Christmas at Lilac Cottage: (#1 White Cliff Bay) (12 page)

Henry burst out laughing.

‘Oh, well, on that rather embarrassing note, I’ll leave you all to it. Daisy, I’m really glad you came tonight. I hope the crazies didn’t put you off.’

Daisy shook her head. ‘I loved it, thank you.’

Penny smiled briefly at them and shut the door between them. She walked into the front room where Bernard was on the sofa, upside down, tongue sticking out of his mouth, snoring loudly.

She fiddled around with her iPod, choosing a random playlist and something soft, sweet and slow drifted out of the speakers. She lit a fire and a few candles that smelt of spiced apples and mulled wine. A perfect romantic night for one. She sighed. She didn’t fancy reading or watching telly. She wasn’t sure what to do with herself. Next door she could still hear the soft sounds of Henry and Daisy talking and laughing.

It had been an odd twenty-four hours, with the sea rescue, seeing Kathleen, the farce of the ice carving competition and that incredible kiss that seemed to have almost been forgotten by the man who had done it. She closed her eyes and touched her lips, remembering what it felt like to have his lips there. Her memories replayed the event perfectly: his softness, the way he had held her, the taste of him, his sweet, spicy smell. She could smell him now, the warmth of his scent wrapping round her.

Suddenly her eyes snapped open, realising that his warmth and scent was a real thing. She span around and he was standing right there in her body space.

‘Sorry, I didn’t want to scare you, you seemed miles away.’

She flushed. Did he know she had been thinking of him?

‘I just wanted to say thank you for tonight, I haven’t seen Daisy smile as much for a long time.’

Penny swallowed down the emotion of having him so close. ‘No problem.’

He still didn’t move as he stared down at her. She looked away briefly, to see the connecting door was closed. He hadn’t just come to say that.

He reached out to touch her hair, running one finger down its length and rubbing the end over his thumb. She couldn’t move away from him. He was going to ruin her and there was nothing she could do to stop it. He ran a finger down her cheek and everything in her melted so she was surprised she was still standing. How could something so simple have such an effect on her?

He sighed heavily and stepped back slightly, breaking the spell between them.

‘Daisy has always hated my girlfriends. Even when she was little if I went on a date with a woman she would cry and scream. There was never that many, anyway. Raising a child on your own, there isn’t much time for anything. But I had invited one or two women back when she was six or seven and it always ended with her crying hysterically. I stopped bringing women to the house after that and dated women in secret for years. I vowed that I would never bring anyone home unless it was a serious relationship. Since she’s got older, she’s met quite a few of my girlfriends and never liked any of them either. I think Rosie was the only one she liked. They’d go out together, go shopping. When we broke up I think Daisy was more upset by it than Rosie was.’

He moved his hand to link his fingers with hers. ‘Even though she has hated almost every single one of the girlfriends she has met, she has never asked me not to date anyone before. Until you.’

Penny took a step back, wounded. ‘I’m not good enough for you.’

Henry shook his head. ‘No, that’s not it at all.
I’m
not good enough for
you
. She really likes you and she’s scared I’ll hurt you. I am rubbish at relationships, I generally pick people that I think I can have a good time with and don’t think beyond that. I always end things before they get too close, mainly because of Daisy. It’s hard to think about turning our team of two into a three on a permanent basis. It would have to be someone who Daisy gets on with and until Rosie there hadn’t been anyone and I never saw Rosie as someone I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. I have never imagined waking up every day lying next to the same woman for the rest of my life, or sitting down to breakfast and dinner with the same woman every day. There has been no one that I wanted to do that with until now.’ He sighed heavily. ‘I’m really painting myself in a bad light here, aren’t I, and I don’t blame you at all if you just want to be friends but…’

‘Until now?’ Penny managed to croak out, her throat was completely dry.

Henry stopped talking for a second as he clearly realised what he had just said.

‘I care about you. A lot. And that’s new for me. I love spending time with you, listening to you talk, watching you work. We’ve had more meals together, the three of us, in the last few days than I’ve ever had with previous girlfriends and I really like that too. I like making you laugh and that kiss last night… there was something there that I’ve never felt before. I know this sounds naff. Something pulls me to you, an attraction that’s so deep that…’ He looked around, trying to find the words.

‘That it hurts,’ Penny said, quietly.

He stared at her. ‘Yes. It hurts, it aches in my chest when I think of you, like a physical yearning for you. Do you feel that too?’

She nodded. ‘And it’s silly. I don’t even know you.’

‘Exactly. I don’t know what that means, whether it’s lust and desire or something more, but I know I want to find out. But is it wrong of me to just want to keep it between us for now? To wait to see if it turns into something special and wonderful as I hope it will or just peters out in the next week or so. This is all so new to us both. Neither of us know whether this is going to turn into something or not. In a few days you could decide that you find me incredibly boring and that we are better off as friends. Or we could have one great night of hot, passionate sex and this intense spark between us could die out the very next day and we decide never to do it again, or we could fall head over heels in love with each other, get married, have lots of babies and grow old and grey together. We can’t see what’s round the next bend. There’s no point in upsetting Daisy if you decide that you don’t want to pursue this in a few weeks’ time. We’ve had a tough year and…’ He trailed off, looking thoroughly miserable about the prospect of upsetting his daughter.

‘You want to keep us secret?’ Penny was still trying to process that he actually wanted there to be an ‘us’.

‘Yes, just for a little while. I think part of her asking me not to date you is wrapped up in her uncertainty and nervousness of moving to White Cliff Bay. She’s just moved to a new town and I know she’s still feeling worried about starting school and making friends. I don’t want her to feel in the way or awkward at home too. She likes it here at Lilac Cottage, she’s settled in here really quickly because of you and the ice carving and her new job and…’ Bernard gave a loud snore on the sofa. ‘And him. She thinks if I start dating you and it all goes wrong then we won’t be able to live here any more. I was happy to move out as soon as the agency could find us our own place but if she wants to stay here, I’d take smacking my head on that tiny shower every day just to keep her happy. Can we just get Christmas out the way, let her get a bit more settled and if it’s still going strong between us then, then I promise we’ll tell her and deal with the fall-out then. If we’re not… then there would have been no point upsetting her over nothing.’

‘I don’t want to lie to her.’

‘I don’t either, that’s the last thing I want. But can we just see if we have anything worth fighting for first? I’m not the easiest man to get along with, I’m grumpy, lack any kind of patience and you will probably run a mile from me in a few days. Most women do. If we get past that and you still want me around, I promise we’ll tell her then.’

Penny nodded. ‘OK. So we’re… dating?’

‘Yes, if that’s what you want?’ He looked concerned.

She couldn’t help the grin that spread across her face as she nodded.

‘Daisy wants me to take you out, she thinks you need some company and friendship, so we can still do all the normal dating stuff but maybe keep all the snogging and passionate sex behind closed doors.’

She laughed. ‘Damn, and I thought we’d strip naked and do it in the middle of the town square.’

His eyes flashed with warmth and mischief. ‘Maybe one day. It’s Tuesday tomorrow so we have our first proper date tomorrow night anyway. We can celebrate our secret partnership then.’

‘OK.’

She wasn’t exactly being coherent and sparkling company at the moment. Her heart was pounding, she was shaking, all thoughts seemed to have gone out of her head completely.

He smiled at her stunned appearance. He ran his hand up her arm and cupped the back of her head. Moving in slowly, he kissed her again, with the same consideration and tenderness as he had the night before, as if she was someone to be cherished and adored. She ran her hands into the stubble at the back of his neck as he moved his hands down to cup her waist, pulling her against him. God, the feel of him was too much, the emotions for him slamming through her hard and fast.

He pulled back slightly, breathing heavily. ‘OK?’

She nodded and he pulled away.

‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’

She smiled as he walked away, glancing over his shoulder at her as he closed the door. She was going on a date and she knew that tonight, for the first time in a very long time, she would be going to sleep with a smile on her face.

P
enny was shaken gently awake
the next morning and opened her eyes to see Henry standing by the side of the bed.

Oh god, she knew her hair was everywhere, she probably had pillow face and she most certainly had morning breath. And he was offering out a mug of tea with a big smile on his face, looking at her as if she was the most beautiful woman in the world. He was dressed in his robe and didn’t seem to be wearing a lot underneath.

‘I, erm…’ Great, the ability to make sparkling conversation was back.

‘I thought you might want a cup of tea and I made you breakfast in bed.’ He indicated the bowl of cereal on the small chest of drawers next to her and she laughed.

‘Wow, a lot of time and effort went into that breakfast, didn’t it?’

‘I’ll have you know those cereal boxes are quite heavy.’ He put the mug down next to the cereal.

‘What’s the weather doing out there?’ Penny asked and he turned away to look out the window for a moment, giving her the perfect chance to grab some mints from her handbag and run her fingers through her hair.

‘It snowed again last night. Not heavily, but Daisy is hopeful we might get a white Christmas.’

‘This is very sweet, thank you, but you didn’t have to do this.’

He turned back and moved back to the bed. ‘I’m trying to score all the good boyfriend points now because I’m sure I’ll be losing them soon enough.’

‘Why do you say that?’

‘Because I’m rubbish with women, despite having spent the last sixteen years raising one. I don’t know the first thing about romance. You may have to point me in the right direction now and again. Budge over.’

He must have caught the look of horror on her face and he laughed. ‘I promise not to jump on you. But we can have a cuddle, can’t we?’

She hesitated and then shuffled over.

He slid into bed next to her and pulled her onto his chest, wrapping his arms round her. It was such a comfortable gesture, as if they had known each other for years as opposed to just a few days. She couldn’t help smiling.

‘What?’ he said, smiling too.

‘This. It’s nice. You’re doing a good job so far at the romance stuff.’

He kissed her sweetly on the forehead, his tenderness was so endearing.

‘Well, Daisy has gone to the big mall in the next town with Anna for some last-minute Christmas shopping, so we could stay here all day if you want.’

‘That sounds lovely, but I’m meeting Maggie for lunch.’

‘Damn it. Well, Daisy’s staying over at Anna’s tonight, so… if you want you could… stay over with me.’

A million excuses and reasons ran through her mind. She wasn’t ready, she wouldn’t be very good, she’d disappoint him, her bikini line was probably a bit of a state.

He must have seen all of that running across her face. ‘I promise, we don’t have to do anything, we can just do this. I like this. I like the idea of falling asleep with you in my arms again. I get the impression there hasn’t been anyone for you since Chris?’

She flushed with embarrassment. ‘No, for one reason or another, there hasn’t been anyone for eight years. He was my first boyfriend too.’

She thought he might laugh at this. She was nearly thirty and had only ever been with one man, whereas Henry had probably been with lots of women, whether they were serious or not. But he didn’t laugh at all.

‘So we’re going to take this really slow, we won’t do anything until you’re ready. We can date and get to know each other and I promise I won’t try to take it any further. Doesn’t mean I’m not going to want lots of kisses though.’

She smiled with love for him. This wasn’t real, men weren’t patient when it came to sex, well, Chris never had been. Someone like Henry could have any woman he wanted, if the reactions of Jade, Beth and Clara had been anything to go by. So why would he waste his time waiting for her when he could have a quick shag with any single woman in the town, especially as when he arrived in White Cliff Bay he wasn’t even looking for a serious relationship.

‘I want this to work,’ he said softly, obviously having a knack for reading her mind.

She reached up and kissed him softly, hoping the mint had done a good enough job. He pulled her tighter against him, deepening the kiss.

He pulled back slightly, his eyes alight with mischief. ‘Or you know, if you didn’t want to wait, we could get down to the hot, passionate sex now.’

He quickly rolled on top of her, pinning her with his weight and tickled her.

‘NO!’ she squealed, trying to escape from his merciless hands.

‘Come on, give me all the sex.’

She laughed. ‘No, you’re not having it, never.’

She wriggled from his grasp, quickly climbed out of bed and ran laughing from the room but he was hot on her heels. He caught her by the waist and pinned her up against the wall, kissing her again as he tried to suppress his laughter. As he kissed her, his tongue sliding slowly into her mouth, his hands skimming her sides, her body humming at his touch, she wondered why she was holding back. Would it be so wrong to go back to bed with him now and discover how deep this spark between them actually ran? She barely knew him, but everything about this man, his kiss, his touch, just screamed that he was perfect for her in every single way. She was falling for him, she knew that. She just had to hope he felt the same.

He pulled back slightly and frowned. ‘What time are you meeting Maggie?’

‘Maggie?’

He smiled. ‘Your friend?’

‘Oh, erm, twelve.’

‘Pity, it’s half eleven now.’

Her eyes widened as the fog cleared. ‘What? How is it so late?’

‘Well, if you were anything like me, I spent most of the night lying awake thinking about our date.’

She smiled. ‘I did too.’

He pulled back, reluctantly. ‘Go and get ready and I’ll see you tonight. You’ll stay with me, right?’

She nodded and he walked down the stairs, leaving her alone. Her face was aching from smiling so much. Renting out the annexe was the best decision she had ever made.

P
enny burst
into the bakery and looked around. She was ten minutes late but it seemed she had still managed to beat Maggie. She walked up to the counter and joined the short queue. It seemed busier than usual for a Tuesday and Linda seemed a bit stressed out by the additional customers.

Tilly suddenly came running up to Penny, chocolate round her face coupled with a huge grin.

Penny crouched down and carefully signed. ‘Hello, what are you doing here, has your school closed for the holidays already?’

Tilly nodded excitedly and then signed back. ‘The heating has broken so the school is closed. It probably won’t be fixed before Friday.’

Well, that explained the extra customers and probably why Maggie was late if she was looking after her two boys.

‘How cool, you get an extra long break. Are you helping your mummy and nanny today?’

‘I’ve been making mince pies, do you want one?’

‘That would be lovely.’

Tilly ran off and Penny stepped forward to place her order of a cheese sandwich for her and a bacon sandwich for Maggie. She was surprised when Linda handed her over two doughnuts as well as the sandwiches.

‘You need to keep your energy up,’ Linda winked and her daughter Polly, standing next to her, giggled.

Confused slightly, she found a table just as a young couple were leaving and a moment later Maggie burst into the bakery.

‘I’m so sorry.’ Maggie took an appreciative bite out of her bacon sandwich, moaning with pleasure. ‘The kids are off from school and I’ve been trying to keep them entertained all morning as I finish off the preparations for the ball. Seven days and I’m starting to panic that I’ve forgotten something big, the pregnancy is playing havoc with my brain.’

‘I’m sure you have everything planned to the finest detail. Is there anything I can help you with?’

‘No, I think we’re nearly there. The marquee arrives tomorrow, which is being used for the gingerbread house competition on Saturday and your workshop on Sunday, then everything else is arriving on Tuesday, the day of the ball,’ Maggie rattled off her mental list of preparations from her head. ‘Anyway, my mum has the boys for an hour, I told her I had an emergency lunch meeting with you.’

Penny blinked. ‘What’s the emergency?’

‘Your big date tonight.’

She felt her eyes widen. ‘How do you know about that?’

‘Well, Jade was quite vocal about it in the pub on Saturday night after she had been spectacularly rejected by Henry, although she obviously didn’t put it like that, and it’s been quite the talk of the town ever since.’

‘The talk of the town?’ Penny suddenly felt cold at the thought of everyone talking about her. She knew that the town thrived on gossip and poking their nose into other people’s business but she had never been the subject of it before, her life was way too dull for that. She thought back to the time of her miscarriage and how everyone must have talked about her then, but she had been too far removed from it, closeted in her home up on the hill.

‘Everyone is happy for you, they’re all very excited,’ Maggie soothed, though Penny could find nothing in these words to calm her down. How embarrassing. She and Henry were still trying to get to know each other, they didn’t need the whole of White Cliff Bay digging their noses in before their relationship had even got off the ground. Plus the fact that Daisy wasn’t supposed to know.

‘We’ve had a meeting and—’

‘A meeting? Who’s “we”?’ Penny squeaked, wanting suddenly to run back to her house and hide.

‘The book club,’ Maggie said, talking of the little group of mothers who would escape their families once a week to go round each other’s houses, get drunk and let their hair down. No actual reading or discussions of books ever went on in their club meetings if the drunken photos on Facebook were anything to go by.

‘I was the subject of a book club meeting.’

‘Yes, now, the girls have all agreed to help. Natalie is going to do your hair and then Christine has you booked in for an all-over wax. Monica wants you to come to Silk & Lace afterwards and she’s going to help you pick out some sexy underwear, I know you don’t possess such things and all your bras and knickers are grey with holes in, that’s not the look we need tonight and…’

‘Wait, I’m not sleeping with him,’ Penny shrieked and the bakery went quiet, all eyes swivelling in their direction.

‘Sshhh, you don’t want the whole town to know,’ Maggie said as people resumed their conversations.

‘I think the whole town does know. Did a message get put out on the town’s emergency text system?’

‘Look, everyone cares, this is the first date that you’ve had in eight years, we all want it to go well.’

‘Can I not just screw it up on my own? Whether it does or doesn’t go well is not going to depend on my hair or whether I have smooth legs or sexy underwear.’

‘But those things will certainly help.’

‘Maggie, I love you, but butt out.’

‘Nonsense. If you loved me, you’d let me help you. Now eat up, your hair appointment is in fifteen minutes.’

‘I’m not having my hair done.’

Why was Penny arguing against having her hair done? She’d been meaning to have it cut for ages.

‘Come on, just a little trim. A cut and blow-dry. It’s free,’ Maggie wheedled.

‘Fine, but I’m not having a wax or buying sexy underwear.’

‘Well, see how you feel after your hair appointment.’

Penny sighed as she finished off her sandwich and then Maggie bustled her out the door, almost frogmarching her along the high street.

‘I need to stop at the chemist first, I need a new toothbrush. I won’t be a minute,’ Penny said, abandoning Maggie outside.

‘Don’t think you can escape out the back door, Penny Meadows,’ Maggie called after her as she sat down on the bench. ‘I have spies everywhere.’

Penny didn’t doubt it. She hurried along the aisles until she found the toothbrushes and was just trying to decide which one to buy when a lady came running up and perused the shelves next to her.

‘It’s so hard to know what to get, isn’t it,’ the lady said.

‘I know,’ Penny smiled politely. A firm toothbrush seemed a bit scary but soft probably wouldn’t do the job properly.

‘I like the ribbed ones though.’ The lady winked at her and grabbed a box off the nearby shelf and ran off towards the tills.

Penny glanced at the shelf next to the toothbrushes in confusion and realised she was staring at a huge range of condoms. Words like Excite, Tickle, Pleasure, Extra Safe, Mutual Pleasure, Ultra Thin, Latex Free, Extra Large and Intimate Feel leapt out at her from the shelves in an array of multi-coloured boxes. There were also different lubricants that were flavoured, warming or tingling and one that promised to be orgasm-enhancing. Sex had moved on a long way since the quick shags she’d had with Chris. He always handled the contraception side of things, until that one drunken night when he obviously hadn’t.

Suzanna, the old lady who ran the pharmacy, came bustling over and Penny quickly tried to look away from the condoms before Suzanna saw her, but she was too late.

‘It’s tricky, isn’t it, dear, but if I were you I’d get the extra-large, that Henry looks like he’s hung like a horse.’

Penny felt her cheeks flush blood red. ‘I was looking at toothbrushes.’

‘Of course you were, dear.’ Suzanna picked a big box of extra-large condoms off the shelf and pressed them into Penny’s hands, then escorted her to the tills. ‘I have a load of free condoms from the family planning clinic we’re supposed to give to the teenagers if they come asking for advice or any of that sort of thing. Why don’t I give you a few of those too?’

Suzanna opened a drawer near the till and grabbed a huge handful of different condoms, shoving them into a paper bag. ‘There’s the extra safe ones in there and some of the thinner ones, plus some flavoured ones too. The strawberry isn’t very nice but the chocolate is lovely, tastes almost like the real thing. These are all in date, dear, so you don’t need to worry about that.’

She grabbed another huge handful and that went into the bag too.