‘You should do what I do,’ Nick said. ‘Only buy presents at shops that do free gift-wrapping.’
And in shops where some smitten female sales assistant did all the choosing for him as well, Sarah thought ruefully.
‘I’d better get going,’ Nick went on. ‘See you at present-opening in the morning. And before you ask, no, Chloe will not be in attendance. So you won’t have to sulk.’
‘I never sulk,’ Sarah snapped.
‘Oh, yes, you do, madam. But I agree with you on one score: some of my girlfriends have not been all that nice to you. Still, that’s because most of them are jealous.’
‘Of me?’ Sarah could not have been more surprised.
Nick’s smile was wry. ‘How would you like to discover that your Derek was living with an attractive young female ward? Now I really must go,’ he pronounced abruptly, and spun away.
‘We still haven’t had that private talk,’ she called after him.
He stopped and glanced over his shoulder at her, his body language impatient. ‘I realise that. It’ll just have to wait till after Christmas Day.’
‘But won’t Chloe be here then?’
Nick had said this morning that he had a guest between Christmas and New Year. Who other than his current girlfriend?
‘Chloe and I don’t need to spend every minute of every day together,’ he said rather pointedly. ‘See you in the morning, Sarah.’
Sarah watched him stride across the family room, then leap up the two steps that led to the foyer. She heard him run up the stairs, depression descending at the sound of his hurrying to take out his girlfriend.
‘I’m glad Derek is coming tomorrow,’ she muttered under her breath.
‘Talking to yourself is never a good idea, love.’
Sarah turned, then smiled at Flora. ‘I have some of my best conversations with myself.’
‘Better than that tea towel you used to talk to when you were a child, I suppose.’
Sarah stared at Flora. ‘You knew about that?’
‘Nothing much gets by me, love. So was the tea towel your other self? Or a special friend?’
‘A special friend,’ she confessed.
‘Boy or girl?’
‘Um … boy. Sort of.’
‘He wasn’t called Nick, was he?’
Sarah flushed.
‘Like I said, love,’ Flora continued as she went over and turned the switch that lit up the tree, ‘nothing much gets by me. My, now, that is one lovely tree.’
‘Jim chose a really good one this year.’
‘He did indeed. Was that Nick I heard a minute ago?’
‘Yes. He came home to change. The party’s black-tie.’
‘I’m not surprised. Chloe’s a social climber, if ever there was one.’
Sarah shook her head. ‘She sounds awful. What on earth does Nick see in her?’
‘What does Nick see in any of his girlfriends? I suppose he doesn’t much care about their characters as long as they’re beautiful and do whatever he wants them to do in bed. He doesn’t keep any of them, after all.’
‘Flora! I’ve never heard you talk like this about Nick before.’
Flora shrugged. ‘I’m getting old, I guess. When you get old you say things you wouldn’t dare say before. Don’t get me wrong. I’m very fond of Nick. But where women are concerned, he’s bad news. He’s never made a pass at you, has he, Sarah?’
‘What? Me? No, never!’
‘Just as well, with you having that crush on him.’
‘I’m over that now.’
‘You might think you are, but he’d still be able to turn your head, if he tried.’
Flora had never said a truer word. ‘Why would he bother, when he has the likes of Chloe in his bed?’
Flora wrinkled her nose. ‘I suspect Madame Chloe is fast reaching her use-by date. I’d watch myself, if I were you, when you swan downstairs tomorrow wearing one of those sexy new dresses of yours.’
Sarah’s mouth dropped open. ‘How do you know about them?’
‘Couldn’t sit around doing nothing all afternoon, so I unpacked for you. Which one are you wearing tomorrow? The red and white one, I’ll bet.’
‘Flora, you’re an old sticky-beak!’
Flora remained quite nonplussed at this accusation. ‘How do you think I get to know everything? I also put all those lovely Christmas cards you got from your pupils on your dressing table. Didn’t leave room for much else, I’m afraid, so I set out all your new makeup and perfume and skin-care stuff on the vanity unit in your bathroom.’
Sarah didn’t know whether to be appreciative, or annoyed. ‘So, did everything get your seal of approval?’
‘Let’s just say I think you’ll give Chloe a run for her money in the beauty stakes.’
‘I sure hope so.’
‘And who knows? Maybe your Derek will take one look at you and decide to take your friendship to a different level.
‘Somehow I don’t think that’s likely to happen.’
‘You never know, love. You just never know.’
CHAPTER FIVE
SARAH woke to a less than gentle shake of her shoulder and an unshaven Nick leaning over her. Surprise and shock sent her eyes instantly wide and her heart racing.
‘What is it?’ she exclaimed. ‘What’s wrong?’
When he straightened she saw he was already dressed, in jeans and a T-shirt. ‘Nothing’s wrong,’ he said.
Then what on earth was he doing in her bedroom at some ungodly hour in the morning?
‘Flora sent me to wake you,’ he went on, his voice carrying a measure of exasperation.
‘What for?’ Confusion in her own voice.
‘For breakfast and present-giving.’
Sarah blinked. ‘This early?’
‘The men with the tables and blinds are due to arrive at nine and it’s already eight.’
‘Eight!’ Sarah sat bolt upright, pushing her hair back from her face as she glanced first at her sun-drenched balcony, then at her bedside clock, which confirmed that it was indeed, just after eight. Yet she had set her alarm for six, wanting to be looking her very best for present-opening with her hair done, make-up perfect and dressed to impress in her sexy new jeans and a very pretty green top.
‘I must have slept through the alarm,’ she said with a groan.
Or perhaps she’d fallen asleep without actually setting it. She’d stayed up quite late, doing everything she could the night before in preparation for Christmas Day.
‘Just get up and come downstairs,’ Nick said impatiently before whirling and striding from the room.
‘I … I’ll be down shortly,’ she called after him.
‘You’d better be,’ he called back.
It wasn’t till Nick left that Sarah realised she hadn’t wished him a happy Christmas.