Page 49 of The Cosy Travelling Christmas Shop

Daniel turned to face her, and she held her breath when she saw the intensity in his eyes. ‘A woman after my own heart.’

Oh, my… He looked like he wanted to gobble her all up.

‘How do you make them? Do you just twist them together?’ He picked the wreath up, but his attention remained on her and she felt her face grow warm.

‘Um, yeah, I can show you if you like?’

‘I’d like.’

He was still staring at her intently and the heat in her face travelled down her neck, past her chest and lodged deeper south.

Seren cleared her throat, put her mug down and sat on a stool in front of the bench, then she patted the one next to it. It had a cushion on to raise it up, because the last time she’d babysat Freya she’d kept the little girl occupied by teaching her how to make angels out of cardboard, glitter and glue. Freya had forgotten to take one of them home with her, and Seren moved it out of the way. That child certainly loved pink, she thought, as a shower of pink glitter cascaded over the workbench.

Daniel removed the cushion and perched on the stool, and Seren gave him some thick willow stems, all cut to the same length. They were roughly the same diameter, too, which made for a more even wreath, in her opinion.

‘Take three stems,’ she instructed, doing the same thing herself so he could follow along. ‘Make sure the ends aren’t all in the same place otherwise there’ll be a weakness there, then twist them together loosely, bending them into a circle as you go.’ She leant across to make sure he was doing it right and caught a whiff of his masculine scent. It made her feel rather giddy, and she coughed to cover her reaction.

‘Go slow, else you might get a kink in it,’ she advised. ‘If you use your knee to bend them around, that’ll help.’ She showed him what she meant and watched as he twisted the stems, making little corrections for him if she could see he was about to go wrong.

At one point their hands touched, and heat surged through her before she quickly snatched her fingers away.

Goodness, if she was like this now, when they were doing the most unsexy thing imaginable, what would she be like when she was relaxed with a couple of glasses of wine inside her? It didn’t bear thinking about.

‘That’s good,’ she told him as he held the willow circle up for her to have a look at. ‘Use some string to tie the loose ends in, then take another piece of willow and wind that in. If you can, start and finish at a different point to the others, and you can also weave it in the opposite direction. Like this, see?’

She showed him the one she was working on, and he nodded to indicate he understood, then she simply let him get on with it.

By the time she was satisfied with his willow frame, she’d completed two full wreaths and was starting on her third.

‘You’re so quick,’ he said, and she heard the admiration in his voice and she glowed at the compliment.

‘I’ve had lots of practice,’ she said, ‘more this year than any other. Drat.’

‘What is it?’

‘I’m going to have to get some more fir branches, as well as holly and mistletoe. I’m just about out.’ She could do with some acorns, too.

‘Where do you source them from?’ Daniel asked, his head bent to his task.

‘Anywhere and everywhere. I usually get what I need from the trees in the park, but I’m wary of taking too much from any one place.’

‘I can show you where you can get all of those things, if you like.’

‘Oh? Where?’

‘Neston Wood isn’t far from my mum’s house.’

‘I know it! I haven’t been there in ages.’

‘I can go there in the morning and see what I can find,’ he offered. ‘Unless…? Would you like to come with me? It doesn’t have to be tomorrow – we can go whenever you’re free.’

Seren nearly said that she was free anytime for him, but she thought it might be a bit forward, so instead she said, ‘I can do tomorrow morning. I’m at work from two in the afternoon, and most of the day on Wednesday. I have Thursday off, but I’ve made arrangements to take Dippy to a couple of care homes, to test the water.’

‘Dippy?’

Seren giggled. ‘The van; that’s what I’ve called it.’

He frowned, then his brow cleared as the penny dropped. ‘Nice one. Tomorrow it is, then. Shall I pick you up?’

After a momentary hesitation Seren said, ‘OK, but I don’t want to put you out.’

His smile when he replied, ‘You aren’t,’ melted her heart and carried her through the hours after he’d left when she was faced with her father’s inquisitive looks and his blatant hints as to how her love life was progressing. One thing was sure, she wouldn’t be letting either her father or her aunt anywhere near Daniel any time soon, in case they scared him off!

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