Page 105 of Christmas at Sturcombe Bay
Paul glanced over at Liam’s brother Luke as they climbed the stairs. “Great. The kids are so keen. They all want to play for Manchester United!”
“That’s good. Hey, they’ve done a great job with this place,” Luke approved, gazing around as they stepped into the upstairs room. “It was a dump. Do you remember playing cricket in here when it was raining?”
Paul laughed. “Do I! The ball bouncing off the walls like a hand grenade, and stirring up so much dust we’d be choking on it.”
He’d taken off his cravat and stuffed it in his pocket, and unfastened the top button of his shirt. He’d been holding backa little, knowing that Jess was ahead of him, and now he was among the last to arrive at the reception.
Most of the other guests were already milling around, chatting and sipping champagne. And there was Jess, with her sister. She’d been wearing a fluffy white fake-fur jacket earlier, but like the other guests she’d left it downstairs in the makeshift cloakroom. Her dress was mauve, in some floaty fabric that almost matched her eyes.
She’d seen him, but she instantly looked away, her mouth a thin line. Okay, she was still angry with him. It was frustrating to know that, when he had no idea what he was supposed to have done, but he wasn’t going to try to talk to her now. He didn’t want to risk a scene at the wedding.
Instead, he wandered over to chat to Diane and Graham Ellis. “Well, it seems to have gone off okay.”
“It has.”
They all watched as little Robyn dragged a laughing Cassie around by the hand, introducing her to everyone. “This is my mummy!”
“Mummy?” Paul queried quietly.
Diane smiled. “She decided it for herself. She talks about Mummy Natalie, and Mummy Natalie’s garden — she loves to go and tend to it up in the churchyard. But I think she decided she wanted Cassie right from the beginning.”
Paul nodded. The child couldn’t have looked happier, and his sister looked happy too. And as for Liam, he looked like the cat who’d got the cream. Maybe domestic bliss had something going for it after all.
He was conscious that Jess was at the buffet table behind him — he could hear her soft, slightly husky laughter, and her voice as she teased her young nephew Ben for being a greedy little pig.
Dammit, that woman was driving him crazy. He’d thought that several weeks away in Africa would have been an effective cure, but he had found himself repeatedly distracted, remembering that night in his kitchen, the heat of her lips against his, the intensity of her kiss.
It had been a moment of pure connection, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that there was still something between them, something worth fighting for.
If her ex hadn’t shown up, might it have been different? She’d insisted that it was over, that she wanted nothing to do with him, but the incident had clearly upset her, reminded her of what Lisa had told him — that she was ‘off men’.
Okay, he’d wait, wait for the right moment. Give her space and time. Try not to let his mind wander back to her every five minutes. And for now, he’d do his best to look happy, join in the conversations around him.
But every now and then, his gaze would flicker over to the buffet table, catching glimpses of Jess’s curling red hair, her easy smile, and the way she moved — so graceful, so elegant.
He’d wait. And try not to let his heart crack a little more every time he heard her laughter.
* * *
Though it was barely four o’clock it was already growing dark. Jess stood in the corner between two of the long windows, sipping champagne and gazing out over the inky black waters of the bay.
The small town looked almost like a fairy-land, twinkling lights climbing the slopes above the Esplanade. In the short time she had been here she had fallen in love with the place.
But she couldn’t stay. Because she had fallen in love with Paul Channing.
How stupid could you get? The glass of the window was like a mirror against the darkness outside, and she could see him across the room, laughing and chatting with the other guests, flirting with a young cousin of the Ellises.
The DJ was setting up his decks — there would be dancing soon. If she slipped away now, would anyone notice? The last thing she wanted was for Paul to ask her to dance — or worse, not ask her to dance.
Oh dammit, she’d come down here to sort her head out after the way Glenn had behaved, and instead she’d found herself in a far worse mess.
Slipping discreetly along the side of the room she left her champagne glass on a convenient table and faded silently out of the door. No one seemed to have noticed — least of all Paul.
* * *
He had been watching her out of the corner of his eye as she stood there sipping her champagne and gazing out of the window. All the while he was chatting to friends and indulging young Lucy Ellis, his friend’s cousin who was almost embarrassingly goggle-eyed at meeting a real live person off the television, he had been constantly aware of her.
And now she was gone — slipping out of the door like a thief in the night.
