LITMIR.BIZ

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      Unable to believe she hadn’t been fired on the spot, Molly spent the next few weeks working harder than she’d ever worked before. She went above and beyond the call of duty as Christmas approached and she tried to make amends for her unprofessional behaviour. She attempted ambitious culinary experiments, which thankfully all turned out brilliantly. She baked, prodded, steamed and whipped—to the fervent admiration of the stream of guests which passed through the mistletoe-festooned hallway of the house. And if Lady Avery made a few sarcastic digs about Molly hanging around hopefully beneath the sprigs of white berries, Molly was mature enough not to respond. Maybe her boss’s anger was justified, she reasoned. Maybe she would have said the same if the situation had been reversed.

      And it didn’t matter how busy she was—it was never enough to stop her thoughts from spinning in an unwanted direction. She found herself thinking about Salvio and that was the last thing she needed. She didn’t want to remember all the things he’d done to her. The way he’d stroked her face and lips and body, before pushing open her thighs to enter her. Just as she didn’t want to think about the way he’d whispered ‘bedda mia’ and ‘nicuzza’ in that haunting dialect when they’d both woken in the middle of the night. Because remembering that stuff was dangerous. It made it all too easy to imagine that it mattered. And it didn’t. Not to him. He’d been able to walk away without a second glance and Molly had told him she was able to do the same.

      So do it.

      Stop yearning.

      Stop wishing for the impossible.

      * * *

      It was four days before Christmas when two bombshells fell in rapid succession. Molly had just been about to drive to the village, when she came across Lady Avery standing in the hallway—a full-length fur coat swamping her fine-boned frame. Her face looked cold. As cold as the wintry wind which was whistling outside the big house and bringing with it the first few flakes of snow.

      ‘Molly, don’t bother going to the shops right now,’ she said, without preamble.

      Molly blinked. She’d made the pudding and cake and mince pies, but she still had to pick up the turkey and the vegetables. And hadn’t they run out of satsumas? She looked at her boss helpfully. ‘Is there something else you would rather I was doing?’

      ‘Indeed there is. You can go upstairs and pack your things.’

      Molly stared at her boss in confusion. ‘Pack my things?’ she echoed stupidly. ‘I don’t understand.’

      ‘Don’t you? It’s really quite simple. Surely there’s no need for me to spell it out for you. We no longer require your services.’

      ‘But...’

      ‘But what, Molly?’ Lady Avery took a step closer and now Molly could see that all the rage she’d been bottling up since Salvio’s departure was about to come spilling out. ‘I hope you aren’t going to ask me why I haven’t given you more notice, because I really don’t think the normal rules apply when you’ve abused your position as outrageously as you have done. I really don’t think that sleeping with the guests ever made it into your job description, do you?’

      ‘But it’s just before Christmas!’ Molly burst out, unable to stop herself. ‘And this...this is my home.’

      Lady Avery gave a shrill laugh. ‘I don’t think so. Why don’t you go running to your boyfriend and ask if he wants you over the holiday period? Because it’s not going to happen, that’s why. Salvio will have moved on to the kind of women he’s more usually associated with by now.’ Her pale eyes drilled into Molly. ‘Do you know, they say there isn’t a supermodel on the planet he hasn’t dated?’

      ‘But why...why wait until now?’ questioned Molly in a low voice. ‘Why didn’t you just fire me straight away?’

      ‘With wall-to-wall engagements planned and Christmas just over the horizon?’ Lady Avery looked at her incredulously. ‘I was hardly going to dispense with your services and leave myself without a housekeeper at such a busy time, now, was I? That’s what’s known as cutting off your nose to spite your face.’ There was a pause. ‘You’ll find you’ve been paid up to the end of the month, which is more generous than you deserve. Philip and I have decided to fly to Barbados tomorrow for a last-minute holiday and we’re going out for the rest of the day. Just make sure you’re gone by the time we return, will you, Molly?’

      ‘But...but where will I go tonight?’

      ‘You really think I care? There’s a cheap B&B in the village. You can go there—if they’ll take you.’ Lady Avery’s mouth had curved into a cruel smile. ‘Just make sure you leave your car and house keys on the hall table before you go.’

      And that was that. Molly could hardly believe it was happening. Except that she could. Her heart clenched as her old friend Fear re-entered her life without fanfare and suddenly she was back in that familiar situation of being in a fix. Only this time she couldn’t blame her brother, or the vagaries of fate which had made her mother so ill throughout her childhood. This time it was all down to her.

      Biting her lip, she thought desperately about where she could go and what she could do, but no instant solution sprang to mind. She had no relatives. No local friends who could provide her with a roof over her head until she found herself another live-in job. Her mind buzzed frantically as some of Lady Avery’s words came flooding into her mind. How would Salvio react if she called him up and told him she’d been fired as a result of their crazy liaison? Would he do the decent thing and offer her a place to stay? Yet, despite recoiling at the thought of throwing herself on the mercy of a man who’d made it clear he wanted nothing but a one-night stand, it was growing increasingly clear that she might have to. Because the second bombshell was hovering overhead ready to explode, no matter how hard she tried to block it from her mind.

      Telling herself it was stress which had made her period so late, she pushed the thought away as she remembered the card Salvio had given her—the one with a direct line to his assistant. What had he said? That his assistant knew plenty of people and could help her find a domestic role if ever she needed one. Molly licked her lips. She didn’t want to do it but what choice did she have? Where would she even start looking for a new job and a home at this time of year?

      Quickly, she packed her clothes, trying not to give in to the tears which were pricking at the backs of her eyes. Carefully she wedged in the framed photo of her mother and the one of Robbie in his school uniform, the cute image giving no hint of the gimlet-eyed teenager he would become. And only when she was standing in her threadbare winter coat, with a hand-knitted scarf knotted tightly around her neck, did she dial the number on the card with a shaking finger.

      Salvio’s assistant was called Gina and she didn’t just sound friendly—she sounded relieved when Molly gave her name and explained why she was ringing.

      ‘I can’t believe it,’ she said fervently. ‘You are the answer to my prayers, Molly Miller.’

      ‘Me?’ said Molly doubtfully.

      ‘Yes, you.’ Gina’s voice softened. ‘Are you free now? I mean, as of right now?’

      ‘I am,’ answered Molly cautiously. ‘Why?’

      ‘Because Salvio is having his annual pre-Christmas party in the Cotswolds tomorrow, just before he flies to Naples—and the housekeeper we’d hired has called to say her mother has fallen downstairs and broken her wrist, and she’s had to cancel. If you can step in and take over at the last minute I can make it very worth your while.’

      Molly pushed out the words from between suddenly frozen lips. ‘That’s very bad news—about the broken wrist, I mean, but I don’t think I—’

      But the tycoon’s assistant was breezing on as if she hadn’t spoken.

      ‘Salvio must rate you very highly to have given you my number,’ Gina continued. ‘Why, it’s almost like fate. I won’t even have to

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