He had feltself-conscious when he had taken his pyjama bottoms off and had to remove his prosthetic leg. It was a sensation he had not experienced before. Perhaps it was because he’d wanted the moment to be perfect, for Romily not to be disappointed in him. As they explored their bodies and found their rhythm, her every caress, her every kiss, and every look, tipped him closer to the edge of losing himself in her.
Now, this morning, and already showered and dressed, he moved away from the window. With some difficulty, he knelt beside the bed and just drank in the face of the woman he had travelled halfway around the world to be with. Everything with Romily was new and magical to him, and completely unlike how he’d felt with any woman before.
‘What have you done to me?’ he murmured. ‘And where do we go from here?’
At his softly spoken words, she stirred.
‘Hello you,’ he said as her eyes flickered open. ‘Happy Christmas.’
‘Happy Christmas to you, too,’ she said.
‘You’re beautiful when you sleep,’ he said.
She smiled. ‘You say the nicest things.’
‘I do my best.’
She stretched her hands above her head. ‘What time is it?’
‘Half-past ten.’
All trace of sleepiness was instantly gone from her face. ‘It can’t be! Not when I have so much to do.’
‘Relax. I told you, I’ll help you in the kitchen. If there’s one thing we Americans know how to cook, it’s a turkey with all the trimmings.’
She slid a hand round the back of his neck and pulled him closer to kiss his mouth. ‘Mmm ... you smell nice. What’s the cologne you’re wearing.’
‘It’seaudelove.’
She groaned and gave him a playful shove. ‘That is the most awful line I’ve ever heard.’
He laughed. ‘It’s so bad, even the toes on my prosthetic leg are curling up with embarrassment. To make amends, would you like your Christmas present now?’
She drew her shapely eyebrows together. ‘But Red, I haven’t bought you anything.’
‘At the risk of distressing you with another corny line, waking up beside you this morning was your present to me.’
‘Sweet man.’
‘You didn’t think that of me when we first met. You thought I was arrogant, conceited andself-absorbed, and full of a sense of misplaced entitlement. Yes?’
‘They were your finer points,’ she said with a smile. ‘What did you think of me?’
‘That you were beautiful and smart with a short fuse when it came to men who show up late for lunch. But boy did I get a kick out of being with you that day! So what’s it to be, your present now, or later?’
‘Later, please.’
‘As you wish.’
Pushing himself to his feet, he moved to one side so Romily could get out of bed. Reaching for herapricot-coloured dressing gown, which matched her nightdress, she slipped it on and kissed him.
‘I’m so very glad you came,’ she said.
‘Not as glad as I am.’
She smiled and went over to the window. ‘I see it’s still snowing,’ she said. ‘And judging from the footprints from one end of the garden to the other, two people have been out for a walk. Presumably Isabella and Max.’
He told her what he’d earlier observed.
