Chapter Six

Finally they eased into December and Melissa was amused to find the man in the house opposite standing on his stepladder, stringing lights around his tree. There was keen, she thought wryly, and there was mad. It may be the first of December, but there wouldn’t be any lights put up in the Stanford house today. Firstly because she didn’t feel Christmassy yet, and secondly because it was the day of William’s tennis tournament. Alice had been right. Christmas and tennis really didn’t go together.

And yet … if Christmas was actually about the goodwill, the camaraderie, the fun, then perhaps they were perfect partners, because she looked forward to William’s tennis days nearly as much as he did.

It didn’t mean she wasn’t nervous about today though. Was Daniel pushing her son too soon?

‘Have you thought about what you want to ask Father Christmas for yet?’ she asked in a bid to distract herself from what was to come.

Sitting on the window ledge, his eyes fixed on the street, watching out for Simon and Daniel, William shrugged. ‘Sort of.’

‘Sort of?’

Momentarily he strayed from his lookout duty. ‘I know one thing I want.’

‘Only one?’

He gave her a thoughtful look. ‘I’m still thinking.’

‘Okay, just make sure you let me see the letter you’re writing him before you send it off.’

‘Maybe.’

Her heart jumped. ‘What do you mean, maybe? Aren’t you going to show it to me?’

He darted her a cheeky grin. ‘It’s between me and Father Christmas.’

Oh boy, she had no answer to that. Perhaps Daniel’s great idea of getting William to write to Father Christmas wasn’t so great after all. ‘How’s the Christmas play going?’

‘I have to sit in a pretend car.’

His voice was filled with such disgust she couldn’t help but smile. ‘That’s what happens in plays. The actors and audience have to use their imagination.’

‘I suppose.’ His attention drifted back to the window. ‘They’re here!’

Melissa watched as a powerful black four-wheel drive parked up in front of their house. Belatedly she realised she’d been so set on getting William ready she’d hadn’t sorted herself out. ‘Go and answer the door,’ she pleaded. ‘I just need to find my boots.’

She was dimly aware of the door being opened. Of her son asking Daniel why he hadn’t bought his Ferrari and Daniel’s answering chuckle. ‘It’s only got two seats. I figured your Mum and Simon didn’t want to sit on the roof.’

His deep voice drifted into the under stairs cupboard where her favourite boots were so far eluding her. Why oh why hadn’t she got the flipping things out earlier? ‘Hello, Daniel,’ she called, ‘I’ll be there in a minute.’ One day, she would be ready on time. One day.

Finally she spied them, hiding between the wellington boots and the vacuum cleaner. Clutching at them as if they were the last turkey in the shop on Christmas Eve, she ran to the front door and careered to a halt.

She’d forgotten how stunning he was, she thought wildly. And how tall.

‘How are the nerves holding up?’

His eyes glinted in a way that made her knees tremble. Grateful for the excuse to sit, she parked herself on the bottom stair and focused on putting on her boots. ‘How can you guess I’m nervous?’

‘It’s a common fault for most mothers. Why do you think Alice isn’t coming today?’

Boots on, Melissa stood and peered out at the car where Simon and William were sitting in the back, talking animatedly. ‘I thought she had to take her daughter to dance practice?’

‘That’s true, but it’s also an excuse. The first match she watched Simon play I thought she was going to detonate. She was so desperate to shout and stomp, but knew she couldn’t. Anything other than a sporting round of applause is strictly discouraged,’ he added as he opened the passenger door for her. ‘Shouting and screaming just isn’t tennis.’

Melissa laughed as she put on her seat belt. ‘I’ve seen a few of your matches. There was plenty of screaming.’

He waggled his dark eyebrows at her. ‘I think you’ll find that’s an entirely different sort of screaming.’

Shooting her a quicksilver grin he drove off, his hands steady and sure on the wheel. Did he do everything with that same confident ease? The thought brought a hot flush to her cheeks and she glanced quickly out of her window, willing it to fade. What on earth was wrong with her?

When she was sure she had herself in check, she stole another glance at him. He was casual today in jeans, a navy T-shirt and a soft brown leather jacket. He wasn’t up there with the latest cutting trend, but he wore what suited him, and wore it with assurance and panache.

‘See anything you like?’ he asked with a cocky grin, holding her eyes as they stopped at a red light.

Melissa blushed to the roots of her hair. ‘I was just admiring the way you wear your clothes,’ she admitted.

‘Ah.’ His eyes left hers and returned to the road. ‘Do you think I could have a career on the catwalk then?’

‘No. You’re way too big, in every sense.’ At his raised eyebrow, she rolled her eyes. ‘I mean you’re too tall, your shoulders are too broad, your thighs too muscular. You have to be gangling to be a model, even a male model.’

‘Was it tough, not eating?’

‘Not really. I’d always been tall and skinny as a child, so I never really had to watch what I ate. After I had William the pounds were harder to shift but it wasn’t often I had to worry about my weight because for most of that time I was …’ she glanced over her shoulder to check William wasn’t listening, ‘miserable,’ she admitted quietly. ‘I don’t comfort eat. When I’m unhappy I don’t have much of an appetite.’

‘You must have it back again. I’ve noticed some pretty cute curves. Not that I’ve been looking,’ he added, though his poor attempt to hide a grin said otherwise.

A few weeks ago his compliment would have frightened her. Now it left her tongue-tied and pleasurably giddy.

Thankfully he didn’t follow up his comment, instead turning his attention to William and Simon, giving them a run down of the opposition they’d be facing. ‘They’re smaller clubs than ours,’ he told them as he turned into the car park. ‘But very snooty with it. Call me shallow, but I hope we give them a good thumping.’

Simon sniggered. ‘You’re not supposed to say that.’

He turned off the engine and twisted to face his nephew. ‘That’s me speaking as your uncle. When we get inside, I’ll be your super polite coach.’

They waited in the lobby for the other two players to arrive and when they’d all changed Daniel encouraged them into a huddle, hunching down so he was on their level. Melissa and the other parents stood back a little so they could still hear but weren’t interfering.

‘Right guys, you’ll each play in two singles matches and one doubles match, but it will be short sets. Who can tell me why we play tennis matches?’

‘To win!’ Simon shouted. Daniel laughed and ruffled his nephew’s hair.

‘Exactly right, and don’t let anybody tell you any differently. When you go out on court you play to win, otherwise there’s no point in playing. But it’s important to realise that you aren’t going to win every match. In fact sometimes you might go for a long time without winning. Don’t let that put you off. You never look back, only forward. Forget the last match you played, the last point you played. It is the next one that’s the most important. And no matter what stage of the game you’re at, play every point to win it.’ He smiled. ‘Now, who can remember the second reason we play matches?’

‘To have fun.’

‘Excellent, William. We play to win, but we also play to have fun because it’s the fun you’ll remember when you go home tonight. So, go out, do your best and enjoy it.’

As the players ran excitedly down the corridor and onto the court Melissa felt her heart leap into her chest. At the last minute Daniel turned round and winked at her. ‘Remember, polite applause only. And if you have cause to hit me, please wait until we’re home so I don’t bleed all over the car.’

Their club won the competition and William enjoyed himself. Daniel was both relieved and smugly satisfied when he drove them home.

He glanced in his rear-view mirror and grinned at the sight of his nephew and William still in their red and green pointed elf hats, their cheeks a matching shade of red. ‘Nice hats, boys.’

They sniggered. ‘Yours is worse.’

Melissa shot him a look from under her lashes. Her lips twitched.

He pulled to a stop at a traffic light and checked his image in the mirror. The bell on top of his green felt hat tinkled as he shifted his head. ‘Somebody told me today that she admired the way I wore my clothes,’ he remarked evenly.

Melissa tried to stifle a giggle, but then obviously gave up and began to laugh. It was a refreshingly uninhibited sound, throaty, sexy. A sound destined to warm a man’s heart and send heat pulsing through his blood. Quickly he moved the conversation on. ‘Are you boys getting excited about Christmas now?’

‘Yes!’ Simon shouted gleefully. ‘I opened the first door on my Advent calendar today. It was a bell.’

‘And I guess that’s exciting because it was made of chocolate?’

In his mirror he saw his nephew nod vigorously. ‘At Christmas you get to eat chocolate every day before school.’

‘I think Christmas is about more than the amount of chocolate you can stuff in your mouth,’ Daniel said dryly. ‘What about you, William? Which bit of Christmas are you looking forward to?’

‘Presents,’ he replied with a slightly sheepish smile.

Daniel glanced across at Melissa. ‘Looks like you and Alice don’t have to bother buying a tree, or putting up decorations, or cooking a turkey, or watching any Christmas films, or—’

‘But we want them as well,’ Simon shouted back, digging William in the ribs. ‘Don’t we.’

They continued to shout out other things they were looking forward to – including snow ball fights, chocolate logs and no more school – right up to the moment he parked outside Melissa’s pretty terraced house.

‘Would you like to come in for a celebratory drink?’

She glanced shyly over at him and immediately his pulse quickened. He knew she was just being friendly, but try telling that to his body. ‘I thought my reward for William coming back happy was to not get a bloodied nose?’

‘What can I say?’ Her lips curved in a warm, happy smile. ‘Today I’m feeling generous.’

‘In that case a drink would be great, thanks.’ No way was he turning that offer down, even though he’d agreed to go back to the club for a knock-about with one of the trainers. ‘I’ll just check Alice doesn’t want Simon back straight away.’

As the others went into the house, Daniel made a quick call to his sister who reassured him he could keep Simon as long as he wanted, the longer the better. Next he sent a quick grovelling text to John, promising he’d play tomorrow instead, before dashing inside. Ignoring the thumps and shrieks from the room upstairs, presumably where William and Simon had camped out, he entered the small living room. As he’d expect from a woman of style, it was elegant yet comfortable. Nothing matched; each item of furniture was different and perhaps individually didn’t really fit in the room, but collectively it worked. Much like Melissa, he mused. Her features shouldn’t work, but when you took in the whole woman they didn’t just work, they grabbed you by the throat and made every other woman fade into the background.

He watched as she carefully set two cups on the coffee table before sitting on the opposite armchair and tucking her long legs under her, each movement fluid and graceful.

‘You’re beautiful.’ The words were out of his mouth before he could think of stopping them.

To his utter surprise, she flushed scarlet.

‘Melissa, you were one of the world’s top models. How can you blush when I tell you you’re beautiful?’

The vulnerability in her face shocked him. ‘You have a way of saying it as if you really mean it, and yet I know my face is all angles. It photographs well, that’s all.’

Daniel took a swig of his tea and shook his head. ‘It’s a hobby of mine, studying beautiful women. Since I met you, I haven’t been able to take my eyes off you. It’s that simple.’

He watched as the embarrassment slowly gave way to fear and mentally cursed it.

‘Daniel, you promised—’

‘I would play it your way,’ he cut in. ‘And I am. I will. Telling you you’re beautiful is just a fact. I’m not saying it because I’m trying to seduce you. Not yet, anyway.’

She picked nervously at some non-existent fluff on her trousers. ‘You talk as if you plan on seducing me in the future.’

He grinned at her over the rim of his cup, deciding it was only fair to warn her of the way his thoughts were moving. ‘I do.’

A pulse began to hammer in her throat. ‘That isn’t funny. I didn’t tell you about my previous relationship lightly. I told you so you would understand where I’m coming from. I’m not interested in getting involved.’

‘Do you see me laughing?’ he asked quietly. ‘I’m attracted to you, and I believe the feeling is mutual. I want you. I promised to play it your way and I’m trying to keep my promise but I need to warn you. I play to win.’

Though he didn’t think she was aware of it, her back straightened. ‘If we’re dishing out warnings, I have one of my own. I won’t be bullied or bossed around anymore. Not by anyone.’

He acknowledged the steel beneath her words. ‘Understood. Have you heard from Lawrence recently?’

She smiled slightly. ‘That was a neat lead-in and no, he’s been thankfully quiet so far.’

‘Good. Perhaps this Christmas will manage to exceed your expectations for a change.’

‘I hope so.’

They talked for a little while longer but Daniel was conscious that his nephew was upstairs and the day had already been a long one. Taking a final swig of his tea, he rose to his feet. ‘I’d better get Simon home before he and William destroy your beautiful house.’

He shouted up and a reluctant Simon trudged down the stairs, followed by a bright-eyed and slightly pink-cheeked William. ‘Here.’ He handed his keys to Simon. ‘Go and get the trophy out of the car for William.’

William’s eyes stood out on stalks. ‘What?’

‘You helped to win it, didn’t you? It’s only fair you get to keep it for a bit.’

‘Me?’

Daniel chuckled. ‘Yes, you. I figured you should all take it in turns, three months each. As it was your first tournament, you can start.’ William’s face burst into a grin and as they scampered off down the path to open the car, Daniel turned back to Melissa. ‘Thanks for the drink.’

‘Thank you for today.’

He inclined his head. ‘My pleasure.’

‘Not just for taking us to the match,’ she added, ‘but for asking William to play. You were right.’

He smiled. ‘I generally am.’ Then, because he couldn’t resist, and because he was a devil, he bent to kiss her. Just on the cheek, but enough to make his point.

He wouldn’t be warned off.