Sommersgate House (46 page)

Sherry had
turned to wine and dinner, Christmas crackers (Nick manfully put on
his paper crown but Mr. K and Douglas demurred), good food and good
company (company that had long-since turned into a makeshift family
for the children) made the table downright joyous and Julia was
beside herself with delight that she pulled off this first
Christmas without Tammy and Gav.

When the
flaming pudding was consumed and the trifle was dished out,
everyone was drinking coffee and the children were itching to get
back to their presents, Julia gave her mumbled apologies, pulled
her paper crown off her head, whispered in Ruby’s ear and they both
left the room hand-in-hand.

In her rooms,
Julia unearthed the presents she had put there the night before and
gave Ruby careful instructions. They both re-entered the dining
room with arms loaded with the last presents of the day. Everyone
stared at them in surprise as Ruby, acting as if this was the most
important task of her entire life (which it probably was), handed
out her gifts to the assemblage and Julia announced while she
handed out hers, “Douglas told me last night there was a Christmas
tradition in the Ashton family that I thought it appropriate to
resurrect. When he was a boy, they had their presents at dinner.
So, last night, Ruby and I saved a few and here we are!”

Nick, the
Kilpatricks and Ronnie glanced surreptitiously at Douglas and
meaningfully amongst themselves as Julia reseated herself next to
Douglas.

Ruby handed
Douglas his last gift and Julia couldn’t stop herself from watching
him openly (she had not saved a present for herself as she wanted
to watch the others).

His face was a
picture of astonishment then his eyes became immediately
shuttered.

All the
presents Julia saved were from her. For Douglas it was a bottle of
Lalique men’s cologne. An extraordinary scent that she fell in love
with when she smelled it and it was presented in an exquisite
bottle with the head of a horse carved intricately in the
front.

What it
was
not
was a stock
certificate.

He took it out
of the box and moved it around in his hands as Julia leaned over to
him. “I hope you like it. It isn’t a diamond watch –”

His eyes
lifted to hers and his were blazing so fiercely that her breath
went out of her in a rush.

“I don’t want
a diamond watch,” he said, his voice both terse and strangely
hoarse, the combination of tone and the look in his eyes made her
believe that she’d made him angry.

“The horse
reminded me of you… not that you look like a horse…” she explained
clumsily but she stopped he stood abruptly.

“Excuse us,”
he declared to the table at large and Julia noticed that everyone
was watching them with avid interest.

To her stunned
surprise, he put the cologne on the table, grabbed Julia’s hand,
pulled her none-too-gently out of her chair and walked out of the
room, tugging her along behind him, his strides so long and fast
she had to run to keep up with him.

He headed to
the study, yanked her inside and slammed the door.

She misread
his response and rushed to calm him. “Douglas, I’m so sorry, I
wanted to do something –”

He grabbed her
and in actions that were violent yet controlled, at the same time
strangely gentle, he threw her against the door and pressed his
body into hers. His hands came to either side of her jaw, tilting
her face to his, his mouth descended and took hers in a kiss that
was so devastatingly thorough she was panting when he lifted his
head.

His hands
cradled her face and, if she wasn’t shocked enough at this
behaviour; he astounded her further by nudging her nose with his
own.

“Marry me.”
His voice was rough and she felt it like a physical touch.

Her legs,
already jelly, nearly came out from under her.

She grasped
onto his sweater at his sides to hold herself upright but shook her
head, panic beginning to fill her.

This was not a
Douglas she knew. This was not an indifferent Douglas. This was not
a determined Douglas, bent on having what he wanted. This was an
altogether unknown Douglas.

A Douglas she
could actually say yes to.

“I was just
trying to be nice, I didn’t expect this.” To her irritation, her
voice held a tremble.

“Oh yes you
did, you just didn’t know it.”

“What an
extraordinarily arrogant thing to say.” She tried to sound waspish
but it came out breathless.

He grinned and
she moaned a little at the sight of it which made his grin grow to
a smile.

“
It’s
going to be
so
fun when I
win.” His nose nudged hers again, this time playfully (a playful
Douglas, too, had once been an altogether unknown entity and she
found herself shocked that she was actually getting used to
it).

He slid
his nose up the side of hers. Then his lips kissed each eyelid in
turn and she held her breath, scared of what she’d say or do
because his actions were so sweet, so tender, so caring, so
strangely
loving
, she
couldn’t cope.

She tried to
break the moment. “Everyone is probably wondering where we are, we
have to go back.”

“Did you like
the watch?” He changed the subject immediately, his body pressing
more insistently into hers as his hands moved from her jaws and
became arms curved around her and his lips slid from her temple to
her ear.

She knew
that
he
knew that she
liked the watch. He was just being wicked by making her say it out
loud.

“It’s a lovely
watch.” It was more than a lovely watch, it was a magnificent
watch.

“‘Lovely.’
That’s a word you use to describe a lot of things.” His voice was
at her ear, causing tingles to slide across her skin.

She knew
exactly what he was referring to and she also knew she was being
churlish, especially considering the thoughtfulness and generosity
of the gift.

He deserved
better.

“It’s
beautiful,” she admitted. “I love it.”

“How much do
you love it?” he asked roughly, invitingly, his breath floated
across the sensitive skin behind her ear and she squirmed against
him, both pushing him away with her hands at his waist and bunching
the fabric of his sweater between her fists to hold him where he
was.

“It’s
perfect,” she whispered. “It’s me. I would choose it for myself.
Sam did a good job with all the gifts today.”

This caused
his head to jerk up and he narrowed his eyes at her.

“
Sam
did
not
choose that
watch. I did.”

“Oh.” This
came out as a breath and then the thought of him entering a shop,
choosing something so immensely splendid, so entirely perfect and
purchasing it for her caused her to utter the word, “Wow.”

“I suppose
‘wow’ is a damned, bloody sight better than ‘lovely’,” he
growled.

She blinked at
him as she realised, belatedly, his mood had shifted.

“Are you
angry?” Her eyes had rounded and for some reason he let her go,
stepping back a pace.

“I’m not
angry,” he said in a voice that belied his words.

“You sound
angry.”

“
I’m
not
angry,” he
clipped.

“Then what are
you?”

He looked for
a second uncertain and Julia couldn’t believe her eyes.

His eyes
became focused and he glared at her. “I’m frustrated.”

Julia stared
at him for a second before returning, “Well, remind me never to do
anything nice for you again. Frustrated was not what I was going
for.”

And before he
could reply, she took her opportunity for escape (something, at
that moment, she dearly needed) and quickly exited the room, not
looking back.

Ruby Finally
Understands

After
leaving Douglas in the study, Julia was of a mind to make the men
do the Christmas dishes,
including
and
especially
Douglas. She came to her senses and realised she’d escape
him more easily by doing the dishes herself because he rarely
stepped foot in the kitchen.

The children
talked to Patricia while Ronnie, Mrs. K and Julia scoured the pots
and pans.

Julia came to
the phone last.

“How’s it
going?” Patricia asked.

“So far so
good,” Julia replied.

“They sounded
good. Happy. You did a good job Doll Baby.”

Julia was
silent. She wanted to tell her mother everything but couldn’t.
Patricia would be there in twenty-four hours raising all kinds of
ruckus if she knew even half of what was happening.

“Jewel?”
Patricia broke into her thoughts.

“You having an
okay Christmas?” Julia queried.

“Your Aunt
Doris made the most heavenly cake. It has twelve melted Milky Way
bars in it.”

“It’s not time
for dinner there yet, how have you had any cake?”

“I might have
sneaked a piece,” Patricia admitted.

Normally Julia
would have laughed but she was in no mood to laugh.

On a sigh,
Julia said, “I miss Aunt Doris. Tell her I love her, will you?”

Patricia was
silent.

“Mom?” It was
Julia’s turn to break into her mother’s thoughts.

“Are you going
to tell me what’s going on?” Her intuitive mother demanded.

No, Julia was
most definitely not going to tell her mother what was going on.

“I’m fine, the
kids are fine, everything’s fine,” Julia lied.

“Is Douglas
fine?”

Julia felt a
shiver go up her spine. Her mother’s insight was uncanny. It was
almost as if she could read Julia’s thoughts.

“Yes, I’m
just, we’re both…” Julia paused and then continued. “Mom, it isn’t
the happiest day, if you know what I mean, even though we’re all
pretending it is.”

Patricia, as
usual, didn’t fall for Julia’s evasive manoeuvre.

“What’s this
about a diamond watch?” Patricia asked.

Julia closed
her eyes.

Lizzie.

“
It’s
probably nothing to him.” It was definitely not nothing to him and
it certainly wasn’t nothing to her. “He’s rich as Rockefeller, Mom.
Richer, even. He was very generous, with
all
of us,” Julia explained and hoped it sounded
plausible.

Her mother
made a “humph” sound that in Julia’s vast experience was more a
motherly “I-know-you’re-not-telling-me-something” humph than
“I’m-angry-about-something” humph.

When the
phone call was done, in an attempt to keep the light-hearted spirit
of the day going, Julia organised a game. Lizzie spread the
Monopoly board on the carpet in front of the fire in the library in
between the three couches that flanked and faced it. They were
making teams and the minute Douglas sauntered in, Lizzie shouted,
“Auntie Jewel and Uncle Douglas
have
to be a team!”

Julia’s mind
wasn’t working fast enough to find a way to back out that didn’t
appear ungracious, so, before she could utter a word, she was
saddled with Douglas as her partner.

He, to all
appearances, was happy as a clam with these arrangements.

Julia was on
the floor, stretched out on her side, her back to the fire, up on
her elbow, her head resting in her hand. To her shock (and perhaps
everyone else in the room’s, except Nick, who smiled slyly),
Douglas stretched out behind her.

With all
expectant eyes on her, it would have been impolite to change her
position and Julia allowed herself a quiet annoyed noise only to
hear Douglas chuckle behind her. This made her feel angry enough to
emit a louder annoyed noise which, to the assembled crowd’s bigger
shock, made Douglas burst out laughing.

She decided
from that point forward to keep her noises to herself and spent the
entire game enduring Douglas moving the pieces and rolling the dice
by reaching over her to get to the board (each time, his chest
pressing into her back).

After awhile
she couldn’t stop herself from enjoying the game (as much as she
tried). Douglas was competitive and relentless and he preyed
mercilessly upon weaker teams which included everyone else playing.
Furtively, when she thought Douglas wasn’t paying attention, Julia
would steal from their bank and slip notes into her opposing
teammates’ piles. When she snuck £100 into Ruby and Ronnie’s
fast-dwindling stack, he leaned close to her ear and whispered
softly, “Stop doing that.”

She fought the
thrill that ran across her skin and twisted her neck to look at him
in feigned, wide-eyed innocence, “What?”

He loomed over
her, his face so close she took that moment to memorise the shape
of the scar on his lip.

“Don’t think
you can distract me,” he warned but she could tell he was teasing
(teasing!).

Her eyes moved
to his and they were dark as midnight.

“I wouldn’t
dream of it,” she assured him and forced herself to concentrate on
the game and not provoke him, mainly because she feared the
consequences, not from him but from her own damned body (and heart,
if she was perfectly honest with herself).

Unable to help
the other players, she and Douglas trounced the rest. She could
have been the unhappiest winner in history which made Douglas’s now
ever present grin all the more pronounced.

Unwilling to
start another game or any activity which Lizzie could manipulate
into a matchmaker’s dream, they moved on to nightcaps. Soon Douglas
was carrying a sleeping Ruby, who was so exhausted she didn’t wake,
to her room. Julia followed and Douglas left her to struggle her
sleeping niece’s body into a nightgown.