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      Strangely enough, Sarah agreed with Flora.

      ‘He really had no option after Chloe accused him of carrying on with me in front of everyone,’ she defended.

      Flora pulled a face. ‘I suppose not. I just wish I’d been there. Trust something exciting to happen the first year Jim and I decide to eat Christmas dinner back in our rooms. So tell me, what led up to it?’

      Sarah shrugged. ‘I have no idea. One minute everything seemed fine, the next she just came out with it. We were both shocked, I can tell you.’

      ‘I’ll bet it was because of the way you look today. She was probably blind with jealousy.’

      ‘That’s what Nick said.’

      ‘He’d have been furious with her for saying something like that in front of his work colleagues. But I heard you set her to rights.’

      ‘Really? Who told you that?’ She’d done her best not to provide Flora with too many details, in case she slipped up with her story.

      ‘One of the waiters. He said it was the most interesting Christmas lunch they’d ever catered for.’

      ‘It was darned embarrassing. I’m glad it’s over. Next year, things are going to be very different.’

      Sarah wished she hadn’t said that. Because she didn’t want to think about next year. She didn’t want to think about anything but tonight.

      But once the thought was put in her head, it was impossible to banish it. If Nick had been telling the truth earlier, then by next Christmas she would be long gone from his life, and from his bed.

      ‘You won’t change your mind?’ Flora asked.

      ‘About what?’

      ‘About letting me cook a hot meal next year. Call me old-fashioned, but Christmas just doesn’t feel like Christmas without a turkey and a plum pudding. I know Nick won’t mind. He really likes turkey.’

      ‘Nick probably won’t be here,’ Sarah said a bit stiffly.

      ‘What? Why not?’

      ‘He’s moving out in February.’

      ‘So what? You’ll invite him here for Christmas, surely. You and he are like family.’

      ‘He might not want to come.’

      ‘Rubbish! He loves having Christmas here. Even when he was building that resort on Happy Island, he always came back for Christmas. And it’s not as though he’ll go off and get married and make a home of his own.’

      ‘True,’ Sarah agreed ruefully, her eyes dropping to her coffee. ‘That’s never going to happen.’

      So don’t start secretly hoping that it will. He’s not going to fall in love with you, no matter how much you love him. You’re just another sexual partner, a temporary object of desire, a source of physical pleasure.

      And when that pleasure begins to wane, when boredom sets in, you’ll be replaced. That’s the way it’s always been with Nick and that’s the way it will continue.

      It might have been a seriously depressing train of thought if she’d been in a sensible, looking-after-her-future-happiness mood. But Sarah was anything but sensible at that moment. Excitement was fizzing through her veins, her insides wound so tight she was having trouble swallowing her coffee. How she managed to appear so composed in front of Flora, she had no idea. Obviously, she had the makings of an Oscar-winning actress!

      ‘Where is Nick, by the way?’ Flora asked.

      ‘He went upstairs a little while ago,’ Sarah replied as cool as you please. ‘He said he was tired.’

      ‘You finished with that?’ Flora reached out for her coffee-mug.

      Sarah handed it to her. ‘I think I’ll go up to bed, too,’ she said, this time with a slight catch in her voice. ‘It’s been a long day.’

      ‘There’s a good movie on at eight-thirty,’ Flora said. ‘Got that film-star fellow in it that I like. Sexy devil. Now, he can put his slippers under my bed any time he likes.’

      ‘Mmm,’ Sarah murmured as she slid from the stool. Not as sexy as the devil she was about to spend the night with. ‘Goodnight, Flora. Don’t worry about breakfast. I’m going to sleep in. You should too. You look tired.’

      ‘I am a bit. What about Nick?’

      ‘I’ll tell him to get himself something in the morning. I doubt he’s asleep yet.’

      ‘Before you go, Sarah, I just want to say how lovely you looked today. I wouldn’t mind betting that by next Christmas you’ll have a real boyfriend sitting at the Christmas table. Or even a fiancé. Which reminds me, did anything further develop with Derek today?’

      ‘Er—no. He’s not interested in me in that way.’

      ‘What a pity. Still, there are plenty of other fish in the sea. Off you go, then.’

      ‘Goodnight, Flora. Enjoy the movie.’

      ‘Oh, I will.’

      Sarah’s pretend composure began to disintegrate the moment she left the kitchen.

      ‘What on earth do you think you’re doing?’ she muttered to herself as she walked up the stairs on suddenly shaky legs. ‘He’s going to break your heart. You know that, don’t you?’

      Sarah stopped in front of his bedroom door. She even lifted her hand to knock. What she was going to say to him, she had no idea, though go to hell came to mind.

      But then she heard the sound of Nick’s shower running.

      He was getting ready for her.

      She could picture him standing naked under the jets of warm water, washing himself clean with long, soapy strokes of a sponge. In her mind’s eye, he was already wanting her.

      It was the thought of his wanting her that was the most corrupting. She’d wanted him to want her like this for years.

      Impossible to turn her back on his desire.

      Impossible to ignore her own.

      Sarah’s hand fell back to her side and she stumbled on to her bedroom.

      Nick stood under the lukewarm spray, his hands braced against the shower-stall tiles, his eyes down.

      Half an hour to go and already he was in agony.

      Gritting his teeth, he turned the water to cold. Ten minutes later, he had his flesh under control again. But not his mind.

      You should not be doing this, Nick, came the reproachful thought. She’s in love with you. Or she thinks she is.

      ‘You’re a total bastard,’ he growled to himself.

      His mouth twisted into a sneer as he emerged from the shower stall and snatched up a towel. ‘So what’s new, Nick?’

      Still, he had given her every chance to escape. She’d been right when she’d accused him of trying to frighten her off. He’d honestly thought when he pushed her to her knees the way he had that she would jump up and run a mile. But she hadn’t …

      Of course, his desire for Sarah had been building in his head for years. It was no wonder he’d found it difficult to control himself this afternoon.

      Still, it was a worry, his lack of control. From the moment she’d taken him into her mouth, he’d just lost it. Totally.

      As he stared at his reflection in the bathroom mirror, Nick vowed that tonight would be different. Tonight he would be the coolly confident lover he usually was, patiently taking her on an erotic journey that initially might feel romantic to a girl as young and naïve as she was.

      By morning, however, she would see him for what he really

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