Page 53 of Christmas at Sturcombe Bay
Shelley smiled warmly. “He’ll love them.”
She leaned over to see the pictures, her hair brushing against his cheek. A soft scent — her shampoo or her skin — drifted to him. The impulse to kiss her almost knocked him off his feet, but he forced himself to pull back.. .
“Argh!”
She jerked back suddenly, bouncing off the stack of cartons and into his arms. He caught a breath — had she sensed . . . ?But it wasn’t what he had feared. A black spider bigger than his thumbnail was crawling on her shoulder.
“Wait . . .” Carefully he cupped his hand, flicked the spider into it, and set it down on a broken stepladder leaning against the wall.
She laughed, her eyes dancing. “Oh, lord! I’m not really scared of spiders. It just made me jump!”
Her face was inches from his, her lips parted, those pretty blue eyes gazing up into his . . . It would have taken more will power than he possessed to resist. And as his mouth met hers, she wasn’t resisting either.
* * *
Shelley felt as if her bones were dissolving into warm honey. She reached up to wrap her arms around his neck, curving her body against his as his fingers tangled in her hair.
This had to be a dream . . . Except it wasn’t. Those strong arms around her were real, and that warm, tender mouth on hers was real. The subtle scent of his skin — sandalwood and something uniquely male — was real.
His tongue swept sensuously over the sensitive inner membranes of her lips, then sought the sweet depths within, stirring the heat in her blood. How could she never have known that kisses could be like this? It felt like magic . . .
But then, abruptly, he lifted his head and stepped back. “I’m sorry. I didn’t intend . . .”
Opening her eyes, she glared up at him, the melting honey boiling to hot lava. “You’resorry?Oh dear. You kissed the chambermaid by mistake? Well, pardon me for breathing the same air as you . . .”
She had to escape. But as she moved to shove past him, he caught her arm.
“No. I didn’t mean it like that. I’m sorry because I didn’t intend for the first time I kissed you to be in a dusty old storeroom full of litter and spiders.” He laughed in wry self-mockery. “I imagined it would be on the beach, in the moonlight, with the sound of the waves whispering over the sand.”
She stared up at him. Could she believe a word of it? As she hesitated, he smiled, tipping his head down and laying his forehead against hers.
“What I’d really like to do is take you out to dinner, then stroll along the beach and see what happens. Would you like that? Please say yes.”
“I . . . ah . . .” She let go of the breath she had forgotten she was holding. “Yes . . . Yes, okay then.”
“Good.” The smile in his eyes could melt any defences she had. “Look, let’s take a couple of these albums up to show my grandpa. He’ll be ready to go home soon, then I’ll pick you up at seven . . .”
“No, not tonight.” Panic surged briefly. “I . . . um . . .”
“Tomorrow?”
“Yes, okay. Tomorrow.”
“Good.” He tucked the albums under his arm, and took her hand. “Come on, let’s take these up to Grandpa.”
Chapter Sixteen
“What a nice old man.” Jess leaned back against the stone balustrade around the terrace and sipped her wine. “Everyone seems to love him.”
“They do.” Paul smiled, glancing back to where Arthur sat enthroned amid his entourage. “He and my grandmother were a right lively pair, along with Vicky’s Aunt Molly.”
“The two he was boasting that he’d outlived?”
“That’s right. My grandmother died a couple of months ago.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“She was ninety-three, and a real grand old dame. We were all terrified of her, but we adored her.” He moved over to lean against the balustrade beside her. “That was her house — you can see it from here. See that row of houses that runs up the hill over on the far side of the bay? It’s the one second from the top.”
