deal with but this? I thought we had something Rose but you just wanted some comfort from losing your husband with someone who looked like him and at this moment, I don't know how I feel about that. I should go."

"I'm sorry Alec but how could I tell you? I tried to stay away but we kept bumping into you."

"I watched you walk past me and you never called in Rose, I stayed away to let you come to me but all this time, you were staying away because you couldn't face telling me. I can't do this, not now, I'm hurt Rose, that you couldn't trust me enough to be honest with me."

"I wasn't using you Alec."

"Not for yourself maybe but letting Camille think I was her dad?"

"I tried to tell her, really I did," she started to cry.

Alec went through to the kitchen and picked up his carrier bag with things he wasn't really going to need now.

"I will stay away Rose, I trust for Camille's sake you will do the same and not lead her on. Goodnight Rose, take care of yourself and your daughter."

With that, he let himself out and Rose collapsed on the kitchen chair, the plates and wine glasses still on the table from earlier. She didn't know how long she sat there and cried until she got up and cleared everything away, putting the bottle in the cabinet and thinking she'd never use the rest of it.

Alec had been right, how long did she think she'd be able to fool him but if she'd told him straight off, would things have been any different? Yes, it comforted her that he looked like James but that wasn't the reason she had started to fall in love with him. Alec had gone out into the cold night air and walked back to his chalet and had the misfortune to almost get caught by the three men who were just coming out of the pub.

"Been seeing the girlfriend?" Nigel shouted from the corner.

Mark nudged his workmate. "Shush Nigel, maybe he's keeping it a secret, eh Olly?"

Olly joined in. "Want to give me the exclusive, DI Hardy?" he laughed.

Alec just ignored them and crossed the road and walked to the gap in the wall to cross over the footbridge. He was deeply hurt by what had just happened but maybe it was for the best, before they had got too far. He certainly didn't want to be the only reason Rose was getting over her husband of a few days.

Rose just watched some TV, tears still in her eyes but when she got to bed, she couldn't sleep. The night before had been the first time since James had got ill that she'd slept properly and she was hoping Alec would have stayed over again to do more than just kiss her goodnight. Yes, she missed James and Alec was right, she had to start to get over it but it wasn't going to be with him now.

November turned into December, it got a little colder and Alec had so far restrained himself from standing on the balcony so he would see Rose and Camille on one of their walks. He'd also carefully avoided walking past the caf