Thankfully, her nightie was new and pretty, a lavender satin petticoat that had a matching robe. She slipped the robe on, looped the sash belt and hurried back into her bedroom, only then realising she had nothing suitable for her feet.
She never wore slippers. Sandals didn’t seem right and neither did her flip-flops.
Oh, well, it wouldn’t be the first time she went downstairs for Christmas breakfast barefooted and in her night things, though usually the latter were a bit longer. This nightie only reached mid-thigh, the robe to her knees. She would have to watch herself when she sat down. At least her legs were nice and smooth, all the way up. Sarah had taken herself off to a beautician late last week and had a full wax. Painful, but worth every penny not to have to worry about shaving for ages.
It felt a bit odd when she wasn’t wearing panties, however. Like now, for instance.
Sarah might have slipped some panties on, but there really wasn’t time for any more delay. It was already seven minutes past eight. And it wasn’t as though anyone would know.
Sarah sucked in one last, long, calming breath, exhaled slowly, then set forth for the staircase.
Breakfast on Christmas morning was always very light; croissants and coffee served in front of the tree during present-opening. The family room in Goldmine was huge, with three distinct sitting areas. The Christmas tree was always placed down the far end, where there were two brown leather sofas facing each other, and a sturdy wooden coffee-table between them.
Everything was set out in readiness by the time Sarah made it downstairs, delicious aromas hitting her nostrils as she padded down the steps into the family room.
Her entry was quiet, due to her bare feet, giving her a second or two to survey the situation and work out in advance where she would sit.
Flora and Jim occupied opposite ends of the sofa facing the terrace, with Nick sitting in the middle of the sofa opposite, sipping coffee. She didn’t want to sit next to him, not after what had happened yesterday. She certainly didn’t want to sit next to him without her panties on. Physical proximity to Nick made her body—and her mind—go absolutely haywire.
Whilst Sarah was still resolved to go through with her plan to doll herself up for Christmas lunch—and to pretend Derek was her new boyfriend—she no longer held any hope whatsoever that Nick’s eyes would be opened to her attractions as a female. She’d come to the dampening conclusion that after her father died Nick had mentally placed her in a box marked ‘legal responsibility’,
thereby killing off any possibility of a personal relationship between them.
Suddenly his head turned her way, his dark eyes travelling swiftly from her tousled hair down to her scarlet toenails before moving back up again.
Was she mistaken, or did his eyes stop to linger on her breasts?
Whatever, her body responded instantly, a tingling feeling spreading over her skin whilst her heartbeat quickened and her nipples peaked alarmingly against the satin.
Sarah swallowed. Surely she was imagining it, as she’d imagined yesterday that he’d been going to kiss her. Yes, of course she was. The man was just looking, the way any man would when a pretty young female presented herself in front of him in her night things. He’d always looked at her, just not the way she wanted him to.
‘Merry Christmas, everyone!’ she trilled, determined not to let the deluding nature of her feelings for Nick spoil present-opening.
Flora and Jim glanced round at once, their kind faces breaking into warm smiles.
‘And merry Christmas to you too, love,’ Flora returned happily. ‘Come on, come over here and sit next to me,’ she said, patting the spot next to her.
‘Sorry to keep you waiting.’ Sarah angled herself past Flora’s plump knees to take her place in the middle of the sofa directly opposite Nick. ‘I must have slept through my alarm,’ she added, once she was safely leaning back with her knees modestly pressed together and her robe arranged to cover as much of her bare thighs as possible.
‘That’s perfectly all right, love,’ Flora said. ‘You’re here now. Coffee?’ she offered, already leaning forward to pick up the coffee-pot.
‘Yes, please.’ Ignoring Nick—whose eyes had remained on her as she sat down—Sarah picked up a bread plate and helped herself to a croissant. ‘Have you all eaten yet?’
‘Jim and I have,’ Flora said. ‘Nick hasn’t. He said he wasn’t hungry. But I think he’s got a hangover.’
‘I do not have a hangover,’ Nick protested. ‘I feel fine. I’m just saving my appetite for lunch. But I will have a top-up of coffee, Flora,’ he said, putting his mug on the coffee-table and pushing it towards her. ‘With cream and sugar. That should keep me going for the next couple of hours.’
‘Did you enjoy yourself at the party last night?’ Sarah asked before she could snatch the words back. Truly, she was stupid sometimes.
Nick picked up his refilled coffee mug and took an appreciative sip before answering. ‘It was a typical party of that type. To be honest, I think I’m partied out at the moment. That’s one of the reasons I’m going to Happy Island. So that I can relax and do absolutely nothing for a while.’
‘You could do absolutely nothing here,’ Sarah pointed out, still hating the thought of his going away.
His dark eyes connected with hers over the rim of the mug. ‘I can’t, actually.’
‘Why not?’
‘People will bother me here,’ he stated matter-of-factly.
And get in the way of your spending private time with your girlfriend.
Sarah could picture them skinny-dipping in his swimming pool on Happy Island, making leisurely love in the water and everywhere else in the no doubt luxurious holiday house.
It was a depressing train of thought.
‘I think we should get on with present-giving,’ Flora suggested. ‘Jim, why don’t you play Santa this year? Is that OK with you, Sarah?’
‘Sure.’ She was more than happy to sit there and devour her croissant, telling herself all the while that she would stop at just one. Because if she didn’t, she’d be on her way back to Blubbersville.
But she needed the comfort the croissant gave her, needed to combat the dismay which was crushing her at that moment.
It was all so hopeless, Sarah thought wretchedly as she finished the first croissant in no time flat, then picked up another. Nick was never going to be hers. Not in bed, or anywhere else.
But then, you knew that, didn’t you? You were a fool to listen to Derek, even for a moment.
Flora’s gentle hand on her arm stopped her from stuffing the second croissant into her mouth.
‘Perhaps that can wait till after we’ve opened the presents,’ she suggested. ‘Pick one of Nick’s presents first, Jim, so that Sarah can drink her coffee.’
‘Thank you, Flora,’ Sarah whispered under her breath as she put down the croissant and picked up her coffee instead.
Jim rose and began moving the pile of presents around, Sarah’s stomach contracting when he selected a smallish rectangular gift, wrapped in sparkling gold paper that had Christmas trees all over it.
‘That’s from me,’ she said with false brightness when Jim handed it over to Nick.
Instead of Sarah feeling joyful anticipation at Nick’s opening her present, her main emotion now was anxiety over his reaction. Sarah knew he would like it. She just hoped he wouldn’t read anything into it. She would hate him to guess how she secretly felt about him. Hate the humiliation that would go with any such discovery.
Nick