mind back to mundane matters like the Christmas presents he’d ordered ready to pick up from Argos on Monday and the Tesco groceries that should arrive first thing tomorrow, the nineteenth, and thinking unenthusiastically of Christmas lunch. Cooking a roast dinner was a trial for him. Thank goodness for ready-made Yorkshire puddings. A pleasant thought struck him and he turned to look at Hannah. Her hair was pulled up on top of her head and he wanted to nuzzle the downy hairs in the nape of her neck. ‘What are you and Nan doing for Christmas lunch? Maybe we can join forces?’
She gave him a dazzling smile. ‘All being together would be great … unless Nan has plans with Brett, of course.’
Then her phone rang and she regarded the screen with one eyebrow up in her hairline. ‘Christopher Carlysle?’ She couldn’t have sounded more astonished if Santa himself had rung.
‘I won’t beat about the bush,’ Nico heard the clipped voice say because Hannah leaned in so he could listen. ‘I’m ringing to ask you to oversee the Christmas Opening. I’m afraid my son’s vanished again. Tenants are up in arms and Cassie’s hardly speaking to me. Says I was bloody awful to you and you should tell me to get knotted. But I’m hoping you won’t,’ he added humbly.
Hannah closed her eyes. ‘You were incredibly rude.’
‘I was.’
‘You were a bulldozer.’
‘Under pressure,’ Christopher acknowledged unhappily. ‘I admit it and apologise, Miss Goodbody, but the traders are crying out for you and I’ll make it worth your while.’
‘Actual money?’
‘How about three hundred pounds for the day?’ he suggested.
Hannah frowned, following Josie and Maria’s game with her eyes though her thoughts were obviously elsewhere. Then she sighed. ‘For the sake of the traders who have sunk so much into Carlysle Courtyard,’ she agreed at length. ‘But I’m flying home from Sweden today so I can’t be there any earlier than seven-thirty tomorrow.’ For the next ten minutes she talked and Christopher thanked. She came off the phone half-smiling and half-aggravated.
‘Men!’ she joked. ‘Always ready to take advantage.’
He took her words semi-seriously. ‘Like me? Accepting your help on this trip?’
She put her phone away and twinkled naughtily. ‘I got a lot out of it. A trip to Sweden and Albin sorted. And … some lovely, lovely other things.’
Nico didn’t let her joke it away. He checked the girls were still busy with little fat dolls and ran his fingertips over her neck. ‘This time with you has made me happier than I’ve been for years.’ They hadn’t talked about the future but it suddenly felt very important that she know that.
Pleasure blooming in her fine eyes, she blew him a tiny kiss. ‘Same here,’ she whispered.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Middledip sparkled with evening frost, Christmas trees twinkled from windows and the pub was lit up like a float in a Christmas carnival. It would have been scrumptious to follow Nico and the kids into the welcoming warmth of Honeybun Cottage but Hannah knew hers and Nico’s feelings were as new and delicate as spiders’ webs, so she hugged them all goodbye and towed her rolling luggage to Nan’s.
Nan was still staying with Brett and the house felt empty without her. Hannah had called her on the drive from the airport and told her she’d be managing the Christmas Opening tomorrow after all. Nan had exclaimed in her creaky voice, ‘Me and Brett will call in. Can’t wait to see you, duck.’
‘Nico and the girls plan to visit too,’ Hannah had answered, hoping her happiness didn’t filter into her voice and prompt Nan to ask searching questions. She was still getting used to the way he made her heart beat and didn’t want even one sceptical word to disturb the precious beginning of something she felt would be deeper and more grounded than anything she’d ever felt for Albin.
A small heap of unopened Christmas cards lay on Nan’s doormat along with a key to the Carlysle Courtyard office. The note inside the envelope read, You’re a lifesaver. Think Christopher and I would have divorced if we’d had to run the opening. Cassie x
More than half wishing she hadn’t agreed to undertake the mammoth day’s work Hannah set her alarm for six-thirty and plummeted into bed, glittering dreams of the promised Christmas with Nico swimming through her mind.
In the morning, with no opportunity to get hold of a proper Christmas costume, she pulled on thermal underwear then thick black leggings and a green overshirt cinched in with a yellow