WARM WINTER KISSES a feel good Christmas romance novel (10 page)

Chapter 11

I didn’t need much persuading. As soon as Rocco was out of earshot I slumped beneath the duvet, my eyes snapping shut in search of refuge from the excesses of the night. Sleep beckoned fondly.

Waking up the next morning was slightly more troublesome, though. My head had landed in a heavy fog, my throat felt dry and scratchy and worst of all, I was hallucinating. All sorts of wild images kept coming into my mind. It was the worst nightmare I’d ever experienced. There was me tiptoeing about, in a state of undress, my ample bosom wobbling out of my undersized blouse and everything else jiggling in sympathy. Fluttering my eyelashes, puckering up my lips and wiggling my derriere, I giggled maniacally as I made suggestive comments to my boss. He of the swarthy good looks and artistic temperament, the one who’d spent a great proportion of his life wooing and bedding a whole string of beautiful women, but who’d treated me with nothing but unnecessary and unwarranted good manners, delivered with a pitying look in his eyes. Good grief, if it hadn’t been so real, so lifelike, it could almost have been comical. Only with a growing sense of dread and horror I realised why it was quite so vivid. It wasn’t some ghastly dream I could wake up from. The horror I was reliving was like watching a re-run of last night’s soap, only an episode I’d actually lived through, starring me and Rocco as the lead characters.

Shit!

I eased my legs out of the side of the bed, gently levering myself upright and walked gingerly over to the window. Drawing back the curtains, the sight that greeted me lifted my spirits and was one I could never imagine growing tired of. Even in the morning drizzle, the fields stretching out into the distance to the brook that ran along the edge of Rocco’s property, looked breathtakingly pretty. Like something from Country Life magazine.

In my mind’s eye, I took a picture. An image that would stay with me forever, even though I knew it was something I would have to say goodbye to very soon. Rocco’s parting words from the previous evening were whirling around in my head. The only thing he could possibly want to talk to me about was my future as his assistant. Rocco was obviously too much of a professional to give me my marching orders while I was in a state of intoxication. Yet it was obvious. On Monday morning Rocco would be issuing his final instructions and I would be left looking for another job, with the prospect of returning to my gloomy little flat in London a million miles away from the oasis I’d found here in the country.

* * *

‘Oh dear,’ said Sylvia, shaking her head as I shuffled into the kitchen a bit later. ‘Was it really such a bad night?’

‘Is it that obvious?’ I eased myself carefully into a chair as Sylvia placed a mug of tea in front of me.

‘Yes,’ she said, not even attempting to make me feel better. ‘You look awful. A dreadful colour. Should I find you some painkillers?’

‘No, I’ll be fine.’ Moving my head, I discovered, was a very bad idea. Demons were leaping about inside. ‘Pink Champagne,’ I muttered, in explanation. ‘Awful stuff. I’ll never touch a drop again.’

‘Famous last words, eh?’ Sylvia chuckled. ‘Well, Rocco and Pandora looked bright-eyed enough this morning.’

Oh God, did Sylvia have to remind me quite so soon? Of course they would be looking good, wouldn’t they? They were professionals at this partying malarkey; the pair of them were probably giggling away right now at my shameful antics. Like a teenager who’s been let out alone for the first time, I’d behaved appallingly.

I could just imagine Pandora in all her early morning glory, but then she was the epitome of complete self-control and denial. Unlike me. Just a smidgeon of her discipline would have gone a long way last night, but I was woefully lacking in that department.

‘They left at about seven o’clock,’ Sylvia told me. ‘They’re spending the weekend in town; they have a couple of functions to go to, apparently.’

I groaned inwardly. What could I have been thinking of, coming on to Rocco like that, knowing he had an amazing and beautiful girlfriend right there? He would never look twice at me, even if he were in the unlikely situation of being available.

I nodded. ‘Well, I’ll be out of the way as well this weekend. It’s my sister’s engagement party tonight,’ I said, trying to muster up some excitement. ‘Hopefully, I’ll be feeling a bit better by then.’ I yawned, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

‘Oh how lovely. Seeing your sister and celebrating with her, that’ll be smashing, won’t it?’ said Sylvia, grinning. ‘And it’ll do you good to get away from here for a while too, away from his lordship. I know what he can be like. Forget about all of this,’ she said, lifting her hands and shaking her head disparagingly as if we were in the middle of some godawful sink estate. ‘You go and enjoy yourself for a few hours, lovey.’

* * *

I didn’t quite share Sylvia’s enthusiasm at meeting up with Lexi again and in such unnatural circumstances too. I mean, an engagement party! I didn’t think people still went in for those kinds of things. And I hadn’t liked the way Sylvia had suggested that a break from the house and Rocco would do me good, as if being there was a bad thing or something, when to me it seemed like the best thing that had ever happened to me.

But missing the party wasn’t something I could even consider, much as I might have wanted to. So, a few hours later, after a delightful journey through the countryside, I was standing in the Riverden Rugby club with Lexi squeezing me so tightly I thought I might faint there on the spot.

‘Beth, I can’t tell you how much this means to me, having you here, sharing in all this.’ She gestured around the room at the balloons proclaiming the engagement and at Mitch, who was standing beside her like a lost soul, a bemused grin stretched wide across his face. God, they both looked so revoltingly happy.

‘Thanks for coming, Beth.’ He nodded in agreement. What kind of a name was Mitch anyway? It might have suited an all-American cowboy, but a personal trainer from Neasden? It just didn’t seem to fit.

‘I wouldn’t have missed this for the world,’ I lied. ‘Just make sure you look after her, Mitch, that’s all I ask or else you’ll have her scary big sister to answer to.’

‘I promise,’ he said, grabbing Lexi affectionately by the arm and placing a kiss on her cheek. ‘She means everything to me.’

Despite my reservations, I couldn’t feel anything but happy for them as they seemed so wrapped up in each other, so pleased at their own good fortune. And come to think of it, why shouldn’t it work? It had the same chance, more so even, than any relationship that had trudged along for years on end. And I should know. Martin’s benign face flitted into my mind. With a pang, I realised I hadn’t thought about him in quite a while.

‘So, how’s it going with Rocco? You’ve been very tight-lipped about the whole thing.’ Lexi guided me by the elbow through the throng of revellers to a quiet spot by the bar. ‘You haven’t got any exciting news of your own, have you?’ She was grinning, her eyes shining, so caught up in her own happiness that she wanted everyone else, me especially, to be eating from the same box of chocolates.

I shook my head in mock dismay.

‘It’s going very well, thank you. But it’s a job, remember? Not anything more.’

‘Yes, I know that, but what’s he really like? You must have got to know him by now. Ooh, I think he’s so hot,’ she swooned. ‘All that brooding Italian passion simmering beneath the controlled exterior.’ Lexi fanned her face with her hand.

‘Stop it,’ I giggled. ‘You’re virtually a married woman. You’re not allowed to indulge in those kinds of thoughts anymore.’

‘And he’s a real Lothario by all accounts,’ Lexi went on. ‘He must have made a pass at you, surely? He makes a pass at every woman, I hear.’

She’d obviously been reading the same newspaper articles as me. In my shame, I couldn’t even admit to my sister that I was the only one who’d been making any passes. Trust Lexi to put in a nutshell what I’d been mulling over since I’d started the job. I was more than a little put out to think that Rocco hadn’t shown the slightest interest in making a pass at me, despite my none-too-subtle attempts at flirting with him.

‘No. Ours is a purely professional relationship.’

‘Oh, poor girl,’ she said, ruffling my hair playfully. ‘What a shame! Never mind, I could always fix you up with one of Mitch’s friends. What about him over there with the bald head and the kipper tie? He looks up for a laugh.’

‘Don’t even think about it, Lexi. I’m not looking for a man, thank you. I’m quite happy with my life the way it is.’

I said it with such conviction that I almost believed it for a second, but judging by the doubtful expression on Lexi’s face, I knew I wasn’t kidding anybody. Thankfully a big burly man intent on buying Lexi a drink breezed into our conversation, saving me from further uncomfortable interrogations from my sister.

‘I’ll catch up with you later,’ I said, seizing the opportunity to escape and making a dash for the loo. ‘Nice to meet you,’ I called to Mr Big.

Away from the hubbub, alone in the insalubrious surroundings of the ladies, I confronted my image in the mirror. Thankfully, my hair seemed to be coming through its ‘hedge-backwards’ stage and looked softer now that my red tresses, shimmering with a few random gold highlights, fell carelessly onto my shoulders. I peered closer into the glass, wiping away a smudge of wayward mascara. My eyes, what my dad had always described, rather unflatteringly, as a sludgy greeny-grey colour, seemed uncharacteristically bright and shone with something that I only now realised had been missing for a long time. Hope, maybe. Excitement, perhaps. Whatever it was I liked the look of it. So I was alone. So my future was looking scarily unpredictable. So my family seemed to be pulling away from me, carving out their own paths in life, but none of that mattered. I had an inkling that my future shone like a tiny bright star just out of reach up in the night sky.

For too long I’d been idling along without giving any real thought to what it was I really wanted from my life. I’d settled for something that was comfortable and un-taxing but ultimately dull, and in the space of a few weeks I’d realised I wanted and deserved much more.

Combing my hair through with my fingers, I gave myself a smile of approval and went back outside to enjoy the party. Then, just as I was winding my way through the crowd of revellers, my newfound optimism for the future was dealt a body blow when I had a startling run-in with the past.

‘Beth!’ The voice was gut-wrenchingly familiar. ‘How lovely to see you.’ The next thing I knew I was wrapped in the comfortable embrace of Martin’s arms before he placed a hearty kiss on my flushed cheek. It felt anything but dull.

‘Martin!’ I could have sworn my heart stopped beating for the briefest of moments. Of course, there was no reason why he shouldn’t be at the party. He’d always got on fantastically well with Lexi. But I hadn’t even considered the possibility that he might be there. And why hadn’t my dear sister given me the courtesy of a warning that she’d invited my ex?

‘You look fabulous,’ he said, and I felt peeved that he was looking pretty damn good himself. He certainly didn’t look as I would have hoped. Lovelorn, heartbroken, pining. At his side, a young woman, who looked even more uncomfortable than I was feeling, if that were possible, shifted her gaze to the floor. In a witness statement to the police I would have described her as being of average height, average build, with mousey hair. Average, basically.

Martin caught me looking at her.

‘Beth, this is Sue. A friend of mine. We’ve been working on the Landbee Tower project together. Do you remember me telling you about it?’

Vaguely. She didn’t look like an architect, though. Not that I was entirely sure how an architect should look. But certainly not like this nondescript woman in front of me.

Perhaps she was the tea-girl, I thought uncharitably.

Turning his back on his companion, Martin led me away by the arm to a quiet spot.

‘God, it’s fantastic to see you.’ His eyes scanned my face. ‘I was hoping you’d be here.’

The idiot. Of course I’m here, I felt like shouting, it’s my sister’s engagement party for Christ’s sake. I should be here. But you! What the hell are you doing here? Why couldn’t you have declined the invitation with a carefully worded excuse like any decent man would have done? But I didn’t say any of that. Instead I tried to quash the rising surge of anger flooding through my veins. Anger at the hurt he’d caused me, indignation at the mere fact that he’d found the balls to dump me in the first place and sheer outrage that he was now standing in front of me, grinning like an idiot, as if he didn’t have a care in the world.

‘We need to talk,’ he said, crumpling his face into something approaching sympathy. ‘Don’t you think?’

No, I didn’t actually. I couldn’t think of anything we needed to talk about. Except perhaps the pile of dirty washing he’d left behind in my laundry basket.

He glanced at his watch.

‘Maybe we could go for a quiet drink somewhere? Or I could come back to the flat?’ He lowered his voice, obviously noticing my less than pleased expression.

‘I don’t think so, Martin. Besides, I’m not going back to the flat tonight. I’m staying with Rocco at the moment,’ I said breezily, tapping my foot in time to the Scissor Sisters. And shagging him stupid morning and night was the inference I unfortunately failed to get across.

‘Ah, the new job. Lexi told me all about it. Going well?’