Christmas at Lilac Cottage - Holly Martin Page 0,71

He removed his hand from under hers. ‘I thought we could make it from white, black or beige leather as that will fit in with most colour schemes and we can add silver or gold to the legs to make it more—’

‘Will it be big enough for two?’ She stared up at him through long lashes as she ran her fingernails up his arm.

Henry glanced over to the closed door, a sick feeling of panic rushing through him. This was not good. She hadn’t brought him here for the designs. There was only one portfolio she was interested in and it wasn’t the one in his black folder but the one that was mere centimetres from her ever encroaching hand.

In a last-ditch attempt to change the subject and put the conversation back on track, he rifled in his folder for another drawing to show her, moving subtly away from her gold-painted talons.

‘I have some other designs too.’ He grabbed the first design that came to hand and laid it on the desk. His heart sank as soon as he saw which design it was. The two chairs facing in opposite directions, joined together by the S-shaped curves of the backrest and arms, was a very popular style in the late Victorian period and Henry’s design was a modern twist on that but the name was vastly inappropriate for what Clara had planned for this meeting.

She glanced at it briefly. ‘A love seat?’

‘Yes. Also known as a tête-à-tête.’

‘Face-to-face,’ Clara whispered and Henry cringed because the literal translation was not helpful either.

‘They are making a comeback in garden furniture and I think we can—’

‘I wouldn’t have a love seat in the garden. Besides, these armrests between the couple are not exactly conducive to a romantic setting. I prefer a lover’s chair with no boundaries,’ Clara said, leaning up and pressing her lips to his throat.

He immediately took a step back. ‘Clara, I’m flattered but I have a girlfriend.’

A girlfriend who was sitting at home waiting for him, someone he should have been having dinner with at this very moment. This whole meeting was a huge waste of his time.

‘Yet you’re here with me and not at home with her.’ Clara cocked her head to one side, in what she clearly thought was a flirtatious move, running her tongue across her teeth as she surveyed her prey.

He took a step to grab his designs but she moved in between him and the desk.

‘I came for purely professional reasons, working in design is important to me.’

She stepped forward, placing a hand on his chest. ‘How important?’

He wanted to push her away, her perfume settling round him making it hard to breathe. He wouldn’t touch her. Just the two of them in a closed room, she could claim anything had happened and it would be his word against hers. He took a step back, but her fingers had already closed over one of the buttons on his shirt and as he moved he heard the small tear of material as the button came off in her hand.

He stared at her in shock before he turned and grabbed his coat. ‘If Edward is serious about looking at my designs then I’ll make an appointment to see him.’

He opened the door and stormed out. He should have seen through the façade from the second he realised it was just going to be the two of them. He should have told her where to stick her inappropriate advances and most importantly he should have stayed at home with his lovely girlfriend.

He got in the car and drove quickly back towards Lilac Cottage. Rain lashed down on the windscreen and storm clouds rolled across the sky, lighting up the heavy clouds with periodic flashes of lightning, reflecting his mood perfectly. As he approached a little hut used for birdwatching, he nearly ran over a hooded figure who was cycling quickly away from it, dressed all in black, silhouetted against the rainy night sky; the boy was almost impossible to see. He cursed as he mounted the grass to avoid him and then turned down the driveway to his home, wanting nothing more now than to wrap his arms around Penny and know that there were still good people in this world.

He pulled up outside the house and strode straight into Penny’s kitchen. She looked up from a book she was reading and gave him a half smile. He had let her down by not being there for dinner as