Christmas at Lilac Cottage - Holly Martin Page 0,60
we’re going to have this night of passion and we’ve only kissed a few times and Daisy will probably find out and I’m so sorry if they’ve all been teasing you about it today,’ she said, clearly out of breath from her sudden outburst.
Henry stared at her shock. He wanted to laugh, get angry and hug her all at the same time. He didn’t know if he would ever get used to this level of nosiness but Penny had lived here her entire life and she was still clearly upset by it. His eyes cast down to the flimsy underwear on the table and he picked the top up, fingering the material. God, to see her in this would be a dream come true. Even if he had promised her that he wouldn’t take it any further than a kiss, he would quite gladly cancel their date and spend the whole night holding her and kissing her in this underwear.
He looked up. She was waiting for him to freak out too, thinking he had been subjected to all of this when in fact no one had said a word to him. Although, come to think of it, he had noticed a few looks, smiles and winks but he’d just put it down to the oddness of the town. He had to reassure her that he hadn’t been harassed like she was, but that wasn’t going to make her feel better about her near hysterical outburst.
Finally he cleared his throat. ‘I was going to say that I spoke to someone in town today who had bought some of my handmade furniture years ago and he says it’s still his favourite piece in his house.’
Penny paled.
‘You didn’t know I bought condoms or sexy lingerie?’
Henry shook his head.
Penny flushed, her pale cheeks going bright red. ‘Oh god.’
She sank to the bench and put her head in her hands, clearly not wanting to look at him.
He smiled. The easiest thing for her would be to laugh it off.
‘Where are the condoms?’
She pointed to a bag.
‘I better take care of those, wouldn’t want Daisy to see them.’ She peered through her fingers at him as he looked in the bag. ‘Wow, you bought a lot.’
‘I didn’t, the pharmacist just gave them all to me for free, she just filled the whole bag up, she was so excited that I was going to have sex after all this time and I didn’t have the heart to say we wouldn’t be.’
He nodded, trying to suppress a smile, but then he saw the twitches of a smile on her face too and he let out a loud laugh which had her smile turning into a grin.
‘I better go and get ready for our big date then. I’ll pick you up at seven.’ He moved to walk towards the door. ‘Oh honey, wear the sexy snowflake set tonight for me. It’ll make it much more fun when we’re in bed later.’
‘Ha, you wish. I’m going to wear my oldest, most grey, holey pair, that’ll teach you for teasing me.’
He shrugged. ‘That works too.’
She smiled and he closed the door between them. Tonight was going to be fun, regardless how it ended.
* * *
Penny nervously waited in the kitchen for Henry to come and collect her. She had managed to calm her hair down and pulled it into a loose side plait. She had worn the thigh-splitting dress but only because the only other items of clothes in her wardrobe were jeans and hoodies or a smart trouser suit which looked like she was ready for an interview. Part of her wanted to cancel the date because she didn’t want to be subject to her whole dinner being under the watchful eye of the entire town. But if they were going to do this on a regular basis then they had to get the first time out the way and hopefully everyone would treat them normally after that.
It was still fifteen minutes till seven o’clock and she was trying to read a book, but the words weren’t going in. Suddenly there was a soft knock on the connecting door and Henry walked in.
‘Sorry, I couldn’t wait to see you.’
Her stomach lurched at the sight of him. Dressed in a silvery grey suit and a white shirt that was open at the neck, he was a magnificent sight.
‘If you’re ready to go, we can leave now,’ Henry said, when she had no words to fill the silence.