Christmas at Lilac Cottage: (#1 White Cliff Bay) (18 page)

He heard the click-clack of heels before he saw Clara and his heart sank. He just hoped that she would walk past him. The hope died quickly as the noise of her heels grew louder and closer and then stopped right behind him.

Clara cleared her throat annoyingly and he sighed and turned around.

‘I need a word with you in my office, there’s just some forms I need to go through with you.’ She turned to walk away, clearly expecting him to follow.

‘I thought I’d filled in all the forms,’ Henry said, not moving from his spot.

‘I need to go through some of the details with you,’ Clara snapped, clearly not in the mood to be messed around or fobbed off today.

She stormed off and Henry watched her go. He balled up the cloth, tossed it to one side and followed her. He caught Daniel’s eye as he walked past, who looked at him with confusion.

He climbed the stairs and walked through the office belonging to Audrey. She looked at him as if she had no idea why he would be going to see Clara but she didn’t stop him.

He walked into Clara’s office and deliberately left the door open.

He hadn’t really noticed the night before, presumably because the lights from the factory had been turned off, but one wall was filled with windows overlooking the factory floor, giving her prime viewing of where he had been working moments before. He didn’t like that she had been up here watching him.

‘Close the door,’ she said.

‘I’d rather leave it open if it’s all the same to you.’

She gave a small smug smile and got up from the desk, closing the door herself.

‘Do I scare you, Henry?’ Clara said as she sat back down.

‘Not particularly. But I’m just about to go home so if you can show me the issue with the forms then I can leave.’ He looked pointedly at her empty desk.

‘We need to fix a date for you to take me out for dinner.’

Wow. She wasn’t going to beat around the bush. Well, neither was he.

‘I’m not going to take you out for dinner, Clara. As I told you last night, I have a girlfriend and I don’t think she would take kindly to me dating other women.’

She drummed her long gold nails on the desk watching him carefully, the smug smile turning into something cruel.

‘I don’t care if you are happily married with twelve children. I’m the CEO of White Cliff Bay Furniture Company and trust me when I say I can make things very difficult for you if I so desire.’

His stomach twisted with anger. ‘What are you saying?’

‘Competition for your job was very fierce. You would be very easy to replace.’

Christ. He needed this job. He had moved Daisy across the country to take this job, dragged her away from his parents, her friends. There was no way he was betraying Penny, but even if he wasn’t with her, he would never be blackmailed into sleeping with his boss. The thought disgusted him. Clara was beautiful but he refused to be manipulated like that.

He could feel a rage burning in his gut. He had to walk away now before he said something he would regret.

He turned and stormed out of the office. Audrey stared at him with wide eyes.

‘Mr Travis, I’ve not finished with you yet,’ Clara yelled after him. This was clearly a woman who was very used to getting what she wanted. Not with him.

He turned round and stormed back in. When he spoke, he made sure it was loud enough for Audrey to hear. ‘Let me make this very clear, I am not going to take you out to dinner, I am never going to sleep with you, and if you try to blackmail me into doing so by threatening me with my job I will slap a sexual harassment suit on you so fast you won’t know what’s hit you. I will sue you and this company for every single penny that you have. Now I suggest you get on with your very important work and leave me to get on with the job I was hired to do.’

She went very pale and then stood up. ‘How dare you…’

He walked out and stormed down the stairs, not wanting to hear another word from her poisonous mouth. It was already past five o’clock and people were getting ready to leave, calling out goodbyes to each other as machines were turned off and work areas were tidied up. He grabbed his coat and stormed out.

He had humiliated her in front of her assistant and there was no way he was going to get away with that.

Crap.

He got into his car and slammed his fists against the steering wheel. Manipulative, evil fucking bitch.

He started his car and tore out of the car park.

He’d have to move back to his old town. He couldn’t afford the rent at Penny’s place on the money he got when he was self-employed.

No, he couldn’t move back to where he lived before. Everything was better here, the people, the area, the school. Daisy was happy and he couldn’t uproot her again. And there was his relationship with Penny to think about. He didn’t want to leave her. His throat felt raw at the thought of it.

He pulled up outside the house and rested his head against the steering wheel for a moment. What was he going to do?

He got out and walked round the back of the house, spotting Penny sitting at the kitchen table sketching out one of her designs. Without thinking he walked straight through her back door.

She looked up at him, smiling hugely but her smile quickly fell from her face as she clocked his bad mood. She stood up and he gathered her in his arms and held her tight. She immediately wrapped her arms round him, one hand cupping his head, cradling him against her.

She didn’t ask him why and he was grateful for that. He didn’t want to talk about it. Eventually he pulled away and gave her a brief, quick kiss, leaning his forehead against hers. He was going to fight this with everything he had, because leaving Penny was not something he could even begin to comprehend.

H
enry walked
round the outside of the house later, just as Penny came rushing out of her back door. He had calmed down a lot since he had seen Penny earlier; his resolve that Clara wasn’t going to win this had helped. Ice cream in town with his daughter had also helped, she never failed to cheer him up.

‘Hey, you going out for your hot date with Fabio?’ Henry said.

‘Ha, no. I’m going for dinner at my friend Maggie’s house.’

Henry frowned as he followed her round to her car. ‘As in Daniel’s wife?’

Penny nodded and he stopped her with his hand on her arm. ‘He invited me round for dinner too.’

Penny laughed. ‘They’re trying to set us up on a date.’

‘They know about our date the other night though, Maggie was the one that persuaded you to get your legs and everything else waxed.’

‘She didn’t know it was a proper date, she had just heard that we were going out when Jade told everyone in the pub. I told her we were just friends, I think she was just hopeful it would turn out well – she certainly doesn’t know how well it actually turned out for us. She’s obviously trying to push it even more. I can’t believe she invited us and deliberately didn’t tell us the other was coming.’

Henry smiled at the interference. ‘How about we have some fun with them? Get our own back for trying to set us up.’

‘What did you have in mind?’

‘We could go and pretend we hate each other.’

Penny laughed. ‘I like the sound of that. We could still share a car though, their front door is round the side, so they wouldn’t know.’

‘OK, let’s go in mine, you can direct me in case I get lost,’ Henry suggested.

Henry got in the car and Penny got in too. They drove down the hill, through the town and pulled up on the drive at a large smart whitewashed house that had round windows and garish lights everywhere. Snowmen, Santas and several reindeer were lit up on the lawn and a ‘Merry Christmas’ sign flashed in one of the downstairs windows.

He told Penny to go ahead of him and as she knocked the door he got out the car and slowly walked up the drive. He saw Maggie answer the door – well, he saw her huge belly first and then Maggie appeared. Maggie greeted Penny warmly and then smiled in greeting at Henry.

‘Hello, I’m Maggie. It’s lovely to finally meet you properly.’ She reached up to kiss him on the cheek. ‘It’s such a funny coincidence that you’re both here tonight. I had no idea Daniel had invited you round until about half hour ago and I invited Penny and I forgot to mention it to Daniel. But what a happy happenstance.’

Henry had to stop himself from laughing at the lie and instead he deliberately forced a small smile onto his face and flashed Penny the briefest of glares. Penny quickly looked away so Maggie wouldn’t see her smile. She clearly wasn’t very good at acting, though Maggie had already seen the glare from him and her smile fell from her face.

Daniel appeared in the hall as Henry and Penny stepped in and closed the front door behind them.

‘Henry, so good of you to come,’ Daniel said as Penny and Maggie walked off to the kitchen. Henry heard Penny whispering loudly to Maggie how she didn’t like him and how she thought he was an ass. He had better act his part too.

‘I can’t believe you invited Penny too, she’s the most annoying person in the world, she’s so whiny.’ Henry said, making his voice loud enough for Maggie and Penny to hear.

Daniel’s face fell but, before Henry could get another word out, Maggie barrelled down the hall towards him and he had never been more terrified of anything in his life as he was in that moment.

‘How dare you talk about my friend like that?’ Maggie slammed her finger into his chest. ‘Penny is the sweetest, most lovely, kindest, warmest person you will ever meet and I won’t have you speak about her like that in my house.’ She flung the front door open. ‘Now get out.’

Henry made a mental note to never cross a pregnant woman, and especially not a pregnant Maggie ever again.

In fact he was too scared now to tell the truth in case she killed him for lying to her.

Penny came rushing down the hall. ‘Maggie, it’s OK, we were just joking. We were just going to pretend that we hate each other to get you guys back for trying to set us up.’

Maggie looked between the two of them, her nostrils flaring. ‘This was a joke?’

Henry nodded.

Penny wrapped an arm round his waist. ‘We’re actually seeing each other, though we are keeping it a secret for a few weeks because we want Daisy to get settled in her new home before I’m introduced as the new girlfriend.’

Henry would have preferred not to completely out their relationship, but he hoped if Penny trusted Maggie enough to keep quiet then he could too. Besides, any kind of lying to Maggie now was not going to go down well.

Maggie looked between them, wondering if they were speaking the truth, and as Henry nodded, Maggie’s face split into a huge smile.

‘You’re together?’

Penny nodded.

Maggie squealed and threw her arms around first Penny and then Henry. ‘I’m so happy for you both.’

Daniel laughed. ‘Easy there, Mags, they’ve been on one date, they’re not getting married or anything.’

‘Penny, come to the kitchen with me, I want to hear all about it,’ Maggie said. ‘You boys can go and bond in the front room for a bit before dinner is ready.’

Daniel ushered him into the front room whilst giggling and whispering started in the kitchen. He wondered how much Penny was actually divulging. When he heard a squeal of excitement from Maggie, he guessed it might have been about sex rather than the nice restaurant he had taken her to.

‘I’m so glad you were only joking, I was afraid I’d have to punch you for saying those things about Penny and that wouldn’t have ended well for me,’ Daniel said.

Maggie came waddling out the kitchen carrying two bottles of beer. She fixed Henry with a knowing smile before she left him and Daniel alone.

Daniel raised his beer bottle to Henry. ‘To new friendships.’

Henry chinked the bottle against his friend’s and took a big swig.

‘What did Clara want to talk to you about today anyway? She never gets involved with the carpenters or any of the factory business, she doesn’t seem to do anything actually.’

Henry sat down and slowly peeled away the label on the side of the bottle. ‘I’m really worried actually. I don’t know if I’m going to be working there much longer. She came on to me.’

Daniel sat down opposite him. ‘Shit, you don’t want to get involved with the boss’s sister.’

‘I’m with Penny so she doesn’t hold any interest at all; in fact even if I wasn’t with Penny she wouldn’t hold any interest for me. She tried it on with me last night but I made it very clear I wasn’t available and I thought that would be the end of it. But she seems to think she has a sense of entitlement, that because she’s the owner of the company that I’d be jumping at the chance to sleep with her. I told her I wasn’t interested and she basically said that if I wanted to continue working there I’d reconsider.’

Daniel’s eyes bulged. ‘She did not say that?’

Henry nodded.

‘You have to tell Edward, he would be furious.’

‘Would he really believe me over his sister though? I’m the new guy, he doesn’t know me. I’m hoping it won’t come to that.’

‘What did you say?’

‘I told her if she tried to blackmail me into sleeping with her again, I would slap a sexual harassment suit on the company so fast and sue them for every penny they had.’

Daniel went very pale. ‘You did what? You threatened her?’

Henry ran his fingers through his hair. ‘It probably wasn’t my best move. She just pissed me off. I honestly don’t know whether I’ll have a job to return to after Christmas and Daisy and I have only just arrived down here. If I lose my job, I don’t think I can afford to stay.’

‘What else could you have done? You can’t let her blackmail you like that. And if you had slept with her, it would have ended very badly if Edward found out. Oh mate, I don’t know what to suggest.’

Henry sighed. Everything had seemed so perfect for a few days and now this had ruined everything.

But as Penny walked in with Maggie and he pulled her down by his side, he knew there was no way he could leave White Cliff Bay now.

P
enny smiled
as Henry took her hand and they walked down the driveway towards his car. He had been very tactile all night, sitting next to her, holding her hand at the table, sitting with his arm round her as they chatted to Maggie and Daniel. His affection for her came so naturally and she loved it.

She was worried though. Something had happened at his work today to upset him. The fact that he had kept it to himself worried her too. Despite his smiles and easiness around her friends, there was something eating at him, she could tell that, and somehow she knew it had to do with Clara.

He opened the car door for her and she slid into the passenger seat as he walked round to the driver’s side.

As soon as he closed his door, he leaned across towards her, cupping the back of her head with his large hands and planting a soft, sweet kiss on her lips.

‘I’ve been wanting to do that all night,’ he said, against her mouth. He started to pull away but she grabbed his shirt and pulled him back, kissing him again.

God, his kisses were so addictive and very quickly the kiss turned into the prelude to something else, her hands were in his hair, his were wandering over her body. She reluctantly pulled away before she got too carried away right there on her friend’s driveway. Henry groaned with disappointment. Frustratingly they probably couldn’t even finish off the kiss when they got home.

Henry sat back in his seat, gripping the steering wheel tightly, clearly equally frustrated by their inability to finish the kiss.

He started the car and pulled out their drive.

‘We, erm… don’t have to go straight home,’ Henry said.

She looked at him and laughed. ‘What were you thinking, we find a secluded layby somewhere in the middle of the woods and have sex in the back of the car?’

‘That’s exactly what I’m thinking.’

She stared at him in shock, there were no words in her head. It wasn’t exactly the sweet, gorgeously romantic experience they’d had the first time they made love but she couldn’t deny that the possibility really excited her.

‘I’ve never had sex in a car before,’ Penny said.

‘Me neither.’

‘Really? Isn’t that a rite of passage for most teenage boys?’

‘Remember my later teenage years were spent raising a baby, there wasn’t a lot of time for shagging in cars. Tina was the first girl I slept with, a drunken fumble at a party. There wasn’t anybody else then for years.’

Henry drove through the town.

‘That must have been so hard for you.’

He shrugged. ‘Daisy was my priority. Women just didn’t register on my radar for a long time. I was too exhausted to think about anything else. Night feeds almost killed me.’

‘So no wild sex in weird and wonderful places?’

Henry clearly thought about this for a moment. If there was any weird sex or sex in unusual places, none obviously came to mind. It made Penny feel a lot better about her complete lack of sexual experience. ‘I guess I’ve been quite sensible. I’ve done the usual places, like in the shower, on the table, on the couch, on a pool table, in a garden, on a sun lounger…’

‘Those are usual places?’ Penny blushed.

‘Well, yes. They’re not weird places. One of my friends had sex in a graveyard, now that’s a bit creepy if you ask me. I think mine have been quite normal. Maybe against a tree was probably the strangest place. What about you?’

Penny fiddled with a tiny hole in the knee of her jeans. ‘Erm… the bed and, erm, sitting up in bed once.’ Jesus, no wonder Chris went elsewhere for sex, he must have been bored out of his mind with the plain, boring sex that she had offered him. ‘I never really knew what I was doing and he certainly never instigated it anywhere other than in bed.’

Henry drove up the hill quietly. ‘So… we could rectify that if you want.’

‘I think we better, I’m bloody miles behind everyone else in terms of wild sexual experiences.’

Henry smiled at her as he drove past the turning for her house and she bit her lip. They were really going to do this, they were going to have sex in the car. She suddenly wanted to experience all those passionate sex moments with Henry, in all the places that he had spoken about.

They drove over the hills and Henry took her hand, running his thumb over her palm in tiny little circles which just sent desire and need spiralling through her. They came to some woods and Henry pulled off the road into a short service road that led to an old beacon. In the day, cars would be double-parked either side of the service road as people would walk round the woods with their dogs but now, in the middle of the night, the road was empty.

Once Henry was satisfied they were far enough away from the main road not to be spotted, he pulled onto the side of the road and parked under a tree.

He turned the engine off and the lights and they were plunged into darkness.

They sat in silence for a moment while their eyes became accustomed to the light, or the complete lack of it.

Penny was so excited and so nervous, this felt silly and wrong and wonderful all at once.

‘How should we do this?’ Penny asked, wondering if her innocence and naivety was a total turn-off. Maybe she should be more assertive.

She reached across the handbrake and kissed him and as he ran his hands through her hair, she moved over to his side of the car and straddled him, accidentally pressing the horn with her bum as she positioned herself against the steering wheel. The noise was loud and alien in the middle of the woods and it scared her enough to break the kiss.

Henry laughed and with his hands at her hips he pulled her tighter against him away from the wheel, before kissing her again.

He unzipped her coat and slid it off her shoulders and she shivered as the cold of the night soaked through her thin shirt to her skin.

‘Sorry, I’ll put the heating on,’ Henry mumbled, leaning forward to turn the ignition on, pushing her against the horn as he did. He carried on kissing her as he fumbled around, trying to find the heating controls, the horn went off again, hazard lights flashed and the windscreen wipers came on, making a horrible squeaking sound as they dragged across the dry windscreen.