Christmas at Lilac Cottage - Holly Martin Page 0,45

hell, Henry, the last person you want to get involved with is Clara Stratton,’ Daniel said, when she had gone. ‘I’d try to stay out of her way from now on if I was you.’

Henry sighed. The perfect job was coming with a red-headed downside.

* * *

Penny stepped back to look at her finished sleigh. She had to drop it off at a party tonight before she went on to the competition. She loved the bulging sack with a tumble of presents coming out the back. The intricate bows and shapes of the presents had taken quite a long time to get right, but she was proud of the finished result.

She glanced over at Daisy who had been working silently and diligently for the last hour, taking her time with her piece. Penny had showed her a few skills to work on that were particularly useful for this sculpture and, as she had picked it all up very quickly, Penny had pretty much left her to it.

She moved round to look at the snowflake now that it was largely finished and felt her mouth drop in awe. Daisy had already asked Penny to cut the block vertically in half so the snowflake was a lot thinner, even though Penny had warned Daisy that this could make carving a lot harder because the thin bits could be broken off. But Daisy had done a wonderful job. All the tiny delicate fingers of the snowflake had been carved to perfection, each branch rounded so the snowflake looked like it was made from thin tubes.

‘Daisy, this is incredible.’

Daisy looked at her in shock. ‘Really?’

‘Yes, you have a real talent for this stuff. I can’t believe this is your first time.’

‘I did do that wood carving course in the summer, so that taught me a lot of things.’

‘Yes, but even so you’re an absolute natural at this stuff. The thing with carving and sculpture is you either have the eye or you don’t, it’s not something that can really be taught. You’ve definitely have the skills to actually do this professionally.’

‘Nah, I mean it’s OK, but it’s not like yours.’

‘It’s better than mine, and I’ve been doing it for ten years. Why don’t you enter it into the competition tonight?’

‘Oh god, I couldn’t. All those professionals and my crappy snowflake.’

‘What have you got to lose?’

‘My dignity, when I come last.’

‘I never enter to win, I enter just to be a part of the experience. Come on. I promise you it’s good enough to be entered.’

Daisy stared at the snowflake and then back at Penny, a grin slowly forming on her face.

‘OK.’

‘Brilliant. Come on, let’s get warmed up and changed. Josh will be here soon and I need to wrap up the sculptures ready for moving them.’

Daisy helped Penny put the carvings back in the freezer and walked out the cool room, bumping straight into Henry as he came through her back door.

‘Oh hey, Dad, you looking for me?’ Daisy asked.

Henry flashed Penny a quick glance that told her he’d actually been looking for her. ‘Yes, I wondered if you were in here.’

Daisy wrapped an arm round his waist and he planted a kiss on her forehead. Penny loved how tactile they were with each other.

‘How was work?’ Daisy asked.

‘Interesting,’ Henry said, giving Penny another glance. ‘The people are great, I think I’m going to enjoy working there. And I love the furniture they make, it’s so stylish, I can’t wait to be a part of that. I met Clara too.’

Penny tried to keep her expression neutral. She’d seen Clara around town a few times and she knew how beautiful she was. She wondered what Henry’s impression was of her.

‘The boss lady?’ Daisy asked.

‘Yes, she came downstairs to talk to me specifically.’

‘Oh, that’s nice, maybe I was wrong about her,’ Penny said, turning away. She wasn’t wrong, Clara had come downstairs to speak to Henry because he was hot and that was the only reason.

‘She asked me out for dinner.’

Penny opened up a can of beans and poured the contents into a saucepan, throwing the empty can into the bin a bit harder than was necessary.

What must it be like for Henry to have all these smart, beautiful, rich, successful women throwing themselves at him? He could have any woman he wanted, yet he had kissed her. Had he kissed her simply because she had been upset and he felt sorry for her? That would be an awful reason to kiss her. Now his boss