Page 101 of Meet Me Under the Mistletoe
“I’ll be going home on Sunday.”
Neither of them spoke for a couple of minutes, letting that sink in. A hare bounded past them and disappeared into the herbaceous borders. Overhead, an owl hooted.
“It’s only an hour or so away,” Isaac said, breaking the silence between them. “Technically I get the weekends off; I only tend to work them because I’m here anyway. I could come to London...”
“And I could come down here. I don’t work Sundays, and I’ve been saying for ages that I ought to take another day off in the week.”
They reached the back door, and when they kissed good-night, it wasn’t with the urgency of a few hours ago, but with a tenderness that made Nory want to stay in his arms forever.
The cotton sheets on her four-poster felt cold and stiff when she climbed into bed. She lay awake for some time, wondering if they could make it work from a distance and realized that she really did want to. She had fallen for Isaac. She had fallen hard.
When she imagined the kind of man she would fall in love with—and she’d had plenty of nights alone in her flat for such imaginings—it was always someone who would come into the shop; he would wander in looking for a vintage copy of H. E. Bates’sThe Darling Buds of Mayor a vintage copy ofAlice’s Adventures in Wonderlandillustrated by Arthur Rackham for his niece. He would be bookish and would most likely wear a tweed jacket with leather patches on the elbows. He probably worked for a publisher or a museum. She had never imagined that theman to steal her heart would be the boy who used to throw mud at her head. But it was done; she had made a conscious effort to build a life away from Hartmead, only to fall for a man slap-bang in the middle of it.
Her phone buzzed and she reached over to the bedside table and opened the message:You forgot something!
Another buzz. This time it was a photograph of her bra, still resting on top of Isaac’s bedside lampshade. Nory smiled in the dark and typed back:
I left it there on purpose, so that I have an excuse to come back.
You don’t need an excuse. I’m looking forward to being your date tomorrow.
Me too. I had a great time tonight.
Me too. Xxx
Thirty
The wedding was at one o’clock, which meant that the entire household had to be up and ready for action by 6:00 a.m.
Katie had padded down the stairs in sweatpants and bed socks, grabbed some food, and disappeared back up to her room. But there was no such luxury for Nory and Ameerah. Nory had woken at five to the sound of Pippa pounding on the door.
“Get showered, clothes on, and be ready for action,” she had said when Nory answered the door, bleary-eyed and slightly achy from last night’s fraternizing. Pippa looked immaculate, and her eyes were dancing in that way they did when she was high on the adrenaline of a mission; Nory wondered idly if her friend was actually a vampire.
“What’s happening?” she asked, yawning.
“You know perfectly well what’s happening.”
“No, I mean what’s happening that requires me to be up at five in the morning?”
“Bridal containment.”
She said it as though this was a common term. Nory pushed the door closed while Pippa was still barking orders at her. Pippa continued, unperturbed by the wood between them.
“I won’t take offense because I know that you are not a morning person, but know this, Nory Noel: If you are not in the dining room in one hour from now, I will set the dogs on you.”
And so, at 6:00 a.m., Nory and Ameerah were picking at an enormous breakfast buffet laid out in the dining room. Continental options included Swiss cheese, ham, yogurts, fruit, various cereals, and a range of fresh breads from baguettes to sourdough loaves and crusty rolls. The scent of freshly baked croissants and pains au chocolat fought for priority over the wafts of bacon and sausages emanating from the covered hot plates. The buffet would be replenished over the course of the morning as more of the wedding party arrived.
“You look like a woman who got lucky last night.” Ameerah grinned. Several pink rollers bobbed about her chin.
Nory couldn’t suppress her smile. “I got very lucky indeed. Twice.”
Ameerah made a squeak sound and bounced up and down on her chair. “I knew it. I just knew it! Is he coming to the wedding?”
“Yes.” She was still smiling. She couldn’t seem to turn it off.
“I haven’t seen you this dizzy over a bloke in ages.”
“I’m not dizzy over him.”
