Текст книги "Christmas at Lilac Cottage"

Автор книги: Holly Martin

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Текущая страница: 10 (всего у книги 21 страниц)

Chapter Twelve

Henry strode around the back of the house, whistling to himself. He had never looked forward to a date before as much as he was looking forward to his night with Penny. And it came with an almost guarantee of no sex, unlike his other dates which were almost always guaranteed to end there. Bizarrely, he didn’t care. He wanted to make love to Penny, he couldn’t deny that, but it wasn’t the end goal as it had been with other women. With Penny he wanted to get to know her more than anything, he wanted to spend time with her and make her laugh like she’d laughed that morning. He wanted to share himself with her, the good stuff and the bad, the small and the big. He’d bumped into an old man in town and had an interesting chat with him and Henry wanted to tell her about that too.

He peered through her back door to see if she was around and was surprised to see her pacing nervously around the kitchen. Maybe she was just nervous about the date. She had really big hair too, as if she had been in a wind tunnel but on closer inspection it appeared it had been specifically styled that way.

He opened the door and let himself in. She looked at him with a terrified expression on her face. Was she having second thoughts about their date? He decided to ignore the big hair, as he certainly didn’t want her to feel self-conscious about it, and just start a casual conversation with her to try to distract her from her nerves.

‘I had an interesting conversation with someone in town…’

Penny groaned. ‘I’m so so sorry. I don’t know how it all started. It just snowballed out of control. They all know, everyone does. Apparently it’s the most exciting thing that’s happened in White Cliff Bay for years. I was the subject of a book club meeting for Christ’s sake. There was a plan hatched. I had no idea. And then I went to buy a toothbrush and they just happened to be next to the condom section. And I did look at them, but not for us, just because I was intrigued to see there were so many different types. The next thing Suzanna comes over and she starts talking to me about them and said that you needed extra-large and that it was best to have a range for our first time. I was mortified, but she wouldn’t let me leave without taking some. Then Maggie took me to have my hair done and look at it, I look like an eighties porn star, it’s huge and all I wanted was a trim. Before I could escape, Christine from the beauty place turns up and escorted me back to the salon, I told her that I didn’t want anything but she wouldn’t listen to my rebuttals and quite frankly she scares me, the next thing she is ripping hair from almost every single part of my body, my eyebrows, my legs, my bikini line, honestly I’m as bald as a coot down there now and it’s chilly, believe me. And as I left, Monica from Silk & Lace was already waiting for me and whisked me off to her shop and persuaded me to buy some sexy lingerie. I’ve never bought sexy lingerie in my life and I now have two pairs of lacy pants with matching bras and tiny little rosebuds on them and a pair of black satin shorts that barely cover my bum embroidered with silver snowflakes and some kind of matching camisole top. Look.’

She pulled the short and top combo out of a paper bag and put it on the table.

‘It’s the tiniest, flimsiest piece of underwear I’ve ever seen, and I’d be way too embarrassed to ever wear anything like this. But it didn’t stop there, I was forced to buy a dress with a slit right up the side, ridiculous high-heel shoes, a perfume that’s supposed to bring men to their knees. I didn’t want any of that stuff, I swear, I went into town for lunch and a new toothbrush, that’s all. And now the whole town thinks we’re going to have this night of passion and we’ve only kissed a few times and Daisy will probably find out and I’m so sorry if they’ve all been teasing you about it today,’ she said, clearly out of breath from her sudden outburst.

Henry stared at her shock. He wanted to laugh, get angry and hug her all at the same time. He didn’t know if he would ever get used to this level of nosiness but Penny had lived here her entire life and she was still clearly upset by it. His eyes cast down to the flimsy underwear on the table and he picked the top up, fingering the material. God, to see her in this would be a dream come true. Even if he had promised her that he wouldn’t take it any further than a kiss, he would quite gladly cancel their date and spend the whole night holding her and kissing her in this underwear.

He looked up. She was waiting for him to freak out too, thinking he had been subjected to all of this when in fact no one had said a word to him. Although, come to think of it, he had noticed a few looks, smiles and winks but he’d just put it down to the oddness of the town. He had to reassure her that he hadn’t been harassed like she was, but that wasn’t going to make her feel better about her near hysterical outburst.

Finally he cleared his throat. ‘I was going to say that I spoke to someone in town today who had bought some of my handmade furniture years ago and he says it’s still his favourite piece in his house.’

Penny paled.

‘You didn’t know I bought condoms or sexy lingerie?’

Henry shook his head.

Penny flushed, her pale cheeks going bright red. ‘Oh god.’

She sank to the bench and put her head in her hands, clearly not wanting to look at him.

He smiled. The easiest thing for her would be to laugh it off.

‘Where are the condoms?’

She pointed to a bag.

‘I better take care of those, wouldn’t want Daisy to see them.’ She peered through her fingers at him as he looked in the bag. ‘Wow, you bought a lot.’

‘I didn’t, the pharmacist just gave them all to me for free, she just filled the whole bag up, she was so excited that I was going to have sex after all this time and I didn’t have the heart to say we wouldn’t be.’

He nodded, trying to suppress a smile, but then he saw the twitches of a smile on her face too and he let out a loud laugh which had her smile turning into a grin.

‘I better go and get ready for our big date then. I’ll pick you up at seven.’ He moved to walk towards the door. ‘Oh honey, wear the sexy snowflake set tonight for me. It’ll make it much more fun when we’re in bed later.’

‘Ha, you wish. I’m going to wear my oldest, most grey, holey pair, that’ll teach you for teasing me.’

He shrugged. ‘That works too.’

She smiled and he closed the door between them. Tonight was going to be fun, regardless how it ended.

Penny nervously waited in the kitchen for Henry to come and collect her. She had managed to calm her hair down and pulled it into a loose side plait. She had worn the thigh-splitting dress but only because the only other items of clothes in her wardrobe were jeans and hoodies or a smart trouser suit which looked like she was ready for an interview. Part of her wanted to cancel the date because she didn’t want to be subject to her whole dinner being under the watchful eye of the entire town. But if they were going to do this on a regular basis then they had to get the first time out the way and hopefully everyone would treat them normally after that.

It was still fifteen minutes till seven o’clock and she was trying to read a book, but the words weren’t going in. Suddenly there was a soft knock on the connecting door and Henry walked in.

‘Sorry, I couldn’t wait to see you.’

Her stomach lurched at the sight of him. Dressed in a silvery grey suit and a white shirt that was open at the neck, he was a magnificent sight.

‘If you’re ready to go, we can leave now,’ Henry said, when she had no words to fill the silence.

She quickly lurched to her feet, unsteady on her ridiculously high heels and the dress that was split to the thigh fell open. She was completely overdressed and she suddenly wanted to sprint upstairs and change back into her favourite jeans again. She quickly pulled the dress straight, cursing that she hadn’t gone for the trouser suit instead; the last thing she wanted was for people to be staring at her legs all night. But when she looked up at Henry, her fussing hands stilled. There was a complete and utter hunger in his eyes. Chris had never looked at her like that – at best he’d looked at her with a fondness, someone he quite liked spending time with. She’d had never been looked at as if she was about to be eaten. Her confidence soared, her doubts lay forgotten.

Henry moved towards her and grabbed her coat off the back of the chair, wrapping it round her shoulders and helping her to put it on.

He moved round the front and sweetly did the buttons up for her.

‘I am quite capable of putting my own coat on,’ she laughed.

‘In all honesty, I had to cover you up or I really don’t think we’d be leaving the house this evening.’

She smiled and leaned up to kiss him, pulling on the lapels of his jacket. His arms wrapped round her in the biggest of hugs so she was so close to him there was no gap at all. God, she wanted more than this kiss, she wanted everything, to feel his skin next to hers, to taste every inch of his flesh. She had never had desires like this before, never wanted anyone with such a primal need before.

He pulled back. ‘That’s not helping us leave either. Come on, we can continue this when we get back. Maybe we skip the starters and the dessert, grab a quick McDonald’s and come straight back here.’

‘That sounds good.’

He escorted her out, opening his car door for her like the perfect gentleman.

‘I need to ask a favour actually,’ Penny said.

‘Of course, anything.’

‘Well, it’s your fault so you can’t really say no. I had a phone call from Josh earlier, it seems he broke his wrist when you threw him to the floor.’

Henry paled. ‘Oh god, no. Now I feel awful. I need to go over and apologise properly.’

‘Well, you shouldn’t feel too bad, you did do it with the best intentions, but going over there is not a good move. His mum is the most terrifying woman I have ever met. Josh told her he slipped on some ice and I really think she doesn’t need to know the truth. She’s a lawyer and I wouldn’t be surprised if she managed to slap some criminal charges or lawsuit on you for abusing her son. If you feel really guilty buy him a new computer game for his Xbox and I’m sure he will love you forever. But he will be out of action for several weeks and that provides me with a bit of a problem. I pay him to come and help me lift and move the ice blocks and carvings and I can’t do that alone. Looks like you might have a new job for the next few weeks.’

‘You want to use me for my body?’

‘Something like that.’

‘And pay me for it? I feel so dirty and cheap.’

‘You won’t be paid for it, I’m still paying Josh whilst he’s off sick and I’m not paying you too. You can do it out of guilt or the goodness of your heart, but I will cook you and Daisy dinner occasionally so be grateful for that.’

‘I don’t mind helping you, but I do feel really bad about Josh.’

‘He’s fine. His mum is spoiling him rotten and he’s enjoying the attention. He’ll be completely fine in a few weeks.’

Henry drove down the bumpy drive but, instead of turning left to go towards the town, he turned right to take them away from White Cliff Bay. He caught her questioning gaze.

‘I thought our first date should be just the two of us, not half of White Cliff Bay watching us like animals in the zoo.’

‘Oh thank god, it would have been unbearable if we had gone into town but, you know, everyone will be very disappointed that we are a no-show.’

‘They’ll probably just think that we’re decided to stay in and have hot, passionate sex instead.’

Penny laughed. ‘What are we going to do if Daisy hears all these rumours?’

‘I don’t know, laugh it off, deny all knowledge. She knows we are going out tonight so we can just tell her the town have jumped to the wrong conclusion. As much as the town like to poke their noses in, I can’t see anyone going up to a sixteen-year-old girl and saying, “Hey, did your dad get laid last night? Did you hear the bed squeaking? Do you know if he used the extra-large condoms or not?” I’d hope they’d have a bit more discretion than that.’

‘I hope so too. I don’t want to do anything to upset her. I really like her and she adores you.’

‘Ha, she tolerates me.’

‘You’re her entire world.’

‘I’m insanely over-protective and it drives her mad. Of course, I let her go out on her own, but it doesn’t stop me worrying until she gets back home.’

‘That’s understandable. I don’t suppose that feeling will ever go away. So you had her from when she was three months old? I know you said that her mum’s parents wanted to put her up for adoption.’

‘They did, but I begged them not to. They didn’t really know what to do with her when she was born – they didn’t want to raise her themselves and I think they hoped that Tina would fall in love with her and raise her properly, but she couldn’t have cared less. I think they felt guilty about putting her up for adoption and my parents fought against it too. They brought her to stay with me quite frequently and one weekend they conveniently forgot to pick her back up again. I fell in love with her so quickly, so hard, that there was never a question of sending her somewhere else. My parents helped a lot and so did Anna – she absolutely adored Daisy too, we all did – but the night feeds, the dirty nappies, that was all down to me.’

‘I admire you so much for that, so many sixteen-year-old boys would never have made that choice.’

‘It was hard work, of course it was, but there was never a choice, she was my daughter.’

Penny watched him negotiate the roads and felt her heart fill with love for him.

‘It must have affected your life though, the things that you wanted to do – travel, go to university – they would have been unattainable.’

‘I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life at the age of sixteen, there were no plans that she got in the way of. I just wanted to provide for her and give her the best life possible. I lived with my parents until I was twenty-four, which gave me a tiny bit of freedom. I was always good with my hands, always enjoyed making things, so I would have probably got a job doing that anyway. I don’t regret having her, not for one second. She’s the best thing that ever happened to me.’

‘So you’ve always been a carpenter?’

‘Yes, making furniture, chairs, tables, chests. I worked in a small furniture shop for a while. I love the process, something that starts out as a little sketch on a piece of paper and with care and hard work it turns into a beautiful chest or a chair. How you finish the piece is crucial as well, whether the piece looks like faded driftwood or polished oak, the handles and hinges, the curves of the furniture. I loved it so much I started making my own stuff. I had a website and sold it online. I did well out of it. The White Cliff Bay Furniture Company approached me.’

‘Wow, they must have been very impressed with what they saw.’

Henry nodded. ‘Edward has one of my chests in his office. I saw it there the other day and I wonder if that was the thing that flagged me up to them. I’m going to keep making some of my own furniture as a little side line. If the job falls flat, I’ll still have my own stuff to fall back on. The thing that worries me working at White Cliff Bay is not having the freedom to be able to design the pieces I want. But maybe I’ll have to forgo that for financial job security.’

Henry turned down a little side road that led to a tiny cove. Penny frowned in confusion. There was nothing down here apart from the cove; there were no shops, toilets and especially not anywhere to eat.

‘I think you might have taken a wrong turn,’ Penny said.

‘What’s this, the outsider knows something the local doesn’t?’ Henry said.

He parked the car along the road near the path that led down to the beach. Surprisingly there were lots of other cars there too.

He got out and took her hand, leading her to the steps that curled down to the sand. It was well lit, with little lanterns sending puddles of light down the stairs and across a small wooden path that led across the beach towards the caves. She carefully picked her way down the stairs in her stupid high heels and onto the wooden path. The tide was in but it didn’t reach all the way to the back of the beach, leaving a good twenty metres of sand untouched.

‘I used to play here when I was a child, in the caves, but I haven’t been down here for years,’ Penny said, still wondering where they were going.

Henry helped her up a few stone steps into the cave and she followed him down a well-lit tunnel, but as she rounded the corner into what had been a large cavern, she stopped in shock. There was a tiny lake in the middle of the cavern and dotted around the edges were about twenty tables lit up by lanterns and candles, the lights sparkling off the water like fireflies.

‘Henry, it’s beautiful, how long has this been here?’

‘About two weeks, according to Anna. She and Steve came here last week.’

One of the waiters came over and Henry gave them his name and they ushered him to a table.

Penny looked around. In the darkness of the cave, the lights looked like orbs of gold, shimmering over the water. There were tall plants dotted between the tables along with outdoor heaters, lending a certain amount of privacy to the diners and giving it a slight Mediterranean feel, too.

‘The menu is limited, a lot of it is barbequed or they have a large pizza oven, but apparently the food is amazing.’

Penny reached across the table and took his hand. ‘Thank you for bringing me here, it’s just wonderful.’

‘I wanted something special for our first date and then I remembered Anna talking about this place.’

Penny smiled at the trouble he had taken to do something nice for her. ‘It feels so secret, like no one knows it’s here.’

‘Secret place, secret meetings, I bet everyone here is having an affair.’

She laughed and looked around. At the next table was a young man in a very expensive suit sitting opposite a blonde with a very short skirt.

‘I think he is a CEO of a big corporate company and that’s his assistant that he is shagging behind his wife’s back,’ Penny said.

Henry glanced over and nodded. ‘And look at that couple, she’s old enough to be his mum. I bet she’s sleeping with her daughter’s husband.’

Penny looked over and laughed. ‘That’s Mary Buttercoombe and her son, Simon. So probably not sleeping together. White Cliff Bay may seem like an odd little town but I don’t think incest is on our list of hobbies.’

‘Ah, OK, what about those two?’

Penny glanced over at a slightly round man, dressed in leather with a long ginger beard and a bald head, sitting opposite a woman in a sweet flowery dress. ‘They met online and this is their first date.’

The waitress came over to them. She was impossibly tall with a long curtain of blonde hair that was flicked over one shoulder. She had inexplicably large breasts. Henry glanced up at her, suppressed a smile and returned to looking at his menu.

They gave their drinks order and she left.

‘What’s made you laugh?’

‘I was just thinking, if we are creating life stories for all the people in here, I think she is a secret porn star.’

Penny laughed. ‘I must admit you’re not anything like what I first thought, when I met you.’

‘What did you think of me when we first met?’

‘That you were grumpy, moody, inappropriate because you were flirting with me when I thought you were married and sexy as hell.’

He laughed so loudly it echoed around the cavern.

‘And you don’t think I’m sexy as hell now?’

‘Ah, you’re not bad to look at, I suppose.’

He laughed again and Penny loved the sight of him smiling so much.

‘I am grumpy, thankfully not all the time, but when I get in a bad mood, everyone knows about it. I have a hell of a temper, which has only reared its ugly head a few times in my life but it isn’t pretty when it does appear. And I am inappropriate because the thoughts that are currently running through my head about you are completely not acceptable for a first date where I promised to keep everything slow.’

‘Oh.’ Penny couldn’t help but blush.

‘You see, I am inappropriate. I shouldn’t have said anything. I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable.’

‘No, it’s fine.’ She ran her thumb over the back of his hand. ‘I’m just not used to it, that’s all. Chris never said things like that to me.’

‘He never said how beautiful you were, how much you turned him on?’

‘No. We just didn’t have that kind of relationship. He… wasn’t particularly tactile or loving. It’s fine, different people work in different ways.’

‘You deserve so much better than him. Let me tell you now, you look incredible tonight.’

Penny looked down at her menu.

‘You don’t like compliments,’ Henry said. ‘You’re going to have to get used to them when you’re with me.’

‘I’ll try.’

He smiled at her. ‘You’re also going to have to get used to standing up for yourself. I’m not going to allow people like Jade and Beth to think you are worthless. No one has the right to treat you badly and you need to tell them that. You deserve the best.’

She smiled, not quite sure what to make of this protective streak towards her.

‘Do you want to share a starter?’ he asked.

Penny nodded.

There was a lot she was going to have to get used to around Henry.

Henry pulled up outside their house and turned off the engine. They sat in silence for a moment. It had been a wonderful night. He was so easy to talk to and he made her laugh a lot. But now it suddenly felt like the evening was about to change. Even though Henry had promised to keep everything really slow and not to push her for anything more, she was still nervous about what the night would hold. She hadn’t laid in bed with a man for over eight years. Part of her wanted to take that next step with Henry, she trusted him completely, and even though she had only known him a few days, she couldn’t help the feelings that he caused in her.

He got out and came round to open the car door for her, taking her hand and pulling her out.

She looped her arms round his neck. ‘Are you always such a gentleman?’

He smiled sheepishly, wrapping his arms around her tightly. ‘Well, I was raised to have good manners with women, but I don’t think any of my dates have suggested I’m a gentleman before. When I go out on dates there’s pretty much only one thing on my mind.’

‘Do all your first dates end in sex?’

‘Most of them do.’

She sighed softly. Regardless of what he’d said that morning, he must be disappointed it wasn’t going to end that way.

‘It’s different with you,’ he said. ‘I don’t want that with you.’

‘You don’t want to make love to me?’

‘Oh god, of course I do, but it’s about more than that with us. I want it to be special and I’ve never wanted that before. Normally I go back to the girl’s place, we have a quick shag and then the women hate me because as soon as it’s over I get up and come home to my daughter.’

‘Do you ever bring them back to your house?’

‘No, never, that’s not the kind of thing that I want Daisy to see, hear or even know that that’s what I’m doing. Even with the women that things got semi-serious with, I never had them stay over. I’d have them over for dinner so they could spend time with Daisy but then I’d take them back home again. Any sex always took place at the woman’s house. Everything is different with you. It feels right. When you are ready, I want to make love to you in my bed.’

She stared at him, feeling her heart swell with love for him.

‘Hey, look, a shooting star, make a wish,’ Henry said, pointing out over the sea.

Penny watched as a slash of gold ripped open the inky blue night sky. She closed her eyes and wished, really hard.

‘What did you wish for?’

‘I can’t tell you that, it won’t come true.’

Henry took her hand and led her round the back of the house. He let them into his kitchen and undid her coat, not taking his eyes off hers for a second.

He stared down at her, as if he was trying to work her out. Whatever he saw made him smile. He kissed her, softly, sweetly but, as with every time he had kissed her before, desire ripped through her at the slightest of touches.

‘I want to spend the rest of the night kissing you in my bed,’ he mumbled against her lips. ‘Come on, let’s go to bed.’

Henry started pulling her up the stairs.

‘Wait,’ Penny laughed at his urgency. ‘I haven’t got any pyjamas.’

‘You can sleep in one of my t-shirts.’

He led her into his bedroom and she watched as he started undressing. She slipped off her shoes, and undid the plait, combing through her hair with her fingers as she watched his shirt and then his trousers come off so he was left only in his tight black boxers. He was watching her too and she felt suddenly shy about undressing in front of him.

He grabbed a t-shirt and put it on the bed in front of her.

‘Why don’t I leave you to get changed?’ Henry said, softly.

‘Wait, can you unzip my dress at the back?’

Henry moved behind her and the touch of his hands was like fire at the top of her neck. He unzipped the dress slowly, his hand caressing her back with the softest of touches.

‘Oh,’ Henry said, his hands parting the dress at the back. ‘You wore the snowflake lingerie.’

‘Well yes, you seemed to like it so…’ She trailed off as he moved his hands back to her shoulders and slid the straps down her arms. The dress slithered off her body into a puddle on the floor. At least the black satin camisole top and tiny shorts seemed to cover her body more than the skimpy bra and thong sets she had been forced to buy earlier.

He cupped her waist and pressed his mouth to her neck, sending desire and need hurtling through her as his hands wandered around to stroke across her satin-clad stomach.

‘Do me a favour.’ His voice was coarse. ‘Just wear this tonight, forget the t-shirt.’

She tossed the t-shirt over the chair and climbed into bed. He was quick to follow, immediately pulling her to him and kissing her.

Where before the kisses had been slow and tender, now they were laced with an urgency and hunger. He moved slowly on top of her, pinning her with his weight as the kiss continued.

She could feel how turned on he was getting.

‘Sorry, just ignore it,’ he mumbled against her mouth and she giggled.

Knowing how his body had reacted to her just from a kiss made her heart soar and all thoughts of being slow and cautious went straight out the window.

‘I don’t want to ignore it,’ she whispered.

He carried on kissing her for a few moments before he stopped. ‘What?’

Flushing, Penny stroked his face. ‘I want you to make love to me.’

He stared at her, not blinking. ‘Now?’

She nodded.

‘Are you sure?’

‘Do I need to beg?’

‘No, Christ no.’ He immediately pulled her top off, and trailed reverential kisses across her shoulder down to her breast. His hands caressed her skin, moving slowly down to her hips and sliding her shorts down her legs. She ran her hands down his back, feeling the warm, soft velvet over a wall of muscle as he peppered kisses over every inch of her body, taking his time to touch, stroke, caress and adore her until her whole body was thrumming with need, responding to the slightest of touches.

Finally he knelt up and grabbed a condom from the nearby bulging bag. She giggled as he tried to find one he liked but he quickly did, and a few frustrating moments later he settled himself between her legs, carefully lowering his weight onto her. He kissed her deeply as he slid slowly inside her, capturing her moans with his mouth, he let out a deep guttural moan too.

He pulled back slightly to look at her as she ran her hands round the back of his neck and she was thrown by the look of pure love and adoration in his eyes. She was falling for this man and there was no way back now. Any hope of trying to protect her heart from the devastating pain she had felt eight years before was gone. It didn’t make sense to fall this hard, this fast, and as he frowned slightly, she could see he was thinking it too.

‘Do you know what I wished for?’

She shook her head.

‘I wished that I can make all your wishes come true.’

He started moving, slowly, tenderly, without taking his eyes off hers, but with every breath, every movement, she knew she was falling deeper in love and deeper in trouble.