Chloe didn’t know Nick. Not the real him. She only knew the man who had graced the cover of Australia’s leading financial newspaper last year.
‘I’ll see what I can do,’ he said. ‘Bye, girls.’
‘Bye,’ Sarah trilled back, smiling on the outside whilst inside she was already sinking back into the pit, that moment of pleasurable intimacy wiped away in the face of where Nick would be going tonight.
Do not succumb to jealousy, she lectured herself, or depression. Do not let him do this to you!
‘You don’t still have a thing for Nick, do you, love?’
Flora’s softly delivered question was almost Sarah’s undoing.
Gulping down the sudden lump in her throat, she straightened her spine and adopted what she hoped was a believable expression. ‘No, of course not.’
‘That’s good. Because it would be a mistake. There’s no future for any woman with a man like Nick.’
Sarah laughed a dry little laugh. ‘Don’t you think I know that, Flora?’
‘This Derek chap, is it serious between you two?’
Sarah hesitated to answer for a second too long.
‘I didn’t think so,’ Flora said. ‘You would have told me about him sooner, if that were the case.’
‘Don’t tell Nick,’ she blurted out.
Flora’s eyes narrowed. ‘Is this Derek a real boyfriend or not?’
Sarah bit her bottom lip. She knew it would be wiser to lie, but she couldn’t, not to Flora’s face.
‘He … he’s just a friend.’
Flora gave her a long, searching look. ‘What game are you playing at, girlie?’
Sarah sighed. ‘Nothing bad, Flora. I just wanted to bring someone to the Christmas lunch and Derek volunteered. I’m sick and tired of Nick’s girlfriends looking down their noses at me.’
‘So it’s a matter of female pride, is it?’
‘Yes; yes, that’s exactly what it is.’
‘You do realise Nick is going to give this poor Derek the third degree?’
‘Yes, he’s prepared for that.’
Flora pulled a face. ‘I hope so. Because Nick takes his job as your guardian very seriously, love.’
‘Derek can hold his own.’
‘None of your other boyfriends could.’
‘Derek’s not a real boyfriend.’
‘But he’s pretending to be one.’
‘Yes.’
Flora sighed. ‘Good luck to him, then. That’s all I can say.’
CHAPTER FOUR
SARAH decorated the Christmas tree on automatic pilot, her mind still on Flora’s last words.
Flora was right, of course. Derek was going to be in for a rough time tomorrow.
But I did warn him, she reminded herself. And he still wanted to do it. In fact, he seemed to find the prospect of pretending to be my boyfriend an exciting challenge.
Sarah was beginning to find the thought terrifying. Nightmarish possibilities kept popping into her mind. What if Nick somehow discovered that Derek was gay? Or that their so-called relationship was just a sham? How could she explain such a crazy deception? Surely saving her pride wasn’t worth the risk of feeling more of a fool in front of him.
And in front of Chloe.
Chloe …
Already she didn’t like the woman and she hadn’t even met her.
Nick had implied earlier that Chloe wasn’t as skinny as his usual girlfriend. Was she blonde as well?
She would have to ask Flora later for a more detailed description.
Finally, all of the ornaments and lights were hung, except for the star that went on top of the tree. A glance at her watch showed that it was ten past six, way past time for a toasted sandwich and some coffee. She’d bypassed lunch after having eaten two pieces of that dreaded caramel slice, believing that they would easily sustain her for the whole afternoon.
Serious hunger pangs told her she’d been wrong. But the Christmas star came first.
Sarah climbed up the stepladder once more, this time having to go up on tiptoe to reach the right spot.
‘That’s a great-looking tree.’
Sarah jumped at the unexpected sound of Nick’s voice, the star dropping from her hands as the back feet of the ladder lifted off the floor and she began to overbalance forwards. How Nick managed to save her she’d never know, but one second she was about to crash head-first into the tree, the next the ladder was abruptly righted and she fell backwards into Nick’s arms.
‘Oh, lord!’ she gasped, her arms flailing wide whilst his wound tightly around her back, pulling her hard against his chest.
‘You’re all right,’ he told her.
Her arms finally found a home around his neck, her heart thudding loudly behind her ribs.
‘You … you frightened the life out of me,’ she blurted out.
‘Sorry. Didn’t mean to.’
Sarah opened her mouth to say something more, anything to defuse the excitement that had instantly been sparked by finding herself in Nick’s embrace. Such physical closeness, however, was not conducive to sensible brain activity, her mind going totally blank when his dark eyes dropped down to her softly parted lips.
For several, highly charged seconds Nick just stared at them.
Time seemed to slow around her, the air stilling whilst her pounding heart suspended its beat, her eyes closing as her head tipped invitingly sideways.
He was going to kiss her. She was sure of it!
To suddenly find herself being lowered onto her feet came as a shock.
‘Oh,’ she cried out, her eyes flying open to discover Nick frowning down at her with nothing but concern in his face.
‘Steady now,’ he said.
Sarah could have cried. Clearly, she was so desperate in her infatuation with this man that she’d conjured up passion where there was none. Not on his part, anyway.
‘I’m fine, thank you,’ she said curtly, pride demanding she cool her overheated blood and still that foolish, treacherous heart of hers.
‘For a second there, I thought you were going to faint.’
‘Faint? Why on earth would I faint?’
‘Some girls do, after a shock.’
‘I’m fine,’ she reiterated.
‘In that case, how about thanking me for saving you from a nasty fall?’
‘Which you caused in the first place,’ she pointed out stroppily. ‘What are you doing home, anyway? I thought you were going to a party at seven. It’s not far off that now.’
‘Chloe forgot to tell me that it was black-tie. So I came home to change.’
Sarah had seen Nick in a dinner suit. Of course, he looked devastatingly handsome. Jealousy jabbed at her as she thought of Chloe on his arm tonight, then possibly in his bed …
Sarah’s stomach somersaulted at the thought.