Christmas at Lilac Cottage - Holly Martin Page 0,88

realise we’ll never be able to have sex again whilst she’s in the house.’

‘Oh, I don’t know about that, you’re just going to have to work really hard at being extra quiet.’

‘Me?’ Penny laughed incredulously. ‘You’re very vocal. You shout a lot.’

‘You scream, that’s probably scarred her more than anything.’

‘Oh god. We can do it quietly, can’t we?’

‘Yes, I’m sure we can and there’ll be times when she isn’t here and we can be as noisy as we like. So let’s make the most of it now.’

She laughed.

He shuffled her back against the table and kissed her hard. She quickly realised he wasn’t joking as he lifted her onto the table and attacked her clothes with great relish.

Suddenly a movement caught her eye over his shoulder and Penny stared in horror into the eyes of another woman.

‘Henry, stop.’

‘Not likely.’

‘There’s someone outside.’

Henry whirled around, protecting her half-naked body from view. Thankfully it was only the top half that was undressed and she still had her bra on but it was quite obvious this woman had seen what they were doing.

Henry laughed nervously. ‘That’s my sister, Anna.’

‘Shit.’

Anna was frozen to the spot, staring at them both.

Henry looked back at Penny and smiled shyly. ‘Why don’t you put your clothes back on and meet us next door for a coffee? I’m sure she will be delighted to meet you at last. Daisy has told her all about you.’

Henry turned back to Anna, still protecting Penny from being seen and pointed to his house. Anna walked off, clearly not happy.

‘She doesn’t look delighted to meet me,’ Penny said.

‘Anna’s lovely. I love her to bits and she’s helped out so much with Daisy over the years. But occasionally she can be a right judgemental pain in the ass.’

‘Well, as first impressions go, this isn’t a good one,’ Penny muttered, yanking her top back over her head. ‘Coupled with what Daisy will undoubtedly tell her about me watching porn, I’m going to go down a storm at family events.’

Henry kissed her briefly on the lips. ‘She will love you, just like I do.’

He ran off through the connecting door before Penny could say anything. She stared at the door as it closed.

Did he just say he loved her?

Chapter Eighteen

‘I just thought I’d come round and see your new place, I didn’t realise I’d be interrupting anything,’ Anna said, slamming her bag down on the counter and standing with her hands on her hips.

Henry sighed. It was clear that today was judgemental ass day.

He heard the connecting door open and he hated that Penny was going to get a mouthful of abuse too.

Penny came into the kitchen slowly and he reached out a hand for her. Pulling her into his side, he wrapped his arm round her waist and placed a kiss on her forehead.

‘Penny, this is my sister Anna. Anna, this is my girlfriend Penny.’

Penny smiled. ‘Hi.’

‘Girlfriend?’ Anna deliberately ignored Penny. ‘You’ve known her less than a week. What kind of example is that to set to Daisy?’

‘Daisy doesn’t know,’ Henry said quietly and he watched Anna’s face turn from indignation to anger.

‘She doesn’t know? You’re sneaking around behind her back, lying to her?’

Henry bit his lip. He hated lying to Daisy and he questioned himself every day over that decision. But he could hardly tell Daisy that he had jumped into bed with his neighbour just two days after she had specifically asked him not to date her. She was happy now and he wanted to keep her that way at least until Christmas. Was that so bad? He hadn’t come to White Cliff Bay looking for a serious relationship, in fact any kind of relationship was supposed to be off the table. But then he had met Penny and everything had changed. Nothing seemed to make sense about Penny, he had fallen hard very quickly and nothing had ever felt like this before.

‘It’s just for a few days, until she’s more settled and gets used to seeing us together, at least platonically. We’ll tell her then.’

Penny leaned into him and he held her tighter, but surprisingly she was stroking his back trying to offer him support when really he thought it should be the other way round.

‘It didn’t take you long to get settled. You’ve been here just a few days and you’re sleeping together already.’ Anna turned her attention to Penny. ‘Did you just open your legs to him on the first night?’

‘Anna!’ Henry said, forcefully. There was no way he was standing