She looked at me as if I had suggested something so outlandishly funny that I must be going slightly crazy. Poor, dear, widowed, crazy sister. This was followed up by the classic tinkly laugh so beloved of her and her friends.
‘Oh, Laura! You surely can’t think that this…’ She twirled her hand in the air as if trying to think of some suitable word for the abomination she was trying to describe. My sister is not much of a wordsmith. ‘…thisthingwith Nick Prince is anything more than a fling, can you?’ I tried to keep my expression neutral, butshe must have seen the hurt in my face, as she moved on to the next step of the routine: the concerned head tilt. ‘Oh dear, you do.’ She put the tips of her perfectly manicured fingers to her lips as if to hide a smile that couldn’t help escaping. ‘Dear Laura, Nick isn’t going to give up his lifestyle for you. He’s barely at Lyonscroft as it is, and everyone knows he’s dying to sell it so he can cut ties even more and be completely carefree. He’s the catch of the county now Giles and Hugo are taken, and he’s had a parade of girlfriends, none of whom have managed to hold on to him; I can’t imagine what you think it is about you that might be different.’
This final barb was said with such confidence in its truth that I could almost accept there was no malice behind it. Steph simply believed what she was saying: that there was nothing special about me. I reached for my wine glass, full again even though I had been ignoring Sim for the last five minutes and took a hefty gulp; maybe I hadn’t had enough, after all. I opened my mouth to begin stumbling out some reply, some sort of defence, when a hand touched my shoulder. I looked up: Nick. How much of the conversation had he heard? The bland smile he was giving, with his eyes fixed on my sister’s face, suggested to me that he had heard enough, and wasn’t happy about it. He transferred his gaze to me, and the smile became warm.
‘Laura, darling,’ he said, sliding his hand down my arm to take my hand. ‘I have a surprise waiting outside for you – if you’re not too busy?’
‘Definitely not,’ I said, putting my napkin on the table and standing up as Steph gave me a deeply pitying look.
‘Sim will be at the wedding,’ she said. ‘Seeing as you got on so well tonight, I’ll make sure you’re sitting together again.’
At the mention of his name, Sim turned, then stood up as well.
‘Nick!’ he said. ‘I haven’t seen you in years, how are things?’
The two men shook hands warmly and briefly exchanged news.
‘I had no idea you were together,’ he said. ‘Bloody Bridget and her table settings, gets a man’s hopes up. Ah well, lovely to meet you, Laura, and let’s get our heads together soon over a coffee, Nick – I have a business proposal that might interest you.’
‘I’d like that,’ said Nick. ‘I’m planning on staying around for a while, so we should be able to find a time.’
As we said goodbye, I barely dared glance at Steph, who now looked furious. Nick and I found our hostess and thanked her for the evening, then we stepped out of the front door.
‘I hope you don’t mind,’ said Nick. ‘But I haven’t ordered a taxi home.’
‘Are we walking?’ I said rather doubtfully. The idea of a snowy, moonlit stroll with Nick was appealing, had it not been for the outfit, in which I was already feeling chilly.
‘No,’ he said. ‘Our lift should be here any minute.’
I heard a gentle tinkling of bells and the sound of hooves before the most beautiful red sleigh, pulled by two white horses, turned into the drive and stopped in front of us.
‘Your carriage, madam,’ said Nick, helping me step up into the back, which was deep with cosy faux fur blankets for us to snuggle into. A word from the driver and the horses started off again.
‘I thought we’d take the long way home,’ said Nick, putting his arm around me. ‘We probably both need to recover from the evening we’ve had.’
‘The music was stunning,’ I said. ‘And so was the food, but this is the perfect ending.’
We were drawn through the quiet lanes for about half an hour before we pulled up outside Lyonscroft. We thanked the driver and patted the horses before letting ourselves into thequiet house. Nick drew me close to him, and we kissed, our faces cold.
‘Would you like a nightcap?’ he whispered, winding a strand of my hair around his fingers.
I shook my head.
‘I’m okay.’
‘Upstairs then?’ he said, and I nodded, knowing what he was suggesting.
Indeed, he took my hand and led me to his room, lit softly by the moon filtering through the snow that had started falling again. There he kissed away the cruelty of Steph’s comments, Bridget’s disapproval and my grief for Paulo, leaving only the joy of how right it felt to be in each other’s arms.
EIGHTEEN
The next morning, I woke up early, happy to see Nick sleeping next to me in the big bed. I kissed his cheek without waking him and pulled on his robe, which was hanging on the back of the door. I picked up my clothes – I had managed to place the beautiful dress carefully over the back of a chair, carried away though I had been – and peered out of the door. The passageway outside was quiet and it seemed a good time to make a dash for my own room, whilst everyone else was still asleep. Once there, I hung the dress up carefully and stepped into the shower. It was only then that, as I soaped myself, my neck felt unexpectedly bare: the necklace Paulo had given me, the necklace I always wear, wasn’t there. I searched around the bottom of the shower in a panic, worried that it would be washed down the drain and lost forever, but I couldn’t find it. I quickly rinsed off, dried and dressed then, grabbing Nick’s robe, hurried back to his room. He was no longer in bed, but I could hear the shower running and his pleasant baritone singingLet it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!I hung up the robe and turned back the rumpled duvet, instantly spotting my necklace lying on the sheet. I snatched it up gratefully and looked at it closely; the delicate chain had broken and would need to go to a jeweller to be fixed. I saton the bed and stared out of the window, where the snow had stopped falling, but the sky was leaden. I was not normally given to flights of fancy, but the breakage of the necklace the very first night I had spent with another man after Paulo felt like some horrible kind of portent. But then the bathroom door opened and Nick came out, his evident delight to see me there sweeping away any upset.
‘Good morning,’ he said, bending down to give me a lingering kiss. ‘I thought you’d done a dawn dash in my robe, but I’m glad to see you’re both back.’
‘Only for a moment,’ I said, pushing the broken necklace into my pocket. ‘It’s time for me to go to Marilise and she’s going to want to hear all about the evening. In fact, can you send me any photos you took? I have a few, but I’d love to show her as many as possible – you know how she loves them.’
More kisses nearly made me late, and I jogged down the corridor with Nick’s murmured words still making me smile: ‘Don’t tell hereverything, will you?’
